Echo And The Bunnymen have been forced to cancel an Australian festival appearance, because frontman Ian McCulloch missed his flight.

The band were due to play the Laneway Festival in Melbourne tomorrow (January 30) and were set to appear alongside the likes of Florence And The Machine, Mumford and Sons and Black Lips.

Despite the cancellation, festival organisers have confirmed that all other performances are due to go ahead as planned, with Melbourne trio Midnight Juggernauts stepping in to replace Echo And The Bunnymen.

Source NME

Frustrated drummers, take heart: Even an ex-Beatle needs a music lesson every now and then. Such was the case when Ringo Starr was taught to play the tabla by Indian musician Tina Sugandh.

Sugandh, born in Bombay but raised in New Jersey, calls herself TablaGirl. She's released her own music and has scored tracks on films such as Around The World In 80 Days and Ice Princess.

The chance to hang with Ringo Starr and actually school him in the correct way to play the tabla hand drums (as seen in the video below) came about through their mutual friend, producer Dave Stewart. Needless to say, Sugandh jumped at the opportunity.

"Going to his house was the most incredible experience," she said. "Ringo is so gracious and kind, charming and hysterical, and really is a star - no pun intended. But what I love most is his humility - and he said something I'll always remember: There was a half-full bottle of water left on the table that no one claimed, and it upset him. 'This much water could save a child's life in another country,' he said, and to hear that from a Beatle's mouth was so cool!"

In turn, Starr was knocked out by Sugandh, and he must have realized that when it came to the tabla, leaving it to a pro wasn't such a bad thing - Sugandh plays (and even sings) on Ringo's newest album Y Not.

Source musicradar

Lou Reed's Metal Machine Trio will tour Europe in April.

Inspired by the sounds of Reed's legendary 1975 feedback/drone album, the group will play three UK dates in April.

Lou Reed's Metal Machine Trio (MM3), features Reed on guitar, Ulrich Krieger on tenor sax and live electronics and Sarth Calhoun on something called "continuum fingerboard and live processing". They will perform what is being billed as "A Night of Deep Noise".

To coincide with the live tour dates, Reed is set to release a newly remastered edition of the original Metal Machine Music album on 180-gram double gatefold vinyl, audio DVD and Blu-ray.

Here's Reed on the forthcoming reissue: "The original. The one that started it all. Noise Rock. Industrial Road. Underground for years, it survived on the power of the idea. No key. No Vocals. No set rhythm. Feedback forever. Supervised by Lou Reed and faithfully re-mastered to the last squeal. The out of print "Quad" has been replicated for all formats including a perfect vinyl version playable on your stereo turntable with the original rear sections moved to the centre of the front left speakers. It's worth getting a turntable to hear this. I myself bought a Linn to celebrate the great sound and am playing it through Wilson Watts and Puppies. Here it as we did on Scott Hull's Duntechs. Straight from the original Bob Ludwig tapes. An act of love for an act of sound."

The MM3 shows are set to be "influenced and inspired" by Metal Machine Music, but "won't duplicate the original album". The group debuted their material in Los Angeles in October 2008.

The Metal Machine Trio play:

Cambridge Junction (April 17)
Oxford O2 Academy (18)
London Royal Festival Hall (19)

Source MOJO

Muse are set to make a warts and all tour documentary in the style of Nirvana's legendary 'Live! Tonight! Sold Out!' video.

While their previous DVD's have focussed on the band's performances, bassist Chris Wolstenholme says the trio want something a little more relaxed this time round.

"We'd like to something a little bit more along the lines of a touring documentary as opposed to just a live gig this time," Wolstenholme told Triple J.

He added: "Something a little bit more like Nirvana's 'Live! Tonight! Sold Out!. I think that was one of the best tour documentaries I've ever watched; just life on the road and what it's like, with obviously a bit of music here and there, and other loads of other random stuff as well."

Muse are currently in Australia to play the Big Day Out festival.

Source UNCUT

Sly Stone is suing his former manager, for $50m (£30.9m) he claims he is due because of fraud and stolen royalties.

The Sly And The Family Stone leader has claimed in the lawsuit filed to the Los Angeles Superior Court that Jerry Goldstein diverted the money to himself over a 20-year period and borrowed money under the band's name, reports BBC News.

Goldstein or his representatives have not commented on the lawsuit publicly.

Robert Allen, Stone's lawyer, said the lawsuit highlighted "a dark side of the music business where some of these artists are being robbed of their intellectual property and the fruits of their genius by unscrupulous people who prey on their trusting nature and lack of business and legal knowledge".

Source NME

A wind of change is blowing for the Scorpions. The German hard rock band has announced they're packing it in soon after rocking like a hurricane for over 40 years.

Known for hits like Big City Nights, Still Loving You and their biggest smash, 1990's power ballad Wind of Change, Scorpions said on their website Sunday that "we agree we have reached the end of the road" and would call it a day after releasing their final album Sting In The Tail and touring behind it.

"Yeah, we're ending it," said guitarist Rufolf Schenker, who founded the group in 1965. "We're not getting any younger. We don't want to hear our fans saying, 'Back in the day they made great records.'"

Here is the message on the band's site:

"It was always our pleasure, our purpose in life, our passion and we were fortunate enough to make music for you - whether it was live on stage or in the studio, creating new songs.

"While we were working on our album these past few months, we could literally feel how powerful and creative our work was - and how much fun we were still having, in the process. But there was also something else: We want to end the Scorpion's extraordinary career on a high note. We are extremely grateful for the fact that we still have the same passion for music we've always had since the beginning. This is why, especially now, we agree we have reached the end of the road.

"We finish our career with an album we consider to be one of the best we have ever recorded and with a tour that will start in our home country Germany and take us to five different continents over the next few years.

"We want you, our fans, to be the first to know about this. Thank you for your never-ending support throughout the years!

"We uploaded the very first snippets from our new album for you. And now…let's get the party started and get ready for a Sting In The Tail! See you on the world tour."

Of course, there is an upside to all of this: In a few years the band could reunite for a lucrative comeback tour...right around the time they hit senior citizen status.

Source musicradar