September 26th, 2011

Former R.E.M bassist Mike Mills has spoken of his ‘sadness’ that he will never share a platform with Michael Stipe and Peter Buck again, but has insisted the former bandmates are happy with the tough decision they have made.

Cast mainman John Power has revealed the band’s comeback album is now finished, and is due to be mixed within the next few days.

Power broke the news on Cast’s official Twitter feed, writing: “So it’s all recorded, 12 tracks, from the first take of the first song to the last breath blown down the microphone on the last track. Should begin mixing in the next few days, then mastered and then ready for release.”

Pete Doherty debuted a new track written for Amy Winehouse at a Brixton Academy appearance last Friday, a gig he has said will be his final performance for a ‘long time’.

Doherty, a close friend of Amy Winehouse, also dedicated the show to the singer, who died in July, before unveiling the new song.

Brett Anderson’s new solo album ‘Black Rainbows’ is released this week

Live performance of Bell X1′s brilliant single ‘The Great Defector’, originally released in 2009

The Mystery Jets man’s solo album ‘Life In Monochrome’ is released today

Legendary Unplugged performance of ‘On a Plain’, track from Nirvana’s seminal ‘Nevermind’, which is re-released this week

New album ‘Vice Verses’ is released this week

Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan has described U2 gig-goers as ‘cardboard cut-outs’ after his band supported the Irish supergroup on a portion of their record breaking 360 world tour.

Quoted in The Sun newspaper, Meighan attacked a perceived lack of passion in those who witnessed Kasabian’s support slots, and insisted the Leicester four-piece will never act as a support band again.

Coldplay paid tribute to R.E.M last Friday (September 24th) by covering the band’s 1993 single ‘Everybody Hurts‘ during a concert in Atlanta.

Addressing the crowd, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin described R.E.M as ‘one of our favourite bands’, before launching into the cover.