It’s been a bittersweet couple of weeks for all of us – S4M Towers included. The news that Pete Quaife, the original bassist from The Kinks passed away bummed us out, but if you needed an excuse to dig out your old Kinks Best Of, you’ve now got one. Go do it. And a big congratulations to Stevie Wonder who redeemed himself from a shocking performance moonlighting as a Uruguayan linesman, to bomb it back from South Africa and close Glasto with an absolute stormer of a set.

On other news, I’m heartbroken that the X Factor auditions came to Glasgow without me knowing; my plans for making it big as a Mike Patton tribute act by pissing in my shoes and then hurling them at Simon Cowell’s face will have to wait for another year. I’m consoling myself with the new Sophie Hunger LP, which must be the best thing to come out of Switzerland since chocolate – find out more in Album Reviews. Roland McIntyre braved a Dublin moshpit to bring you a review of Rage Against The Machine, Anna’s been blissed out on the new Foals single, Jeeshan’s fallen in love with Richard James – no, not that one – that would be terrifying – and big boss Ash has come screaming out of the closet marked ‘Progressive Rock’. Never let it be said that perceptions of being cool will cloud Shout4Music’s judgment, although, given that you know what most of us look like, then you probably knew that…hmmmfff….

The rest of the week will mostly be taken up by launching ourselves at the postman, excitedly demanding if our God Speed You! Black Emperor tickets are here yet. It doesn’t matter that the tour isn’t until December – we want them NOW to be able to look at them, stroke them, and look at them again, and then show them to people more proudly than if they were pictures of our children meeting Barack Obama.

Talking of our American friends, they seem to have gone through a controversial period – they’ve elected a President with an IQ of more than 14, they’ve discovered hitherto unknown talents at the game of soccerball…Shout4Music is worried about this….particularly since we’ve put up a big sign saying OIL HERE in the back garden in the hope of being invaded…(there’s a bigger plan at work here; basically when they come to give us democracy and Jim Davidson comes out to do his troop-entertaining bit, we bundle him into a car, drop him into a Nation of Islam meeting and see if the horrible little racist dick gets out alive…we sincerely hope he doesn’t..)

On this note, it’s perhaps best to remember what out American cousins do consistently well through the ages – straight ahead rock music. The Gaslight Anthem have been touring over here recently, and are currently on the Eurofestival circuit, and are well worth catching. There’s bits of Springsteen, bits of Tom Petty, but with the distortion pedals working overtime and more tattoos on their bodies than candidates for compulsory sterilization / euthanasia on Jeremy Kyle….come the revolution….you fuckers just wait….we’re putting a bomb in the T4 studios…finally our vermin of a species will be forced to start evolving…anyway, yes, Gaslight Anthem! Well good. Have a snout at the title track from their new album ‘American Slang’ on this here video.

SHOUT4MUSIC – THE BEST MUSICAL COPY SINCE SNOW PATROL BOUGHT THEIR FIRST U2 ALBUM

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS will release ‘Mojo’ on June 14^th, their first studio album in eight years, in mid-June on Reprise Records. ‘Mojo’ will be released on CD, digital and vinyl formats. A single ‘I Should’ve Known It’ will be released on the same day.

News of the album’s release date follows the recent confirmation of the band’s 2010 North American tour, produced by Live Nation, which will take the band through a mix of top arenas and amphitheaters across the US and Canada. Tickets are on sale now at LiveNation.com.

Special guest artists on the tour will include a mix of appearances by My Morning Jacket, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Joe Cocker, ZZ Top, and Drive-By Truckers.

All 2010 Tour tickets purchased online will include an MP3 download of every track on the Heartbreakers’ electrifying new album, ‘Mojo’. It will work like this; once fans purchase tickets online they will receive an email with codes entitling them to download two tracks from ‘Mojo’ (“First Flash Of Freedom” and “Good Enough.”) Then, on the release date of the album, currently slated for this spring, ticket buyers will be sent a download of the entire album. Also included with every online ticket purchase, to be delivered at the end of the 2010 tour, will be a selection of live tracks recorded during the tour.

Mojo is a fiery statement from a band that is making some of their most exciting music over three decades into their career. “Good Enough” from the new album is now available for streaming at the revamped TOMPETTY.com.

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, their first year of eligibility, and in recent years have continued to build on their already legendary success. The band’s sold-out 2008 tour was the biggest of their career and came right after the band’s acclaimed Super Bowl XLII halftime performance with a worldwide audience of nearly a billion people. The 2009 release of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ career spanning Live Anthology garnered glowing reviews including a rave four and a half stars from Rolling Stone. The 2007 release of the Peter Bogdanovich-directed documentary Runnin’ Down A Dream earned a Grammy award and established the Heartbreakers’ story as a striking embodiment of the American Dream.

TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS released their debut album in 1976. They have since sold more than 60 million records. Between the Heartbreakers’ recordings and his solo work, Tom Petty has received 18 Grammy nominations and been honored with lifetime achievement awards including Billboard’s Century Award, MTV’s Video Vanguard Award, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Tom Petty, with the Heartbreakers at his side, has become a rock and roll icon lauded by fellow musicians and music lovers worldwide. Tom Petty’s Sirius/XM radio show, Tom Petty’s Buried Treasure, is one of the most beloved and popular shows on satellite radio. It features Tom Petty spinning favorite tunes from his extensive private music collection.

For more information on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, their upcoming album Mojo, their upcoming tour, The Highway Companions Fan Club, and premium ticket packages, please visit www.tompetty.com and www.livenation.com.

New Wave veteran Steve Murray has enjoyed a long and varied musical career since early success with ‘Fast Cars’ in the late 70’s. His CV peppered with numerous high profile session musician gigs, Murray seems to be one of those well-respected ‘behind the scenes’ guys who has finally decided  to take the plunge and branch out on his own, with backing band ‘Kingbird’. Together they offer an appealing brand of stripped back alt country numbers on debut EP ‘The Hand of Fate’.

There is a deliberate retro feel to single ‘So James Dean’, and it’s a real grower. With the shuffling charm of Murray’s accomplished guitar playing blending well with a strong chorus, a neat piano hook and unpretentious lyrics. Overall this is a solid 4-track EP from a ‘musician’s musician’ with a natural feel for a tune, who doesn’t feel the need to have to try too hard. The other tracks are ‘You’re So Funny’, the Tom Petty sounding ‘American Girls’ and ‘Twisting the Hand of Fate’. This fine, short collection is a touch nostalgic, and has that ‘lived in’ feel of later Lou Reed stuff. The harmonies could be tightened up a little and lead guitar brought out more, especially on the single. But there is enough here to anticipate a good album, which might turn out to be one of those sleeper hits like Richard Hawley’s Cole Corner.