DEBUT IS FINALLY WORTH THE WAIT...
AFTER a lengthy wait, Joy Crookes has finally come through with her debut album, and she does not disappoint.
The London soul singer has been capturing hearts for the last few years with her unique tone and was nominated for BBC Music’s Sound Of 2020 and the Brit Awards rising star award.
Skin treats listeners to brass bands, an 18- strong string section, soothing lyrics and her rich vocals.
The record is said to have been written by Crookes between the ages of 15 and 21, and if this is a sign of her early talent, it offers an exciting prospect of what the future holds for this young powerhouse.
DURING his live concerts, Dave Grohl keeps a clock timer to the side of the stage.
This is not so he can count down the minutes until the end of his set — it’s to stop him from playing one, two, even three hours over his allotted time.
This entertaining piece of information is just one of many contained in the newly published memoirs of the veteran rocker, titled The Storyteller.
He has started touring his accompanying self- written oneman show, revealing: “I had shaped and formed and written it just a few days before and wanted to keep it really loose.
The event sees Grohl deliver a series of vignettes from the book.
He charts his childhood in Washington DC, his rise to fame as the drummer in Nirvana, the tragic death of singer Kurt Cobain and his own continuing success with stadium rockers Foo Fighters.
At one point he even wheels out a drum kit and clatters away to a recording of Smells Like Teen Spirit.
“I was afraid that I wasn’t going to say enough — and I feel like I said too much,” he adds.
Unsurprisingly, Grohl’s show ran over time, despite the presence of his trusty stage- side clock.
The 52-year-old is releasing his memoir as Nevermind, the beloved second album by grunge pioneers Nirvana, turns 30.
But The Storyteller focuses less on narrative sweep and more on individual moments that, through his charming and enthusiastic delivery, tell a bigger picture.
The Storyteller hurtles through Grohl’s time in cult hardcore band Scream before delving into Nirvana’s stratospheric rise to international fame.
He recalls his four years beside frontman Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic, saying: “Bless all the people at the labels. We love them. They’re great. But nobody had the foresight to imagine we would become a hugely popular band.
“I think the original pressing, I think it sold 6,000 copies in its first week or something like that. But then it was when the video hit MTV, that’s when everything started to explode.
Grohl writes eloquently about the death of Cobain, who killed himself in 1994, the subsequent dissolution of Nirvana and the period of soul searching that followed.
The book will do nothing to dispel his reputation as the nicest guy in rock but it does add nuance.
“I am a generally happy, positive, hopeful person,” he explains.
“I try to be at least.”
The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl, is out now.