17 Again’ star Zac was given a stark warning by his acting peer on the dangers of substance abuse, which left a lasting impression on him. Zac said: “It was kind of his way-out-the-door, last-minute advice. He said, ‘Oh, by the way, if you really want to mess this all up, try heroin.’ “I said, ‘Thanks’, and he said, ‘No, seriously, that’s pretty much the only way you’re going to screw this up, and you shouldn’t go down that road - it will mess you up without fail. Do not do drugs.’ “That was enough for me; that’s all I needed to hear.” The 21-year-old actor - who shot to fame in the hit ‘Hugh School Musical’ films - added his strict upbringing meant he didn’t get into the same kind of trouble as his friends growing up. Rather than misbehave Zac channelled all his energy into skateboarding. He added: “I could never get into trouble like the rest of my friends. My parents were very strict and taught me good values, whenever I did anything wrong my mom would somehow know it. “I started skateboarding as a kid - it’s like surfing on the sidewalk. I love it. It’s a Zen thing, so much better than walking. It’s almost spiritual.” ‘17 Again’ is released across Europe from April 10.

In much the same way that José González is from Sweden and not Spain, Paolo Nutini is not a smooth Italian pop star, but a soul-influenced adult alternative singer and songwriter from the exceedingly not continental town of Paisley, Scotland. Raised in a music-loving family, with influences ranging from folk to opera to the jazz and R&B favorites of his father, and discovering homegrown folkies like John Martyn in his teens, Nutini left school in his mid-teens to focus on developing his own musical chops. Moving from Paisley to London at age 16, he garnered enough attention in local showcase clubs to be signed to the British arm of Atlantic Records just after he turned 18. Working with Coldplay and Badly Drawn Boy producer Ken Nelson, Nutini was the recipient of an impressive amount of label buzz even before his first single, “Last Request,” was released in the early summer of 2006. Nutini appeared at special Atlantic Records showcases at Carnegie Hall and the Montreaux Jazz Festival, as well as showcase sets opening for the Rolling Stones and Paul Weller. Nutini’s debut album, These Streets, was released in July 2006 in the U.K. (it wasn’t until January of the following year that it made it into the U.S.) alongside its second single, “Jenny Don’t Be Hasty.”

Paolo Nutini returns with a 12-date UK tour this May to coincide with the release of his impressive new album ‘Sunny Side Up’ (June 1st), written by Paolo Nutini and produced by Ethan Johns (Kings Of Leon, Ryan Adams) and Paolo.

Preceding this is the release of the first single from the album ‘Candy’.

Paolo Nutini UK dates:

May
Sat 2nd LINCOLN, Engine Shed 0871 4244 555 www.gigsandtours.com
Sun 3rd PRESTON, 53 Degrees 01772 893 000 www.gigsandtours.com
Fri 8th LIVERPOOL, Academy 0844 477 2000 www.gigsandtours.com
Mon 11th NORWICH, UEA 01603 508050 www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk
Tue 12th LONDON, Electric Ballroom 0844 477 2000 www.gigsandtours.com
Wed 13th BRISTOL, Academy 0844 477 2000 www.gigsandtours.com
Thu 14th WOLVERHAMPTON, Wulfran 0870 320 7000 www.gigsandtours.com
Sat 16th ABERDEEN, Music Hall 08444999990 www.gigsinscotland.com
Sun 17th KILMARNOCK, Grand Hall 08444999990 www.gigsinscotland.com
Mon 18th DUNFERMLINE, Alhambra 08444999990 www.gigsinscotland.com
Tue 19th INVERNESS, Ironworks 08444999990 www.gigsinscotland.com
Wed 20th GLASGOW, ABC 08444999990 www.gigsinscotland.com

Tickets go on sale 9am Friday 27th March
Tickets are priced at: £18.50 + booking fee in London / £17.50 + booking fee regionally

As well as the new tour Paolo is making himself busy on the festival circuit playing Coachella, Isle of Wight, Glastonbury, T in the Park, Oxygen and V.

www.paolonutini.com

Deftones announced today they will be performing on the Main Stage at the Reading Festival on August 28th and Leeds Festival on August 30th, 2009 in the UK. ‘We are really excited to be back in the UK for the Reading and Leeds Festivals. As of now our brother Chi will not be with us as he is still recovering, and we want to thank everyone for the continued love and support. It means a lot to the band and to the Cheng Family. Until Chi’s return our friend Sergio Vega will be filling in for him. We’ve known Sergio for a long time and he is part of the family. It’s been a while since we’ve played at Reading and Leeds so we can’t wait to get back and see all of our UK fans.” - Chino Moreno

Former Quicksand bassist and long time friend of Deftones, Sergio Vega, had already temporarily stepped in for Cheng in 1998, and will resume bass duty on April 5th, 2009 when Deftones plays Bamboozle Left in Irvine, California.

www.deftones.com
www.myspace.com/deftones

Europe’s leading secondary ticketing company signs deal with Festival Republic to become the official secondary ticketing partner for the Reading, Leeds and Latitude Festivals viagogo, Europe’s leading secondary ticketing company, has today signed a deal with Festival Republic to become the official secondary ticketing and ticket exchange partner of the Reading, Leeds and Latitude Festivals. This deal marks the first time major music festivals have signed a partnership of this kind. viagogo is not a primary ticket seller but allows fans to buy and sell tickets in a secure environment. viagogo guarantees the transaction and delivery of tickets so fans who buy will actually get their tickets, and fans who sell will actually get paid. viagogo will not sell a ticket it doesn’t have. viagogo will also have a physical pick-up point at Leeds and Latitude festival sites and a pick up point in reading town centre to allow fans to collect their tickets at or very close to the event. Since 2006, viagogo has provided the official ticket resale service for top football clubs such as Manchester United, and Chelsea FC. The Manchester United and Chelsea FC ticket exchanges allow season ticket holders to sell their spare tickets to other fans in a safe and secure environment. This new deal follows viagogo’s partnerships with Madonna and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group and further cements viagogo as Europe’s market leading secondary ticketing company.

Melvin Benn, Managing Director of Festival Republic said: ‘There were some disastrous ticketing issues last year leaving many fans disappointed after ‘buying’ non-existent resale tickets. A number of rouge ticketing websites sprung up offering fans tickets to our festivals that they did not posses. We have therefore agreed to work with viagogo as the recommended and only official ticket exchange for the Reading, Leeds, and Latitude festivals. If fans use other ticket exchanges or buy from unauthorized agents they risk being defrauded and not getting their festival tickets.’

Eric Baker, CEO of viagogo said: ‘viagogo is thrilled to have been chosen as the official ticket exchange for 2009’s Reading, Leeds and Latitude festivals. It is an honour to be working with these events, which are among the premiere music festivals in all the world.’

To buy tickets for The Reading, Leeds and Latitude Festivals through viagogo, click here.

TONY CHRISTIE has been added to this year’s Glastonbury line-up. The crooner will play the main Pyramid Stage on the Sunday afternoon of the three-day festival. Christie, who said he was “in awe” of the event, follows in the footsteps of Neil Diamond, Dame Shirley Bassey, Brian Wilson and James Brown, who have all played Sunday slots over the past few years. Fans can expect to hear him perform his number one hit (Is This The Way To) Amarillo, which spent seven weeks at the top 2005 after it was re-released for Comic Relief. Christie said he was “excited” about performing at the event and told BBC News: “I’m going to do some of the new album tracks and I’ve got to do my old stuff as well. “I did the V Festival three years ago but I think Glastonbury is the big one, so it’s a great honour.” Neil Young, Blur and Bruce Springsteen have already been confirmed as headliners at the festival, with Franz Ferdinand, Lily Allen and Fleet Foxes among the other acts performing. The full line-up will be announced nearer the event, which takes place in Somerset from 27-29 June.

British balladeer Tony Christie proved the continued commercial viability of traditional pop in a post-psychedelic world, scoring a series of easy listening hits that spanned the 1970s. Born Anthony Fitzgerald in South Yorkshire, England, on April 25, 1943, at 18 he joined the popular local group the Counterbeats, later fronting his own combo, Tony Christie & the Trackers. After mounting a solo career, he cut his debut single, “Life’s Too Good to Waste,” in 1966, followed a year later by “Turn Around.” Upon signing to MCA in 1969, Christie teamed with the songwriting and production tandem of Mitch Murray and Peter Callender. Although their first collaboration, “God Is on My Side,” went nowhere, the 1971 LP Las Vegas proved the singer’s breakthrough, generating the Neil Sedaka/Howard Greenfield-penned smash “Is This the Way to Amarillo?” (a number one hit in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Spain), “I Did What I Did for Maria,” and “Don’t Go Down to Reno.” Christie remained a constant of the European charts for much of the decade via subsequent hits including “Avenues and Alleyways” (the theme to the television series The Protectors) and “The Queen of Mardi Gras,” selling more than ten million records during the Me Decade. He also hosted his own BBC variety series, and in 1976 played the role of Magaldi during recording sessions for Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical +Evita.

In 1979 Christie paired with producer Graham Sacher for the blockbuster “Sweet September,” but his stardom waned during the decade to follow. He nevertheless maintained a demanding international tour schedule, and remained a regular presence on television as well. Upon teaming with producer Jack White, who previously masterminded hits for Engelbert Humperdinck and Baywatch heartthrob David Hasselhoff, Christie scored a massive comeback hit with 1990’s “Kiss in the Night.” However, he again spent a number of years on the cabaret circuit before enjoying a new wave of popularity and credibility via the 1999 single “Walk Like a Panther,” written for him by Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker. The single earned Christie his first appearance on Top of the Pops in a quarter century, and his newfound hipster cachet was further solidified when the smash comedy series Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights employed “Is This the Way to Amarillo?” as its theme song. In the spring of 2005, the single was re-released to raise funds for the charity Comic Relief, and spent seven weeks atop the U.K. pop charts. After cutting the theme for Kay’s spinoff series Max and Paddy, Christie closed out the year with a tongue-in-cheek big-band cover of Slade’s “Merry Xmas Everybody,” which fell shy of the British Top 40

Jack Allsopp - Just Jack

Born in North London, Jack grew up on a diet of dance music including, break dance, electro hip hop and house. A wannabe break dancer at eight, his love of dance music led him to start DJing at the age of fifteen and he soon became submerged in DJ culture and US garage. After completing a degree in Furniture Design Jack enrolled on a community music production course, which heightened his awareness to the potential of sampling. This inspired Jack to concentrate on perfecting his sound by night and to take on a series of unfulfilling jobs by day. “I’ve been a washer upper, a flower arranger, a runner for a TV post production company… I even worked at Gap for while. That made me all the more determined to work at the music. I would get this down time in a studio and be recording all night, and working at Gap all day. It was knackering but it was very inspiring time.” Jack’s debut album, ‘The Outer Marker’ is a collection of songs about modern life, relationships and the pressures of social situations. Originally released by the independent label RG Records, Just Jack’s debut album ‘The Outer Marker’ received fantastic reviews. ‘The Independent’ described it as “impressive”, Q said, “masterful”, the ‘NME’ said “Awesome. Welcome Just Jack, you rule!”, and ‘The Big Issue’ saluted Jack as “The new troubadour of daily life in the UK”.

“The Outer Marker” has recently been re-packaged and re-released and now includes extra tracks and the video for ‘Snowflakes’. It has been receiving plenty of airplay and remixes from the likes of Aphrodite and a famous Cure bootleg of ‘Snowflakes’ is now thrusting Just Jack into the limelight. Recently, Jack and his band played his third ever gig to a great crowd at the Glastonbury Dance Tent and he will be performing at the V Festivals later this summer.

Jack Allsopp on Just Jack:
“I never had heroes and never wanted to be like other musicians”, he says. “I have no affiliations to anyone, I’m not part of a gang, I’m not a part of a scene and I don’t have a sound that’s obviously a part of a scene. I’m Just Jack.” Following the success of Just Jack’s club dates this month, he now embarks on a UK summer tour in support of his stunning new album ‘All Night Cinema’ (June 8th), produced by Jack and Jay Reynolds. Book-ending the 5-date summer tour are festival appearances in Birmingham (June 6th) and Glasgow (June 14th). Jack also plays Glastonbury at the end of June. ‘All Night Cinema’ sees Just Jack at his blistering best, the new single ‘Embers’ (March 30th) has proved to be a big radio hit and is on the Radio One A-List. The second single from the album is set to be ‘Doctor Doctor’ out June 1st. Jack’s recent club tour where he premiered tracks from his new album has been greeted with rave reviews. ‘Blessed with an everyman appeal and a pleasing poetic facility, he performs with a natural charm that few pop artists are able to muster.’

Just Jack UK dates:

June
Sat 6th BIRMINGHAM, Pritchattsbury Festival 0871 230 0010 www.seetickets.com
Sun 7th LIVERPOOL, O2 Academy 2 0844 477 2000 www.ticketweb.co.uk
Mon 8th NEWCASTLE, O2 Academy 2 0844 477 2000 www.ticketweb.co.uk
Wed 10th SHEFFIELD at Leadmill 0870 010 4555 www.ticketweb.co.uk
Thu 11th LONDON, Electric Ballroom 08444 771 000 www.stargreen.com
Sat 13th SCOTLAND, Rock Ness Festival 08444 999 990 www.rockness.co.uk
Sun 14th GLASGOW, The Arches 08444 999 990 www.gigsinscotland.com

Tickets are on sale now
Tickets are priced between £6 & £12 + booking fee

www.justjack.co.uk
www.myspace.com/justjackuk