Ska Band Madness will be headling the Radio 1/NME Stage on Sunday 11^th July.  Madness’ whos songs include ‘House of Fun’, ‘Baggy Trousers’ and ‘One Step Beyond’ have been going for a massive 30 years since their debut single ‘The Prince’. Joining the boys of madness is Jamie T

Jamie who recently picked up a NME Award for Best Solo Artist honour, will also take to the Radio 1/NME Stage this year. This is his third time at  Balado so expect him to tear up the place.

After coming from practically nowhere, Mancunian dance trio Delphic are back at T in the Park for the second year after going down a storm 2009. Joining Delphic is Fast-rising Glasgow-based Kassidy who apparently make more noise with four acoustic guitars than most bands can muster with a wall of electrics, bass and drums. They are also Returning to T in the Park after their debut on the T Break Stage last year after working with  producer of the day Jim Abbiss (Arctic Monkeys/Kasabian/Stereophonics).

Italian’s the Crookers will bring their twisted tracks to Balado for their debut T in the Park set in the Slam Tent. The two mad men from Milan have had their remixing skills called upon by A-list stars from U2 to Lady Gaga. You may reconise these boys from there smash hit with Kid Cudi ‘Day N Night’.

Paloma Faith, Frank Turner. The Sunshine Underground and The Middle East will also be joining the line up of acts.

Two gauntlets that were thrown down and smashed, one by Woody Harleson in an average 80’s movie and the second by a sassy trio of ladies fronting the latest girl band fad, Girls Can’t Catch. You may wonder how Flip knows these girls can actually catch, well to be blunt, we threw things at them. The age old test of ‘think fast’ worked its magic once again, these girls can indeed catch and luckily for their careers they can actually sing too.

Jess Stickley, explained the story behind their name: “We came up with loads of names when we first got together, this name was suggested by our label and we heard and said we absolutely love it.

“I’m not sure we like it now we keep getting things thrown at us, but we didn’t think about that at the time!”
The band shares their label ‘Fascination’ with Girls Aloud and The Saturdays, the threesome even got to support Girls Aloud for six weeks on their latest tour.

“I would say that we are a very vocal band and we have never once mimed, only on video shoots, that’s our thing.”

“Plus we’re short, we’re all under 5’4 it’s great.” added Phoebe.

Jess Stickley, explained the story behind their name: “We came up with loads of names when we first got together, this name was suggested by our label and we heard and said we absolutely love it.

“I’m not sure we like it now we keep getting things thrown at us, but we didn’t think about that at the time!”

The band shares their label ‘Fascination’ with Girls Aloud and The Saturdays, the threesome even got to support Girls Aloud for six weeks on their latest tour.

Nevertheless Daizy Agnew, the eldest of the group felt the band still had a place in an industry flooded with girl groups.

“I would say that we are a very vocal band and we have never once mimed, only on video shoots, that’s our thing.”

“Plus we’re short, we’re all under 5’4 it’s great.” added Phoebe.

Despite their shortcomings the pygmy pop starlets tick all the boxes on stage, striking synchronised seductive poses and holding their catchy melodic tunes well.

It has to be applauded when a relatively unknown act can play pop music to a University crowd without suffering an onslaught of bottles and abuse, like so many z-list celebrities that clog up student unions across the country.

The group does have some quite interesting and unusual stories to tell, Jess won the chance to record with Jay-Z and Alicia Key’s producer in New York, which is coincidently how she was scouted for Girls Can’t Catch.

You may even recognise Phoebe from X-Factor 2007 contestants Hope, she said: “I think X-Factor is great television, it’s hard work to be on the show but if you are smart after you come out then it can be a great opportunity, it’s lead me on to Girls Can’t Catch and I couldn’t be more grateful for that.”

Mystic Daizy lists one of her hobbies as reading tarot cards and recorded her first solo album at just fifteen. Recently she almost entered in to the Eurovision song contest last year, until Andrew Lloyd Webber decided he did not want the girl band she was in to take part.

If you see the girls live you can expect a set list including their latest single ‘Echo’ which is currently getting played on Radio 1 and their debut ‘Keep Your Head Up’.  Both are great sing along tracks that have charted in the top thirty in recent weeks.

Girls Can’t Catch have finished recording their debut album and told us they are really looking forward to it. Although they all differed in opinion on their personal highlights from the album.

Daizy said: “My favourite track is like an R’nB track called ‘You’re The Kind Of Man’ so when you hear the album have a listen to that song, I absolutely love it.”

The girls also did a cover of an indie song for the album, which could be Daniel Merriweathers ‘Red’ which they performed at the iTunes festival.

“It’s really cool and different” explained Phoebe. “We put our own spin on it and it’s a really wicked tune.”

Jess thought her favourite track was a song called ‘Unconditional’ “It’s more of a dancey one, so it’s quite different from the rest of our album.”

The girls are gorgeous, have a great name, decent music and can even catch. What more could they want? A top ten single? Well keep if they keep their eye on the ball, it should be easy!

In coming weeks Girls Can’t Catch will be playing National Student Pride in Brighton and a host of Universities in Durham, Hull and Hertfordshire.

For more information on Girls Can’t Catch check out their Myspace or official website.

We all have things we ‘have’ to do in life that we don’t really enjoy.  Inevitable jobs that don’t give us any pleasure but there very existence makes our own little worlds go round.  Things like cleaning the bathroom, taking the bins out and, included on my own personal list, going to Ikea.

I’m not a big fan of shopping in general but Ikea has a very special place in my mind.  The mention of the word brings me out in a sweat, the mere glance of  an allan key shortens my breath and the sight of the giant yellow letters dominating the skyline of which every provincial town the store landed on*brings a small tear of regret to my eyes.

You’d think that my hatred for Ikea would mean that I would never have to go there, never swing a big blue bag over my shoulder and picking up a pocket full of little pencils because they look like they might be useful at a later date but no; my name is Jim and I am an IKEAHOLIC.

I appreciated that the furniture (and lets not forget the tea lights) that are within my Swedish Flat Pack hell are cheap, functional and sometimes stylish, I’m even partial to a plateful of Meatballs from time to time but I am also aware that once I walk through the big automatic sliding doors and spot a brightly coloured lamp or a big sofa with “oh-so-clever” storage it has a similar effect on me to having a lobotomy.

Now, I’m not a doctor and I have only pretended to be so on a number of occasions (and those were for either sex of money) but I’m pretty sure that I could put together a reasonable assessment of the ‘Flat Pack Effect’ and the physiological changes that go through the mind once entering the Blue and Yellow walls of Ikea.  They manifest themselves in three, very clear areas.

Ikea Blindness:

Once inside Ikea it is impossible to think of a world outside Ikea.  For example. If you are organised enough to go into Ikea with a list of items you might like (this will in no way be an exclusive list – you will have at least twice as many items in your trolley as on your list by the end of your eight hour shopping spree) You become incapable of imagining another shop that might sell an item as rare as, for example, a bed.  Ikea is the only option.  On several occasions I have actually had vary versions of the below conversations:
Jim: “Well these are the Dressing tables”
Mrs Jim: “Hmmm. They’re not very nice are they?”
Jim: “No, and I don’t think they’ll really fit where we want them.”
Mrs Jim: “Yes, but we do need a dressing table and this is all they have so we better get one of them”
Jim: “Yes, we do NEED to get one”
(Jim then a happily purchase horrible and ill fitting dressing table)

Maybe it’s the lack of windows (or maybe it’s the unwillingness to ever go to any other shops ever again) but for that brief time the furniture on offer in that store is the ONLY furniture on earth.

Ikea Divorce:

It is impossible to leave Ikea as much in love with your partner than you went in.  In fact I think that only the strongest relationships can result in both members coming out of Ikea alive.  There are so many different things to argue about, not only the design, colour etc but also the realms of physics can be argued over.  Simple facts are not enough in this situation and it is perfectly normal to ‘Loudly discuss’ if a 2 meter wide item will fit into a 1meter wide space… it wont… I’ve tried… I was wrong…. And I will never forget it.

In fact, I think the store could make a killing selling DIY divorces.  They would be called ‘Fuckov’ and there probably wouldn’t be any left when you got to the self service area. Incidentally, Ikea is a very stressful environment for men.

I thought this might be down to the unnaturally high levels of scatter cushions but I have been informed of late that it is in fact because we can’t see the exit to the store at any one moment and this messes with the male primeval instinct for escape.

Ikea Rage:

It starts as you turn off the motorway into the car park. You thought you were being clever by getting up at stupid o’clock in the morning to beat the rush: so did 8,000 others. The car park is full and it takes a good hour to park.
Simmering now, you walk three miles to the entrance to find that all the trolleys have been left not far from where you parked. Another half-hour wasted. Finally you are inside. Sucked into the one-way system. You pick up your BLOMMA flower bouquet and carry on. Three steps later, you realise you forgot the VASEN glass vase, so you turn round to pick it up. Only thousands of Ikeaholics are trudging relentlessly towards you like the Red Army. You can see it, but it remains tantalisingly out of reach.

Now you have to go all the way round the shop to get back to it. Half-way round you see a short-cut so dive through. But there are no short-cuts in Ikea: only worm holes. You come out by the meatballs and start again. This time you get the VASEN glass vase on your way past, together with the glasses, table mats, napkins and cutlery you didn’t want. You have made it to bedroom furniture. And the assistant is loading the last PAX wardrobe with 2 doors in the entire shop onto the guy in front’s trolley. This is only wardrobe in the entire fucking universe that fits the one metre gap that has had me sleeping on the couch for the last two weeks. So you push your trolley into the bastard in front and storm off screaming ‘I didn’t fucking want it anyway’.

That’s it, that’s my thesis.  Yes, it’s not that scientific but it has been the result of several hours of blood, sweat and tears literally.

All I have to do now is sit back and wait for the Nobel Prize to arrive… but I may just nip out for 100 tea lights whilst I’m waiting.

Hello to you all!

So it’s been a while since Flip! has received  lots of your questions for me to help with, so I just wanted to remind you all that I’m still here and still more than willing to help anyone with any questions that you need help with! Whether it be sex, drugs, future or friendship problems, I promise to do my best to help each and everyone of you out there!

All you have to do is send me your questions to katie@flipstudents.com

Or visit the contact us page and fill in the quick little form. All problems are sent to us confidentially and names can be changed at request.

Remember kids, HIGSON IS HERE TO HELP!

This week London rapper man Tinie Tempah has knocked off smooth talker (well singer) Jason Derulo from the number one spot to claim it as his own. I have to be honest when i first herd this song I was thinking; ‘Oh god, please no’….but he’s grown on me, and i’ve listened to some of his old stuff, the guys not too bad.

So as well as having a new number 1 on this weeks chart we have two new entries, taken up by Boyzones first single since Steven Gately’s sudden death at number 9, and we have Wiley ft Emeli in at number 8 with Never Be Your Woman.

This week we are also seeing a lot of down falls including Timberland with Katy Perry at number 7, Alicia Keys with Empire State of Mind Part 2 at number 6 with Florence&Dizzee’s You Got The Dirtee Love (amazing!) and our last fallen star is the former number one Jason Derulo at number 3.

Other than that, RiRi has claimed number 2 as her own with Rude Boy, Ellie Goulding doesn’t seem to want to leave the number 4 slot and in at number 10 this week with have the boring Cheryl Cole with Parachute, which is an Okay song, but it would suit a Beyonce feel more though, well in my opinion anyway.

Over on this weeks album charts, we see a new number one coming from rising star Ellie Goulding with her Lights album, knocking down Lady Gagagagagaga and her Fame Monster.

In at number three we have Ms Keys, in fourth we have the annoying class of Glee who have fallen two places this week, pushing Florence and The Machine down to fifth. Paolo Nutini has pushed his way up to number 6, and Mumford & Sons have also climbed up to number 7.

After being taken down from the number one slot in the singles chart, Mr Derulo has found himself as the second new entry in at number 8, but he has RiRi climbing back up the chart behind him at number 9, and she had Andre Rieu coming up from behind her at number 10.

Thats your lot for this week.

Till next week my friends!

Fire up the Quattr baby and throw all fashion sense out of the window as the third and final series of Ashes To Ashes, starring Philip Glenister and Keeley Hawes, is about to hit our screens. After the bomb shell series two finished on, this series hopes to tie up all the loose ends and give us some much needed answers.

DI Alex Drake thought she’d made it home to the present day but wakes to find herself in a hospital bed back in 1983, The poor girl. If that wasnt enough her boss is the one that put her there too.

Things go from bad to worse with Gene on the run, fellow copper Ray Carling has been promoted to DI. Its not good news for DC Chris Skelton either as we discover him and WPC Shaz Granger have ended their romance. A new character in the show DCI Jim Keats, is breathing down everyone’s necks but what is he doing at CID?

Jim’s been sent by Scotland Yard to investigate the shooting of Alex. But we soon know that Gene and Jim have a history as Keats throws some unexpected light on past events. Jim’s presence puts a strain on the team which is exacerbated when Gene is forced to turn in his badge until his name is cleared.

Expect the unexpected with this explosive final series.

The new series of Ashes to Ashes debuts soon on BBC One (Air date and Time to be posted here when available)

We cant get enough of music here at Flip! Towers which is why as well as our weekly chart round up we know bring you the midweek music summary. Normally we would tell you on Sunday who has made it to Number One this week but we forgot this week as we were a little to excited about our T in the Park tickets.

Anyway service will be resumed this week but for now, lets get on to the Midweek chart. We start with the Album Charts. As you may know Lady Gaga’s album ‘The Fame’ has been in the charts for well over a year now, and was Number One again on Sunday. This week however she has been knocked of her perch by our new favourite lady Ellie Goulding. Her debut album ‘Lights’ is on top comfortably and will most likely stay there til Sunday.

Rhiannas album ‘Rated R’ is nearly in the top ten with albums from Jason Derulo and John Barrowman set to join her. Over on the Singles chart, Sunday will see a new Number One in the form of Tinie Tempah (no its not a CBeebies Show) with ‘Pass Out’. Tinie (real name Patrick) is currently on tour with Chipmunk and has already been named as one of the Ten to look out for on MTV’s 10 for 10.

Rihanna and her single ‘Rude Boy’ is still sitting steady in the top five whilst Daisy Dares You and Boyzone are steadily making there way in to the top 15. Another climber on the chart is Wiley with ‘Never Be Your Woman’ feat. Emeli Sandé, whilst going stale fast is Cheryl Cole’s ‘Parachute’ having not moved very far from Sunday.

That’s your lot for now, See you Sunday.

Kings Of Leon and Kasabian will headline this year’s V Festival. The festival, spread across Hylands Park, Chelmsford and Weston Park, Staffs, will take place on 21 and 22 August and features the likes of  festival veterans Prodigy and Stereophonics, as well as up-and-coming crowd pleasers Florence + The Machine, White Lies and Paolo Nutini.

There will also be performances from Faithless, The Kooks, The Courteeners, La Roux, Ellie Goulding and many more, to mark the 15th anniversary of the spectacular festival.

Other Acts include: Editors, Paul Weller, Passion Pitt, Skunk Anansie, David Guetta, Pixxie Lott, Madness, Scouting For Girls, Shedseven, Plan B, Paloma Faith, Cheryl Cole, Pet Shop Boys, Mika, Chase and Status, Sugababes, Kate Nash and Groove Armarda.

More acts are still set to be annouced. Tickets for this summer’s shindig will go on sale at 9am this Friday (5 March). Check www.vfestival.com on Friday morning for official outlets.

Hairy knuckle rock ‘n’ rollers Band Of Skulls have confirmed an extensive UK tour for later this year. The Band today have also confirmed details of a UK tour for this May. The trio, who release their debut album, ’Baby Darling Doll Face Honey’ next month, will start the tour in Leeds on 7th May, and finish with a date at London’s Electric Ballroom a week later.

Fresh from a tour of the United States and Canada, Band Of Skulls are almost constantly on the road right now, and played a rapturous show in London’s 100 Club just last month as well as selling out the Ruby Lounge in Manchester.

The dates are:

MAY
7 Leeds Cockpit
8 Glasgow Classic Grand
9 Manchester – The Factory Manchester (FAC251)
10 Nottingham Rescue Rooms
11 Wolverhampton Slade Rooms
13 Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
14 London Electric Ballroom

Tickets for the tour are available now at all good ticket shops.

Kasabian scooped two awards – for Best Album (‘West Ryder Lunatic Pauper Asylum’) and Best Album Artwork. Muse took home the Best British Band award plus the Best Website (for Muse.mu) award.

The following acts Kasabian, Marina And The Diamonds, The Big Pink, Lily Allen, Hole and The Maccabees all performed live at the awards.

The Specials, who received the Outstanding Contribution To Music award, also performed live, as did this year’s Godlike Genius Paul Weller. To find out who the winners and losers were on the night, keep reading below.

The Shockwaves NME Awards 2010 winners and nominees were:

Godlike Genius
Paul Weller

Outstanding Contribution To Music
The Specials

Best British Band (sponsored by Shockwaves)
Winner: Muse
Nominated: Arctic Monkeys, Biffy Clyro, Kasabian, Oasis

Best International Band (sponsored by 4music/T4)
Winner: Paramore
Nominated: Green Day, Kings Of Leon, Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Best Solo Artist
Winner: Jamie T
Nominated: Dizzee Rascal, Florence And The Machine, Julian Casablancas, Lady Gaga

Best New Band (sponsored by USC)
Winner: Bombay Bicycle Club
Nominated: The Big Pink, Mumford & Sons, The xx, La Roux

Best Live Band (sponsored by Tuborg)
Winner: Arctic Monkeys
Nominated: Kasabian, Muse, Radiohead, Them Crooked Vultures

Best Album (sponsored by HMV)
Winner: Kasabian – ‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’
Nominated: Arctic Monkeys – ‘Humbug’, Muse – ‘The Resistance’, The Cribs – ‘Ignore The Ignorant’, The Horrors – ‘Primary Colours’

Best Track (sponsored by NME Radio)
Winner: The Big Pink – ‘Dominos’
Nominated: Animal Collective – ‘My Girls’, Arctic Monkeys – ‘Crying Lightning’, Florence And The Machine – ‘Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)’, Jamie T – ‘Sticks N’ Stones’

Best Video (sponsored by NME TV)
Winner: Biffy Clyro – ‘The Captain’
Nominated: Arctic Monkeys – ‘Cornerstone ‘, Kasabian – ‘Fire’, The Maccabees – ‘Can You Give It’, Oasis – ‘Falling Down’

Best Live Event
Winner: Blur at Hyde Park
Nominated: Jay-Z at Alexandra Palace, Muse at Teignmouth, Oasis at Heaton Park, The Dead Weather at Shoreditch Church

Best Festival
Winner: Glastonbury
Nominated: Download, Reading And Leeds Festivals, T In The Park, V Festival

Best Dancefloor Filler
Winner: La Roux – ‘In For The Kill’ (Skream Remix)
Nominated: Dizzee Rascal And Armand Van Helden – ‘Bonkers’, Florence And The Machine – ‘You’ve Got The Love’, Lady Gaga – ‘Poker Face’, Yeah Yeah Yeahs – ‘Zero’

Best TV Show
Winner: The Inbetweeners
Nominated: Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Peep Show, Skins, True Blood

Best Film
Winner: Inglourious Basterds
Nominated: (500) Days Of Summer, In The Loop, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Where The Wild Things Are

Best DVD
Winner: The Mighty Boosh – Future Sailors
Nominated: Kings Of Leon – Live At The The O2 Arena, Flight Of The Conchords – Complete HBO Second Season, The Killers – Live From The Royal Albert Hall, Nirvana – Live At Reading

Giving It Back Fan Award
Winner: Lily Allen for her Twitter ticket treasure hunt
Nominated: Kasabian and Noel Fielding for free ‘Vlad The Impaler’ video, Danger Mouse for leaking ‘Dark Night Of The Soul’, Arctic Monkeys for their Oxfam golden tickets, Vampire Weekend for giving away ‘Horchata’ from the album ‘Contra’

Hero Of The Year
Winner: Rage Against The Machine
Nominated: Beyoncé Knowles, Noel Gallagher, Matt Bellamy, Alex Turner

Villain Of The Year
Winner: Kanye West
Nominated: Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher, Simon Cowell, Lady Gaga

Best Dressed
Winner: Lady Gaga
Nominated: Liam Gallagher, Noel Fielding, Florence Welch, Karen O

Worst Dressed
Winner: Lady Gaga
Nominated: Matt Bellamy, Katy Perry, Liam Gallagher, Elly Jackson (La Roux)

Worst Album
Winner: The Jonas Brothers – ‘Lines Vines Trying Times’
Nominated: Green Day – ’21st Century Breakdown’, Lady Gaga – ‘The Fame’, U2 – ‘No Line On The Horizon’, Arctic Monkeys – ‘Humbug’

Worst Band
Winner: JLS
Nominated: Green Day, Oasis, Jonas Brothers, Paramore

Hottest Man
Winner: Matt Bellamy (Muse)

Hottest Woman
Winner: Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)

Best Website (excluding NME.COM)
Winner: Muse.mu
Nominated: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Greenday.com

Best Album Artwork
Winner: Kasabian – ‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’
Nominated: Muse – ‘The Resistance’, Green Day – ’21st Century Breakdown’, The Cribs – ‘Ignore The Ignorant’, Manic Street Preachers – ‘Journal For Plague Lovers ‘

Best Band Blog
Winner: Radiohead (Radiohead.com/deadairspace)
Nominated: Muse (Muse.mu and Twitter.com/muse), Noel Gallagher (Oasisinet.com), Los Campesinos! (Loscampesinos.com), Paramore (Paramore.net)