‘Happy Birthday Guadalupe’ is the fourth Christmas song the Killers have recorded for the charity (RED). All proceeds from the purchase of the single will go to the Global Fund, whose mission is to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria around the world.

This song features Wild Light and Mariachi El Bronx and of course the requisite sexy vocals of Brandon Flowers. (Seriously though, what girl wouldn’t want to hear him singing ‘happy birthday’ directly to her?) The video also stars Luke Perry, who is probably most famous for his role as Dylan in the original Beverly Hills 90120 American tv show. Check it out.

Who doesn’t love the Killers? Like U2, they seem to have at least one song everyone knows and likes to some degree, and have just made a shiny new video for “The World We Live In”, which is Day & Age’s third single.

Stereogum describes it far better than I ever could…

While the rest of the Killers scavenge for trash near their log cabin, Brandon changes into a mirror ball suit (?) and sings to the mountain goats. He’s no help in the wilderness, really. The band probably regrets even inviting him on this bros’ songwriting retreat. Mark is pissed and smashes a chair against the wall. Ronnie can’t get the portable TV to work. Dave forgot his contact lens solution. Worst camping trip ever.

Watch and enjoy.

It’s undeniable that V Festival is a lot more commerical than other music festival’s across the country, and while the bash has certainly recieved the odd bit of criticism for it’s uber radio-friendly line up, the fest is no less fun in our eyes. Certainly – going by the awesome line-up, it’s unsurprising that the event managed to sell out in just two hours this year.

The summer bash – which is happening on Saturday 22nd to Sunday 23rd August – will be taking place across it’s two usual sites this ‘09: Hylands Park, Chelmsford and Weston Park, Staffordshire.

Oasis (pictured right) and The Killers are the two big name headliners confirmed to be playing the festival’s top spot this year. Other major acts gracing the fest’s main stage (aptly titled ‘V Stage’) across the weekend include Razorlight, Snow Patrol, The Specials, Elbow, Biffy Clyro, Lily Allen, James, Seasick Steve and, intriguingly, Taylor Swift.

The smaller sized ‘4Music’ stage will also be featuring further super cool artists including Fatboy Slim, Pendulum, The Ting Tings, The Wombats, Keane, The Enemy, Katy Perry and Dizzee Rascal.

If nothing has still managed to catch your eye (or ear!), why not head over to ‘The Arena’ where you can check out a varied selection including MGMT, Lady GaGa, Happy Mondays, The Streets, Pete Doherty, and latest girl band sensation, British Sea PowerThe Saturdays.

If that’s still not enough, the festival has another 50 acts up its sleeve to announce in the coming few weeks. Exciting!

As I told you earlier, tickets for the Chelmsford leg have sadly sold out. There are still some available for the Staffordshire event, however. For more information regarding ticket outlets, check out V Festival’s website.

Top photo comes from stevec77’s flickr stream, and side photo from John Griffiths’ flickr stream under the Creative Commons License.

So it’s that time of year again, the NME awards are fast approaching, the tours almost over, this year Glasvegas and White Lies headlined to bring back post punk, supported by Friendly Fires and Florence. The tour seems to have gone down well, but now all eyes are on the awards, a short week away… I bring you part two of who I think should win…

Best Track -This award goes straight to MGMT (pictured top). The Ting Tings (pictured right) and Kings of Leon provided us with musical sex with their efforts and Shadow Puppets songwriting was far superior to the other contenders, but on a whole the synth-pop ‘Time to Pretend’ was an instant classic and there’s no question who deserves this the most.

Best Video – Come on! Who doesn’t like seeing a load of wanabee Noel and Liams from around the world?? Of the selection Oasis walk away with the prize. It’s one of the less respected awards but hey, a prize is a prize right.. (NOTE: expect shocking results, last year Justice’s brilliant video for D.A.N.C.E. lost out to the Monkeys studio vid – Teddy Picker, a true WTF moment..)

Best Live Event -Reading - based on line up alone..

Best TV Show – The Mighty Boosh would seem favourites though they haven’t actually put anything out this year.. Skins would’ve been alright if it was last years series, this year our screens were graced with the same old thing marketed as a ‘new breed.’ It’s getting better though, and Effy being sex-on-legs keeps up watching.. Before I go to far on a tangent, this one is up to whoever…

Best Film -The Dark Knight. Easily beats the rest, there’s no need to even look at the other contenders..

Best DVD -This one’s easy too.. the Rolling Stones continue in their pathetic attempt to hold on to their former glory.. washed up and washed out they need to stop trying.. Arctic Monkeys scoop this one, their film actually made it into Vue so it must have done something right, plus it came with an uber trendy free poster..

Best Website -Seeing as we didn’t quite gather enough votes to be in the running, I’ll have to go Last.fm..

Best Band Blog – No Lily Allen?? WTF! If we have to chose from the rest then Foals (pictured left)with the tour shenanigans and free downloads walk away with this one..

Best Album Artwork- The Killers

Best Dancefloor Filler – Dizzee & Calvin

Best Venue – Astoria

Hero of the  Year – Let’s say Obama, purely because I think he’s a sincere guy, though if he screws up don’t point to this as us jumping on the badwagon..

Villain of the Year – John McCain, not because he ran against our hero, but because he’s a stupid bible bashing  idiot.. the man is a grade A fool and was better off out of the race in my much insignificant opinion.. he’s an absolute twat, and the most deserving wanker for this award.. (Where is Boris Johnson?? the man’s a tool, and now I can’t drink on the tube – not that I (or anyone else) ever did…)

Best Dressed – Noel Feilding.. Sorry Alexa .x.

Worst Dressed – Johhny Borell - purely because he needs to be given an award with ‘worst’ at the front..

Worst Album -Jonas Brothers, I don’t even have to listen to it, these guys are a disgrace to music and need to take their disney-emo-wankshit and flush it down the corporate toilet, we can’t wait to see these guys crash’n'burn..

Worst Band -We’re spoilt for choice, do we chose the ‘gender-confused-but-not-enough-balls-to-become-a-tranny’ Tokio Hotel, emo-pin ups Fall Out Boy or the revolting Jonas Bros. it’s up to which one makes you churn the most..

Sexiest Man - In my heterosexual opinion – Miles Kane..

Sexiest Woman – Tbh I’m not a fan of any of them.. some of them (no names) look too much like men to do anything for me..

The NME awards are around the corner, if you want to have your say head on over to the nominations page and cast your votes now! Voting closes at 4pm today (19th February)

Ahh…The Brits. Perhaps more famous for Jarvis Cocker’s stage invasion, or Arctic Monkey’s drunken speeches rather than for it’s showcasing of the best of British music. Either way, every year it certainly proves an interesting watch and this 2009, the controversial show will be presented by disco diva, Kylie Minogue and Gavin and Stacey stars, Mathew Horne and James Corden. There will be performances from Kings of Leon, U2 and Take That to name but a few. You can catch all the action live on ITV1 on February 18th, but if you can’t wait till then, There Goes The Fear is here to tell you about the successful nominees that were announced earlier this week.

The artists leading the way with the highest amount of nominations this year are Welsh songstress, Duffy and Coldplay – both tallying up a total of four nods. Both artists had number 1 albums last year – Duffy with ‘Rockferry‘ and Coldplay with ‘Viva la Vida‘ (pictured right) – so are unsurprisingly up for Mastercard’s Best British Album alongside Elbow, Radiohead and The Ting Tings. Duffy’s ‘Mercy’ and Coldplay’s ‘Viva la Vida’ will also be going head to head in Best British Single category alongside the likes of Estelle’s ‘American Boy’, Adele with ‘Chasing Pavements’ and the X Factor Finalists’ ‘Hero’.

Duffy also features in the Best British Female Solo Artist category alongside Adele, Beth Rowley, Estelle and MIA, while the nominees in male counterpart include Ian Brown, James Morrison, Paul Weller, Streets and Will Young. Best British Group has seen the nomination of the ever-popular Coldplay, Elbow, Radiohead, Take That and Girls Aloud.

New music recieving nods in this year’s Best British Breakthrough Act include Last Shadow Puppets and Scouting For Girls, while 2009’s Best British Live Act showcases everyone from Iron Maiden and The Verve, to Elbow.

Singer-songwriter, Florence and the Machine (who we featured here), is tracing the footsteps of 2008 winner Adele through gaining the coveted Critics Choice Award which recognises upcoming music talent. Meanwhile, Pet Shop Boys have been intriguingly awarded the Outstanding Contribution Award, following on from Beatle Sir Paul McCartney’s win last year.

Band’s receiving nods in the international categories including Best International Group and Best International Album are Kings of Leon, The Killers, AC/DC, MGMT and Fleet Foxes. Solo artists featuring in the categories honouring oversea talent include Katy Perry, Gabriella Cilmi, Seasick Steve, Beck and Kanye West.

To see the nominations in full, check out the official Brits website.

The Killers have gone and announced a sizeable UK Tour for next spring around the UK and Ireland.

Tickets for the below dates go on sale on Friday (10th October) at 9am, so get them whilst they’re hot!

Friday 20th February 2009 – Dublin O2
Saturday 21st February 2009 – Belfast Odyssey Arena
Monday 23rd February 2009 – London O2 Arena
Tuesday 24th February 2009 – London O2 Arena
Thursday 26th February 2009 – Birmingham LG Arena
Saturday 28th February 2009 – Cardiff Arena
Monday 2nd March 2009 – Sheffield Arena
Tuesday 3rd March 2009 – Nottingham Arena
Thursday 5th March 2009 – Aberdeen AECC Arena
Friday 6th March 2009 – Glasgow SECC
Saturday 7th March 2009 – Newcastle Arena
Monday 9th March 2009 – Manchester MEN Arena

I’ve been slacking a bit this week on the updates, and this may possibly continue this week as I return to uni for the new term, and the start of my third year (when things get really serious, with a dissertation and everything!)

Monday night saw Zane Lowe give The Killers‘ new single, Human a spin on the airwaves for the first time. Synthy thumping and disco beat reminiscent of Hot Fuss makes Phil happy – whilst (as ever) it split opinions quite dramatically I personally love it – the return to the synths is just what I wanted, having not been a huge fan of Sam’s Town. Here’s hoping that the rest of their album is just as good.

Let’s face it, who doesn’t love Ben Folds?  His new album, Way to Normal is out tomorrow (monday 29th September), and one of the highlights is a single called “Cologne”. The album isn’t quite up to his ace standard I don’t think, though there are a few radio friendly tracks in there. It seems more of a comedy album than a normal BF album in my opinion, which is a shame, but won’t stop me loving tracks like “Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head)” and “Bitch Went Nuts”.

Crazy youtube video

Finally, earlier this week whilst driving to work I rediscovered a track by WinterKids that I fell in love with earlier in the year after seeing them support Delays at Soho Revue Bar (catch some of the set here). “Who am I Kidding?” is one of those simple, catchy tunes with a touch of melancholy that just makes it my sort of thing, and it seems the Germans too – they’ve reportedly got a rather large following on the continent.

MP3: WinterKids – Who am I Kidding?