NME Awards 2011 Winners

Here is a complete run down of the winners of the 2011 NME awards held on 23rd February 2011 at Brixton Academy.

Best British Band
Arctic Monkeys
Biffy Clyro
Foals
Kasabian
Muse - WINNER!

Best International Band
Arcade Fire
Kings Of Leon
My Chemical Romance - WINNER!
The Drums
Vampire Weekend

Best Solo Artist
Florence + The Machine
Frank Turner
Kanye West
Laura Marling - WINNER!
Paul Weller

Best New Band
Beady Eye
Everything Everything
Hurts - WINNER!
The Drums
Two Door Cinema Club

Best Live Band
Arcade Fire
Biffy Clyro - WINNER!
Foals
Kasabian
Muse

Best Album
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs - WINNER!
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II
Foals - Total Life Forever
My Chemical Romance - Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History

Best Track
Cee Lo Green - 'F*** You'
Foals - 'Spanish Sahara' - WINNER!
Gorillaz - 'Stylo'
Janelle Monae (feat Big Boi) - 'Tightrope'
Mark Ronson & The Business Intl - 'Bang Bang Bang'

Best Video
Arcade Fire - 'We Used To Wait'
Brandon Flowers - 'Crossfire'
Chase & Status - 'Let You Go'
Gorillaz - 'Stylo'
My Chemical Romance - 'Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)' - WINNER!

Best Festival
Download
Glastonbury - WINNER!
Reading & Leeds Festivals
T In The Park
V Festival

Best Dancefloor Filler
Crystal Castles - 'Baptism'
Kele - 'Tenderoni'
Plan B - 'Stay Too Long'
Professor Green - 'Jungle' - WINNER!
Tinie Tempah - 'Pass Out'

Best TV Show
Misfits
Nevermind The Buzzcocks
Peep Show
Skins - WINNER!
The Inbetweeners

Best Film
Get Him To The Greek
Inception - WINNER!
Kick-Ass
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
The Social Network

Hero Of The Year
Gerard Way
Julian Assange
Kanye West
Lady GaGa - WINNER!
Matt Bellamy

Villain Of The Year
Axl Rose
David Cameron - WINNER!
Justin Bieber
Nick Clegg
Simon Cowell

Most Stylish
Brandon Flowers - WINNER!
Hayley Williams
Lady GaGa
Liam Gallagher
Noel Fielding

Least Stylish
Cheryl Cole
Justin Bieber - WINNER!
Ke$ha
Lady GaGa
Liam Gallagher

Worst Album
Cheryl Cole - Messy Little Raindrops
Justin Bieber - My World - WINNER!
Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Kings Of Leon - Come Around Sundown
My Chemical Romance - Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

Worst Band
30 Seconds To Mars
JLS
Jonas Brothers - WINNER!
Kings Of Leon
Tokio Hotel

Best Band Blog Or Twitter
Frank Turner
Hayley Williams - WINNER!
Kanye West
Lily Allen
Theo Hutchcraft

Best Book
Carl Barat - Threepenny Memoir
Jay-Z - Decode
John Lydon - Mr Rotten's Scrapbook - WINNER!
Keith Richards - Life
Russell Brand - My Booky Wook 2

Best Small Festival
Bestival
Kendal Calling
Latitude
RockNess - WINNER!
Underage Festival

Best Album Artwork
Foals - Total Life Forever
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
Klaxons - Surfing The Void - WINNER!
MGMT - Congratulations
My Chemical Romance - Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

Hottest Woman
Alison Mosshart (The Kills) - WINNER!
Emily Haines (Metric)
Hayley Williams (Paramore)
Lady GaGa
Shakira

Hottest Man
Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys)
Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day)
Dominic Howard (Muse)
Jared Leto (30 Seconds To Mars)
Matt Bellamy (Muse) - WINNER!

Outstanding Contribution To Music
PJ Harvey

Godlike Genius
Dave Grohl

Sky Larkin - The Golden Spike

Leeds has a chequered musical history – for every Kaiser Chiefs and Corinne Bailey Rae there are hundreds of frustrated failures. The Golden Spike may sound more like a Phillip Pullman novel than a hit album, but something just feels right about Leeds' band Sky Larkin's debut from start to finish.

There’s a familiar, comforting vibe to their music right from the word go on album opener Fossil, I. The exact magic's difficult to pinpoint – maybe it's the perfect mix of indie-pop, or lead singer Katie Harkin's vocal style?

She is a mish-mash of The Ting Tings' Katie, Republica's Saffron, Kay from Letters To Cleo, Evanescence's Amy, Paramore’s Hayley – in a nutshell, some of the leading female vocalists from the last ten years of the genre. And that's without the strong hints of Bjork.

There's no slouching from the two males in this trio though – with varied and vibrant backing that's drum heavy on some tracks, and bursting with guitar riffs on others. And Sky Larkin appreciate the value of leaving us wanting more – Fossil, I clocks in at a gnat's sneeze over 2 minutes.

Pica's catchy lyrics (''I'm eating all his coal because I'm trying to make a diamond'') will have you humming along even if they’re too fast for you to match. One Of Two is just a great song, plain and simple. Who knows what inspired Matador's bizarre words, but the awesome melody means you don't need to care.

The band are certainly kicking off this year as they mean to go on – unleashing a brilliant debut produced by the man who steered Death Cab For Cutie to success and bagging a headline slot on Radio 1 star Huw Stephens' Introducing tour. Looks like 2009's gonna be golden for Sky Larkin.

by Sophie Bruce

Ben Jelen

Ben Jelen (born 8 July 1979), born Benjamin Ivan Jelen in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a singer-songwriter who plays the piano, violin, and guitar. He has lived in Scotland, England, Texas, New Jersey, and New York.  Jelen was discovered by Joseph Janus of Fearless Management, who originally wanted to sign him as a model. Instead, Jelen handed him a demo, and shortly thereafter, he was signed to a label and released his debut album Give It All Away in May 2004, promoted by appearances on TRL, AOL Breakers and Rock the Vote.

The album also debuted at #13 on the Top Internet Albums chart, #120 on the Billboard Comprehensive Albums chart and #113 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the United States, making it eligible for the Top Heatseekers chart, a chart of artists who have never entered the top 100 of the Billboard 200. The album debuted at #1 on the Top Heatseekers chart.

Debut single "Come On" was a hit, reaching the MTV top 20. It also debuted at #58 on the Hot Singles Sales chart. Apart from "Give It All Away" being included as a B-side to the "Come On" single, no other track from the album was released as a single.

Following his debut album, Jelen left Maverick Records and independently released the EP Rejected through Fearless Management Records in 2005. He wrote and recorded a song for a compilation album for Tori Amos' RAINN organization and joined the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Wildlife Works. Jelen also appeared on the compilation albumBreaking for the Holidays in 2006 with his self-produced cover of Joni Mitchell's "River" through Breaking Records

Jelen performed at the 2007 South by Southwest (SXSW) conference and music festival in Austin, Texas, in a lineup that also included Taylor Hicks, Amy Winehouse, Tom Morello, Mika,Martina Topley Bird, The Fratellis, Bloc Party, Paolo Nutini, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Mogwai and Spoon.

Jelen's second full-length album, Ex-Sensitive, was released on July 17, 2007. The album, formerly titled East and Pulse, was produced by Linda Perry and mixed by Bill Bottrell.

Jelen's music has been featured on the TV shows One Tree Hill, Smallville and Las Vegas, and was used to promote the Academy Award-nominated Finding Neverland starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. "Come On" also features in the film Love Wrecked with Amanda Bynes and more recently, the instrumental version of "Come On" was featured in a trailer for The Bucket List.

Jelen also guest starred in an episode of House as a doctor applying for a fellowship in the episode "Kids".

Sounds Like April

An acoustic duo from Benbecula in the Western Isles of Scotland composing of Paul Sloss on lead guitar and Ryan Dempsey singing and playing rhythm guitar.

Their songs are simple and stripped down but that is not a criticism as sometimes the simpler things are, the better they are…as this duo prove.

They Say “We're influenced by lots of people big and small, our main influences are the likes of my wife Sam and our kids, jose gonzalez, Beaker, bright eyes, the charlatans, billy bragg, tim burgess, the boy who trapped the sun, our small capital, gordon giltrapp, the beatles, oasis, razorlight, the future heads, tom macrae, the stones, the inspiral carpets, steve vai everbody basically ...”

Interview with Luke Williams of 'The October Game'

1. How did you come up with the name The October Game?

I was wandering around at Glastonbury a few years ago and stumbled across a sign which had 'The October Game' written on it, I immediately thought, "that’s a great name for a band!" so I wrote it down. At the time we were in a band called 'insomnia' and had no plans to change the name but when that band fell apart some strange things happened. In October 2005, Nick and I were at a 'Fourtet' gig in Cambridge and bumped into the support act 'Fuzzy Lights' who were nice people and a good band. After the gig, scrolling through their site, listening to their music and reading about them it turned out they had done a one-off gig on the band stand at Glastonbury under the name 'The October Game' hence how I saw the sign, from then on in I think it was sealed that it would be our new name.

2. What are you biggest influences?

We draw influences from all over the place; life experiences, films, books, music, photographs, art..anything really.

3. What bands (if any) do you compare yourselves to?

I think a lot of what we do and the way we go about things is a reflection of the respect we have for independent artists or rather, bands that have built slowly but surely over a number of years, honing their craft and building up a rich tapestry of work and a solid fan base. Bands like 'Death Cab For Cutie', 'Modest Mouse' & 'dEUS'.

4. What's one of the best gigs you have played?

I think one that really sticks out in our minds is one of our gigs from a little tour we did in Iceland. We supported a band called 'Benny Crespo's Gang' at an amazing little place called 'Dillon' in 101 Reykjavik. We'd been interviewed on the radio that day and seen ourselves in the national papers whilst having breakfast that morning and then the gig was absolutely brilliant in the evening so it was good day for TOG!

5. What's the name of your new album?

ooh, we have a tentative title for the album but I'm afraid it won’t be confirmed until the last note has been played, the final brush of paint!

6. What can we expect from it? And when is it out?

Whereas (our first album) 'Box Of A Billion Lights' was quite introverted in a way, coming from the ashes of our previous band no one really even knew we had a new band going. It was essentially 3 guys locked away in houses recording over the winter. Ollie joined on drums in 2007 and it really kind of turned the band inside out, it was like we could come out of our shells a bit, we had a permanent 4th member and a new and exciting live setup. The subsequent songs
reflected this new state of the band and that is what you can expect to hear from album No.2!  It will be out when we think it sounds kickass!

7. Where would you want to be in 5 years time?

Still alive, healthy, happy, making music together.

8. Any last words?
We Wish You A Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year! 'Concrete (When We Were Invincible) is available as a free download from
www.theoctobergame.com. Our next gig is at Bush Hall in London, Thursday 15th January. Tickets from www.wegottickets.com and www.ticketweb.co.uk

www.myspace.com/theoctobergame
www.theoctobergame.com
www.carmandierecords.com

I am really liking this band at the moment and think you should check them out. They are a amazing band and I do think you should check them out.   

Will

Rich Kelleway From Sennen

1. How would you describe Sennen?

I’ll keep it simple because I’ve been mysteriously struggling to answer this question for a while now. We like melodies, we like harmonies, we like a bit of Rock N’ Roll, we like noise, and we like umm, you know, genuine music that has a bit of an emotional impact. We try and incorporate all of the above, and I guess whether or not we succeed is up to other people to decide.

2. What are your main influences?

When we were young I think bands like the velvet underground and the Beatles probably shaped the way we’ve done things ever since. Then when we were starting out Larry and I used to learn teenage fan club songs and found we were alright at it, and carried on singing like that. We’re all big fans of spiritualized and sonic youth, not only their music but their attitude towards everything they do and how they make their records. I hope some of that attitude has rubbed off on us.

3. What’s the best UK gig you have played?

Good question. There’s been a few good ones along the way, but it guess you remember the most recent ones better. We’ve done a lot of shows this year, but I think the best was the end of the road festival. It was a packed tent with a fantastic atmosphere and everything just clicked on the night.

4. What country (outside the UK) Do you like playing?

If I had to choose one (and it for the purposes of this interview I do) I’d go for Germany. We did Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne supporting Deus, and the German crowds certainly seemed to connect with what we do. I think they like their noise.

5. What would you say to young guitarists trying to make it?

Well for a start I’m the wrong man to ask cause I haven’t figured out how to make it yet myself! I the only thing I’d say is don’t worry about being technically brilliant because it really doesn’t necessarily make for good music. A lot of my favourite records have been made by musicians who aren’t technically proficient, and I think it’s often those limitations that actually make these records what they are. I’m talking about records by The Stooges or the Velvet Underground or the Ramones. Great bands who believed 100% in what they were doing and didn’t care about scales or technical ability. They meant it which is infinitely more important, just find your own style and work at it.

6. Is their any work on a new album or something?

There is! We’re going into the studio just before Xmas for a few days. We’ve been playing new material on tour so we can’t wait to record again. I’ve no idea if it’ll end up as the start of the next album or not. I guess we’ll see how it turns out….

7. Any last words?

Ha! Well, I hope it won’t be last words and I hope there’s a lot more to come from us. However if this literally does turn out to be the last ever sennen interview I think you can assume our xmas recording sessions turned out worse than expected. In which case I never liked the other guys and I’ve always had one eye on “doing a solo album” as they say.

 

I really like this band and you should check them out. Seriously go see them live its such a good experience.  Will

Pretty Little Mutiny

Line up

Jordan - Guitar/Vocals, Lolly - Drums, Joe - Bass/Vocals.

I was at their first gig and I really enjoyed them. They have this NOFX kind of sound but sometimes have aspects of heavier punk bands like Leftöver Crack and Bad Religion. They opened with this song that really captured what the band on a whole was about and how they sound. Joe and Jordan mainly sing in the band and the way in which they do it really gives a justice to the song. One thing you can tell about this band is the fact that all the songs they write are about something/someone that has affected them in some way. This isn’t what you get in most modern day music. To say that this was their first gig I was really impressed and they did undoubtedly bring a crowd with them. I didn’t really know what to expect from them but I was pleasantly surprised. The lost song they did to finish off the set was dedicated to one of Joe’s first bands called The Ghost House. I really like that touch that they used to remember the past as well as looking towards the future. I think this is a awesome band and think you should check them out by going to one of their gigs. Find them on myspace myspace.com/prettylittlemutiny

Will