BASTILLE’S new album is a family affair for frontman Dan Smith as he has enlisted his mum to sing.
The Brit group will release their latest record, simply titled &, on Friday – and it was recorded at home with his friends and family.
It features a ballad called Telegraph Road, which his mum sings on.
The track was inspired by a poem his dad wrote before Dan was born, about the plight of the homeless.
His mum toured as a folk singer to fund her way through university and celebrated her birthday earlier this year by recording backing vocals for the track.
Dan told me: “It was really, really nice.
“It’s a lovely thing to have on the record.”
Given his parents are credited on the project, they will receive royalties every time it gets played.
So I imagine they’ll be hoping it’s a hit with the fans.
ROYAL BOW FOR PRADA
ELTON JOHN is looking for royal approval for his West End adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada.
The musical hasn’t even opened yet but I’m told the chart legend is hoping for a slot at next month’s Royal Variety Performance in front of King Charles.
A source said: “Elton won’t be performing but he’s set to take to the stage to introduce the cast.
“He’s so proud of the show and has made no secret he hopes to take it to Broadway.”
A-lister Vanessa Williams plays Meryl Streep’s role of fearsome editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly, while Elton has provided an original score for the musical with husband David Furnish also on board.
David said: “If you love the film, you’ll love the show. The songs sound very much like Elton John songs.
“It’s a really great fun sonic pop soundtrack.”
Bizbit
LABYRINTH’S Open Air series at Bedford’s Tofte Manor has unveiled dance music legends Sasha and John Digweed as their first performers.
The pair will play a huge five-hour set on July 12 next year, with tickets going on sale at noon on November 1.
KIM IDEA IS WICKED
IT’S a month until Wicked hits cinemas, but the Kardashian clan nabbed an early screening.
And if that wasn’t jammy enough, the film’s stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo joined them at Kris Jenner’s LA mansion to watch it too.
Kim, Khloe, Kourtney and Kylie joined their kids for the A-list home movie-night.
Naturally, entrepreneur Kim used it as a chance to cash in and has created a Wicked branded range of her Skims pyjamas which everyone wore to the party.
NEW BUZZ OVER THE MACCABEES
INDIE rockers The Maccabees have sparked speculation they are reuniting – eight years after splitting up.
The band, fronted by Orlando Weeks, broke up in August 2016 after 14 years, but have now returned to social media.
Yesterday, the band updated its social media accounts with a new red logo featuring the band’s name.
Next year will mark 20 years since the release of debut single X-Ray, so what better time for a reunion tour?
When the split was announced in 2016, they said: “We are very proud to be able to go out on our own terms, at our creative peak and off the back of the best and biggest shows we have ever done.
“There have not been fallings out and we are grateful to say that we are not leaving the group behind as a divided force.
“It has been a rare and absolutely incredible time that we all feel very lucky to have shared.”
Perhaps now’s the time to do it all again.
MODEL SOS CALL
AMERICAN rock band Wallows may be leaving the UK a few kilos heavier after getting hooked on Greggs during their tour.
Drummer Cole Preston has been singing the praises of the bakery’s sausage rolls on stage, including when they played their biggest UK headline show to date at London’s Alexandra Palace on Tuesday.
The group – fronted by Dylan Minnette, who is best known for playing the lead character Clay Jensen in Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why – also played gigs in Edinburgh, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham as part of their UK run.
But following the release of their album Model in May, they have simply not stopped.
They finally have a break before shows in Australia in December and a tour back in the States in February.
I’m confident 2025 will be another big year for them.
Biz blinds
I MUST remember to not get on the bad side of BLANK BLANK any time soon.
The British A-list actress threw a strop while shooting an ad for a designer brand earlier this month, when she took a dislike to a member of the crew.
The man had only just walked in when she demanded that he be removed from the set because she didn’t like the look of him.
So after travelling for an hour to get there, he had to turn on his heels and head off all the way home.
BILL: I GOT STONES ROLLING
BILL WYMAN has claimed he doesn’t think the Rolling Stones would have made it if it wasn’t for him or late drummer Charlie Watts.
Bill helped form the band back in 1962, with Charlie joining a year later.
Speaking on The Third Act podcast, Bill said: “I joined the beginning of The Stones.
“They were starving, they weren’t really a band, they were trying to make something happen.
“They’d had a few shows here and they were only in youth club halls a few times a month.
“They got Charlie in 1963 and that’s when it started to happen.
“Me and Charlie just linked straight away as the rhythm section and we drove them, because that’s what rhythm sections do.
“We’re the grounding, we’re the basement.
“When you build a house, if you get the basement right, you can then build the rest of it.
Bill, who quit after 31 years back in 1991, added: “I never thought they ever sounded the same again.”
OPERATION SHAK ‘N’ AWE
SHAKIRA gets a lift from some hunks as she prepares for her biggest ever tour.
The Hips Don’t Lie singerposed for GQ Spain and told the mag her upcoming global jaunt will be as extravagant as possible after a tricky few years following her split from fromer Barcelona footballer Gerad Pique.
She said: “It is the most ambitious tour of my career, the biggest production I have had.
“Not because the public asks for it, but because I deserve it after so many years working in this world. I deserve the tour of my life.
“I am throwing the house out the window. I am happy because I will be able to go through the different stages of my artistic life.
“It will be the longest show I have done with the biggest screen, everything as big as you can imagine.”
ALL SAY SPIDEY HI TO TOM . . AGAIN
TOM HOLLAND’S Spidey senses must be tingling because he is preparing to return as the movie superhero.
The Brit has confirmed Spider-Man 4 “is happening”, three years after box-office hit Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Speaking in the US, he said: “Yeah, next summer – next summer we start shooting, everything’s good to go, we’re nearly there, super-exciting.”
In the last movie, he teamed up with previous Spideys Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield – a secret kept under wraps until it hit cinemas.
Calling it the “highlight of my career,” he added: “We were in a bubble.
“Tobey and Andrew would come to set in, like, a cloak. It was like something out of Star Wars, it was hilarious.”