My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields has claimed that the delay in reissuing the band's albums Isn't Anything and Loveless was because their record label Sony hid the original demos.

Metric have spoken about their collaboration with Lou Reed, which appears on their new studio album, Synthetica. The Canadian band will release their fifth full-length offering on June 18. The record contains a total of 11 tracks, and has been produced by the group's guitarist Jimmy Shaw. Reed appears on a track called "The Wanderlust", singing backing vocals. Singer Emily Haines told NME that she first became friendly with The Velvet Underground man when he quoted some of her lyrics from "Gimme Sympathy" back at her.

The Gaslight Anthem will release their new album, Handwritten, on July 23. The album was produced by Brendan O'Brien. The band recorded the follow-up to 2010's American Slang in Nashville and have confirmed via their Twitter account Twitter.com/Gaslightanthem that they have also recently recorded a number of covers and a selection of B-sides. The Gaslight Anthem's brand new single, "45", received its world premiere last night [April 30] on BBC Radio 1 and was named DJ Zane Lowe's Hottest Record in the World.

The world of Lawrence is, by all accounts, a strange one. A singer once told me that, while visiting Lawrence at home, he was taken urgently by the need to use the lavatory. As the story was presented me, Lawrence flatly refused and the singer was forced to go outside to relieve himself. No one, it seems, uses the toilet chez Lawrence, apart from Lawrence.

Graham Coxon was forced to evacuate a hotel Falmouth earlier today (April 30) after it caught fire. The Blur guitarist, who is staying at the Beach Hotel ahead of his gig in the Cornish town tonight, spoke about the drama in a series of tweets. He wrote: "We have rooms at the Beach Hotel and had to leave when the smell the smell of smoke for [sic] a little much." Coxon then tweeted pictures of the burning hotel, before adding: "We watched it... We had to leave the foyer and then watch it get worse and worse...rather sad."

The Beach Boys, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Bon Iver headlined the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival this weekend [April 27 - 29]. The Beach Boys, whose 50th anniversary tour kicked off in Tuscon, Arizona on Tuesday, April 24, played a 29 song-set on Friday night [April 27]. Bruce Springsteen, meanwhile, played a two and a half hour set on Sunday [April 29], and was joined on piano by Dr John for two songs, "Something You Got" and "Oh Mary Don't You Weep". Tom Petty and Bon Iver also played at the festival this weekend.

Fleet Foxes' frontman Robin Pecknold is to score a new film, titled The Internet – A Blog Cats WTF Universe. The film, which will be directed by Pecknold's brother Sean and Matt Daniels, will tell the story of a character named Matt who has made a successful living as a "LOLcat caption writer", but who suffers an existential crisis and decides to decamp to Berlin in search of a life that provides more than "just viral internet cat humor."

Alabama Shakes' frontwoman Brittany Howard has spoken about how her life has changed since her band have become more well known. The "Hold On" singer says her life has taken a "surreal" turn since her band began to get noticed, and she explains that she finds it a bit strange having celebrity fans.

Jack White has entered the Official UK Album Chart at Number 1 with his debut solo album, Blunderbuss. The White Stripes/The Raconteurs/The Dead Weather man has toppled Adele's 21 to take the Number One spot, outselling the "Rolling In The Deep" singer two copies to one, according to the Official Charts Company.

Black Sabbath have announced an intimate show for next month. The band, who will headline this summer's Download Festival along with The Prodigy and Metallica over the weekend of June 8-10, will play a small show at Birmingham's O2 Academy on May 19 to warm up for the festival. The show will be the metal legends' first since they reunited with their original line-up late last year and may see them preview some of the new material they have spent the last nine months working on.