6 h. ago They’re among the best in British indie. So why have Field Music become a Doors cover band?

Faced with ‘catastrophic financial doom’ in a difficult industry, the Sunderland outfit explain why imitating Jim Morrison is their way to surviveFor years, Field Music playfully toyed with the idea of forming a hybrid cover band called AC/BGs, featuring one set of AC/DC songs done in a Saturday Night Fever-style and one set of rock-heavy Bee Gees numbers. “These things are a joke until they stop being a joke,” says David Brewis, one half of the Sunderland art-pop band.Another idea made it beyond a tour bus gag to become their new side hustle: a Doors tribute band called the Fire Doors. When the band announced it on Facebook last month, they received critical questions asking: why? The band’s response was a piercingly honest multi-page statement. Brewis wrote of Field Music’s sincere love of the band, the high levels of skill required to do such a job proficiently – and how doing one tribute gig a month could help their “dire finances”, having accepted that after nine albums, they h...

Events

7 h. ago Top rugby star banned from playing in Six Nations now works in a supermarket

Shane Howarth was at the centre of the Grannygate scandal that rocked Welsh rugby 20 years ago - and he's still hurting from the experience to this day

Economics

8 h. ago When US prison healthcare companies went bust, victims’ families kept fighting

The Guardian examined several cases that played out in bankruptcy court, where a series of unlikely events led to an unusual victoryWhen Jennifer Casey Norred attempted suicide at Leon county jail in Tallahassee, Florida, medical staff didn’t take her to the emergency room or provide mental health support. Instead, they strapped her to a chair for 24 hours, according to jail records. The jail’s own policy requires that restraint chairs only be used as a last resort, and not for more than two hours.It was the kind of policy violation that has become more common nationwide since two private-equity backed prison health companies, Corizon and Wellpath, have come to dominate the industry, experts say. Continue reading...

Events

12 h. ago Gareth Thomas reveals he's been spat at in the street as he recalls the horrific abuse he gets for being gay

Former rugby star Gareth Thomas says he has been spat at in the street as he details some of the horrfic homophobic abuse he has dealt with.

Events

26 h. ago Aberdeen Europa League playoff squad confirmed as Jimmy Thelin banks on wildcard option while defensive duo miss out

Injured pair Emmanuel Gyamfi and Kristers Tobers were expected to be left out but will return for league phase

Economics

29 h. ago The Jam drummer Rick Buckler leaves huge fortune to his wife after his death aged 69

The Jam drummer Rick Buckler was a founding member of the mod punk band in 1972, playing in its classic line-up alongside bass player Bruce Foxton and lead singer and guitarist Paul Weller.

Events

33 h. ago Rugby player banned after shouting 'get your baps out' at female referee

Casey Johnson said he 'had no real explanation' for why he shouted the 'abhorrent' phrase at the match official

Sport

38 h. ago Rugby’s family fortunes: From a Hollywood movie star dad to a World

As the world’s elite descend on England 2025, meet the famous parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings who have inspired themWhen the loosehead prop Hannah Botterman made her England debut, on the sidelines, her aunt shed a tear; knowing full well what it meant to wear the Red Rose for the first time. Jane Everett also knows what it feels like to lift the Rugby World Cup, having been part of the victorious England side of 1994, a feat her niece’s team will try to emulate on home soil this September.Everett, an unused replacement tighthead prop when England beat the United States 38-23 in Edinburgh, also coached another member of the 2025 cohort, the prop Kelsey Clifford, at Old Albanian Juniors once she retired from playing. Continue reading...

Culture

56 h. ago Plane crash lands on golf course with 'bang' after passing over players

The plane crashed onto the green of a golf course as players looked on in shock as a loud noise and bang rattled the sky before some continued on with their game

Sport

57 h. ago Springbok star issues apology as Rassie Erasmus turns air blue after stunning collapse

South Africa fell to a shock defeat at the hands of Australia in the opening match of The Rugby Championship

Politics

58 h. ago Wallabies count injury cost of stunning South Africa win as Edinburgh Rugby star wins second cap

Australia lose players after incredible comeback in Johannesburg

Events

61 h. ago ‘I can no longer listen to the punk bands I loved as a teenager’: Rob Newman’s honest playlist

The comic struggles to listen to the punk bands of his youth, while his son sings along to the Blue Nile. But which Smiths song caused his girlfriend to dump him?The first single I bought (White Man) in Hammersmith Palais by the Clash, from a record shop in the Hitchin arcade.The song I inexplicably know every lyric to I enjoyed rote-learning at school, so I learn lyrics off by heart. I particularly like Ella Fitzgerald’s version of But Not for Me by George and Ira Gershwin: “I never want to hear from any cheerful Pollyannas / Who tell you fate supplies a mate / It’s all bananas.” Continue reading...

Politics

65 h. ago ‘50 years of anger and pain’: Miami Sounband’s Des Lee when Irish terrorists colluded with MI5 to massacre Ireland’s biggest band

The band were as big as it got, topping the Irish singles chart seven times. Then they were stopped at a bogus checkpoint in County Down – and three were shot dead. Fifty years on, survivor Des Lee looks back on that terrible night‘It was absolutely despicable,” says Des Lee, his voice trembling with emotion, “to think that those people who were supposed to be protecting us had planned our murder ” I’ve never heard a story as astonishing as Lee’s. His memoir, My Saxophone Saved My Life, recounts the events of half a century ago, in which his much-loved pop group, the Miami Showband, were ambushed by loyalist paramilitaries operating a fake army checkpoint, with half his bandmates murdered as he lay still, playing dead to stay alive.Though the attack carries strangely little traction in Britain, the Miami Showband massacre of 1975 is deeply etched into Irish cultural memory. Even amid the context of the Troubles, whose bleak statistics – more than 3,600 dead, more than 47,500 injured...

Events

65 h. ago The Miami Showband massacre: what led to the killing of the ‘Irish Beatles’?

The band were as big as it got, topping the Irish singles chart seven times. Then they were stopped at a bogus checkpoint in County Down – and three were shot dead. Fifty years on, survivor Des Lee looks back on that terrible night‘It was absolutely despicable,” says Des Lee, his voice trembling with emotion, “to think that those people who were supposed to be protecting us had planned our murder ” I’ve never heard a story as astonishing as Lee’s. His memoir, My Saxophone Saved My Life, recounts the events of half a century ago, in which his much-loved pop group, the Miami Showband, were ambushed by loyalist paramilitaries operating a fake army checkpoint, with half his bandmates murdered as he lay still, playing dead to stay alive.Though the attack carries strangely little traction in Britain, the Miami Showband massacre of 1975 is deeply etched into Irish cultural memory. Even amid the context of the Troubles, whose bleak statistics – more than 3,600 dead, more than 47,500 injured...

Events

3 d. ago Lions star who disappeared after tragedy found working in Australian coal mine

He was part of the Wales team which won the Grand Slam in 2005 and made the Lions tour, but he has taken a very different path since retiring from the game

Events

3 d. ago Boos ring around Wythenshawe Park as Kneecap rapper delivers six

The controversial band played in front of a sell-out crowd waiting for Fontaines D.C.

Politics

3 d. ago Today's rugby news as clubs circle around Wales star and Louis Rees

The latest rugby headlines from Wales and around the world

Politics

3 d. ago Tim Dowling: it’s time to name our band’s new album, and there are no bad ideas (in theory at least)

For the final flourish on our latest record, we’ve wheeled in a harmonium. If only I knew how to play it I’m in a recording studio with two other members of the band I’m in, listening to stuff we’ve recorded, with an eye toward finishing touches. But really it’s a last chance to fix mistakes: ropey backing vocals; mistimed bass notes; a banjo part played with an out‑of-tune B string.“I can easily redo it,” I say, thinking: I don’t even remember playing it in the first place. Continue reading...

Culture

4 d. ago 15 Scottish musicians you'll only remember if you were a child of the 1980s

Do you remember any of these bands being played on your brand-new cassette player in the 80s?

Politics

5 d. ago Tonight's rugby news as Welsh star ends retirement to join hometown club and Springbok great dies

The latest headlines from Wales and around the world

Events