The Oasis b-sides album, entitled "The Masterplan" will be released worldwide on November 2nd.

An interesting press conference was held today by MTV, who officially unveiled the oft-talked-about launch of M2 Europe, the overseas answer to our own M2. Not that we're huge fans of MTV or anything, but this could SERIOUSLY be a good thing -- click read more to find out why!
M2 Europe will be available on-line via streaming RealVideo 24 hours a day when the network launches on August 3. And from the look of the website, it COULD very well be over 50% indie-geared.

THE VERVE are back in the news this weekend. As we reported earlier, not only did the Wigan lads lose the opening act for their upcoming US tour (Massive Attack bowed out due to "scheduling conflicts"), but they also lost lead guitarist Nick McCabe, who has chosen to take a sabbatical from touring due to "stress". Well, The Verve's camp has now announced that in the wake of McCabe's departure from the live stage, the band is attempting to quickly assemble a string section and a session steel guitarist to join them on the road.

It's just becoming the month of bad tidings... it's now been announced that JAMES have pulled out of Scotland's T in the Park festival for the second year in a row. James vocalist Tim Booth has been diagnosed with a nasty bout of bronchitis, and the docs have told him to rest his voice for the next 30 days -- hence, all July shows slated for the band have been cancelled.

Okay, we can now confirm that MASSIVE ATTACK have dropped out of the plagued VERVE tour of the States. The Verve's US booking agent, Marty Diamond of Little Big Man, told Sonicnet's Music News of the World today that Massive Attack were dropping out due to unknown "scheduling issues" and that a replacement is currently being decided upon.

Rumor: Nick McCabe quits the Verve!! There have been several unconfirmed reports from fans and even radio stations. Verve are supposed to continue their US tour with a replacement which starts on July 28. The Verve has always been plagued with bad luck and thing is just another example. So far the US tour has been victim to cancelled shows, poor ticket sales, rescheduled venues, Massive Attack dropping out from the opening slot, and now the genious behind the music is gone. We can only hope that this rumor is false.

We now have CONFIRMATION on earlier rumours regarding THE VERVE. NME has today confirmed that Verve guitarist Nick McCabe is pulling out of all remaining live commitments for the remainder of 1998, due to "stress of touring." This includes the Verve's American tour, which is scheduled to start later this month. The Verve will play these dates as a four-piece, NOT with a replacement as reported elsewhere. There has thus far been NO comment as to whether or not McCabe's actions today will result in a permanent separation from the band.

Well, the Glastonbury Festival has drawn to a close. We've got to give a MAJOR cheers to the folks at the Guardian, who had an AMAZING website throughout the weekend, and to the staff of Greenpeace UK, who brought us the roaming webcam that surprisingly stayed operational for most of the weekend. BLUR headlined the show on Saturday night, debuted quite a few tracks off the new, forthcoming record, but a review by the Guardian says that the tracks were NOT that well-received by the crowd, and they had to rely on standards like 'Parklife' and 'Girls and Boys' to get the momentum going.

Just a quick reminder that it's Glastonbury '98 weekend. There's LOADS of live webcasts from the festival happening throughout the weekend, from Radio One to Greenpeace... check out the official site at http://www.glastonbury98.co.uk

Summer Tour Preview: Part Two. As usual, the big package tours going across the U.S. this summer offer little to those with brit-indie sensibilities. Nevertheless, a few of the tours have added at least one British band to add a smidgen of credibility to their rosters. Symposium will be playing a number of dates on the Warped tour and will also be playing some smaller venues while they are stateside. Similarly, Catatonia will be playing some dates on the HORDE tour as well as doing some headlining while they are in the U.S.