Gordon in the morning: Cardle meets Clyro

Matt Cardle believe he's been given Biffy Clyro's blessing for covering Many Of Horror, having met them at the Kerrang Awards:

Matt said: "I was a bit worried about meeting them because I had no idea what they thought of my song.

"I'm a huge fan of theirs so I apologised to them in case they hated it.

"But we had a really nice chat. As it turns out, I think they quite liked my cover. They didn't have a problem with it at all."

Gordon speculates that all the money might have helped, which is possible. It's equally likely that Biffy Clyro know that being angry with an X Factor singer for the songs they sing is a bit like hating a dancing bear for the music he shuffles to.

Smart reports that next time round, it'll be different as Cardle is getting a co-writer credit ("writing") for his new album:

He's been heavily involved in the writing process and is looking forward to showing off his new tracks.

It will be interesting to see how Matt spends his money.

I doubt he'll be too keen on a yacht.

Maybe just a new cap to replace the one that hasn't left his head for nearly 12 months.

The money from the new Matt Cardle album? I doubt it'll stretch to buying a copy of Steve Brookstein's most recent album.

Biffy Clyro react to being wrapped in Cardie cover

Biffy Clyro's drummer, Ben Johnston, has ruminated on Matt 'Warm Cardie' Cardle's cover of their song.

What deep thoughts has he had? What conclusion has he reached?

He called Cardle's cover "an X Factor version of the song".

Yes. Well spotted, Ben.

House Of Commons hired out to promote commercial radio

While you can understand Absolute Radio celebrating its first year after throwing off the Virgin brand and a large portion of its listeners - "we're still here" - I'm a bit surprised they got to promote themselves in Parliament. With a gig by Biffy Clyro.

This, it seems, is a way of politicians "reaching out" to the public:

John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, said it could be the first of many similar concerts, as part of his efforts to help Parliament ''reconnect'' with modern Britain.

Oh, yes. After a couple of years in which MPs have been castigated for lining their own pockets and doing very nicely for themselves, how better to reconnect with the people than by turning the building over to host corporate jollies. Perhaps they should ask RBS if they want to do a management paintball team building event in the Committee Rooms?

The Telegraph describes this as "the first gig in parliament", before then clarifying the claim:

Parliament has witnessed a few musical performances before, including appearances by Alicia Keys, the R&B star, Ralph McTell, the folk musician, and Commons rock band MP4 – made up of four MPs – has played in the terrace pavilion.

But Thursday night's Biffy Clyro show is believed to be the first full-scale gig by a mainstream rock act.

Except, as the Telegrpah's own report says, the band played a half-hour acoustic set, so it wasn't actually a full-scale gig at all. But 'band play latest in series of gigs at Commons' isn't quite as eye-catching.

ContactMusic nods and types what it's told

Admittedly, they're right about Biffy Clyro having a stupid name, but:

The Scottish band, who are named after a Welsh astronaut who attempted to become one of the first men on the moon, believe their "stupid" moniker has made them try harder to do well.

At no point, Contact Music, when you were entering that into the content management system, did you think how unlikely that might sound?

Biff, bash, bosh

Talking of lazy cut and pastes from PR material, here's the Biffy Clyro tour dates:

Sunday 20 May Portsmouth Pyramids
Monday 21 Oxford Brookes University
Tuesday 22 London Roundhouse
Wednesday 23 Wolverhampton Wolfrun Hall
Thursday 24 Cambridge Junction
Saturday 26 Leeds Metropolitan University
Sunday 27 Newcastle University
Monday 28 Manchester Academy 2
Wednesday 30 Aberdeen Music Hall
Thursday 31 Edinburgh Potterow
Friday 1 June Glasgow Barrowlands