Sit Down? Shut up, Gordon

Sit Down was a bit of an odd choice for Gordon Brown to come on the stage to anyway, wasn't it? Besides being a song that reeks of student discos from nearly twenty years ago, isn't it a bit of a terse message to be giving the masses?

Anyway, Tim Booth isn't happy that it was used at all:

"We have always been supportive of the Labour Party, as well as Greenpeace, Amnesty and CND, but obviously the machinations of a desperate politician trying to restore unity by using our song is not something we are totally behind."

Oddly, NME.com describe 'organisation playing record' as an "incident" which perhaps overplays it.

Booth thinks that Brown missed the point:

"The song is about unity and that's obviously how Brown is trying to use it. But it's about unity of people and spirit rather than healing the divisions of political parties."

Is unity why Brown chose it, though? Perhaps it's the lines "now I've swung back down again, it's worse than it was before/ if I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor..."

Baby got a gun and gone

In what clearly wasn't a bid to generate a little extra publicity, James have designed an album sleeve and had it banned by the Advertising Standards Authority, because it has a baby and a gun on it. Larry Gott explains:

“We talked at length about hitting a problem with the Advertising Standards Authority, but it’s such a strong image we decided it go with it anyway.

“The scale of the reaction has been a surprise, but we kind of expected there’d be some ripples. We were looking at lots of ideas with the designers and they came up with an image of a baby and a gun that related to a story in America of a ten month old child that had been issued a firearms certificate.

“Firearms are dangerous, they’re not to be taken likely, and we as a society are becoming over familiarised with the image of gun and gun culture.”

If we wanted to be over cynical, we might wonder if choosing a cover that would run into a little eye-catching trouble might be a better way of marketing a James album than a few hundred poster locations.

James come home

Coming next year: not just a James tour, but a studio album, something they've not done since 2001.

Oddly, James are treating this as a continuation of business, but a load of bands have formed, split and had massive reunion comeback tours in the gaps between the two albums.

Dates in full:

Derby Assembly Rooms (April 10)
Lincoln Engine Shed (11)
Liverpool University (12)
Newcastle Academy (14)
Sheffield Academy (15)
London Shepherds Bush Empire (17)
Norwich UEA (18)
Bristol Colston Hall (21)
Blackpool Empress Ballroom (22)
Edinburgh Corn Exchange (24)
Aberdeen AECC (25)

The road to Glossop

Alex Turner can't stand Sit Down by James:

"I can't listen to Sit Down, it makes me feel sick. That's not because it's a bad song, it's just bad memories. It reminds me of things I don't want to remember. Nothing bad, just a long journey to Glossop. I can't even listen to it now."

A trip to Glossop? Most of us, Alex, have to struggle with memories of rooms full of drunken students attempting to sit down on the dancefloor - and then failing to get up, like a hooded-topped Its A Knockout - when we hear that song. Don't try and tell us you've got problems, pal.