UNCUT

“I KNOW it’s virtual,” Paul McCartney told the 100,000-strong crowd gathered in front of Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage, “but there I am singing with John again. We’re back together.” Peter Jackson had isolated Lennon’s vocal on “I’ve Got A Feeling” from the 1969 Apple rooftop concert, and here was McCartney duetting with him live. A Beatles reunion in all but body, it was the last of several unforgettable surprises in a set which many have called the festival’s greatest ever. McCartney arrived at Glastonbury fresh from a warm-up show at the 800-capacity Cheese & Grain in nearby Frome the night before (June 24). “It was mind-blowing, undoubtedly the best live experience I’ve had in my life,” says local musician Sam Lakeman. “We were standing in the queue next to Olivia Rodrigo, Leslie…

KATE Bush’s drummer Stuart Elliott has never watched Stranger Things, so it came as a complete surprise when he checked his phone one morning in June to be told that “Running Up That Hill”, a song they’d recorded decades previously, was top of the charts. “I still can’t quite get my head around it,” says Elliott, who also played on Bush’s previous No 1, “Wuthering Heights”. “It’s about time that the USA especially finally get to hear the genius of our Kate. I mean, crumbs, to be No 1 in the whole world is just incredible.” Bush seems as excited as anybody by the clamour. “I’m overwhelmed by the scale of affection and support the song is receiving,” she wrote on her official website as “Running Up That Hill” began scaling the…

Magazine for sale! The latest of our quarterly specials is Curated By… Pavement, in which the band tell their story through their records, reveal their favourite albums, and the best shows they ever saw. Also includes: tips for the museum security guard, the unhealthiest foods of the Cincinnati area – and puppets! It’s in shops on July 27 or available to order online at Uncut.co.uk/single … The first fruits of Cherry Red’s long-term project to restore Joe Meek’s legendary Tea Chest Tapes are due for release in the form of two 10” EPs. Out August 19, “The Telstar Story” charts the development of Meek’s seminal 1962 instrumental via a clutch of previously unreleased demos and alternate takes; while “The Heinz Sessions Vol 1”, out Sept 16, focuses on his protégé Heinz…

“I think we synced in a really special way”PETE KEMBER “WE’RE the generation that was born analogue and died digital,” says Sonic Boom, over Zoom. “The way things have changed through that time with technology, it’s been the Wild West.” At 57, Pete Kember is at least enjoying the ride. As a member of Spacemen 3 and as a committed solo voyager, he’s spent the last 40 years exploring the outer reaches of space-rock by any means necessary. Now, with his pal Noah Lennox – aka Panda Bear of Animal Collective – he’s hit on a winning formula that involves spinning some of rock’n’roll’s earliest hits into syrupy, psychedelic pop. For Reset, the pair’s first joint album, Kember created a series of loops drawn from the opening bars of golden oldies by…

“I JUST love wildness,” explains Andy Ellison, whose new autobiography Stunt Rocker documents a life of cheery rock’n’roll mayhem in the bands John’s Children (with a young Marc Bolan), Jet and Radio Stars. The book is a stream of ripping yarns and eyebrow-rocketing anecdotes. In the ’60s and ’70s, there seems to be some sort of incident almost every day, including banned singles, smashed vans and riots at gigs. Meanwhile, Ellison’s dangerous stage antics mean the now 77-year-old rocker reckons he’s broken most parts of his body – including his back – and happily admits, “I can’t believe I’m still alive.” The North Finchley son of a Spitfire pilot, Ellison first walked on the wild side at school. His parents packed him off to what was supposedly a farming boarding school…

WE’RE NEW HERE SYLVIE mastermind Ben Schwab is a bit of a late bloomer. “My father’s a musician and I grew up listening to him play with his group Mad Anthony,” he says from his home in Silverlake, LA. “He’d also play lots of music from his generation like Todd Rundgren, Steely Dan, The Beatles, all that stuff. I was listening to that music early on and inspired by it, but I didn’t start playing guitar until I was 21 years old or so.” But since he began writing and performing original songs as a student at the California Institute For The Arts in nearby Santa Clarita, Schwab’s made a name for himself as one of the premier revivalists in LA’s eastside music scene. In the duo Golden Daze, Schwab and bandmate…