NME Awards

NME Award Winners 2011 announced

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My Chemical Romance have been crowned this year’s biggest winners at the Shockwaves NME Awards, picking up two awards, for Best International Band (supported by T4) and Best Video(supported by NMETV) for ‘Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)’.  The New Jersey alt. rockers opened the star-studded ceremony – hosted by Angelos Epithemiou at O2 Academy Brixton – with a bang before returning to the stage to collect their reader-voted honours.
The music calendar’s most credible awards saw NME readers casting over three and a half million votes during the second stage of voting. Muse beat off stiff competition from Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Kasabian and Biffy Clyro to land the prestigious Best British Band Award (supported by Shockwaves), adding yet another accolade in an impressive four-year run of triumphs at the Shockwaves NME Awards.
Singer-songwriter (and NME Cool List number one for 2010) Laura Marling accepted the award forBest Solo Artist. Outshining the likes of Kanye West in one of the year’s most hotly contested categories, Marling caps an incredible year in which her acclaimed second album ‘I Speak Because I Can’ has cemented her reputation as one of the UK’s most exciting acts.  Biffy Clyro, who jetted in from the United States – where they are currently touring – to attend the event, displaced perennial winners Muse to claim the coveted Best Live Band (supported by Carling).  
Hurts, who performed their world-wide hit ‘Wonderful Life’ accompanied by a gothic-style dance troupe, were awarded Best New Band (supported by Boxfresh) – joining a long line of distinguished winners including Arctic Monkeys, Klaxons and MGMT.  
Arcade Fire – who were unable to attend the awards – accepted the Best Album Award for their hugely powerful third album ‘The Suburbs’ via a jazz-inspired pre-recorded message.  Oxford quintet Foals secured the illustrious Best Track Award (supported by NME Radio) for ‘Spanish Sahara’, seeing off Cee-Lo Green, Gorillaz, Janelle Monae and Mark Ronson in the process.
With winners covering the musical gamut, the NME audience’s eclectic tastes also saw gongs awarded to Professor Green whose ‘Jungle’ single picked up Best Dancefloor Filler; Glastonbury, which won Best Festival for the third year in a row; and Channel 4’s Skins which was awarded theBest TV Show for the first time. The Naked and Famous were this year’s recipients of the Philip Hall Radar Award, named in honour of the late Manic Street Preachers manager to celebrate new talent and chosen by the NME editorial team. And Crystal Castles, who recently headlined the Shockwaves NME Awards Tour, accepted the John Peel Award For Innovation, presented by last year’s host Jarvis Cocker and his co-host Alexa Chung.
PJ Harvey performed tracks from her recently released ‘Let England Shake’ album after being presented with the Teenage Cancer Trust Outstanding Contribution To Music award. And the highest honour of the evening, the Godlike Genius accolade, was awarded to Dave Grohl who fronted the Foo Fighters to close another incredible Shockwaves NME Awards night with a jubilant full set, including  classics and songs from their much anticipated forthcoming album, ‘Wasting Light’.
NME editor Krissi Murison says: “With over 3.5 million votes cast in the second stage of voting, music fans have proved they are as passionate as ever – and their taste in music is as eclectic as ever! Not only is the international rock scene in great shape but a wide spread of genres are represented by our winners tonight. It’s great to see My Chemical Romance lead the way scooping two awards. And with Muse, Biffy Clyro, Laura Marling, Professor Green, Hurts and Arcade Fire amongst others all coming out top in their nominated categories, 2011 is set to be a great year for music.”   
Awards not presented on the night saw Justin Bieber score an unwelcome double, winning both theLeast Stylish and Worst Album categories, with fellow US teen idols the Jonas Brothers votedWorst Band.  The public vote also awarded Matt Bellamy the Hottest Man accolade, named The Kills’ Alison Mosshart as Hottest Woman and named Brandon Flowers winner of the Most Stylishaward (supported by Shockwaves). This year’s Hero is Lady Gaga while coalition government leaderDavid Cameron pipped his deputy Nick Clegg to the post to claim the Villain prize.  Inceptionpicked up Best Film, Klaxons ‘Surfing The Void’ took the prize for Best Album Artwork, Hayley Williams (Paramore) won Best Blog, John Lydon claimed Best Book for Mr Rotten’s Scrapbookand RockNess gained Best Small Festival.
Music fans can catch all the highlights from the Shockwaves NME Awards 2011 hosted by Alexa Chung on Channel 4 on Saturday night at 11.20pm with T4 showing coverage of the awards earlier in the day at 11.25am.
The Awards In Full:
Best British Band (supported by Shockwaves)
Muse

Best International Band (supported by T4)
My Chemical Romance

Best Solo Artist 
Laura Marling

Best Live Band (supported by Carling) 
Biffy Clyro

Best New Band (supported by Boxfresh)
Hurts

Best Album
Arcade Fire ‘The Suburbs’

Best Track (supported by NME Radio)
Foals ‘Spanish Sahara’

Best Video (supported by NME TV)
My Chemical Romance ‘Na Na Na’ (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)

Best Festival
Glastonbury

Best Dancefloor Filler 
Professor Green ‘Jungle’

Best TV Show
Skins

Categories awarded by NME
Philip Hall Radar Award – The Naked & Famous
Teenage Cancer Trust Outstanding Contribution To Music – PJ Harvey
John Peel Award For Innovation – Crystal Castles
Godlike Genius – Dave Grohl

Other Categories 
Best Film – Inception
Hero – Lady Gaga
Villain – David Cameron
Most Stylish – Brandon Flowers (supported by Shockwaves)
Least Stylish – Justin Bieber
Worst Album – Justin Bieber ‘My World 2.0’
Worst Band – Jonas Brothers
Hottest Man – Matt Bellamy
Hottest Woman – Alison Mosshart (The Kills)
Best Album Artwork – Klaxons ‘Surfing The Void’
Best Blog – Hayley Williams (Paramore)
Best Book – John Lydon Mr Rotten’s Scrapbook
Best Small Festival – RockNess

Foo Fighters to headline NME Awards Big Gig 2011

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Thousands of Foo fans will enjoy a triumphant set, in what will be their first arena gig of 2011. As well as the classics, fans will be treated to previously unheard material from the band’s hotly anticipated new studio album.

Commenting on the Godlike Genius Award commemorated by the Foo Fighters’ headline slot on this amazing evening, Dave Grohl said: “I don’t think I’m godlike or a genius. It’s flattering. It’s a nice thing to be acknowledged for doing something you love to do… In truth I don’t consider it a body of work because I don’t consider it work.”

Joining Foo Fighters for this unique one-night-only event will be the greatest voice in American music today, Cee Lo Green. Having set the internet alight in 2010 with ‘F*** You’, one of the year’s most controversial and popular singles, and his critically lauded album ‘Lady Killer’, Cee Lo Green is sure to pull out all the stops for the NME Awards 2011 Big Gig.

Cee Lo commented: “I’m so excited man, any Cee Lo show is good, but Cee Lo and Foo Fighters, it’s going to be off the hook.”

With their third album ‘Infinite Arms’ gaining a wealth of end-of-year plaudits, including a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album, further support on the night will come from South Carolina’s Band of Horses, whose widescreen Americana and commanding standout main stage sets at the likes of Farm Aid, Austin City Limits and more have earned them a devoted and growing fanbase. Meanwhile Sub Pop alt. rock duo No Age will open the show with a dose of breakneck art-punk.

With the Foo Fighters’ as-yet-untitled seventh album recently completed the NME Awards 2011 Big Gig represents a gilt-edged opportunity to catch one of the world’s greatest rock bands embarking on their biggest year to date supported by some of the most exciting acts around.

Tickets for the NME Awards 2011 Big Gig go on sale exclusively from www.nme.com/tickets on Wednesday 19th January at 9am, before remaining tickets go on general sale on Friday 21st January at 9am. Ticket price is £40 (plus booking fee), which includes a free copy of a 100-page special NME Dave Grohl magazine worth £4.99.

The NME Awards Big Gig will be the culmination of a superb NME Awards 2011 season. From 3rd February, the Shockwaves NME Awards Tour 2011 hits the road, headlined by Crystal Castles, with support from Magnetic Man, Everything Everything and The Vaccines. Click here for full information.

Meanwhile the Shockwaves NME Awards Shows 2011 are poised to take over London nightlife throughout February. A raft of headline acts including Mystery Jets, Noah and the Whale, Edwyn Collins, White Lies, Frankie & The Heartstrings, Warpaint, Caribou and Carl Barat will take over iconic London venues to celebrate this year’s Awards. Click here for full information.

And the Shockwaves NME Awards 2011 will take place at the iconic O2 Academy Brixton on Wednesday February 23rd – gathering the best new bands, returning icons and the most influential legends to celebrate the most credible music awards in the world. Dave Grohl will be picking up his NME Godlike Genius Award and playing live with Foo Fighters at the event.

 

NME Awards Tour 2011

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Kicking off on Thursday February 3rd 2011 at Glasgow O2 Academy and crossing the UK until February 19th 2011, the NME Awards Tour will be bringing you the very best in new music!

NME’s editor Krissi Murison describes the Awards Tour line-up: “This is the most diverse and exciting NME Awards Tour line-up yet and really reflects the range of music that NME champions every week. From the UK’s best new guitar band to dubstep’s first supergroup, it represents the most cutting edge sounds of 2010 and beyond.”

Ethan Kath & Alice Glass AKA Crystal Castles take pole position, headlining the NME Awards Tour 2011. Their relentless rise has seen them cement their position as the biggest band in the blogosphere with music fans’ insatiable desire for all things Crystal Castles helping them to rack up well over 75 million plays across myspace and lastfm. Imbuing synth sounds with the rawest rock n roll spirit their live shows are a startling mix of measured chaos and magic, revolving around Alice’s helter-skelter stage antics. Currently making waves with the effortless pop of their latest single ‘Not In Love’ featuring former NME Godlike Genius Robert Smith, Crystal Castles are always on the edge and utterly unmissable.

Ethan Kath (Crystal Castles) on heading the bill: “We’re looking forward to it, yeah. We’ve done the Radar tour before [in 2008], so this one will be like a step up for us, especially because we’re headlining. I’m a really big fan of Magnetic Man, so I’m looking forward to seeing them every night.”

Magnetic Man, featuring Skream, Benga and scene catalyst Artwork – a holy trinity of Dubstep’s major players responsible for propelling the sound of Croydon bass culture onto the worldwide stage – will be supplying the NME Awards Tour with a sublime live set of spine-shredding sub-bass action. With their eponymous album recently smashing into the official UK Album chart’s top five, Magnetic Man is the consummate supergroup taking electronic music into brand new sonic territory.

Skream (Magnetic Man) on the eclectic bill: “I think it’s gonna work. It’s kind of a sign of the times. You go to a club night now and you no longer have one-genre crowds, it’s better for everyone and makes it more exciting.”

Art-pop purveyors Everything Everything’s sinewy scattergun riffs, note perfect three-part harmonies and throbbing bass marked them out as prime movers for 2010. A critically lauded debut album and some of the standout performances of this year’s festival season have only cemented their reputation as one of the most electrifying acts around.

Everything Everything commented: “It’s quite an honour to be invited to do this. And, frankly, we’re daunted at playing alongside the might of Magnetic Man particularly. But I think all the acts will bring out the best in each other in that respect. We’re excited and inspired and it’s going to be a grand thing man… “

The Vaccines, who release their debut double A-sided single, Wrekin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra) / Blow It Up in late November, have bagged the coveted opening slot for the NME Awards Tour 2011. Currently recording their debut album, due in spring of next year, this will be the first opportunity to check out one of the most hotly tipped bands for 2011. Expect to hear a lot more from The Vaccines.

Justin (The Vaccines) on joining the Awards Tour: “It’s an exciting prospect; the thought of playing our music to so many more people than we’re used to. We’re all looking forward to it. Touring is our favourite thing about being in a band. It’s why you start a band, isn’t it?”

With a line up that captures the spirit of 2010 and sets the agenda for an explosive forthcoming year of music, NME yet again leads where others follow, bringing the best in new music to your doorstep.

Tickets for the NME Awards Tour 2011 will be available on Pre-sale exclusively through www.NME.com from 9am on Wednesday 10th November then will be on general release via Gigs and Tours and Ticketmaster on Friday 12th November.

Keep checking www.NME.com for more details. Tag your tweets with ♯nmeawardsto join the conversation.

NME Awards Tour Dates 2011:

Thu 03 Feb -  Glasgow O2 Academy
Fri 04 Feb -  Manchester Academy
Mon 07 Feb – Newcastle O2 Academy
Tue 08 Feb -  Nottingham Rock City
Wed 09 Feb – Leeds O2 Academy
Fri 11 Feb -  Norwich UEA
Sat 12 Feb – Birmingham O2 Academy
Sun 13 Feb – Cardiff Uni Great Hall
Tue 15 Feb – Bristol O2 Academy
Wed 16 Feb – Bournemouth O2 Academy
Thu 17 Feb – Brighton Dome
Sat 19 Feb – London O2 Academy Brixton

Ticket Info:

NME Pre-sale – on sale 9am on 10th November
www.nme.com/tickets / 0871 230 1094

General release – on sale from 9am on 12th November
www.gigsandtours.com / 0844 811 0051
www.ticketmaster.co.uk / 0844 826 2826

Tickets are priced £16 each plus a 50p charity donation to Teenage Cancer Trust.
(Prices are subject to booking fees).