TL;DR/FI Friday

So, that reunion of TFI Friday last night was a reminder of why I never watched it first time round: it's a programme that looks like everyone involved is having tremendous fun, rather than a programme which is tremendous fun.

Also: the Gallagher/Who 'supergroup' felt more like the deputy head joining the school band for the last song of the evening.

Liam Gallagher and chums

TFI Friday is back for what is, effectively, its reunion gig this week. But will it be good TFI Friday, where you'd get a decent band and something inventive? Or will it be bad TFI Friday, when it had passed the point that it had forgotten it had viewers and approached its tasks with an attitude of 'if we're having fun, then the audience will enjoy us having fun, right?'

Your finger is hovering over the Record button.

But which will it be?

Which will it be, NME?

TFI Friday will return for a one-off live special at 9pm next Friday (June 12), hosted by Chris Evans. A TFI spokesman recently confirmed to The Sun that Gallagher and Daltrey will perform 'My Generation' as part of a supergroup featuring The Lightning Seeds' Ian Broudie and former Oasis drummer (and Ringo Starr's son) Zak Starkey.

Ah. Thanks for the clarification.

Suddenly, Kate Humble living with nomads on BBC2 seems very compelling indeed.

Vicky Cryer: Is it a supergroup?

Does Vicky Cryer count as a supergroup?

It's got Killers bassist Mark Stoermer, Muse drummer Dominic Howard, ex-Jamiroquai bassist Nick Fyffe and ex-Mars Volta drummer Dave Elitch and New York Dolls singer David Johanssen involved, which makes it supergroupy.

But it's mostly about Louis XIV's Jason Hill, which makes it feel more like a side-project where the session guys are more storied than the heart.

Apparently there's a record due out in a matter of days. In the meantime... there's this:

Stretching the definition of 'supergroup' a little

Mike Portnoy, Steve Morse, Neal Morse, Dave LaRue and Casey McPherson. Apparently, this is enough to constitute a supergroup these days.

Still, on this day of all others, it's an encouraging thought: don't think of that turkey curry tonight as reheated leftovers; what you have is a food supergroup. Enjoy.

Them Crooked Vultures apparently had quality control

Tucked away in a recent Mail interview with Paul McCartney was this revelation:

'We went out for a bite to eat afterwards and Dave told me he was starting this band with Josh. I asked him who was playing bass and he rather sheepishly told me he'd approached John. So you read it here first; Paul McCartney was nearly the bass player in Them Crooked Vultures."

Yeah, but can you imagine if he had? It would have turned into some sort of sideshow, packed full of chums, rather than... I thought I had a point, but it turns out I might not.

Well tonight, thank god, it's them instead of you-know-who

Band Aid. Band Aid II. Band Aid 20. And now... Do They Know It's Christmas is going to have a fourth incarnation - organised by Fucked Up.

Yes, it's going to be sort-of-all-star:

Talking to Vulture, [Pink Eyes] listed off some of the people involved: "David Cross, members of Vampire Weekend, TV on the Radio, Broken Social Scene, the GZA, Bob Mould, No Age, and Yo La Tengo are all confirmed. I'm still waiting on confirmation from Feist, Jarvis Cocker, and M.I.A. We wanted the biggest people we could get. If we could get a Jonas Brother on this, I would get a Jonas Brother."

Yes, it going to be doing a lot of good work for charity:

"[T]he single will benefit "a few different organizations, like Justice for the Missing, that are affiliated with the 500 missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada. That number is an old official statistic that the government uses, but the number is probably closer to 3,000. It’s not like cancer or AIDS. Those are worthy causes but they have big fund-raising machines. This is an undocumented, underreported crime that’s been going on for years. And while this is for Canadian organizations, the same sort of thing is going on at the U.S.-Mexico border, with Mexican women going missing, and in Australia, with aboriginal women there."

The whole thing is being funded with the cash Fucked Up won when they scooped the Polaris prize earlier this year.

You're wondering why, aren't you?

"I liked the idea of somewhat marginalized indie rockers coming together for a marginalized cause ... There's a kind of cavalier colonialism to the original, like the West has to go in and help this poor Third World country. But the charities that we're trying to help are exactly a product of this colonial history. People who have been subjugated and oppressed for so many years are going missing. So there's an irony to using the song."

It's fair enough, although it's not entirely clear that there's very much difference between Midge Ure helping the starving of Ethiopa and one of Vampire Weekend assisting the brutalised of North America in terms of colonial descendants assisting those who lost out in colonisation, apart perhaps from a bit of self-awareness. And even then, suggesting that being on an indie distro gives you some sort of common cause - even with a gentle tongue-in-cheek - might wipe out whatever self-awareness there might be.

Downloadable: Chauffeur

There are some for whom the idea of a "supergroup" featurning Mark Ronson is enough to have you fashion a Unabomber-style manifesto and head off to the mountains. Others will just head off to the mountains.

Still, give 'em a chance - Filter are offering a preview of what Chauffeur will sound like.

Supergroup is such an abused term, isn't it?

But never as abused as Nelly's plans:

Nelly reveals that he wants to create a supergroup with Akon, T-Pain, and Pharrell Williams. "Me, Akon, T-Pain and Pharrell are talking about doing a project. We got a host of things we're trying to do - possibly put together this new 2009 [Bell Biv DeVoe] type of thing," he tells MTV.

You wonder how thrilled Pharrell is with the idea of getting to work with Akon (and, presumably, the terrible misunderstanding involving flying young people and accidently dry-humping underage girls that seem to trail in his wake).

It's hard to say if Williams and Akon is more or less likely than, say, George Clooney and Brad Pitt appearing in Geri's movie; perhaps they could all get together to do the theme tune?

[Thanks to Michael M]

"Quite avant-garde"

Our buttocks tighten whenever we hear the word "supergroup" being muttered, even when it's one featuring Tim Burgess, Jamie HinceReynolds and Carl Barat.

It's going to happen, though, Tim has said so:

"The idea is to actually record something proper over the summer when we get a chance.

"Myself, Carl and Jamie from Klaxons actually went out for a bit of a band meeting and I think that we are all free in August - but I've just heard the news yesterday that Carl got quite sick so hopefully he'll be recovered by then."

As a general rule of thumb, however gorgeous the resulting band might look in the video, any band meeting which starts with members trying to synchronise diaries so they might turn up in the same place at the same time is a sign that the results of their labours might not be so much fun for the audience as for the artists.

"I just want it to be very serious you know, which would kinda be conflicting in the way that people have seen us in the past, but I think it might be quite avant-garde to be honest."

... so maybe not being fun won't be a problem?

Let's hope that it's not so avant-garde that they don't make a strongly homoerotic video.

The band is currently labouring under the name The Chavs, which you really hope they have another think over.

Stretching the definition of "supergroup"

Meet Chickenfoot, a sort-of-supergroup:

Sammy Hagar recently started a new "supergroup" with ex-VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony, guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani and RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS drummer Chad Smith. The band, tentatively called CHICKENFOOT, will enter the studio to begin recording its debut album this summer.

It's not so much supergroup as doing something interesting with leftovers, is it?

Still, Hagar is not without ambition for his bunch of pirate-types:

"We've written eight, nine songs...When people hear the music, it's LED ZEPPELIN. It's as good as that. I know that's a mighty bold statement...We could rival ZEP."

Well, yes, you could, potentially. Or Tin Machine. Maybe you should start by trying to best Tin Machine.

It's not nice to taunt the 3AM Girls, Alex

It's all fun and games making things up and enjoying seeing the 3AM Girls write them down, but now everyone is going to be awaiting the Arctic Monkey/Klaxon/Lily Allen/Dizee Rascal supergroup Alex Turner has promised:

Alex told us backstage at Glastonbury: "It's definitely happening. We're recording an album. It will be out before you know it."

Alex worked with Dizzee on his fab album Maths And English. And Dizzee teamed up with Lily on his hit Wannabe. The three roped in James [Righton] during a fancy-dress do in the VIP bar.

An insider tells us: "Their fans won't know what's hit them."

You have to love that "insider" comment - it's only one step away from an insider said "with eight legs between them, that's forty toes." An insider inside what? A non-existent record? Did they have to phone up a studio that hasn't been built and keep asking to speak to someone who hasn't been employed yet?

Chavtastic

Last night in London, something between a sprawling mess and a glorious coming-together: Carl Barat, Gary Powell, Jamie Reynolds, Steffan Halperin and Tim Burgess in a possible one-off supergroup extravaganza, The Chavs.

It's like a Travelling Wilburys for the living.