Off the record

BIGMOUTH STRIKES AGAIN

When politicians try to involve themselves in pop - Tony Blair schmoozing Noel Gallagher at Number 10, Lembit Opik dating a Cheeky Girl - it's embarrassing. However, as the controversy blazing over Morrissey's comments to the NME about immigration policy shows, pop stars dabbling in politics can be even more damaging.

This week the rock weekly was scheduled to give away a new Morrissey single but instead chose to run an interview with the singer that emphasised remarks such as: "The change in England is so rapid compared to the change in any other country. If you walk through Knightsbridge on any bland day of the week you won't hear an English accent." It rekindles a row that began when the magazine first accused the former Smith of flirting with racism in 1992.

Morrissey's manager, Merck Mercuriadis, is furious, publishing a statement online that calls the article "a hatchet job ... which we assume can only be intended to create controversy to boost their circulation at the expense of Morrissey's integrity". He is threatening legal action.

Mercuriadis also published an email from the NME's editor, Conor McNicholas, qualifying his decision. "Obviously no one is accusing Morrissey of racism - that would be mad given what Morrissey says - but we do say that the language Morrissey uses is very unhelpful at a time of great tensions."

Clearly McNicholas believes it was worth ruining relations with the magazine's most consistently popular cover star in order to challenge his comments, and suggest that Morrissey's oft-repeated longing for an England that has now disappeared is more sinister than he makes out.

Last month, the NME gave away a CD produced in conjunction with anti-fascist organisation Love Music Hate Racism, featuring bands including Bloc Party, Babyshambles and Lethal Bizzle. The mag may thrive on hype but when you consider that it would have probably sold more copies if it had stuck to the original plan of giving away Morrissey's music, the decision starts to look less like publicity-seeking and more like admirable sticking to anti-racist guns.

Love Music Hate Racism agrees. National organiser Lee Billingham tells me: "If you take the interview as a whole, it's very contradictory.

"There are things in there we would agree with but there are many things that can't be construed as anything other than racist ideas. The phraseology he's using - like the "gates being flooded" - is classic racist language."

It was partly remarks by Eric Clapton and a Nazi salute by David Bowie that led to Rock Against Racism being founded in the Seventies. Morrissey has been courted by anti-fascist organisations before, signing a statement in support of Unite Against Fascism in 2004. But like all good pop stars he is also a provocateur, a loose cannon. No one should be surprised when he goes out of his way to say the wrong thing.

As for his actual comments, the fact that he holds up tourist-packed Knightsbridge as an example of where he expected to hear English accents shows how out of touch he is with a country he hasn't lived in for almost a decade. Then again, listening to the Smiths' lyrics, it's not as if he ever sounded very happy with the old nation in the first place.

OZ ROCK HAS A NEW HOME

The multicultural London that Morrissey laments means bands most Brits have never heard of can often be found playing major venues. Eastern European rock groups are frequent unnoticed visitors but the ones making the biggest impact are antipodean.

Kiwi reggae pop band Fat Freddy's Drop played three nights at the Astoria in the summer, just before Australia's biggest rock act, Silverchair, took over Brixton Academy. This week Perth dance rockers Pendulum played the Electric Ballroom, while tonight and tomorrow entertaining Melbourne group The Cat Empire play Shepherd's Bush Empire. Next week Brisbane's Powderfinger have two nights at the 5,000-capacity Hammersmith Apollo.

Without any chart hits in this country, surely they're only performing for expats from their homeland? Not quite true, says Powderfinger's Bernard Fanning: "I know there are UK fans in the crowds of Australians but in small proportions. It does seem to get a little bigger each time, though. Maybe 20 or 30 per cent."

"Our biggest shows outside Australia are in London, though Paris and Berlin come close," says Cat Empire singer Felix Riebl, soon to embark on a tour of 10,000-capacity venues in his homeland.

These are clearly the shows to attend to avoid London gig-goers' arms-folded nonchalance. Less appealing are gigs in Oz, where apparently it works the other way around. "Have you been to an Oasis show in Australia?" says Fanning. "You'd think half the UK was there."

NEW ON THE NET

Soul legend Booker T Jones has signed up to Anti-Records, home of Tom Waits, and has produced a heartwarming cover of Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World. To buy the download go to www.bookert.com.

A late contender for single of the year has arrived in the shape of Rockferry, by Welsh songbird Duffy. It's a slow-building, string-drenched monster that could be classic Dusty. It's only in download stores and on seven-inch vinyl now.

Top music blog Stereogum's recent free downloads look tempting, including new tracks from Lou Reed and the Magnetic Fields at www. stereogum.com/mp., and British indie webzine Drowned in Sound has launched a new page dedicated to free downloads, at http://rcrdlbl.com/ sublabels/ DRWND_IN_SND.