To honour the life and career of Craig Gill from Inspiral Carpets, fans of the band have been campaigning to get their 1994 Top 20 hit, ‘Saturn 5’, back in the charts for 2016’s Christmas #1 slot.

Craig Gill, the drummer of cult Manchester band Inspiral Carpets joined at the age of 14 and his unmistakable drumming was behind the band’s many singles, including ‘This Is How It Feels’, ‘Move’, ‘She Comes In The Fall’, ‘Dragging Me Down’, ‘I Want You’ and, of course ‘Saturn 5’.

The band announced Craig Gill’s passing on 22 November 2016 with the following statement: “It’s with heavy hearts that we announce the death of our drummer and close friend, Craig Gill. We are all absolutely devastated by the news. Craig was our brother. We were honoured to work alongside him for the last 30 years.

To say we’ll miss him is an understatement. He was the beating heart of the Inspirals in more ways than one. Our love and thoughts go out to all Craig’s family and friends and especially his wife, Rose and their beautiful children, Georgia, Orla and Levon.”

There’s a Facebook group for the campaign here

You can watch the original video here

If you wish to join the #GetSaturn5ToXmasNo1 campaign in memory of Craig Gill, please purchase the track from iTunes 

As hinted at earlier this year, Nine Inch Nails will be releasing new music before the end of 2016.

The brand new five track EP, Not The Actual Events, comes in two formats. Both of which feature the digital download, available 12:01am PST on Friday December 23. The first is 180g single-sided vinyl, and the second is a unique limited physical component version.

According to the band, “the intention of this record is for it to exist in the physical world, just like you... we will ship the proper physical component to your house for you to deal with, while very limited supplies last.” The physical component will be dispatched in January, with the vinyl following in the spring.

NiN’s mainman Trent Reznor has made long-time collaborator, and fellow Oscar recipient, Atticus Ross a full member of the group. It’s the first time anyone other then Reznor has officially been part of Nine Inch Nails.

The self-released EP is “an unfriendly, fairly impenetrable record that we needed to make” says Reznor. “It’s an EP because that ended up being the proper length to tell that story.”

Interestingly, Reznor is reissuing the band’s back catalogue on vinyl. The albums have been remastered and The Fragile includes extensive bonus material from himself and Ross. Together with the physical aspects of the new EP, he has posted a “Vinyl Mission Statement” on the NiN website.

The man who is Chief Creative Officer at Apple Music feels that “digital formats and streaming are great and certainly convenient, but the ideal way I’d hope a listener experience my music is to grab a great set of headphones, sit with the vinyl, drop the needle, hold the jacket in your hands looking at the artwork (with your fucking phone turned off) and go on a journey with me.

The canvas of artwork, the weight of the record, the smell of the vinyl, the dropping of the needle, the difficulty of skipping tracks, the changing of sides, the secrets hidden within, and having a physical object that exists in the real world with you… all part of the experience and magic.”

Interesting. And definitely unrelated to vinyl sales outstripping a declining download market.

Tracklist

01. Branches/bones

02. Dear world,

03. She's gone away

04. The idea of you

05. Burning bright (field on fire)

The EP and vinyl reissues are available from http://hyperurl.co/ninstore.