Nick Frost and Simon Pegg attend the "Paul" Los Angeles Premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on March 14 in Hollywood (WireImage)

They’ve conquered zombie flicks (“Shaun of the Dead”) and action movies (“Hot Fuzz”) on their way to becoming the UK’s comedy darlings, but in their new sci-fi farce “Paul,” Simon Pegg and Nick Frost bring hilarity to the States. Blast sat down with the British funnymen to talk about life in America, meeting their heroes, and why they’re proud to be geeks.

BLAST: Can I ask you right away – there’s a moment in the film where you say, “That was my American accent.” You’ve been traveling so much and working in America, does the American accent just drive you up the wall?

SIMON PEGG: Not at all, I love it. Actually Phyllis, our publicist, has an amazing Boston accent and I love listening to her speak. It’s something that we don’t tire of and you just get really used to it. You look at all of our references, the stuff we allude to in our films and in our sitcom even, it’s almost exclusively American stuff. We grew up on a diet of American culture – you do if you’re from the UK. We’ve got this amazing resource, a country that’s hundreds of times as big as ours that speaks our language. It’s like having a huge “lucky dip” to take stuff from, so I’m used to it.

Nick Frost (left) and Simon Pegg chat with Blast (Molly J. Coombs for Blast Magazine)

NICK FROST: For me, personally, what gets slightly tiring is when I’m watching the Food Network. Because I usually just watch the Food Network. The commercials come on and the way cynical marketing people use a thousand words to describe a red pepper, that’s a bit crazy for me. But everything else is great.

BLAST: So how are your accents, specifically? Better than Hugh Laurie’s?

SP: Hugh Laurie’s got a great one. I wouldn’t dare do an accent in front of all you lot.

NF: Go on, do it! Show everyone!

SP: No, no. I’ve played American before – it’s not quite as easy as everyone thinks. It’s quite a gymnastic language. You guys really chew your words. It’s actually deceptive, because it sounds very laidback but it’s actually very muscular…this is what a dialect coach told me once. So no, I won’t do it. But Hugh Laurie does a great job – especially considering that he’s a posh Englishmen

(At this point, the interview devolves into Simon and Nick doing imitations of Hugh Laurie’s “posh” accent)

NF: When you have so many good American actors, why use an English person doing an American accent? As an actor, I always feel a bit weird…

SP: You sound like an American racist – ‘Coming over here, takin’ our jobs.’

BLAST: Can you explain how you work as writers? Do you ever just write stuff to make yourselves laugh?

SP: That’s what “Paul” is. I think everything we write is to make ourselves laugh. We learned very early on that what we find funny is shared by other people as well; it’s not exclusive to us. The first litmus test our writing has it whether or not we find it funny. Some comedy writers try and guess what other people find funny when you should always write what you find funny and just hope to God that someone else does too.

NF: We make films to make Edgar [Wright, the pair’s friend and frequent collaborator] laugh. You know what I mean? If Edgar likes it, it’s probably good enough. Just our mates, you know? We talk sometimes, and obviously this would never happen, but sometimes it would be great to make a really expensive film and then just give it to your mates and not release it.

SP: Not suffer the horror of handing it over to people who don’t care as much as you do about it. There’s joke in the film, one of my favorite jokes, that Nick says. It was just an offhand comment in the writing room that made me fall off my chair laughing. It’s when Paul (Seth Rogan), Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost) are all walking down the street, holding hands and Graeme says, “We’re trying to look like a family” and Paul says, “Yeah, the fucking Friedmans.” It was such a bizarre reference to a documentary about an abusive family that seemed so out of place, I just thought ‘That’s got to go in the movie.’ It just goes to show that we don’t just reference popular 70s cinema – we’re not opposed to the odd millennial documentary about child abuse.

BLAST: Do you have nicknames for each other, like you do in the film?

NF: We do, yeah. They don’t stick though; it’s whatever we fancy at the time. We’ll answer to anything really.

SP: I called you Pom Pom this morning.

NF: You did call me Pom Pom this morning.

SP: Generally speaking, it’ll be other names like ‘Jim,’ ‘Fred’ – Fred was an old nickname of yours. The first thing that comes to mind when we text each other good morning, which we invariably do.

NF: Double Axe or things that have double names like ‘Crabtree & Evelyn.’

SP: We laugh at each other when we call each other by our real names, because it sounds odd calling him ‘Nick.’

NF: Because we don’t say each other’s names a lot, we’ll say the full name to feel what it’s like in your mouth. Does that sound weird? So I’ll say ‘SI-mon. SI-mon. His name is SI-mon.’

SP: That’s what you texted me that yesterday. You’re really being drawn into our weird world here; this is quite odd.

Gordon Brown has resigned as British prime minister, making way for a coalition government led by Britain’s new prime minister, David Cameron, to take the reigns of British parliament.

After announcing his resignation outside 10 Downing Street today, Brown and his wife spent about 15 minutes at Buckingham Palace, after which a statement was released citing the queen’s acceptance of Brown’s decision.

Earlier today, talks on forming a new government between Brown’s Labour party and Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats broke down. After narrowly winning the May 6 election, Cameron’s Conservatives reached out to Clegg’s party in hopes of forming a coaltion and avoiding a hung parliament, the first since 1974 and the second since World War II.

In order to take full control of parliament in the UK, the winning party must garner 326 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons. A coalition between the Conservatives (who won 306 seats) and the Liberal Democrats (who won 57 seats) would help the country avoid a hung parliament.

Oddly enough, just months ago, no one in the UK could have predicted the fate of the British government would lay in the hands of the 43-year-old Clegg and the Liberal Democrats.

Cameron, speaking outside 10 Downing Street, said he aims to create a “full and proper” coalition with Clegg’s Liberal Democrats.

“I believe that is the best way to get the strong government that we need, decisive government that we need today,” said Cameron in his first speech as leader. ”I love this country and think it’s best days lie ahead. Now we need to confront our problems and take difficult decisions.”

Sarah Young, a porcelain-skinned, British fashion editor, blogger, DJ and all-around personality, is a young media personality on the cusp of something spectacular. Proving her journalistic skills, having interviewed the likes of Mr Hudson, British fashion icon, Vivienne Westwood, Boy George, Kelly Cutrone, Jeremy Scott, Michelle Williams and Famous UK Urban acts such as Tinchy Stryder and Bashy. At 20 years young, she is moving at a scarily rapid pace.

Three months ago she launched her blog and approached Blast about contributing. Her blog is a mix of video episodes, one-on-one interviews, secret diaries, Sarah’s Weekly Crush and reports on the industry’s up-and-coming talent.

“I started the blog because one day I want to run my own magazine — that or become the editor of Vogue by 23,” Young said. “I just thought it would be a good platform to write whatever the hell I want. Thing is with magazines, there are limits, but when I created my blog, I knew that the only limits there would be were the ones I put on myself.”

Young is launching a radio show next year, as well as going on an international blog tour, presenting a series of documentaries, launching an online magazine and releasing a DJ mixtape. She is also studying for a degree in fashion photography.

The young Londoner represents the new generation of media savvy 20-somethings that are doing it all — a perfect ‘cross the pond companion for Blast.

She’s one to keep an eye on, and you’ll be able to do so here on Blast as Miss Young as she gives us a mix of breaking news from Europe and reports on all things fabulous.

Imogen Heap plays New York December 2 at Webster Hall and December 3 at Music Hall of Williamsburg

NEW YORK — Anyone who hasn’t been paying attention to Imogen Heap the past few years may be surprised to learn that the British indie chanteuse has cultivated a burgeoning fan base. Whether that’s due to her avid Twittering (1.3 million followers and counting), being sampled heavily in Jason DeRulo’s number one single "Whatcha Say," or just recognition from her work on soundtracks including "Garden State" (with Frou Frou) and "The O.C." is hard to say. But one thing is certain — Heap has done nothing short of explode since the release of her second solo record, 2005′s Speak for Yourself, and that wave of popularity has only grown with her latest effort, Ellipse, which was released in August and reached number five on the Billboard 200 chart.

During a recent interview with Blast, the charmingly self-effacing Heap said she found herself simultaneously restless and suffering from burnout in early 2007, after completing nearly two years of touring behind Speak for Yourself.

"I couldn’t face going back to my studio," she said.

Instead, the native Londoner spent three months traveling on her own, writing songs on pianos that she found along the way.

Her itinerary took her from Hawaii to Tasmania to Fiji for a kayaking excursion, on to Tokyo, then Hong Kong via a farm in Northern Ireland, before finally wrapping up in Thailand.

"It was quite tiring," she said, in what might qualify for the understatement of the year. "Every two weeks, a new time zone, a new language, a new culture."

Upon returning, Heap renovated her family’s house in Essex, converting a childhood playroom into a studio to record the songs that would become Ellipse.

Though she writes all her own music, Heap acted as her own producer and mixer for the first time on "Speak for Yourself," a role she said sometimes overshadowed the actual writing of the songs.

"I had never done (production work) before, so it was kind of proving to myself that I can do it," she said. "I spent most of the time toying around with the songs … (and) paid a lot of attention to that kind of stuff. I got a bit carried away."

Anyone familiar with the dense layers (upon layers, upon layers… ) of vocals on that album would probably agree. But for Ellipse, Heap said she focused less on the production aspect ("The chip was off my shoulder about having to prove that I could do it," she explained). Rather, she enlisted the help of her Frou Frou bandmate Guy Sigsworth (Madonna, Britney Spears), whom she’s known since she was 17 and calls her "favorite producer on the planet."

Though her signature breathy harmonies are still present, Ellipse does indeed feel less engineered than her previous work.

"There was a lot more meaning behind everything on this record," Heap said. "The last one was so much more synths and programming. This one was really much more (organic). … I wanted to incorporate the house and its surroundings into the music, because if that happens, then the music becomes me."

To achieve that goal, Heap said she recorded ambient sounds from the shower and birds flying in a nearby park; one track, "The Fire," incorporates the crackling sound of wood burning, from a warped panel whose position above a door in the house held sentimental, nostalgic meaning for Heap.

"I didn’t want to throw it away or burn it without some sort of ceremony," she explained. "We all quietly just watched this piece of wood burn, with some fuel that I had from my studio. … It was this really kind of lovely moment."

Even as she was drawing inspiration from nature and personal childhood memories, Heap kept in touch with her fans throughout the recording process, posting video blogs and Twitter updates. On the last few dates of her current American tour, she’s even advertised, through Tweets, open auditions for cellists.

"I love it," she said. "I think it’s amazing to be able to have this connection. … I don’t feel like it’s extra effort or anything. I really needed the company and the encouragement of people to help me get through it. It’s pretty lonely writing on your own… but to know that there’s people there listening and interested in the process helped me."

Having worked both as a solo artist and in collaborative projects like Frou Frou and Acacia, Heap said there are positive and negative aspects to each. When she’s writing on her own, she acknowledged, her friends and fans are a valuable source of reinforcement and support.

"Every record I’ve done up until now, I’d had a boyfriend," she noted. "I never realized how much I relied on them, even if I wasn’t getting on with them, for support. Now, instead of waking my boyfriend up at four in the morning and saying, ‘This is what I’ve done,’ I could post a 12-second video and could get a response from not just one person, but many people. That’s exactly what you need."

Even as she’s showcasing new material on the Ellipse tour, Heap finds her audience burgeoning thanks to the ubiquitous "Whatcha Say," which is built around what is arguably the best-known song from Speak for Yourself, "Hide and Seek."

"I’d heard people do covers of it," Heap said. "But I’d never heard someone do a rap over it."

Though she’s never met DeRulo, Heap more than anything seems impressed that he found the song in the first place and said she supports his use of it — even though it might not be to her taste.

"If I heard it on the radio, I don’t know if I’d buy it," she admitted. "But I very much feel that once I write a song, once it’s out of my system and it’s in the public domain… I don’t feel like it belongs to me anymore, and I don’t feel like I have the right to stop it from doing its thing. I really feel like songs have their own life."

"I never expected it would be a hit," she added.

Described as a “lovely, generous, unselfish person” by family, British actress Lucy Gordon, who is most known in the United States for her role in Spiderman 3, was found hanged in her Paris apartment Thursday. She was 28.

Multiple media reports, including Sky News, indicate the rising star appeared to commit suicide.

The young actress had 10 films to her name, including two in the works, and a television appearance. She debuted in 2001′s “Perfume.”

Gordon was lauded as talented with model good looks.

Explorers combing the depths of the English Channel have found the H.M.S. Victory, a ship that sank during a vicious 1744 storm, possibly carrying four tons of gold coins worth close to $1 billion, the New York Times reports.

The old British warship was also thought to have lost near 1,000 men when it capsized nearly three centuries ago.

The exploration team lifted two of 41 cannons found in the depths of the Channel and handed them over to the British Defense Ministry. The team’s leaders are now talking to authorities and negotiating what should be done with the found artifacts before they dive in and look for more.

“I’m surprised we’ve been able to keep it under wraps for nine months” said Gregory Stemm, leader of the team and chairman and CEO of Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc., at a recent news conference.

The find reinstates the ship’s navigator, Admiral Sir John Balchin, as a competent crew member. Previously, the ship’s downfall was blamed on his “poor navigational skills,” something now known to be untrue. The storm, according to the team, could not have been avoided.

The ship was armed with as many as 110 cannons, which makes it one of the deadliest warships of the age, according to the Times.‚ 

The Victory encountered a horrible storm upon entering the English Channel in October of 1744, three months after freeing a convoy that was blockaded by the French near Lisbon.

Somewhere off the Channel Islands, the ship capsized, making it the only ship in that period’s British fleet to be lost at sea.

Very cool find.

With regard to “Antidotes,” the debut album from British indie outfit Foals, the sentiment “if you’ve heard one song, you’ve heard them all,” isn’t an entirely unfair assessment. Fortunately for the band, they’ve honed a winning formula of upbeat dance-rock, with a sound that invites comparison to groups like Bloc Party, The Rapture and occasionally Hot Hot Heat. As a result, while “Antidotes” feels a bit repetitive, it’s still an enjoyable listen.

After forming in Oxford, England in 2005, Foals exploded onto the British music scene with “Hummer” and “Mathletics” — two bonus tracks included on “Antidotes,” which was released in the States on April 8, two weeks after it dropped in the UK.

The quintet of twentysomethings (singer/guitarist Yannis Philippakis, keyboardist Edwin Congreave, bassist Walter Gervers, guitarist Jimmy Smith and drummer Jack Bevan) graced the cover of British music mag NME earlier this year. The publication, in its ever-hyperbolic wisdom, hailed Foals as one of the bands that will “define the year.” No pressure there.

For now at least, Foals appear to be shying away from the hype. (“We’re not interested in fulfilling other people’s expectations,” Philippakis told NME.)

To be fair, “Antidotes” isn’t entirely uniform. The twinkling guitars and breathy vocals on “Olympic Airwaves,” and the brooding rhythm of “Electric Bloom,” provide a reprieve from the otherwise mostly buoyant tracks.

Philippakis’ lyrics are often indistinguishable – obscured by his bandmates’ instruments and his thick British accent. But it appears the band is more focused on the melody of its songs than the sentiment behind them (perhaps evidenced by the fact that only scribbled snippets of the lyrics are included in the record’s liner notes).

The album could be tighter, with half of the 14 tracks surpass the four-minute mark. This hampers some of the stronger offerings like “Two Steps Twice.” A restless alert advisory is in order for the song, which clocks in at 4:40, but takes nearly two minutes to really get going. But listeners who resist the temptation to press the skip button will be rewarded with a fever pitch of bouncy rhythms, as Philippakis barks, “That’s one step, one step, two step!”

The concise “Cassius,” on the other hand, jumps into hip-shaking mode from the get go and offers three-plus minutes of pulsing beats. There’s no hope for anyone who resists the urge to, at a minimum, tap a foot to this one.

For British rock bands of late, the Next Big Thing tag has been more of a blessing than a curse (Arctic Monkeys, anyone?). But although Philippakis says he isn’t interested in meeting expectations, if the audience’s enthusiasm at a recent sold-out show at New York’s Bowery Ballroom is any indication, he and his bandmates might not have a choice.

Tour dates:

May 01 Showplace Theatre, Buffalo, NY
May 05 Higher Ground, South Burlington, VT
May 06 Middle East, Cambridge, MA (downstairs)
May 07 Maxwells, Hoboken, NJ
May 08 Union Hall, Brooklyn, NY
May 22 Pop Scene, San Francisco, CA
May 24 Troubadour, Hollywood, CA
May 25 Brick by Brick, San Diego, CA
May 28 Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR
May 30 Neumos, Seattle, WA

The British Invasion: Millennium Edition continues with the arrival of Kate Nash’s debut album “Made of Bricks,” which hit shelves in January.

Nash, 20, is the latest in the assembly line of female singer-songwriters to hail from the U.K. Her style is more Lily Allen than Amy Winehouse, but unlike that pair, Nash’s personal life hasn’t yet overshadowed her musical accomplishments. Anglophiles will appreciate the uniquely British euphemisms scattered throughout “Made of Bricks” (“I’d rather be with your friends, mate / ‘Cause they are much fitter”) as well as Nash’s over exaggerated drop the R’s accent (“fitt-ah”), a trait which has been criticized by some of her compatriots as a bit overdone.

Nash, so the story goes, composed and made early recordings of many of the songs that would become “Made of Bricks” while nursing a broken foot after she fell down a flight of stairs. Using a guitar that her parents gave her as a consolation gift, Nash posted early demos of the tracks to her MySpace page, where she built a growing fanbase and attracted the attention of industry reps.

Throughout “Made of Bricks,” Nash contemplates the ups and downs of schoolgirl crushes and young love. She dismisses some lads with a sassy vigor reminiscent of Allen’s (see: “Dickhead”) and pines after others (“Pumpkin Soup”). While musically, the album is more complex and innovative than Allen’s “Alright, Still,” it sometimes falls short lyrically. The tracks too often consist of phrases that seem to have been hastily thrown together simply because they rhyme (i.e. “I use mouthwash / Sometimes I floss”).

Sometimes the technique work well, as in the repetitive “Shit Song” (“Darlin’ don’t give me shit / ‘Cause I know that you’re full of it”). But other times it’s unfortunate. The melodies are catchy enough to sing along to, but it would be better if the words being belted out weren’t so trite. Some of the strongest songs emerge when Nash sheds her harsh exterior and adopts a more wistful tone, as on the achingly vulnerable “Nicest Thing.”

At a recent performance in New York, Nash seemed a bit awe-struck playing in front of a sell-out crowd just 24 hours after “Made of Bricks” was released in the U.S. What she lacked in stage presence she made up for with furious fingerwork along her piano on crowd pleasers like “Mariella” and first single “Foundations.”

Nash’s promising musical prowess makes it easy for listeners to overlook the teenage angst/dear-diary sentiments on “Made of Bricks.” This commendable debut from a rising young talent will leave listeners intrigued to discover what Nash is really made of.

Due out on DVD January 29, Chancer was the British television series that made Clive Owen (Children of Men, Inside Man, Closer, King Arthur) a star.

Chancer, Series 2 is the conclusion to the hit 90s series. Owen plays Derek “Dex” Love. He’s devious, dangerous—and even more determined. Dex, a.k.a. Stephen Crane, gets out of jail and goes to work for his former romantic rival, Piers Garfield-Ward (Simon Shepherd). The two men are both only interested in one thing, the orphaned baby of the women they both had loved. They work together to keep the child away from his megalomeniacal industrialist grandfather (Peter Vaughan).

The series co-stars Louise Lombard (CSI). In a plot packed with double crosses of the heart and the wallet, Chancer propels powerfully toward its surprising, devastating conclusion.

The LA Times: “Owen has aged like a fine wine, and his star quality shines through in this compelling drama series.”
Entertainment Weekly: “Watching Owen in Chancer is like looking at a foal you just know is gonna be a thoroughbred.”
San Francisco Chronicle: “great fun.”

The second series is seven episodes and is almost six hours long.