It was inflight double entendres all round as Bell X1 donned cabin crew attire for a special Hot Press photoshoot. When not showing an unhealthy interest in women’s clothes and fancy Raybans, they talked about their chart-topping new album Blue Lights On The Runway, their imminent breakthrough in the US and freezing their arses off on The Late Show with Dave Letterman
Things are really hotting up for Bell X1. The Great Defector went to number 1 in the airplay charts last week, while their number 1 album Blue Lights On The Runway is still flying high.
Thirty lucky fans were treated to a special acoustic Bell X1 show in the intimate surroundings of Bewley's Cafe Theatre in Dublin on Sunday. **NOW UPDATED with photos!
Thirty lucky fans were treated to a special acoustic Bell X1 show in the intimate surroundings of Bewley's Cafe Theatre in Dublin last weekend. And HP's Ruth Medjber was there to catch all the action on camera...
Hot Press are offering fans a chance to be at a top secret acoustic show ahead of the band's upcoming tour. But get moving, the closing date's tomorrow!
Hotpress.com is delighted to bring you this pre-release goo at the artwork for Bell X1’s Blue Lights On The Runway album, which makes it into the shops here on February 20.
BellX1 have announced a run round Ireland in support of their Blue Lights On The Runway album, which is due on February 20 and is preceded by the lead single, ‘The Great Defector’.
Bell X1 have announced that Brian Crosby will be leaving the band following their October 19 Flock tour finale at the Panorama Festival in the Lebanon.
On the eve of the release of Tour De Flock, BellX1’s live album and DVD from Dublin’s Point Theatre, Paul Noonan, Brian Crosby and Dominic Phillips answer the weird and wonderful questions of hotpress readers, from the swimming habits of monkeys to ripping the gusset of your pants on stage.
What’s most striking about Tour De Flock is how unpopulist Bell X1 are. This is not a live album filled with huge, chest-beating anthems, but it works instead on a more intimate scale.
Their transition from traditional ‘indie’ beginnings to a more lavish, gothic sound suggests a development that, for my money, has never been backed up by a commensurate break-through in terms of songwriting. Or maybe I’ve been missing something...
BellX1’s cross-channel profile is set to receive a major boost with their version of The Only Ones’ ‘Another Girl Another Planet’ soundtracking Vodafone’s Christmas TV advertising campaign.
In order to further understand the African AIDS crisis, Bell X1, ardent supporters of Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair campaign, travelled to Tanzania for eight days this month.
A radio favourite since January, the delay in releasing ‘Rocky’ can be attributed to a desire to similarly see it take off across the pond. A story of lush melodies, chiming instrumentation and Paul Noonan’s bittersweet lyrics, ‘Rocky’ will probably be most of interest to Irish fans for its b-sides. Amongst them lies a sparse acoustic reworking of Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy The Silence’ that should prove a live favourite on their forthcoming November tour.
BellX1 have given one of the tracks from their Flock album to Oxfam as a free download to publicise the charity’s ‘Generation Why’ arms control initiative.
This is one of the finer moments from Bell X1’s patchy and somewhat overrated Flock LP. Anyone with even half an ear cocked to radio will be well aware of this infectious sing-a-long from the X1 boys. A proven favourite on the airwaves, the group’s collective ears will be firmly tuned to see if UK disc jocks show a similar penchant for ‘Flame’s shouty chorus and chiming guitar lines.
Irish fans however will be more interested in a live version of the track, due to be made available on the group’s website in the coming weeks.
Bell X1 at the RDS? It would have seemed unthinkable a few years back, but 2005 was a good year for the group – one in which they took steps to ensure that they will be remembered as more than just Damien Rice’s old playmates.
With the release of their acclaimed third album Flock, which went straight to No.1 in Ireland, Bell X1 have staked their claim not just to greatness, but also to potential world domination – a possibility which is reinforced considerably by their powerful showing in the Hot Press Readers’ Poll. Here, in an emotional and revealing interview, the band’s photogenic frontman Paul Noonan discusses life, art, love, death... and music.
BellX1 fans unable to lay their hands on tickets for their current dates will be mighty pleased to learn that they'll soon be returning to the live scene for a one-off date at the RDS Arena in Dublin.
Its real beauty comes when the effort is made to tunnel further down. The songs you were tempted to skip first become familiar, then recognisable, then at a point only hindsight will reveal, become shining examples of subtle magnificence, however much you’re loath to admit a change of heart.
Those of us who always suspected Bell X1 of the denatured blandness that typified the genre they skirt will find in ‘Bigger Than Me’ a large, layered soft pop track that is cheerfully mordant, with more than a hint of Liam O’Maonlai. In ‘Still Selling Shoes’ we get neatly itemised observations of the mundane roles enjoyed by now legendary or indeed notorious Irish performers. Not many would shoehorn (ahem) Rory Gallagher and Ronan Keating into a song, and fewer still could make it work.
The long-awaited follow-up to the phenomenal Music In Mouth is nearly upon us, and just to build up the tension a little more, you can get a sneaky peek at the cover right here...
Expectations for new material are, understandably, quite high, both from long term fans of the band and the ever-broadening circle of new admirers, Indeed, the days of Bell X1 filling medium size stages could well be numbered – as it is, tonight’s stage can barely hold the band’s enthusiasm and confidence.
Hot Press visited BellX1 in their city-centre studio, where the group are working on the follow-up to Music In Mouth. “There’s been a lot less fuck-acting this time around,” they tell John Walshe. Photo: Liam Sweeney
Bell X1’s transformation into one of the big bands is already in process, with only an all-conquering run of festival appearances left to complete the picture..
Music In Mouth is a more unified, distinctive and cohesive record that showcases the band’s multiple directions, adding further conviction to the depths of epic balladeering on ‘Eve, The Apple Of My Eye’, the quirky pop of ‘Next To You’ or the manic rock of ‘White Water Song
Bell X1’s debut album displays a touching uncertainty. Apart from the robust vanguard of ‘Pinball Machine’ and the confident swish of ‘Man On Mir,’ Neither Am I has a preponderance of translucent ballads. Most of these, while genuinely lovely, are not as striking as they might be, due to the distant, dreamy production style.
