Damien Rice contributes a new track, ‘Making Noise’, to the Songs For Tibet – The Art Of Peace compilation, which receives its Stateside release on August 12.
An acoustic live record stripped back to its bare essentials, Live From The Union Chapel, in its simplicity and frankness, showcases the essence of Rice.
Damien Rice and Snow Patrol have both been confirmed for the London leg of Al Gore’s Live Earth extravaganza, which takes place in multiple locations on July 7.
Yes, the one with all the swearing on it – with all the swearing removed. A snaggle-toothed bile-dripper ‘Rootless Tree’ was the slow-burn stand out on Rice’s 9 album; cleaned up for radio, the song retains its haunting reach. Points are deducted for the recycled card sleeve, though. There is such a thing as trying too hard, you know.
Without wishing to trash the Hot Press party line, our Damien has always left me perplexed, uninterested and wondering what all the fuss could be about. Might '9 Crimes' be the record to change all that? Actually it might. This is lovely stuff, once again led by the twin muses of Lisa Hannigan’s voice and Vyvienne Long’s cello, although you have to wonder at the strategy of releasing it two weeks after the album.
While Mr Rice is a notoriously camera-shy chap, we shouldn’t mistake this reticence for a meekness of character. Far from it – because from beginning to end, 9 is a serious statement of authorial intent.
Having previously announced that he wasn’t going to tour his new 9 album, Damien Rice has announced a 10-date US tour, which kicks off on November 13 in LA’s El Rey Theater and then takes in New York, Oakland, Boston, Upper Darby, Washington and Chicago before winding-up on December 20 at Minneapolis’ Orpheum Theater.
It's been over four intriguing years since Damien Rice's extraordinary debut album O was launched. That record went on to become a huge underground international hit, selling in excess of 2 million copies. Now his long-awaited follow-up – the similarly simply titled 9 – is finally ready to hit the shops. So how did Rice so successfully capture the collective imagination? And will the latest instalment in the Rice musical biography propel him to even greater heights? Hot Press talks exclusively to some of the key players in his remarkable rise and rise.
In what is one of the most sensational developments of the summer festival season, Damien Rice has been added to the line-up for Electric Picnic. However, Hot Press can reveal that, in addition to performing, the Kildare troubadour has committed to an even more ambitious role in the event.
There was no getting hammered and doing fuck all work over Christmas for Damien Rice with the Kildare man journeying to Oslo for the Nobel Peace Prize Concert.
Having graced the Closer soundtrack and made the cut for the OC’s illustrious collection, Damien Rice is doing very nicely out of compilations these days.
Damien Rice has emerged as one of the most distinctive and independent voices of recent years, achieving a remarkable level of success and artistic respect with O – the debut album that was recorded on a shoestring in his own bedroom. Famously media shy, he agreed to talk to Hot Press about the Free Aung San Suu Kyi 60th Birthday Campaign, and the beautiful tribute single ‘Unplayed Piano’, recorded with Lisa Hannigan. But, tape rolling, he talked about a whole lot more, giving the most candid and complete insight yet into the real Damien Rice.
Though a charity gig hardly makes for the perfect barometer, it is still perpetually astounding to note the evolution (or devolution?) of Damien Rice’s live audiences.
Patrick Hedlund catches up with Damien Rice and The Frames in Boston and finds they’re having more success on-stage than in the bowling alley. Additional reporting Stuart Clark
American readers that missed out on tickets for his sold-out tour with The Frames can catch Damien Rice up close and personal with David Letterman tonight
With a self-recorded and self-released album – called simply O – Damien Rice has emerged as a major force in Irish music. But that’s just the start of it: the record is now in the charts in both the U.S. and the U.K., and with the kind of momentum he has generated, the feeling is that it might just go all the way.
"Early highlights like the soul-searching ‘Eskimo’ and the sharp, bitter melancholy of ‘What I Am’ confirm that they will not just be going through the motions today."
Jools, Letterman, platinum discs, fan hysteria – it’s all very nice and much appreciated, you understand, but for Damien Rice the bottom line remains the song – and doing things his way.
After what was at times a stressful year, Damien Rice is on the verge of a major international breakthrough. Fiona Reid gets the inside story from the hungover but happy singer
"Only Bob Dylan comes close to such cracked passion." Who's been on the business end of such purple praise, you enquire? Our own Damien Rice, in UK reviews of debut album O, that's who
