Advances in computer technology are set to have a more dramatic influence on our lives than eighty years of developments in motor transport. In this, the first of a new regular column called Cyber Walking, Gerry McGOVERN puts you under starter’s orders.
Gerry McGovern writes about his own brief but disturbing experience as the victim of sexual abuse and argues that Church and State stand accused of failing to protect the most vulnerable and powerless in society.
From her humble origins in Corofin, Co. Clare to The White House, SHARON SHANNON has blazed her own unique trail across the landscape of Irish music. Her extraordinary success notwithstanding, she has remained an enigmatic and elusive presence, renowned for the child-like sense of wonder she radiates. Here, for the first time, she opens up, telling her own remarkable story to Hot Press. Interview: GERRY McGOVERN.
Since records began, popular music has maintained a healthy and unstinting preoccupation with political issues. GERRY McGOVERN namechecks some of the artists who have nurtured such links and argues that even music which ostensibly extricates itself from the issues of the day, is itself inherently political.
It is every boy's wildest fantasy (bar, perhaps, Brett from Suede) to make a living playing with a fantastically successful football side. Craig Johnston was there, saw that and quit while he was ahead. But he has continued to make his dreams real. Gerry McGovern meets the kangaroo who won't be tied down, sport.
Gerry McGovern talks to Dael Orlandersmith, one of the leading lights of the new generation of New York-based street poets,about the inherent subversive energy of the medium and about why the movement takes its cue from Lou Reed, rap and Hip Hop.
They sometimes dance in the streetlight, thrown across the centre of the yard in the shape of a triangle. Sometimes they stop to snuggle up to each other. They don’t know that we’re watching them.
Ted Hawkins, in Dublin recently to play a never-to-be-forgotten gig in Whelan’s, talks about his journey down the long and winding road which led him from an early, joyless life of petty crime and racial discrimination to his belated fame as one of the most respected of contemporary blues men. Interview: Gerry McGovern.
For close to twenty years, MARTIN CAHILL led the forces of law and order a merry dance. Known as the General, he was suspected of masterminding virtually every major crime committed in Ireland – but for as long as matters, the Gardai had been unable to pin anything on him. And when he was brought to court on petty charges, he posed outside for press photographers, dropping his trousers to reveal a pair of Mickey Mouse boxer shorts. Last week, however, the game was cut brutally short when Cahill was blown away within 100 yards of his South Dublin home by an IRA hit squad. Report: NEIL McCORMICK.
“Crossover” may be a favourite buzz-word at the moment but as rap and the rock mainstream strike an uneasy alliance, it’s clear that a huge gulf still exists between black and white culture.
Cast by certain sections of the media in the role of villain, Ice-T has spent the past decade pounding home the message that unless America is willing to accept a major race war, something has to change.
Here, the Iceman talks to GERRY McGOVERN about censorship and the politics of rap and gives him an exclusive preview of his Return Of The Real album. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
Few Irish albums have been as eagerly awaited as THERAPY?’s Troublegum and while the jury has yet to deliver its final verdict, early indications suggest that the band from Larne may be about to fulfil their own prophecy and become multifuckingnationally huge. But does taking on the world mean having to compromise the hardcore principles they’ve fought so hard to protect?
ANDY CAIRNS and MICHAEL McKEEGAN tell Hot Press trouble-shooter GERRY McGOVERN that displaying your gums doesn’t mean having to sacrifice your teeth. Pix.: MICHAEL QUINN.
WHILE HE WAS BEING TERRORISED AND BRUTALISED IN MONNOWITZ, LEON GREENMAN MADE A DEAL WITH GOD: IF HE WAS TO BE ALLOWED TO SEE THE OUTSIDE OF THE DEATH CAMPS AGAIN, HE WOULD DEVOTE HIS LIFE TO TELLING THE WORLD WHAT HAPPENED THERE. NOW, AS DENIAL OF THE HOLOCAUST CONTINUES TO AID THE INSIDIOUS RISE OF THE FASCIST MOVEMENT IN EUROPE, IT IS MORE VITAL THAN EVER THAT HIS STORY IS TOLD. REPORT: GERRY McGOVERN.
In 1992, following seventeen years of dedicated research and having overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, George Smoot made what Stephen Hawking, author of A Brief History Of Time, described as “the scientific discovery of the century, if not of all time“ – ripples in the fabric of space-time that validate the theory of The Big Bang. GERRY McGOVERN meets GEORGE SMOOT on the publication of his new book, Wrinkles In Time
'The Irish Are Coming' was the banner headline for a two-night musical extravaganza held at The Venue in London, organised in conjunction with Hot Press, that showcased some of the most promising Irish bands. Gerry McGovern gives a behind-the-scenes account of the weekend that was...
The inhabitants of Mostar in southern Bosnia-Herzgovina have lived together in harmony for more than 700 years. Now, shelled daily by Croatian forces and suffering nightly sniper attacks, this unique city has seen its population decimated and its ancient architecture destroyed. GERRY McGOVERN talks to EMIR STRANJAW.
The fact that it's just over ten years since Pac-man was wowing the world's computer buffs, shows the vast leaps that the gaming industry has made since. Hot Press investigates the cult of the console.
LET'S GO SHOPPING
Gerry McGovern embarks on a mission to steer you through the sea of software.
From her humble origins in Corofin, Co. Clare to The White House, Sharon Shannon has blazed her own unique trail across the landscape of Irish music. Her extraordinary success notwithstanding, she has remained an enigmatic and elusive presence, renowned for the child-like sense of wonder she radiates. Here, for the first time, she opens up, telling her own remarkable story to Hot Press. Interview: Gerry McGovern.
As the supposed redevelopment of the Dublin Inner City area fails to halt its seemingly terminal decline, Gerry McGovern discusses the problems facing these forgotten areas and talks to community worker Paddy Malone.
"Hope is a scarce commodity in the Inner City," writes Gerry McGovern. Here, he hears from Paul Hansard, who has lived in the Inner City all his life, about the many and varied injustices aimed at the working class, the frustration of never rising above the level of subsistence and about trying to wish for better for your children
1993 may not have been a classic year for rock ’n’ roll but away from the bright lights and the glitter of chartland, there is still great music being made. GERRY McGOVERN talks to five bands who went to the heart of the matter over the past 12 months and made great and memorably soulful albums: TINDERSTICKS, LUNGFISH, MARXMAN, GIRLS AGAINST BOYS and SCRAWL.
Christmas is the time of the year when thousands of Irish emigrants return home to link up again with families and friends. All over the country, for a brief interlude, towns and villages will come alive with stories, songs, drink and craic. And then all will be quiet again. Gerry McGovern examines the impact of emigration on Irish society – and the sense of alienation which many emigrants feel about their treatment by the authorities here.
Going back to the deep-seated roots of music is the route taken by THE PALACE BROTHERS on their stunning debut album. GERRY McGOVERN goes to meet them at the crossroads where cultures collide . . . well, The Baggot Inn actually.
From the early excesses of the Birthday Party through meisterwerks like The Good Son to his new release, Live Seeds, Nick Cave has spent nearly fifteen years probing those crevices of the human psyche that few care, or even dare, to venture into.
Here, in a highly personal, in-depth interview, Gerry McGovern grills the god of Goth about his ambivalence towards and obsession with religion, his love of dysfunctional people, his thoughts on the past and his hope for the future, oh, and how to reconcile life as an internationally renowned icon of doom with being a mummy’s boy! (Only joking, Nick!).
Brutally sexually abused as a child, by the age of 14 Anthony Godby Johnson found himself on speaking terms with death, as a result of AIDS. At an advanced stage of the illness, he knows that he is not long for this world. In the meantime, however, he has told his own unforgettable story. Report: Gerry McGovern
Californian-born JIM PAGE is no ordinary protest singer. Best known on this side of the Atlantic as the writer of such classics as 'Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Russian Roulette', his music has continued to move hearts and minds well into the corporate nineties. Here, he traces his roots from Bob Dylan to Public Enemy, and explains why he wrote a special song in tribute to Sinead O'Connor. Interview: GERRY McGOVERN
Her work is brutally explicit and fired by an anger that seems to know no limits. GERRY McGOVERN plunges into the black heart of two new works by one of contemporary art's most controversial women, Lydia Lunch.
The past year hasn't been the easiest for Whipping Boy and all who sail in him. Their debut album, though critically acclaimed, did not sell well and they've also had to weather their own share of record company hassles. But, as Gerry McGovern discovers, the band are still setting their own agenda, and forging forward with their own brew of hope, confidence and fuck-ye-all attitude.
The case for and against Holocaust Revisionist and Nazi apologist DAVID IRVING being allowed to speak on a public platform in Ireland. For: GERRY McGOVERN. Against: EAMONN McCANN
Or that's what the proponents of the phenomenon of Virtual Reality might want us to believe. GERRY McGOVERN enters this brave new world and discovers that its capacity to transform our lives - at work, rest and foreplay - is truly mindblowing. Now, put on your headset and start reading!
They called them the Magdalen Laundries, where fallen women were sent to atone for their sins. There, thousands of Irish women were imprisoned, often for life. They worked for nothing, literally like slaves, and they died. And then one hundred and twenty-three of them were dug up with the approval of the Catholic Church.
Report: Gerry McGovern
WHIPPING BOY (Project Arts Centre, Dublin)
TO GET a crowd up and dancing requires something special - but then Whipping Boy have always had that something.
With close to forty TDs in the Dáil, and Labour in government with Fianna Fáil, the parties of the left have undergone something of a renaissance in Ireland over the past few years. There are those, however, who view this as a grand illusion, arguing that the cause of socialism is being ill-served by our elected representatives. Meanwhile, following the collapse of the East European model of communism, the left is experiencing a crisis of its own. GERRY McGOVERN talks to the activists who see themselves as carrying the socialist torch and profiles the parties who have yet to make an impact at the polls. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
Whatever your fancy chances are the capital will be able to oblige. Here, the Hot Press team pound the pavement in selfless pursuit of Dublin's hottest - and coolest - nightspots.
. . . and listening too. GERRY McGOVERN discusses the distressing implications of the latest surveillance and state security technology with TOM COONEY of the Irish Council of Civil Liberties.
Dervish are a good-time trad band, whose charismatic singer, Cathy Jordon, never fails to have a humorous quip ready between songs. Before a fairly packed crowd they got a rousing reception, particularly when they let loose on those jigs and reels, which was often enough.
JACK LYNCH'S opening priest routine didn't bode well - the dinosaur that is the Catholic Church is too easy a target now, unless the humour is really novel - but once the cute Cavan hoors, Quighie 'The Feather' and PJ Gallagan, strolled on the scene, things improved dramatically.
EVERY ONCE in a while you hear a song that you want to hear forever.
I've played 'Just Passing Out' twenty times in a row and I'll play it twenty more and want to play it twenty more. It begins with a slow, measured bass riff.
His black hair may be turning grey but his voice is still as deep as the mine shafts he sings about and still as pure as the sweat from his working man's chest. Because Gil Scott Heron is growing old with honour.
Will genetic engineering be a force for good or for evil? And since the genie is already out of the bottle, is even that profound question becoming redundant? GERRY McGOVERN delves into the worrying, wonderful and definitely weird world of genetics. The future starts here.
WHAT WE had tonight was a show for people who wanted something to do after work and before that meal. I can't understand how so many instruments and so much music can create so little soul.
To DECLAN LYNCH in Foul Play it's "bogball" but to GERRY McGOVERN it's a thrilling sport "created out of the imagination and genius of the Irish people." Here he writes in praise of gaelic football and declares: "I'm a bogman and proud of it."
They came out of Ballyfermot Rock School,now they are capable of rocking the world! Gerry Mc Govern talks to a band who had the good sense to think of a name that was made for headlines.....flexihead!
IT IS OFTEN DISMISSED AS BIGOTED, SEXIST, VIOLENT AND TUNELESS. THERE IS, HOWEVER, MUCH MORE TO THE STORY OF RAP THAN THAT, YES, BIGOTED VIEW MIGHT SUGGEST. GERRY McGOVERN SINGS A HYMN OF PRAISE TO WHAT HE BELIEVES IS THE MOST INTENSE ART FORM OF THE NINETIES.
Eleven years on from their debut and New York avant-garde guitar manglers Sonic Youth have reached an ever-growing audience without compromising their ideals of integrity. Here, GERRY McGOVERN offers a personal testimony to their recorded output in anticipation of their appearance at Sunstroke '93.
DO YOU WANT NAILS OF FEEDBACK DRIVEN THROUGH YOUR BRAIN? DO YOU WANT YOUR EARS TO BLEED? THIS IS HARDCORE AND IT'S THE MOST VITAL ATTITUDE IN ROCK'N'ROLL, FROM LOU REED TO THERAPY? VIA NICK CAVE, FUGAZI AND... CHRISTY MOORE. OR SO SAYS GERRY McGOVERN, WHO ALSO ADVANCES THE THEORY THAT 'HARDCORE IS GENERALLY FOR HARD WHITE MEN'. SHOOTING GALLERY AWAITS YOUR RESPONSE!
