The stars, dealers, limos and choppers are already gathering for the high point of the social calendar the annual Christmas/New Year party of parties at Snort Towers
It's head-scratching, nail-biting, on-the-tip-of-your-tongue time again, as GEORGE BYRNE presides over our renowned annual music quiz [this is for the year 2000]
Country, folk and roots fans are in for a treat on the May Bank Holiday weekend when a veritable who's who of the best bands and solo performers of the genre head to Kilkenny for the second annual Kilkenny Country Roots Weekend.
The Liverpool Comedy Festival 2002 saw a significant number of Irish acts - including Neil Delamere, Eddie Bannon and Dara
O'Briain - appearing alongside such notables as Johnny Vegas, Ross Noble and many others, all hoping to create an annual
comedy-fest to rival Kilkenny and Edinburgh
Well, not this man perhaps. He s EGIL OLSEN, the new manager of Wimbledon, which means he ll most likely to as much of a spectator as the rest of us, as the new Premiership football season gets into its stride. Our Foul Play columnist, JONATHAN O BRIEN, presents his annual eve of the campaign form guide.
Soma’s annual compilation doesn’t yield any great surprises, but, like the label itself, it’s solid and reliable with tracks from Envoy, Funk D’Void and newcomer Alex Smoke.
Hot Press 2002 Annual Order Confirmation.
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Always following trends rather than setting them, this annual definitive compilation for the WMC boasts Sander Kleinenberg’s cool electro/R&B grinder, ‘The Fruit’, Tiefschwarz’s dark bass ‘Issst’ and Roman Flugel’s wired techno stomper, ‘Geht’s Noch?’ They may be cashing in on the underground but at least the silicone-enhanced body fascists will have something decent to dance to this year.
Like our friends in the North, DJ Hell and Gigolos haven’t gone away, you know. On the latest annual Gigolos compilation, the German label keeps up with the changing times and features Tiefschwarz’s body-house rocker ‘Blow’, Play Paul’s electro-pop ‘Love Song’ and the psy-disco of Emperor Machine’s mix of Psychonauts.
Occasionally one gets a hardy annual, but 1985 has been more of a hardly annual, than anything. Jazz hardly raised its head above the rafters, and only Wynton Marsalis brought forth a thing of beauty in ‘Hot House Flowers’. Miles Davis got worse, and sadly Philip Larkin, a great jazz critic, died.
So it must be summer when the British Foreign Legion, fuelled by lager and libido, embark on their annual pilgrimage to the Clubber's Mecca and spiritual home of pills n' thrills and bellyaches that is Ibiza.
The stars come out at the Brandenburg Gate
AS HOT PRESS was being put to bed, the artist formerly known as Prince was confirmed as the latest major star who will perform at MTV’s 1st Annual European Music Awards Show.
The Annual appears at this end, thankfully, to have been one without any movements, bandwagons or charabancs, with Frankie carrying that can for everyone.
Ceol ’07 is the third instalment of an annual compilation, created as part of Seachtain Na Gaeilge, which collects native-language tracks from contemporary Irish pop/rock groups.
The Tuscan town of Siena –at least until its tiny football team gatecrashed Serie A last year – has for several centuries been chiefly renowned (if at all) as the setting for an annual 80-second horse race known as the Palio
This June Bank Holiday weekend saw the second annual incarnation of the Europavox Festival, which aspires to “materialize European identity through music”.
You’d be hard pushed to get better bang for your buck in this city. The annual return of heroes old is one thing, but couple them with two of the country’s most exciting and original acts and you’ve got one of the potential home-grown gigs of the year.
THESE TWO compilations have been released to commemorate the tenth anniversary of promoter Vince Power's hugely successful annual celebration of Irish music.
No, not a bunch of stetson wearing Tennessee-ans drinking whiskey out of boots, but rather the annual Jack Daniels-sponsored nationwide gigfest, which hopes to unearth some of the country’s nascent rock 'n' roll talent. The JD Set was holed up in Dolan’s for the night, where the four native bands on offer were hoping to provide some succour for a crowd sodden by the god-awful April showers.
The annual Celtic Connections festival is sadly under-profiled in Ireland, especially when it can attract knock-out performances from the likes of Roddy Frame.
Some good news for clubbing fans – the annual 12 hour dance marathon at Fairyhouse Racecourse is to go ahead in the summer. And this time, it’s got a brand new name.
Hold on to your hats, folks, fasten your seat-belts, gird your loins, and let the devil take the hindmost, for that annual bonanza of brinkmanship when Foul Play makes its predictions for the destination of soccer's major prizes is upon us.
While the rest of you were off stuffing your faces with turkey, here at HotPress we were busily polishing our crystal balls in readiness for our annual gaze into the future. S
The Irish were out in force at MIDEM, the annual music industry bash held in Cannes, in the south of France last week. With Irish music’s international stock running high and the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht Michael D. Higgins on hand to lend his support, it proved to be a very interesting year. Report: Niall Stokes.
Aer Rianta’s Annual Arts Festival takes place this year from the 6th to the 12th of February at Dublin Airport. Now in its seventh year, the festival is a massive undertaking and is the first and only event of its kind to take place at an airport terminal, anywhere in the world. Featuring both performing and visual arts, this year’s festival promises to be the most ambitious and exciting to date and a quick glance at the impressive line-up should confirm exactly why, writes Colm O’Hare.
Despite the continued absence of Phil 'The Power' Taylor, the Embassy World Darts Championship at Frimley Green made for essential viewing. BARRY GLENDENNING reports.
The Imagine Belfast committee may have missed the mark in more ways than one in their unsuccessful bid for the European City Of Culture according to BelFest organiser Gerard Sheppard
Do you recognise this voice? "It really annoys me that our bleedin’ patron saint is a bloody Brit. Before he came along we were havin’ the craic, drinkin’, fightin’, killin’, pukin’, inbreedin’ an’ ridin’ animals. Then over he trots with his ‘thou shalt not do this’ or ‘hey, leave that Irish wolfhound alone’..."
In just two years the 2fm 2moro 2our has grown into a high-profile showcase for Ireland's best new talent. Ahead of the latest jaunt, the featured acts tell Colm Russell what it means to them.
After what seemed like an eternity of enduring processed boy/girl band hell, 2003 was the year that pop became exciting again. Finally, we got a long hot summer soundtracked by Beyoncé (song of the year – hands down), 50 Cent’s awesome ‘In Da Club’ and even a band from my own ‘hood whose debut album was the feelgood hit of the season.
Having released just three albums in 16 years, PAUL BUCHANAN explains why THE BLUE NILE don t want to clutter the world up with useless CDs. Interview: SIOBHAN LONG.
While the end of the eponymous film might give the impression that organised crime and hard drugs disappeared from Ireland after the reporter’s death, latest garda figures offer a very different picture. And the harsh reality, many insist, is even worse.
Norman Jay may have been accused of pandering to the establishment when he accepted an MBE – but he’s still fired by a love of the underground, and a desire to change things.
The Shamcocks did! Well, it is if you’re one of eighteen women – lesbians all – who’ve decided that it’s time to throw off the shackles and bring a new form of alternative entertainment to the highways and byways of Ireland. Prime mover Jude Cosgrove talks to Danielle Brigham.
Could the legal status of E soon change? In the third part of Hot Press continuing investigation into drugs, STUART CLARK reports on the clubbers pill of choice.
The annual Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival has put Longford on the world music map. Jackie Hayden talks to the festival’s originator Chris Keenan about how it grew from initially being laughed at to becoming one of the most important folk festivals in the international calendar.
Award-winning singer-songwriter Julie Feeney puts pen to paper for Hot Press as she arrives in the Dutch city of Groningen for the annual Eurosonic pop festival.
Annual article: Soul sensation Amy Winehouse has the voice of a fallen angel and the mouth of a docker. And that’s before she’s even got a few vodkas into her.
Annual article: The arrival of Channel 6 was a boom – but music programming on television in 2006 was challenged by reality TV game shows and, increasingly, by YouTube.
Annual article: Some of our most promising failures are not really doing enough to fulfil their ambitions. They must try harder next year, warns Jackie Hayden.
Annual article: Bright young things like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen captured the HP critics’ hearts this year, though they somehow neglected Johnny Cash and Mark Lanegan...
Annual article: The Electric Picnic wasn’t just one of the musical events of the year; it also let us chow down and have a natter with some of the top pop combos of the day, including Bloc Party, Gang Of Four and New Order.
Annual article: 12 months ago Colin Carberry was reaching for the Prozac, now he’s more bullish about the Norn Iron music scene than he has been since he started shaving.
Annual article: When Kylie Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2005, she was forced to cancel the remainder of her Showgirl World Tour. Unbelievably, she made her comeback just last month.
For the weekend of November 25 and 26, all musical roads will lead to the RDS in Dublin for the Music Ireland ’06 event. Jackie Hayden talks to the show director Ollie Upton about what’s in store for us at this major annual attraction for musician and music fans alike.
He is best known as a musician and a songwriter, but Nick Kelly has a parallel career as a very successful advertising ‘creative’. So much so, that he was recently asked to be a judge at one of the advertising industry’s big international events, the annual Shark Awards.
The 12th annual Miss Alternative Ireland competition took place last week at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre. A host of entrants – of all genders! – came to see who would follow in the shoestraps of last year’s winner Miss Heidi Konnt. The judging panel included Anna Nolan, Brendan Courtney and Mick Wilson and they gave the crown to Funtime Gustavo – who here tells how she came, saw and truly conquered. Photos by Cathal Dawson
Annual article: There was no love lost in 2005 between the ‘art’ and ‘middlebrow’ literary factions, but as long as Cormac McCarthy puts pen to paper, who cares? Plus round-up of the books of the year.
Annual article: Phil Kieran and DJ Papillion were two of the outstanding names in a fantastic year for dance music, says Mark Kavanagh. Plus the dance charts of 2005.
Annual article: War, famine, pestilence, plague and death...it’s been a cheerful 2005. Here is the Hot Press summary of the events that shook the world.
Never mind figgy puddings and partridges in pear trees, there’s some serious seasonal business to be done as the annual HP-7 summit gathers in the crucible of cultural discourse that is The Central Hotel’s Library Bar.
Our annual HP-7 summit brings together some of the pre-eminent movers and shakers in irish music to reflect on everything from backstage catering to the end of war, pestilence and famine. Your host: Stuart Clark.
At the end of an exciting, painful and earthshaking year, Bono reflects on the political and the personal – from drop the debt, September 11, Afghanistan and Genoa to the death of his father Bob, the birth of his son John and the enduring friendship which underpins U2’s music and career. Interview: Niall Stokes
[this interview originally appeared in the spectacular Hot Press Annual 2002 - used in the pictures below - a very limited number of this unique collectors item will shortly be on sale - email u2@hotpress.ie to reserve a copy]
Can you see the Forrest for the Gump? Can you explain the cultural phenomenon of Steven Seagal in English plain enough for Seagal himself to understand? Did you recognise any of the actors hiding beneath moustaches in Wyatt Earp, Tombstone and Gettysburg? Are you ready for the fourth annual X-mas rated Blow Up Movie Quiz?
Oh, well, give it a go anyway. Now we separate the movie buffs from the people who have got something more interesting to do than spend all day hanging around cinemas and reading Hot Press. Answers can be found on page 99 but anyone caught peeking will have to live with the knowledge that they are a dirty, rotten, good for nothing, low down cheat. Good luck. And remember, this quiz is just like a box of chocolates . . . you’ll feel sick when you’ve finished.
Cork is happening enough at the best of times, but when the annual Guinness Jazz Weekend comes around, it's all too much. Where to go? What to do? What hangover cure to concoct? Let KEVIN BARRY show the way.
There’s more to our national holiday than drowning the shamrock you know. In fact, no matter what your interest, St Paddy’s Day has something to offer.
Adulation from teenage girls, encounters with Jack Osbourne and hi-jinks with coked-up prostitutes – Donegal rockers The Revs are starting to make a name for themselves in Britain and beyond.
Currently drawing huge crowds to The Olympia with his third Mrs. Brown play, Brendan O’Carroll nonetheless has a bone to pick with those pushing for the retention of the section 481 tax break for film-makers.
Not only do the FAI's own figures show that they do not need the Sky TV money but relying on television revenue to develop football in the current climate is a risky strategy
The Monaghan-Cavan area has been a bit of a desert in quality rock terms in recent years, but the new Monaghan-based Venue Promotions is set on changing all that.
Next time you visit Cork City, take a cool look around, for the vista is likely to undergo a major facelift over the next 20 years thanks to the planned development of the Cork Docklands area.
Pete Tong has long been one of the most influential figures in contemporary dance. His latest project sees him joining Heineken in their search for new djs, via the Heineken Thirst Extravaganza.
This is the time of year when two major national events, the Galway Arts Festival and the Galway Races, make Galway the destination of choice for many Irish and international funsters. But the City of the Tribes has a lot more to offer – including some of the best live music and clubbing in Ireland.
Lunar Records supremo Brian Molloy has enlisted the help of such luminaries as Bertie Ahern, Eamon Dunphy and Bono in the making of voices and poetry of Ireland, a one-off CD being released to benefit the homeless this Christmas.
Why the media were wrong in their assessment of Sharon Shannon’s court case; the latest musical venture from producer, director and PR ace, Mary McPartlan, plus the usual round-up of news from the world of folk and traditional music.
Irony-deficient Nordic rockers Turbonegro are one of the world’s most credible hardcore acts, with a fanlist that includes Queens Of The Stone Age and Therapy?
As it’s back-to-school time, Hit The North thought it would be fun to ask one of our class swots to write a ‘what we did with our summer’ report. So, find below how Rocky from electro-pop duo Oppenheimer spent the last month wooing New York suits, Hells Angels and Jersey cops. If they keep doing their homework, we predict great things this year.
Tobias Wolff’s new novel returns him to his schooldays and memories of classmate Oliver Stone and the towering influence of Ernest Hemingway. Interview by Peter Murphy.
Why has a festival in the Nevada desert become one of the hippest happenings in the world? Irish director Dearbhla Glynn went “beyond camping” and survived to film the event and tell Olaf Tyaransen the tale
Get ready for a whole new kind of weird as avant-gardists THE SUMMER EXPERIMENT prepare to hit the live circuit, touting a unique mix of folk, indie and classical.
With Oscar hysteria in the air, Tanya Sweeney recalls the night she “gate-crashed”
hollywood a-list party – and survived to tell this tale of beauty and the beasts.
After half a century as the adventurous tripper s drug of choice, LSD is being given a designer makeover. In our continuing series on drugs, STUART CLARK checks out the hallucinogens.
All the talk among the teachers and the mandarins is about indiscipline in schools. Now, the Union Of Secondary Students, with President Hazel Nolan to the fore, is fighting back, insisting that the system itself needs to be changed.
The latest radio listenership figures suggest that the once embattled Today FM is finally emerging as a credible national alternative to RTE. In the third of a four-part series, Jackie Hayden breakfasts - as do more Irish radio listeners than ever - with morning-show helmsman Ian Dempsey
From the biggest international names to the most dynamic local creations, festivals make Ireland a good place to be in summer, even when the sun refuses to put in an appearance
Folk doyen Richard Thompson remains a singular presence in the roots music scene after four decades. Here he talks about “exile” on the US West Coast and his recent return to his electric rock roots.
It was an historic occasion when Bryan Adams bounded on stage in Ho Chi Minh City last week, kick-starting the first rock gig in Vietnam since the fall of Saigon. Report: Kevin Barrington.
With interest in this year’s 10th Roundstone Arts Festival already building up, we sent our very own Roundstone Cowboy Jackie Hayden to check out this year’s line-up.
Seasick Steve is a former hobo who once called Kurt Cobain a neighbour and, in his 60s, now finds himself acclaimed as one of folk's hottest 'new' acts.
Eddie Jordan is among the people behind the initiative that brings the money-spinning World Rally Championship to Ireland for the first time ever this year.
East Timor is a small island close to Indonesia. Invaded in 1975 by its much larger neighbour, in the intervening years almost one third of its population has been wiped out in an ongoing campaign of international terrorism and genocide. The arms being used to terrorise this small island are being supplied by Britain. Report: LIAM FAY
It was Wednesday June 14th, 1995, when the terrible news of Rory Gallagher’s death was first phoned through to the Hot Press office. In more ways than one, it was the end of an era. On Wednesday November 8th, a commemoration service was held at Brompton Oratory in London. The ceremony ended with a tribute, which was delivered by Niall Stokes, editor of Hot Press. As a special remembrance of Rory, on the 10th anniversary of his death, we reproduce here the full text of that tribute.
More people than ever may be smoking it but Ireland s marijuana laws remain among the most draconian in Europe. In the second part of our series on drugs in Ireland, STUART CLARK presents the dope on dope.
Trinity College Dublin Student Union President Rory Hearne was arrested, detained and brutalised by Czech police at the World Bank
and IMF protest march in Prague on September 26th. He relates his experience to Stephen Robinson. Pictures: PETER MATTHEWS
Forget all the chatter about solo albums and injuries sustained on the road: Snow Patrol are revelling in the end of a triumphant year, one which saw Eyes Open become the biggest selling album in the UK in '06, as well as making serious inroads Stateside.
For the final installment of London Calling, Barry Glendenning felt it would be appropriate to compose an emotional, heartfelt farewell to his legions of loyal readers. Sadly, he never got around to it and sent us the following copy instead.
A former skateboarding god and young entrepreneur of the year, Davie Philip exchanged the fast life for the good life. Iva Pocock reports on the curious making of a passionate green activist
I’d always have said that Irish people were good at huddling. Our history and our climate, not to mention the controlling influence of the Roman Catholic Church, had tended to give us an inward-looking aspect. We had a thing about bars, matter a damn how dark or gloomy they might be. What we wanted, it seemed, was good place to whisper and to hide.
Adrienne Murphy reports on the aftermath of the violence which engulfed the Reclaim The Streets protest in Dublin and finds many wondering, not for the first time, 'who will guard the gardai?'.
This year’s Convergence Festival in the heart of Dublin promises a scintillating feast of events celebrating sustainability and cultural transformation. Adrienne Murphy takes a bite
I’ll have at least one foot in the grave – or at least that’s the dominant feeling as JOE JACKSON joins the Country Music U.S.A. crew on their visit to BRANSON – a bizarre small town in the Ozark Mountains that now rivals Nashville as a centre for country music tourism, of the blue-rinse variety.
The National Ploughing Championships are an Irish Institution. mud, beer, wellies, farmerettes, mud, singing priests, yodelling farmhands, mud, tractors and more mud - all human life is here. Lucky sod Jimmy Lacey spent a day amid the furrows. Pix: Cathal Dawson
The Irish government plan to implement the fingerprinting of asylum seekers from the age of 14. Meanwhile, Amnesty International, the Irish Refugee Council and the African Refugee Network have all reported a rise in race-hate attacks on blacks and non-nationals in recent months. Report: Peter Murphy. Pictures: DEREK SPIERS/REPORT
Well, it all goes to show that you can’t predict anything. There I was, like all distant observers, predicting an apocalypse in Mid-Africa, and what happens?
On the face of it, the Fleadh Mor in Tramore had it all: blistering sunshine, hairy hippies, a stall selling glow in the dark condoms and a line up of rock 'n' roll legends that would be hard to match.
On the eve of the 25th anniversary of 2FM, Jackie Hayden invites FM boss John Clarke to take an over, under, sideways, down look at 2FM – the station of the stars.
As Velvet Revolver prepare to play Dublin on January 12, Duff McKagan talks to Steve Cummins about the band's chart-topping success and his pancreas-exploding days of yore with Guns N' Roses.
May 10 saw a crowd of several thousand take part in a pro-cannabis rally outside the Dáil. However, political expediency and media scaremongering mean that misinformation about the drug continues to be rife.
As the summer finally begins to fade and the dark nights of winter start to creep in, many of us look for a last chance to get an away break before the build-up for Christmas begins. Jackie Hayden reviews some of the options countrywide.
By now one of the most esteemed events on the Irish cultural calendar, the Galway Arts Festival 2003 will once again bring you the best in contemporary theatre, literature, comedy and music
The Frames and BellX1 stormed the palisades of Groningen recently as part of the Eurosonic Festival. John Walshe was there to see it happen and to revisit the spot where the great Mic Christopher met with his tragic accident. Plus: the latest news and reaction to the Frames’ new record deal
Having made his name with the cult movie Tarnation, Jonathan Caouette has taken his career in an unexpected new direction with a movie about, of all things, an indie-rock festival, namely England’s All Tomorrow’s Parties.
It's Friday, May 22. The votes haven't even been counted yet, but already a succession of post-ballot parties are taking place. Your prime location is the Mandela Hall at Queens University Belfast, where a few hundred groovers will congregate around an event organised by those feverish tykes from the local music magazine, Blank. The name of the game is 'Keep Ulster Brattish' and admission is a mere quid.
It's Friday, May 22. The votes haven't even been counted yet, but already a succession of post-ballot parties are taking place. Your prime location is the Mandela Hall at Queens University Belfast, where a few hundred groovers will congregate around an event organised by those feverish tykes from the local music magazine, Blank. The name of the game is 'Keep Ulster Brattish' and admission is a mere quid.
Low priced guitars and pianos manufactured in China are music to the ears of Western music fans: Mark Godfrey reports from the biggest music expo in Asia.
Since 1914, the PRS has administered the rights accruing to Irish songwriters, composers and publishers from the use of their music in public places throughout the world. However, the campaign to establish Ireland as a separate territory, with its own independent music rights organisation, has been gathering momentum. Now in a controversial move the PRS have declared that this change can only take place with the approval of two-thirds of the Society’s members in Ireland. Niall Stokes – himself a member of the PRS – examines the issues and concludes that subsidiary status is no longer enough for IMRO.
Gary Lightbody, Mark Geary, Rick O’Shea, The Frames, Jape, Mario Rosenstock, The Redneck Manifesto and the Eyebrowy crew slug it out for the title of The Simpsons’ most obsessive Irish fan.
BIG IN BRITAIN! BIG ON THE CONTINENT! BIG IN THE STATES! YET IRELAND STILL HAS TO FULLY SUCCUMB TO THE DELIGHTS OF FOUR MEN AND A DOG. HERE, THE TRAD SUPERGROUP EXPLAIN THEIR CURRENT SITUATION TO COLM O'HARE AS THEIR SECOND ALBUM *SHIFTING GRAVEL* HITS THE SHOPS.
Meet Larry Harvey, the man behind burning man, the world’s most extraordinary festival, in which a whole city, run as a gift economy, springs up in the arid nevada desert to celebrate creativity, non-conformism and the healing power of fire.
She was a stalwart member of the Green Party, serving as an MEP for 10 years. Now, thoroughly disillusioned with the party’s performance in Government with Fianna Fail, PATRICIA McKENNA has decided to leave – and to run as an independent in the upcoming European elections.
After stepping down from her position as Director of the DUBLIN RAPE CRISIS CENTRE, OLIVE BRAIDEN tells KIM PORCELLI how far things have come, and how great a distance is still to be travelled to get justice for victims
Two major London newspapers recently ran large advertisements which contained the most extraordinary injunctions to world leaders - and proposed the direst of consequences should they fail to comply. Under the dramatic headline World News Flash, it was confidently predicted that the world would end on July 25th 1994.But will it? And who is behind this incredible attempt to save us all from imminent extinction? LIAM FAY reports
16 years a teacher of Irish, Oliver P. Sweeney is ideally placed to reflect on the past, present and future status of our native tongue and the culture with which it is inextricably linked.
RICH HALL has survived working with David Letterman and having his love life exposed in the Sindo, to take his rightful place as one of the top attractions of this year's Cat Laughs Festival. Interview: BARRY GLENDENNING.
Most of us agree that the Eurovision Song Contest is a load of arse, but at least we can switch to another channel. The Irish Times' KEVIN COURTNEY, however, attended this year’s contest in Copenhagen - and got sucked into the black hole of rock 'n' roll
PAUL GILLIGAN, the Chief Executive of the ISPCC, answers the organisation s critics and explains how it s putting behind it the controversies of last year. Interview: JOE JACKSON.
After an undoubtedly slack 2003, 2004 was the year in which TV comedy once again came into its own. In addition to to further series from Monkey Dust, Peep Show, Little Britain, 15 Storeys High and Curb Your Enthusiasm, there were also excellent new shows in the shape of The Smoking Room, The Mighty Boosh, Nighty Night and Catterick. In particular, the forum for alternative humour provided by BBC3 and BBC4 continued to provide an invaluable creative outlet for the oddballs, misfits and mavericks of British comedy.
While women are still far from achieving equality of opportunity in music, the last thing women artists want – or need – is to be ghettoised, writes musician and journalist Kim V Porcelli. The point about the women who are at rock’s cutting edge – from Sinéad O’Connor through PJ Harvey to Peaches – is that they defer to no one in their pursuit of greatness.
A breathtaking variety of acts have come together - as Lennon might have put it - to focus attention on the ongoing genocide in Darfur, under the auspices of Amnesty International.
When the Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain appointed two members of the Orange Order to the Parades Commission, he set himself up for a political bruising. But worse than that, he may have fatally undermined the ability of the organisation to function.
Over 2,000 Northern Irish women leave the province every year to have abortions elsewhere usually in England. STUART BAILIE examines the many anomalies in the law on this subject, and talks to some of the people fighting to change it.
Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone talks about toffs in politics, Tony versus Gordon and sheds light on his own intervention in the Troubles, at the height of the bloodshed.
ned o'hanlon and maurice linnane, the men behind media company dreamchaser productions, aren't given to false modesty. And why should they be, given that their recent list of clients includes Garth Brooks, U2 and the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame? siobhÁN LONG meets the men who once adopted Gary Oldman for an all-night bender in America.
He plays guitar for Springsteen, plays The Clash on his radio show and plays it fast and loose as Silvio Dante in The Sopranos. Colm O’Hare meets the three-in-one Steven Van Zandt
There is a political dimension to what most development agencies refer to simply as ‘famine’. Here mary van lieshoUt of Oxfam outlines the critical issues which must be confronted if the brutalisation and exploitation of the developing countries is to be adequately addressed.
At 53, EMMYLOU HARRIS has finally taken up the pen and the result is one of her finest albums yet. SIOBHAN LONG journeys to New York to meet the reluctant songwriter.
Does ABSINTHE really make the heart grow fonder or are the Conservatives right in calling for its ban? STUART CLARK and his showbiz chums check out the drink that s taking clubland by storm. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
Niall Stokes: With this record you took on responsibilities as a group which were significantly greater than had been the case before, in terms of shaping the record, being involved in production. How did that affect the process?
From Dickie Valentine to The Darkness: Andy Darlington dusts the five decades of Christmas records and chats to Slade's Noddy Holder about his haunting ghost of Chris- singles Past.
IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN WHEN THOUSANDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE TAKE THAT OFTEN DAUNTING LEAP FROM SCHOOL TO COLLEGE. HERE, THE HOT PRESS STUDENT SPECIAL OFFERS ITS OWN INIMITABLE SAFETY NET.
EVERY YEAR, AND FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS, HUNDREDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE FROM THE SOUTH DECIDE TO GO ON TO THIRD LEVEL EDUCATION IN NORTHERN IRELAND. EMMA FLYNN REPORTS ON THE REALITIES OF ACADEMIC LIFE OVER THE BORDER.
Liam Fay teams up with the IMRO hit squad as they venture north to Monaghan in search of bars, discos and other such venues that do not have a licence to thrill, or at least a licence for the public performing of music.
From the pits to the pits no, hang on, that s the story of Welsh soccer. Or is it Welsh rugby? For the manic street preachers, by contrast, it s all onwards and upwards. james dean bradfield tells jonathan o brien about their unlikely climb to the top.
With preparations well underway for Cork city’s hosting of the European City Of Culture festivities in 2005, the indigenous music scene is already rising to the challenge
In the second part of a major interview concerning his brief as Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht - and his vision for the future of the Arts in Ireland - MICHAEL D. HIGGINS talks about the enormous potential for job creation in the related areas of film, music and heritage, the changes he would like to see in the tax-free status afforded to artists and answers his critics in relation to Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act. Interview: JOE JACKSON
Well and truly punch-drunk and punch-lined, BARRY GLENDENNING rounds
up the gargles and the giggles at this year's CAT LAUGHS COMEDY FESTIVAL
in Kilkenny. Pix: Kevin Clancy
He revolutionised contemporary fiction with Fight Club. But, with more than one brutal murder lurking in the family undergrowth, Chuck Palahniuk's own life has been as troubled and disturbing as any of his books
and didn’t like what he saw... Fatboy Slim tells Stuart Clark about an encounter with Man Utd so unpleasant that even Zoe Ball is thinking of switching her allegiance to Brighton. Plus: the highs of Normstock and the lows of So Solid Crew
Jack Johnson may be a regular dude, but with his latest album simultaneously at No.1 in the UK and the US he is one with a vast world-wide fanbase. So how did this happy-go-lucky surfer suddenly become a hero to millions?
Champagne corks were popped last week as Snow Patrol joined that elite group of bands who’ve simultaneously topped the charts in Ireland and the UK. It’s all a far cry from the days when their fame was confined to the University of Dundee Students Union bar. Gary Lightbody takes time out from wowing the masses in Dublin and Belfast to tell Stuart Clark about their twisty and turny route to the top.
His novel "Atomised" was a controversial pornographic parable and its follow-up platforme led to him being denounced by Muslims and going into hiding, while his wife endured a nervous breakdown. Notoriously difficult, the County Cork-based French author here discusses – between pauses – monogamy, open marriages, drugs, politics, literature, the World Cup and his desire to be a wolf
In a rare interview, US alt culture icon Tom Waits talks to Dave Fanning about touring with Zappa, getting the nod of approval from Dylan, his fastidious approach to songwriting and why Bill Hicks remains America’s foremost political commentator
In all of Ireland s hydra-headed entertainment industry, no other act simultaneously inspires as much love and loathing as The Wolfe Tones, a band who, annually, attract huge support at Siamsa Cois Laoi, while, no less vociferously, their detractors continue to dismiss them as the musical wing of the IRA, and worse. On the occasion of The Wolfe Tones celebrating 25 years together as a group, Eamon McCann went to meet them.
To give him his full title, he's the Minister of State at the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation with responsibility for local development and the National Drugs Strategy. But it's for the latter responsibility that EOIN RYAN TD has earned the unofficial title of "Ireland's Drug Czar". As a new seven-year strategy is unveiled, STUART CLARK enquires about leisure, legalisation, decriminalisation, health, creativity, crime and punishment – and whether or not cannabis really is "a gateway drug". Photographs: PHILLIP TOTTENHAM.
Ahead of the band s heineken green energy gig in Dublin, PETER MURPHY talks to
NINA PERSSON of THE CARDIGANS about success, sexuality, self-esteem and joyriding!
Every year thousands of film fans make the trip to the southern capital for the feast of cinema that is the Cork Film Festival. Hot Press looks back over the history of one of Europe’s longest-running cinematic events and checks out what this year’s packed programme has to offer. Report: Patrick Brennan
A broken and distraught LIAM FAY recounts his nightmare on Stephen Street where he endured the full horrors of LINE DANCING . . . and just about lived to tell the tale. Pics: Mick Quinn
We asked the fans to vote for U2's Greatest Hits and they did - in their thousands. The result is a selection of 20 tracks which, without doubt, would combine to produce a record to rank among the weightiest and most powerful anthologies in the history of rock. The full track listing is not without its controversial selections and omissions, however. Bill Graham and Niall Stokes take us through the fans' vision of the fab four's dream album.
It's a double home-coming as U2 return from their odyssey 'round the globe to bring "The Joshua Tree" tour to their fanatical Irish supporters in Dublin and Cork. Bill Graham reports.
Hot Press is 20 years old? Drokk it , so is 2000 AD! The mag edited by an Alien, produced by Art & Script-Droids, and read by Earthlets everywhere the one which revolutionised the comic industry, and of the Graphic Novel. ANDY DARLINGTON assesses its cultural impact and legacy.
She calls Him her “Great Lover”. He tells her to “call Me Daddy”. At any hour of the day or night Himself is likely to drop into the life of Vassula Ryden for a bit of a chinwag. She, in turn, broadcasts His words to the world at large. All of which means that, in what amounts to the metaphysical journalistic coup of the century, our Liam Fay gets an exclusive interview with The Holy Spirit.
BRENDAN INGLE was born in Dublin, but made his name as a boxing trainer in Sheffield. He s the man who discovered PRINCE NASEEM and shared in the fighter s huge success until they fell out acrimoniously. ANDY DARLINGTON meets a man with a story to tell.
ROCK IN RIO, which attracts 200,000 people, may be known for headliners like Sting, REM and Britney Spears. But this year, DERVISH played there too - and got a rapturous welcome. SIOBHÁN LONG reports from an extraordinary event
As the turbo-charged economy he helped create teeters, Charlie McCreevy talks about medical cards for the aged, the Eircom shares debacle, explains why he wouldn't swap places with current Finance Minister Brian Lenihan.
Though their second album, All The Way From Tuam, has yet to hit the shops in Britain, The Sawdoctors are beginning to pack em in in the strangest of places like Norwich and Leeds. Bill Graham talks to Leo Moran about the band s phenomenal success to date and, against a backdrop of cynicism among rock s self-conscious cognoscenti, asks the perennial question: what is hip?
On Sunday 16 October a unique event takes place in The Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, as the climax of the 1994 Dublin Theatre Festival. Organised by Amnesty International, Voices Of The Disappeared is intended to highlight their campaign on “ Disappearances” and Political Killings. Stuart Carolan reports.
JOHN FARRELL was brought up in an Irish working–class neighbourhood in Brooklyn. From a very young age he knew that he was gay. But it took twenty–five years before he could go fully public, with this powerful, funny and tragic telling of his own journey to sexual maturity.
The fourth series of RTÉ Two's highly-acclaimed Other Voices, presented by John Kelly, was recorded over an extraordinary eight days during the madcap run-up to Christmas, in the thoroughly invigorating coastal environs of Dingle. Hot Press reporter Craig Fitzsimons was there to soak up the phantasmagoria, as some of the hottest talent from Ireland and abroad descended on the tranquil Kerry town to make heavenly music.
Barry Glendenning had a good idea: as a journalistic exercise – and a guarantee of public humiliation – someone should try their hand at stand-up comedy. Indeed, it was such a very good idea, that he was promptly Hot Press-ganged into doing it himself. This, then, is the true-life story of one man who stood up to be counted.
Masturbating for charity – it was a new one on us. So whose idea was it? What was the purpose? Who would turn up? And what would happen in real life, when the doors to the Wank-a-thon were finally declared open? There was only one way to get the real SP on what promised to be one of the most bizarre events ever mounted in London. Send for our man Tyaransen: he wouldn’t make his excuses and leave! Or would he?
He may have an image as a political bruiser, but even if he is prepared to engage Bertie in a head-butting contest, Michael Noonan would rather win over the electorate by the more gentle art of persuasion. Joe Jackson meets the Fine Gael leader to discuss public issues and personal traumas, and discovers why he's partial to drink and Bill Clinton but opposed to Sinn Fein, the Bertie bowl and tax breaks for sports stars.
The rise and fall of chef CONRAD GALLAGHER was Icarus-like – one moment the toast of Dublin’s glitterati, the next a virtual pariah.
but unlike Icarus, Gallagher has fought his way back, bloodied but unbowed and determined to pay off all his debts
Interview: OLAF TYARANSEN
It's Christmas, 1997 is drawing to a close and Noel Gallagher is in suitably reflective mood. "I can't be bothered writing music anymore", says the Oasis mainman before telling Stuart Clark precisely what he thinks of Liam, Meg, Sinéad O'Connor, that cunt Mick Jagger and England's chances of lifting the World Cup.
(N.B. This is a work of faction. All names have been changed in order to protect the guilty from certain incarceration in state mental institutions or correctional
facilities.)
NIALL STOKES takes a very personal journey back through the music and memories of a friendship with a man he was proud to have known
THE DRIVE to Cork was a lonely one. Ry Cooder on the deck, that sweet slide guitar shooting off tracers: the memories, stacked up like a vast
rack of on-line CDs, kept slipping in and out of the engagement slot. No need ever to press the play button. Now and then I had to hold back the
tears as the music of past friendship flooded the car and, with it, a terrible awareness of all the things that might have, but hadn't, been done.
The news of Rory Gallagher s tragic death has sent seismic shock waves through the music world. Here was a man who managed to combine the gift of being an authentic creative genius with the even rarer gift of being a genuinely decent, honourable human being. Over the next six pages, Hot Press pays tribute to both the legend and the person, with contributions from the stars, friends, fans and colleagues who were touched by the Gallagher magic, and takes a trip through the backpages of an extraordinary career.
If a city can be defined by a catchphrase, then Let the good times roll epitomises new orleans. Landing in The Big Easy slap-bang in the middle of Mardi Gras, siobhan long gets a crash course in gumbo, voodoo, hot music, chilling crime and, believe it or not, legal Ecstasy. But, most of all, she gets a masterclass in how to party. Pix: steve lasky and cathy anderson
He’s been many things: a roadie with De Danann, a carpenter with Druid, a founder of the world-famous Macnas theatre group and, not least, a six-foot four-inch Connemara man in a skirt and self-styled “cranky fuck”. But now Paraic Breathnach spends a lot of his time crying tears of rage. Olaf Tyaransen finds him down but definitely not out. Portrait Aengus McMahon
An escalation of violence within certain deprived pockets of the Travelling community has provoked a Garda clampdown that many regard as heavy-handed. Meanwhile, despite some notable efforts to improve cross-community relations, Travellers must continue to cope with discrimination, alienation and a growing accommodation crisis. Mic Moroney reports on a people struggling to survive in the shadow of the Celtic Tiger.
Getting press accreditation for the world’s greatest cycling race seemed like a dream come true. Then the Tour de France turned into the Tour de Farce. SHANE STOKES recalls the death of innocence during three tumultuous weeks in July.
Comedian of the moment Andrew Maxwell talks about his recent car-crash gig in Dublin, in which he staggered on stage drunk and promptly blacked out, the controversy over Tommy Tiernan's comments on the holocaust and his love/hate relationship with Ireland. Plus, why we're to blame for our current economic crisis and how going to the same school as U2 helped turn him into ther performer he is today.
Columnist Kevin Myers called her “our pretty little she-shinner” but an unimpressed Mary Lou McDonald insists that her party is actually run by a group of formidable women. She also reveals that she believes Gerry Adams when he says he was never in the IRA, defends Sinn Fein’s fund-raising, discusses the release of Jerry McCabe’s killers, and names her least favourite irish politicians. plus: the newly elected MEP’s views on drink, drugs, music, media, religion, and more.
What links Richard Harris with Linda Ronstadt, Art Garfunkel with The Supremes, and Frank Sinatra with er, Ghost Of An American Airman? Why, the music of Jimmy Webb, of course, one of the most widely-respected songwriters of all-time. Here he talks to JOE JACKSON about his friendship with Richard Harris, his encounters with Elvis and his deep-rooted love of Irish music.
So says the new Minister for Drugs, Pat Carey. Which makes an interesting change from the usual sensational stuff we’re fed by politicians, the Gardaí and the media. But is he right?
As the management force behind Boyzone, Westlife and Samantha Mumba, LOUIS WALSH is Ireland s Mr. Pop. In a candid interview with Joe Jackson he talks about his relationships with his acts, the ones that got away, the importance of the producer, the uselessness of critics and why he s unlikely to end up managing Van Morrison. Portraits: Cathal Dawson
One of the most distinctive and colourful characters in Dail Eireann, Junior Minister WILLIE O’DEA is also passionate about his commitment to reforming adult education. Here he talks to Joe Jackson about his brief, about Michael Noonan, Frank McCourt and “Stab City”, and about his recent outspoken comments on taxi drivers, political donations and other controversies. And, yes, he admits he did inhale and was “legless” the night he got elected
Egyptian-born Ali Selim, now a resident of Tallaght, is the Secretary General of the Irish Council of Imams, which was formed last month to represent Islamic concerns in Ireland, ranging from theological matters to issues of social integration. In this extensive interview, he attempts to dispel many of the Western myths about the Muslim world, addresses the subject of Islamic extremism, Salman Rushdie and the Pope’s faux pas.
Best known for his Irish Times column An Irishman s Diary, KEVIN MYERS has been denounced as arrogant, bigoted, pompous and prejudiced. And those are just the people who like his witty writing! On the occasion of the publication of a collection of his writings, the journalist they either love or loathe talks to JOE JACKSON about class, prostitution, drugs, relationships, the North, Mary Ellen Synon and more. Photography: CATHAL DAWSON
The HP-7 Summit is back with Michelle Doherty, Rocky O'Reilly, Niall Breslin, Mark Greaney, Niamh Farrell, Messiah J and Danny O'Donoghue sat around the only table that matters this Christmas.
U2 manager Paul McGuinness is among the most powerful players in the music industry. To coincide with the DVD release of U2’s classic ZOO TV Live From Sydney, he talks candidly about his relationship with the band and their controversial decision to move part of their business empire to the Netherlands in order to lower their tax burden.
Make no mistake about it, cocaine is more widely available in Ireland than at any time in the past. But is it the nasty, evil and dangerous drug of tabloid legend? In this Special Hot Press Report, Olaf Tyaransen goes behind the myths to uncover the history of, and the facts about, what has been dubbed the Champagne Drug. He talks to the Gardai and to dealers – and offers an honest assessment, from his own personal experience, of the drug that's widely used by musicians, media types, accountants, advertising execs and lawyers.
lthough left broken-hearted by the demise of the Irish Press, CON HOULIHAN s latest collection of prose, Windfalls, confirms that his pen, like the Castle Island colossus himself, is still mightier than the rest. Now, at 71, a novel is in the works. SIOBHAN LONG embarks on a long night s journey into day with the legendary journalist.
Pix: COLM HENRY.
lthough left broken-hearted by the demise of the Irish Press, CON HOULIHAN s latest collection of prose, Windfalls, confirms that his pen, like the Castle Island colossus himself, is still mightier than the rest. Now, at 71, a novel is in the works. SIOBHAN LONG embarks on a long night s journey into day with the legendary journalist.
Pix: COLM HENRY.
lthough left broken-hearted by the demise of the Irish Press, CON HOULIHAN s latest collection of prose, Windfalls, confirms that his pen, like the Castle Island colossus himself, is still mightier than the rest. Now, at 71, a novel is in the works. SIOBHAN LONG embarks on a long night s journey into day with the legendary journalist.
Pix: COLM HENRY.
London has long been recognised as one of the world's leading centres of entertainment and musical excitement - not to mention pleasure in all its multifarious manifestations. But when you really need it, do you know where to find it? Fay Wolftree brings you the insider's inside guide to Europe's premier rock 'n' roll metropolis.
Each year, the BALLYBUNION BACHELOR FESTIVAL in Co. Kerry sees numerous unattached males flocking to the Kingdom for a week of boozing, carousing and
general merry-making, in a vainglorious attempt to prove their bachelorian credentials. OLAF TYARANSEN went along for this year’s ride. Pics (and occasional enraged outbursts): CATHAL DAWSON.
A special report on the arts in Northern Ireland which is alive and rocking with the whole gamut of cultural activity. Here James Elliott and Margaret F. Grundy give the lowdown on the province’s artistic and creative hub.
The future is here. Well, somehow it always is. And, as usual, it is both familiar and strange. Nothing seems to change, but one day you turn around, it is 1995, and you are cybersurfing on the internet, summer seems to last all winter, ambient-acid-techno is bubbling away on the radio, your fax machine shows up on the Antiques Roadshow and papa’s got a brand new drug.
Think you've got them all right? Or maybe you fancy a sneaky peak (you're only cheating yourself you know!). Either way, you've got the questions – we've got the answers....
No mystifying jiggery pokery here. All that matters is that you let us know who made 2005 a year to remember in Irish and international music, in the movies, in comedy, and on TV and radio.
No mystifying jiggery pokery here. All that matters is that you let us know who made 2003 a year to remember in Irish and International music, in the movies, in comedy, and on TV and Radio.
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has announced the award of €1,126,490 for radio programming in the sixth round of Sound & Vision, the Broadcasting Funding Scheme.
Just when you thought it couldn't get stranger than Dervish performing Ireland's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest, it's been announced that Morrissey is in the running for the UK team.
Want a foot in the door of the entertainment and music industry? As a Hot Press student rep you’re an essential link between Hot Press and the student population of Ireland.
Hungry Hill (Canada), The Jeff and Vida Band (USA), Sunnyside (Czech Republic) and Buffalo Gals (UK) are among the highlights of this year's Guinness International Blue Grass Festival.
Want to have fun on Paddy's Weekend but stoutly refuse to spend money on anything that does not come in a pint glass? Behold, a full Saturday afternoon of music at Merrion Square, and nary a ticket price or cover charge in sight
Derry dance mavericks The Japanese Popstars edge ever closer to the big time with a remix of ‘If I Were A Boy’, the lead single from Beyoncé’s new I Am… Sasha Fierce album.
The Irish radio awards took place on Friday, and saw East Coast walk away the overall winners for the music programming, for their East Coast lunch show. Tom Dunne's Pet Sounds, meanwhile, won the award for the best specialist music show.
Calling students in Trinity College; NUI Galway; Limerick IT; NCAD; Athlone IT; Carlow IT; Blanchardstown IT; Sligo IT, Waterford IT: Hot Press have a few remaining vacancies in these colleges for our student rep program.
Foo Fighters are the first band to be confirmed for the BudRising Summer festival - and Maximo Park are kicking the whole series off with a free, low-key gig!
Cornershop, Sigur Ros, The Dirty Three, David Kitt, The Frames, Lambchop? Yep, the dreamy bill above, and much more besides, is in store at this year's Galway Arts Festival
Not content with picking up two Grammy nominations for 'Vertigo', Bono will be a geust presenter in the forthcoming Christmas Today series on BBC Radio
Looking for films to get you in a romantic mood this weekend? Well HMV have compiled a list of the Top 50 Greatest Love Films, as voted for by the public. And guess what? Our man Swayze's bagged the top 2 spots...
Chris Roche is to be posthumously awarded the Public Relations Institute's President's Medal for "his outstanding contribution to the understanding and practice of real public relations in Ireland."
Sexed Up is the regular Hot Press Sex Column, by Anne Sexton, published in association with Durex. If you have any ideas, thoughts, comments or questions on sex, go to the bottom of this web page and get them down – right now!
Ann Sexton on what women really want for Valentine's Day, plus the Sex O'Clock News
Richie Egan (Jape) will perform a DJ set this Thursday (December 13) to raise funds for Temple Street and Crumlin's Children's Hospitals. Other acts include Large Mound, Johnny Moy and Hot Press' Mark Kavanagh.
This Thursday (August 14) Dublin's Radio City will host a warm-up party for the groups who've been commissioned to build a full-scale temple to be burnt at the end of the festival.
Fans of the Electric Picnic festival have been rewarded with news that a similar – but even more intimate – musical extravaganza is being held in June.
Hi-Fi promoter Brian Spollen has confirmed to Hot Press that under the terms of their licence agreement with the County Council, there will no live music at the Belvedere House, Mullingar site until 5pm on Sunday August 6.
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.
The Frank And Walters may modestly acknowledge that they have only one hit, but unlike the majority of their early-’90s contemporaries they refuse to wallow between nostalgia and novelty.
Movies based in American high schools are seldom noted for their originality, but the lack of imagination on display in She's All That still boggles the mind - next to this, the likes of Breakfast Club could qualify as masterpiece cinema.
The first ever Planetlove Winter Session has been confirmed for the Punchestown Conference Centre in Co Kildare for February 16, hotpress.com can reveal.
Van Morrison is Los Angeles bound on February 22 for a star-studded Hollywood shindig that’ll see him presented with the US-Ireland Alliance Award by Al Pacino.
She certainly gave them what they’d come to hear and like her or not, Twain is a seasoned performer with more than enough hits to carry a major event like this.
Ten Canoes weaves together a string of bawdy jokes to create a richly textured folk-tale, deftly demonstrating that accessible and funny doesn’t have to mean retarded.
Stop press: Dustin the Turkey, celebrity-baiting media fowl and seasonal-plaything connoisseur, refused entry onto tonight's Late Late Toy Show. Act now to get your fill of turkey
Need help, advice or a second opinion? Put your music industry question to the oracle@hotpress.ie.
This fortnight, Tax Dodger from Kerry wants to know what type of expenses musicians can legally deduct from their income to reduce their tax liability.
Nicolas Cage's newest role as a downhearted and disillusioned TV forecaster fails to receive pity from his family, job, and even sadder, film audiences.
In a dramatic development that will intensify the competition in the upcoming European elections considerably, Patricia McKenna has confirmed, in an interview in the latest issue of Hot Press, that she’s quitting the Green party to stand as an independent Euro candidate.
Well, there s another Paddy s Day gone, and good riddance. What an embarrassment. Even a stroll around town with a hand-spray of weed-killer for squirting on shamrock didn t ease my sense of mortification.
Decal, Rollers/Sparkers, Redneck Manifesto, Spectac, Donal Tierney, Michael Morris, Nina Hynes, The Tycho Brae, Lacklustre, Felix Kubin, Max Tundra, Wevie Stonder, Pierre Bastien & The Mecanium Orchestra + more
Need help, advice or a second opinion? Put your music industry question to the oracle@hotpress.ie.
This fortnight, Wes from Tralee asks “which is better for an artist, to get a record deal first or to get a publishing deal first,” or does it make any difference either way?
Hot Press have teamed up with Concern for a special creative writing competition, where you can tell us what you would write to US President Obama on one of several global issues. Entries are still welcome, but hurry – the closing date is coming up!
From the glory days of the ‘80s to the ‘nul points’ indignation of recent years, Ireland’s Eurovision stock has taken a worrying slide. Can this year’s Moscow-bound representatives, SINÉAD MULVANEY and LESLEY-ANN, restore our standing as kings of Euro-cheese? n
HMV’s acclaimed 'my inspiration' campaign – where artists reference a song or lyric that has inspired them, is to be taken to a new level with the first-ever album compilation of 'my inspiration' covers.
In many ways Microdisney exemplify the difficulties facing any band who feel that they have something valid and non-conformist to say but are also driven by a desire to bring that vision to as wide and diverse an audience as possible. Within those terms of reference, 39 Minutes may be a definitive offering.
Traditionally the highpoint of the autumn music calendar, the Dublin Electronic Arts Festival takes place for the seventh time over the October bank holiday weekend.
This issue coinciding with Valentine's Day, Caught In The Net has decided to show it has a sensitive side that's willing to woo and not just jump into bed on the first date
Eminem had his performance from the annual BET Hip-Hop Awards bleeped last night when the show was broadcast on BET because it included a reference to his dick in relation to rape.
The Irish Music Rights Organisation has announced the second annual IMRO Live Music Venue of the Year Awards. The awards recognise Irish venues which provide the very highest standards in live music entertainment.
Kigns of Leon are the first act to have been revealed for Oxegen 2009 with the Hot Press Annual Cover Stars having confirmed their July appearance at the Punchestown extravaganza.
We all know what we love - and hate - about the Irish Christmas. But what does our migrant community think of the annual festival of tinsel, booze and pressie giving?
The Letterkenny branch of the human rights organisation compiles some of Ireland's top musicians in their third annual showcase of Unchained Melodies: Songs for Amnesty International.
The line-up has been revealed for ‘An Fiach Dubh’ – Fingal Songwriter's Weekend. The first in an annual series, the weekend will bring Irish and international songwriters together to provide master classes in the art.
The Irish contingent has been confirmed for South By Southwest, the annual showcase festival in Austin, Texas, which is arguably the most important shop window for new acts in the U.S. – and a few old ones to boot.
Irish cinema received another major boost at the weekend, with the selection of Garage as the winner of the annual Art et Essai Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
The LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) community will be out of the closet in full force on 23 June, when the annual Pride parade takes place.
The annual Stranger Than Fiction festival is set to take place for the sixth time this September, and they're currently looking for documentary films to show.
The Waterboys make what’s becoming their annual St. Patrick’s week pilgrimage to Ireland for shows in the NEC, Killarney (March 17); The Point, Dublin (18); UCH, Limerick (20); Radisson Hotel, Galway (21); Radisson Hotel, Sligo (23); and Waterfront, Belfast (25).
Annual article: Our sex columnist has been such a busy girl she asked us to open her post. We came across this rather touching missive from one of the men in her life. Apparently he thinks they need a new bed…
Annual article: With Compass Records taking over the Green Linnet catalogue, the Nashville label has now become one of the biggest traditional imprints in the business.
Annual article: From the strange to the mundane, from poetic champions to pornographic novels, from maverick auteurs to great lost crime novels: it was a hell of a year to be a reader.
Annual article: The votes are in, the golden envelopes have been delivered, the nominees are sweating in their tuxedos. Yes, it’s time for HotPress’ annual Casa Awards
Hot Press favourite Julie Feeney - whose superb 13 Songs took the inaugural Chioice Award earlier this year - and Humanzi have been picked by RTÉ 2fm to be Ireland's main representatives at the annual Eurosonic Festival.
Over a hundred acts took part in the annual Hard Working Class Heroes event in Dublin last weekend. While the standard wasn’t uniformly impressive, a number of new contenders emerged who might ultimately be capable of lifting the rock’n’roll crown...
The annual Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival kicks off in Belfast next month with a guestlist that includes Buck 65, Damien Dempsey and The Skatalites among others
As predicted first by hotpress.com over a month ago, Madonna has been confirmed as the headline artist for Slane 2004. The concert has been scheduled for Sunday, August 29, signalling a change in practice for the annual Slane Castle event, which has not taken place on a Sunday since Bob Dylan appeared there in 1984.
The annual Eurosonic Festival kicked off on Thursday, January 8th, in Groningen, Holland. The Northern European university city came alive as acts from all over the continent took to the stages of the city for what has become the finest showcase for new music in Europe, as part of the European Talent Exchange Programme. Think the Eurovision, except with top quality music and without the voting.
Fine words, fine wines and possibly even the occasional fine. Tom Mathews makes his now annual pilgrimage to the cuirt festival of literature in Galway.
SNORRRRTTTTT whewwww SNORRRTTT whewww SNORRRTTT whewww Ah, it s yourselves. Excuse me while I remove this mask and put the cylinder to one side. Yes, folks, it s that time of year again. Esteemed Ed is off on his annual hols leaving me, Samuel J. Snort Esq world s leading rock journalist, porn movie stuntman and brain chemist in charge.
From Radiohead to Springsteen, the twelve months ahead are already packed with highlights. But will Led Zeppelin be among the group’s hitting the comeback trail?
There can be no more compelling argument for outlawing stem cell research and human cloning than the prospect of more movies like Godsend. Who knew that such a complex ethical issue could be distilled down to this tired Bad Seed regurgitation?
Mick Flannery is just one of the top artists featured singing a track on Seachtain na Gaeilge’s Irish language compilation Ceol ’09, due for release next month. Jackie Hayden talks to him about the experience.
Innovation in computer games isn't the sole preserve of American designers, as Anne Sexton discovered recently when she played Blowaway, the new game from a group of final year DCU students which has been designed to appeal to women as much as to men.
A musical set in modern Dublin? Starring The Frames’ Glen Hansard as a love-struck busker? Nobody believed in John Carney’s Once but, following a rave debut at the Sundance film festival, it might just prove to be the biggest Irish movie of the year
What does the patent lack of enthusiasm about the choice of Dervish as Ireland’s Eurovision song contest representatives tells us about our attitude towards traditional music?
While the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival offered a typically eclectic and dynamic programme once again this year, the organisers behind the event nonetheless weren’t afraid to deliver a few uncomfortable home truths about Northern Irish society.
Our columnist wasn’t exactly popping open the champagne at the news that Mark Thatcher had escaped with a suspended sentence for his part in the attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea. Plus: why Bono’s gushing endorsement at the Labour Party Conference has allowed Blair and Brown to continue to get away with murder.
Tokyo is like a sci-fi version of the West – plus, the people are immaculately polite, the trains run on time and the chances of something unpleasant befalling you are virtually zero.
Colin Reid is so far out of the frame that it takes a while to understand the concept. He s a virtuoso guitarist, from Belfast, who doesn t care for guitar music.
The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival offers a take on modern Belfast that rings true, as well as an eclectic musical line-up and some controversial readings from modern UK writers says Colin Carberry
In which Murph goes to Motown - where he discovers a vibrant arts scene, defiantly thriving in the cracks, despite at the neglect of the Motor City authorities....
It's been a hell of a ride at Hot Press central over the past few weeks, what with a controversial drugs issue to defend, and a whole new look to usher in.
I think it is the saddest thing that I have ever read. As my old buddy ‘Smokey’ Robinson used to say, it is sadder than sad. But it demands to be investigated, and when it comes to thorough investigations, Sam is your proverbial man.
Under severe editorial pressure, journalist/comedian BARRY GLENDENNING is forced to interview himself. But then, given time, he would have anyway.
Pic: Peter Mathews.
A group of four Dublin 16-year-olds could be set to storm the city’s reggae and indie scene. Good things have been heard about the new kids on the block – excuse the accidental Yankee pop reference – with the unusual name of Pudjet Sound.
WE ARE pleased to report that following the second anniversary of the Murphy’s Corduroy Comedy Club (The Norseman, Temple Bar, Thursday nights), resident compere John Henderson has decided to move upstairs (metaphorically speaking, of course – the Club is already upstairs) in order to oversee Corduroy affairs from his new position as Director of Comedy.
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da
da-da-da-da-da-da
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I thought that I’d begin with the lyrics, so to speak, of the Match Of The Day theme-tune.
Valentine’s Day is on its way. But forget the cheesy cards, the flowers and the pink ribbons. What every smart woman really wants on February 14th is the hot breath of a lover whose naked desire is for her, and her alone…
They go out in the freezing cold at 3am for condoms and spend hours searching for the G-spot. With St. Valentine’s Day romance in the air, our sex columnist says, ‘Let’s hear
it for the boys’...
It may not have made the front pages but the news emerged recently that our prison population had exceeded the magic 4,000 for the first time. What a remarkable achievement for such a small country, eh?
As cats all over Ireland prepare to have their fancies tickled, Jackie Hayden reflects on the comedic talents of one of the star turns at this year’s Smithwick’s Cat Laughs Festival, Tommy Tiernan.
AS you all know, I have always been of the view that popular culture is useless. Rock music is a tuneless, repetitive irritant, recorded by people who can t play and listened to by people who can t hear. Cinema is a playground for perverts and fools. And as for cartoons? Nothing could be more puerile and irrelevant.
Former Oranmore oyster farmer Gerry Mallon may regard himself as something of an accidental stand-up, but nevertheless he’s one of the main players in the burgeoning Galway comedy scene.
