When Boyzone pranced awkardly around the Phoenix Park stage in their orange jumpsuits at the ill-advised and worse-attended homecoming for the Republic's USA 94 squad (which could have been a subtle reference to the fact that we'd been sent packing by Holland, but I doubt it), …
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
Boyzone are, irrefutably, Ireland s first ever bona fide Pop gods. Reviled by many but dreamed about, screamed at and lusted after by far, far more, they are the men boys of the moment. Joe Jackson meets Louis Walsh and John Reynolds, the Svengalis behind Boyzone, and asks Steve, Shane, Ronan, Mikey and Keith what it s like when every female alive wants to shag you senseless. As if he doesn t know.
With Boyzone dangerously past their sell-boy date, the talented one's are venturing into George Michael territory in an endeavour to capture a more adult market.
Boyzone are, irrefutably, Ireland s first ever bona fide Pop gods. Reviled by many but dreamed about, screamed at and lusted after by far, far more, they are the men boys of the moment. Joe Jackson meets Louis Walsh and John Reynolds, the Svengalis behind Boyzone, and asks Steve, Shane, Ronan, Mikey and Keith what it s like when every female alive wants to shag you senseless. As if he doesn t know.
Boyzone are, irrefutably, Ireland’s first ever bona fide Pop gods. Reviled by many but dreamed about, screamed at and lusted after by far, far more, they are the men – boys – of the moment. Joe Jackson meets Louis Walsh and John Reynolds, the svengalis behind Boyzone, and asks Steve, Shane, Ronan, Mikey and Keith what it’s like when every female alive wants to shag you senseless. As if he doesn’t know.
The latest Boy to leave the Zone, the launch of Mikey Graham s solo voyage has been attended by
controversy and criticism. But don t underestimate his determination. I m not the passenger, he tells PETER MURPHY. Portraits of the Artist: DECLAN ENGLISH
The trauma of his mother's death; the joy of his marriage to Yvonne; the truth about his sex life; the pressures of growing up in public; the importance of peer respect; the offers of a solo career; and how America might hold the key to keeping boyzone together. In his most personal and revealing interview to date, ronan keating talks to joe jackson
The trauma of his mother's death; the joy of his marriage to Yvonne; the truth about his sex life; the pressures of growing up in public; the importance of peer respect; the offers of a solo career; and how America might hold the key to keeping boyzone together. In his most personal and revealing interview to date, ronan keating talks to joe jackson
The trauma of his mother's death; the joy of his marriage to Yvonne; the truth about his sex life; the pressures of growing up in public; the importance of peer respect; the offers of a solo career; and how America might hold the key to keeping boyzone together. In his most personal and revealing interview to date, ronan keating talks to joe jackson
Having had his fill of Eurovision and being ripped-off on the Irish circuit, Louis Walsh went for broke with the boys who would be boyzone. Now he can afford to speak his mind. JOE JACKSON is all ears.
Having had his fill of Eurovision and being ripped-off on the Irish circuit, louis walsH went for broke with the boys who would be boyzone. Now he can afford to speak his mind. JOE JACKSON is all ears.
In the instant world of pop music, it would be fair to say that life can be a bit of a rollercoaster – as some of our homegrown teenybop maestros discovered in 2001. But WESTLIFE and SAMANTHA MUMBA are still riding high.
BY STEPHEN ROBINSON
Meeting the Pope, marriage to the Taoiseach’s daughter, the trouble with relationships, why they couldn’t have a hit with Bono, bad language on kids’ telly, golf in drugs out, Louis’ biggest lie and other tales from the lives of Westlife.
Life has been a bit of a rollercoaster for Ronan Keating since he left Boyzone for a solo career. But he’s not one for moaning or dishing dirt – even when conversation turns to Louis Walsh.
The drink, the drugs, the fights, the sex, the loves, the hates, the hits and the Taoiseach's daughter - here are Ireland's most successful boy band as you've never heard them before.
Hearing their confessions: Joe Jackson
They ve been gigging for 27 years and they were doing Words when Boyzone were still in the balls zone. They are Big Chief Flaming Star, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Little Thunder, Wild Hawk and Dull Knife (not their real names). They are
THE INDIANS
and they hope to still be on the warpath in the next millennium.
LIAM FAY
pow-wows with an authentic showband phenomenon.
One of the most familiar faces and voices in Irish broadcasting, Dave Fanning has interviewed just about every rock and movie star worth knowing. But here Olaf Tyaransen goes behind the public image to unearth some of his more secret history: working with the disgraced “Captain” Cooke; nude interviewing with U2; getting ripped off by the nanny; and much more.
Westlife have confirmed media speculation – a good bit of it being in Hot Press – by announcing their biggest headlining show yet in Croke Park on June 1 2008.
He has already courted controversy with comments about lapdancing and criticisms of Michael McDowell and Michael Martin. now, in this candid interview with Olaf Tyaransen, the new Lord Mayor of Dublin lets fly at the Taoiseach's brother, Noel Ahern; recalls wild days in the hotel trade and Amsterdam; talks about the depths of his despair following his father's death; and reveals how he was more likely to become a tap-dancer than a member of Boyzone. photos: Mick Quinn
In the new Hot Press, out this Thursday, music mogul Louis Walsh remembers the Michael Jackson he knew, "a real star" who "put his own unique stamp on everything he did".
There is no better or more fitting tribute to Stephen Gately than that which was read and said at the funeral in St.Laurence O’Toole’s church in Seville Place by Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham and Ronan Keating of Boyzone. The fourth remaining member of the band, Shane Lynch, stood beside the three others and shared in the emotion and the grief. The tribute was written by Ronan Keating, with Keith Duffy providing his own personal introduction and improvising around the text.
With a career history that includes playing support to the likes of Steps, Boyzone and B*Witched, it is reasonable to expect that Madasun’s debut LP is not going to be a feast of white noise. Instead, it’s a slickly polished collection of r’n’b, soul and pop.
In their first public appearance since Stephen Gately’s death, his Boyzone bandmates flanked Ronan Keating at a Majorca press gathering as he read out a statement regarding Gately’s death.
The life and work of Stephen Gately was brilliantly remembered at his funeral service by the members of Boyzone. There is a lesson in this for all of us.
Donal Convery, lead vocalist of Co. Derry band Asterix talks to ADRIENNE MURPHY about the link between pain and creativity, and why he hopes to give up his day job.
Shorn of his beard and pony-tail GERRY RYAN is to join forces
with Barney the dinosaur, Twink and OTT in a poptastic pantomime
in The Point, SLEEPING BEAUTY (SORT OF).
Interview: CHRIS DONOVAN.
SHAMPOO are famous for looking cool, sounding cool and throwing large, heavy objects at interviewers who aren’t up to scratch. Risking his life for his readers: NIALL CRUMLISH.
JOHN WALSHE talks to fresh-faced Euro-pop outfit NV about their quest for pop superstardom, the new Coke ad, and the pros and cons of being a Friends lookalike!
Irish teen popsters B*WITCHED last month became only the seventh act in chart history to see their debut single go straight in at Number One in the UK Top 40. Are they the latest great white hope for pop music, or simply a troupe of over-hyped cod-ceili dancers? And what does all this signify for the Irish music industry as a whole? peter murphy reports.
ALTHOUGH Poe senior was getting severely inebriated he came to the conclusion that he was having a splendid time. Having just finished a large four-course meal in the company of some charming friends, he had managed to play some Elgar on his guitar, had got involved in some riveting discussions on the state of music today and now, with a lopsided paper hat on his head, swayed off down the dark cobbled streets towards the bay for a bit of fresh night air.
Eyebrows were raised in the Irish rock community at Dave Fanning’s appointment as a panellist for RTE’s next series of You’re A Star. Colm O’Hare gives him a chance to explain why he doesn’t care.
He started out wanting to be Kurt Cobain. Then he went to New York, nursing dreams of emulating Dylan. Now Cork strummer Mick Flannery is resolutely charting his own course.
Government indignation and empty promises characterise China’s response to CD and DVD piracy, which flourishes in the country. Irish artists like U2, Westlife and Enya are bootleggers’ staple sellers. And Mary Black gets ripped off too. Mark Godfrey reports
Wank, bollocks, Chris Evans. These are dirty words.
Pop isn t.
STUART CLARK refrains from ruining their career for long enough to discover whether
IN UTOPIA have got what it takes to become Ireland s next three minute heroes.
Pix: Cathal Dawson.
THE SUBTONICS are young, gifted . . . and angry. Having made a name for themselves through their guerilla promotional tactics, they now tell EAMON SWEENEY that we re coming close to the end of rock n roll in Ireland.
John Walshe talks to the most exciting British band of the year, the decidedly Latin-monikered Gomez about their meteoric rise to fame and how shaggy-haired studenty types are suddenly going for the boy band look.
The MILLENNIUM BUG is lurking and technological Armageddon seems imminent. However, the Evening Herald seems surprisingly unconcerned. BARRY GLENDENNING wonders why.
NIALL STANAGE identifies the contenders in the race to put a new youth-oriented radio station on air in Dublin and speaks to FIONA McLOUGHLIN and DONAL SCANNELL, CEO and Head of Music respectively at FUSE FM, one of the applicants.
She's the red-haired electro-pop debutante of the year. La Roux frontwoman Elly Jackson talks about her love of the 80s and tells us why Blur were the only decent rock band of the past 20 years.
john walshe talks to Celbridge five-piece juniper about their new single, Weatherman , and what it was about them that enticed Polygram to sign them for six albums.
Russian cosmonauts, mexican desperadoes and cranky italian elephants – it’s all in a day’s work for solo too supremo Ned O’Hanlon, the man entrusted with documenting the multi-media extravaganza that is the U2 live experience.
Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine have lived up to their name. When all and sundry thought they were dead and buried, the English agit-poppers have returned Lazarus-like with a brand new batch of songs. Interview: john walshe.
With compass in hand and their newly unfurled Map Of The Universe nestling comfortably on their laps, Blink are boldly going where few Irish bands have gone before. But what happens when they get to Cork and Ballybunion? Intrepid explorer LIAM FAY dons his rucksack, climbs aboard the Blinkmobile and survives to tell the tale.
Hand-picked, coddled and manufactured: mainstream pop stars have the life. Don t they? KIM PORCELLI gets up about twelve hours earlier than usual and spends the day with SAMANTHA MUMBA. Hot shots: PETER MATTHEWS
Irish film-maker BILL HUGHES has just completed a documentary on the past 100 years of homosexual life in Ireland. ANGELA McGOLDRICK met him to talk about the programme, and his own experience as a gay Irish person.
John Walshe talks to The Wannadies Pdr Wiksten and Christina Bergmark about their new album, Yeah, tribute bands, Swedish soft rock stars and the Abba legacy.
One by one, the members of CHILL Ireland s answer to the Spice Girls occupy the Hot Press hot seat. Popping the questions: JOE JACKSON. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
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]
STUART CLARK collars Divine Comedy mainman Neil Hannon for a brief but highly intimate chinwag as they both take a break from drinking the bar dry at the Heineken/Hot Press Rock Awards in Belfast.
During a career spanning almost forty years as a professional musician, Van Morrison has created an extraordinary body of work. A masterful musician, songwriter, producer, arranger and musical director, he possesses one of the most uniquely recognisable and powerful voices in music. His influence on contemporary music has been profound but far from resting on his laurels, his latest work Back On Top ranks among his finest albums to date. For Van Morrison, the search goes on. It was particularly appropriate, therefore, that he was chosen to become the first inductee into the Hot Press Irish Music Hall of Fame, at a special ceremony there last week. Report: Niall Stanage.
John Walshe meets Paul and Ashley from The Frank & Walters and hears all about their latest album, Beauty Becomes More Than Life, why they don t want to go to posh parties and how major labels take all the fun out of being in a band.
Having already conquered Ireland and the UK, SAMANTHA MUMBA is poised to join Britney and Christina at the top of the American pop chart. Not bad for someone who two years ago was fired from a panto by Twink! Now, with her new album Gotta Tell You ready for release, the Dublin singer talks candidly to JOE JACKSON about drugs, sex and the break-up of her parents marriage
JONATHAN O’BRIEN (real name) meets
WREKKED TRAIN DAVE (not real name) of the
LO-FIDELITY ALLSTARS (real name) and finds out how CLAUDIO GENTILE (real name) fits into their chaotic scheme of things.
Any self-consciousness was quickly dispelled by the notion of how ridiculous I d look with my head and shoulders buried a few feet in the earth. A frankly terrified olaf tyaransen embarks on his first ever parachute jump and lives to tell the tale.
Who better to launch this year’s Music Show than Irish band of the moment The Script? In a taster of what to expect from October’s RDS weekender, Danny, Glen and Mark treated a roomful of fans, music students and industry professionals to their thoughts on illegal downloading, songwriting, the dreaded Auto-tune and touring with Macca and U2.
Ireland's most hyped event of the year, the MTV EUROPE AWARDS may have had as many gossip columnists as winners thanking God, but after hours it was IGGY POP and heavy friends who made the real headlines on a night when rock'n'roll bit back. Report: OLAF TYARANSEN and PETER MURPHY. Awards Pics: PETER MATTHEWS. Iggy Pics: Cathal Dawson
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
If having your music featured on every TV programme from TFI Friday to England v Morocco is a measure of success, then CORNERSHOP are now one of the biggest bands in the world. Multi-instrumentalist BEN AYRES talks to STUART CLARK about Noel Gallagher collaborations, festivals, royalties, The Blind Boys Of Alabama and that Fatboy Slim remix.
All over Ireland, at any time of the day or night, hundreds of musicians are at work in recording studios, getting their sounds down for your delectation. So which are the trailblazing facilities? COLM O HARE reports.
Live on your TV and your wireless, 2TV will be broadcasting all summer long. JACKIE HAYDEN goes behind the scenes on the show that shakes up Sunday mornings.
Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden? It doesn t get much
better than this. JOE JACKSON goes
backstage for a brief but revealing encounter with Joni and, from a vantage point to die for, finds two 60s legends who can still send shivers up the spine at the end of the millennium.
They’ve been heralded as the biggest thing in Irish rock since U2 – a prediction that proved prescient when The Script romped to the top of the charts with their debut album.
STEREOPHONICS are on the up-and-up, their popularity growing without the band making concessions to the London-based music media. GEORGE BYRNE met them to talk about drink, drugs, writer s block and their upcoming Slane support slot.
Mini Pics: MICK QUINN.
After years when her triumphs were in danger of being masked by her tribulations, DOLORES O RIORDAN is back in defiantly upbeat form. She talks to STUART CLARK about confidence, critics, Calvin Klein and her confirmation-size breasts ! Pics: MICK QUINN.
TRACY CHAPMAN S eponymous debut album was one of the biggest sellers of last year more than ten years after its release.
She spoke to PETER MURPHY about her life before and after fame, that album and the race issue.
How the mafia did Noel a favour by twatting Liam; the U2 song Oasis might cover; the most he’s spent on cocaine; a great night out in Ireland’ and what it will say on his tombstone. Noel Gallagher answers the reader’s questions. Turning up the heat Stuart Clark.
It's hard-hats and flak-jackets all round as the new improved Carter usm launch a full frontal attack against John Major, Third World repression and Pizza Hut. Frontline correspondent: Stuart Clark. War photographer Cathal Dawson
In which Olaf Tyaransen comes face to face with a raging bull, declares war on the neighbourhood dogs and undergoes the Thai rite of passage that is surviving a motorbike accident.
Jackie hayden meetsjournalist turned PR guru, Tony O Brien and speaks to him about his rock n roll adventures with the likes of U2, Michael Stipe and Bruce Springsteen.
Girls Aloud’s Nadine Coyle talks about her Derry childhood, drug use in the pop industry and explains why she gets irritated when the band are called “British”.
At the end of the last decade, Philip King was best known as a founder member of Scullion and writer of the music to the Frank O’Connor translation of the Irish lyric ‘I Am Stretched On Your Grave’. However, since setting up Hummingbird Productions with his partners Nuala O’Connor and Kieran Corrigan in 1987, he has established himself as one of the country’s leading makers of films about Irish music and culture, including acclaimed series such as Bringing It All Back Home, A River Of Sound, and Sult. Here he talks to Peter Murphy about the current Irish climate for independent film-makers, his stop-start relationship with RTE, and post-Riverdance Irishry. Pics: Cathal Dawson
Why are the Spice Girls animals ? Why would Crispian Kula Shaker benefit from a hefty spell of National Service? And why should you never trust a hippy? These are just some of the burning issues that Dr. Alex Paterson of The Orb would like to address. Oh yeah, and he also talks about his band s ace new album Orblivion, as well as his exotic, not to say erotic, yesteryear escapades on the road with LL Cool J and Motvrhead. Our man with the shiny black Panasonic tape recorder: jonathan o brien.
MARILYN MANSON may be the epitome of Middle America's worst nightmare but, as STUART CLARK discovers, he's not that bad, really. On the agenda: Bono, Eminem, Moby, George W. Bush and the Columbine shootings
From Oasis to The Ping Pong Bitches, ALAN McGEE is living proof that there s life after
success, excess, Labour, near-death and, oh yes, Creation Records. Even if you re a Rangers
supporter. Interview: STUART CLARK
They re the biggest new band in Britain, but
all saints didn t always inhabit a world of no.1 singles,
million-selling albums and media limelight.
shaznay
and melanie
talk to jonathan o brien
about stardom, tattoos, tabloids and why they definitely aren t a bunch of porn obsessives.
The last 18 months have been a hell of a ride for The Thrills, catapulted from the relative obscurity of the south dublin suburbs to the top of the uk charts, rubbing shoulders with Van Dyke Parks and Peter Buck along the way. But are the band suffering from diver’s bends? is that laid-back california-in-my-mind facade starting to crumble? We put on our therapist’s hats and endeavour to find out, if something’s gotta give, what gives?
He’s worked with Van, Dylan, Christy, Sinéad, The Cranberries and many other household names – but now he’s gone centre-stage himself as the composer of The General soundtrack. JOE JACKSON meets RICHIE BUCKLEY. Pix: Mick Quinn
Most cities and towns have their trouble spots and their danger zones, but Limerick's have been given more than their unfair share of publicity. Such a focus on the negative has tended to detract attention from the positive aspects of this resurgent city, with its vibrant music scene, its buzzing university, the warmth and friendliness of the people, its obsession with rugby, and er, Ryan Turbidy.
Trailing a new album and a new contentment, Dolores O Riordan tells Stuart Clark about how she got rid of her hang-ups and learned to love being a pop star.
RADIOHEAD are just about to release one of the most uncompromising and controversial records of the year in Kid A. As the band prepare for their upcoming Irish dates, mainman THOM YORKE talks about the genesis of a record that seems destined to divide rock fans for years. Not to mention Bono, Britney and Alicia Silverstone! Interview: DAVE FANNING
Blow me down, it’s that chirpy Counting Crow adam duritz again, flapping his vocal chords on everything from bunking off the MTV awards, why the Rolling Stones are still “fucking great” and why he won’t be emigrating to Utah just yet. Witness for the defence: Niall Crumlish.
Or perhaps that's 27 under the present squad numbering system. JEFF KENNA may be living in Garry Kelly's international shadow but that doesn't mean the former Palmerstown Rangers full-back isn't one of the Premiereship's brightest prospects and a genuine contender for the Ireland team as the Green Army advances towards the European Championships. Interview and bollocking from Jack Charlton: STUART CLARK
Pix: COLM HENRY
Responsible dad or not, Liam Gallagher is still capable of some serious rock’n’roll hellraising and giving good quote. Roy Keane, Patsy Kensit, Nicole Appleton, Yoko Ono, Bono and magic mushrooms are all on the agenda as the Oasis singer shoots from the hip. Getting the beers in: Olaf Tyaransen
Stuart Clark, whose middle name is “Intrepid”, recently spent 48 hours on tour with PET LAMB, grindpopcore merchants extraordinaire. His liver and tympanic membranes survived intact, and after a mere six weeks recuperation, he filed this report.
To Cian O Tighearnaigh of the ispcc, child abuse sexual, physical and emotional constitutes the single greatest scandal facing our country. Here he talks to Joe Jackson about the extent to which he believes the state has failed our children and why, in his opinion, mandatory reporting is an essential first step in putting things right. Pix: Colm Henry
By popular demand, ULRIKA JONSSON is coming back to Belfast to co-host this year's heineken-hot press awards. olaf tyaransen meets up with television's Golden Girl and hears about the world of the small screen, the men in her life, the poet behind the party animal, tabloid intrusion and the importance of Van Morrison in keeping her head straight.
As famous for being mates with Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher as for being pop stars in their own right, ocean colour scene take time out from a hectic touring and recording schedule to explain to john walshe just how popular they are. Pix: mick quinn.
It’s the guide Ladbrokes, the Central Bank, Mystic Meg and Mark Lawrenson turn to at the start of each year – Jackie Hayden’s cultural, sporting and political forecasts for the forthcoming twelve months.
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the dissection of the rock ‘n’ roll year that is the Hot Press Summit. Gathering round the table are the good and great of Irish music, but who let Podge & Rodge in?
With Cameron Crowe s Almost Famous putting rock hackery on the silver screen, no less, Peter Murphy wonders if Seventies rock journalism is the new rock n roll. Helping him with his enquiries: PAUL MORLEY and GREIL MARCUS
Sinn Fiin s first sitting TD since 1918 chooses his words carefully for the Hot Press Political Interview. I m not measured or calculating, he explains, this is me. As I am. LIAM FAY fires the questions. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
Sinn Féin’s first sitting TD since 1918 chooses his words carefully for the Hot Press Political Interview. “I’m not measured or calculating,” he explains, “this is me. As I am.” Liam Fay fires the questions. Pic: Cathal Dawson
As escape acts go, it ranked up there with the very best of Harry Houdini. Bishop Brendan Comiskey, in theory at least, was back to face the music and undergo a gruelling, exhaustive interrogation at the hands of the assembled press corps. Instead, his press conference turned into a stage-managed anti-climax, and the media watched helplessly as he slipped from their grasp.
After being a magnet for A&R men during the 80s, Dublin has recently developed into something of an underachiever. The city may have the second biggest growth-rate in Europe but there are a hell of a lot of gigs and records that simply aren t selling. peter murphy casts a critical ear over the capital s music scene and decides that what s required is a full-scale artistic enema.
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.
Prince may be content just to party but in a four-page special the Hot Press journalistic elite takes a look at everything 1999 has to offer. And then some.
Aspiring performers will have their chance to shine in front of one of the biggest names in pop this month, as Louis Walsh holds open auditions for a new five-piece girl band.
Westlife weigh in with a seventeen track debut that varies from the sublime to the ridiculous, but ultimately proves that the Sligo rovers are going to be around for quite a while.
A panel discussion on radio airplay for Irish artists will be among the events taking place as part of the first conference of independent Irish broadcasters.
Trading on your old reputation and banging out the hits is one thing, but venturing back into the studio to resurrect your career as recording artists? Surely that way lies madness.
Having won the vicious knife-and-broken-bottle fight that ensued among the hotpress’ crew (sorry about the eye, Olaf) in order to decide who would take this one on, I bring you Coast To Coast. Taa-daa!
For her first album since 2001, Colvin’s co-written nine of the album’s 13 tracks with producer John Leventhal, and her guests, including Patty Griffin, Marc Cohn, Teddy Thompson and ace pedal steel Greg Leisz, give the album an overall country/folk/rock feel.
If Triniti's ambition is to produce work that is taken seriously as original and creative, they need to dig a little deeper and put more of themselves and their personalities into the music.
Don Mescall is a Limerick-raised singer-songwriter who has been plying his trade on London’s music circuit for almost 20 years. Innocent Run, his debut album, should have been an impressive culmination of two decades’ worth of experience, but instead feels like a regrettable last-ditch compromise.
A handful of bands, each playing four or five-song sets; this is a formula that will always produce mixed results. But, pleasingly, tonight threw up more hits than misses.
Those were the final, prophetic words from STEPHEN GATELY on Twitter, as he planned to finish his children’s fantasy novel, The Tree of Seasons. Tragically, death was to intervene, bringing a sad and premature end to the career of a man who was much loved, warm and wonderfully likeable.
Irish singer-songwriter Darren Holden has been signed up to take the lead role in Movin' Out, the US smash hit musical based on the songs of Billy Joel
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?
A few weeks ago I had a lengthy chat with the A&R man from a major London-based international record company who was in Ireland checking out the talent and trying to prise demo tapes and CDs off me. During the conversation I asked him to spill the beans on what goes through an A&R man s head from the time he seriously considers signing a band until a decision is finally taken.
Amanda Byram was today unveiled as the host of this year’s Meteors Awards and nominees for 2009 were revealed - as well as the fact that Sharon Shannon would receive a lifetime achievement award.
Galway’s Acid-Jazz weekend wasn’t without its problems, but the highlights made it all worthwhile. Stuart Clark reports and Aengus McMahon takes the pictures.
Ireland s recording studios are busy creating the masterpieces that will dominate the charts over the coming year but there are still good deals on offer from some of our most respected establishments.
colm o hare reports.
Some of the country's leading music industry figures joined thousands of people for the Music Show, a two-day celebration of all that's good about the recording arts in Ireland.
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
With the death of Kurt Cobain in April casting a shadow over the following months 1994 will hardly go down as one of the most joyous in Rock history. Your guide to a month-by-month account of the names and events of the past year. Stuart Clark.
