The news that the Kaiser Chiefs were to deliver a second album angrier and more politicised than the first was greeted with some scepticism in this quarter. It doesn’t seem to have worked out too badly in practice, though, and ‘The Angry Mob’ is testament to that. A chunky, infectious slice of guitar-pop, it provides everything you would want from a Kaiser Chiefs record, and more. A hit.
Six months ago, Kaiser Chiefs were complete unknowns. Now, they’re making appearances on the Ant and Dec show, playing Letterman, being saluted by Damon Albarn and heralded as the spearheads of “the new Britpop” movement. The group here give the lowdown on what’s been a hectic 2005 to Ed Power.
As well as enabling us to use a painful Usual Suspects pun, catching up with the Kaiser Chiefs at Oxegen meant we could quiz them about U2, Live 8 and becoming filthy rich rock stars
‘Everything Is Average Nowadays’ and ‘Heat Dies Down’ emerge as decent enough tracks that benefit greatly from Rick Wilson’s much-lauded onstage charisma.
Oh my God, so many witty Kaiser Chiefs song titles, I can’t decide which one to use as opening line. But then, this review isn’t mainly about them, because the support bands stole the show.
They're one of the biggest names in indie-dom but, with album number three about to be unleashed, Kaiser Chiefs can still go out on the town without being pestered by paparazzi.
There must be some mistake, surely? A new British band that don’t stick needles in their arm, live in an East London squat or sound like a really, really bad Franz Ferdinand demo. Not that Kaiser Chiefs are going to win any prizes for originality. Named after one of South Africa’s most famous footie teams, the Leeds quintet have a big thing for The Jam, XTC, Blur and any other band to whom the term “quintessentially English” applies.
The all-day extravaganza that's taking place at Marlay Park on 22 August may have Kaiser Chiefs headlining, but the supporting bill alone is worth the ticket price.
Kaiser Chiefs’ teenage fanbase is unlikely to be disappointed by Yours Truly…, which is packed to the brim with the sort of singalong anthems that made their first album such a resounding commercial success.
The Cronin Brothers have come a long way with their group The Aftermath since leaving Longford to make their fortune. With friends like the Kaiser Chiefs and fans like Chris Moyles, they’re on the brink of making it big.
If it’s on B-Unique, home of the Kaiser Chiefs and The Automatic, it’s likely to be okay-to-amazing, and Alterkicks don’t disappoint. ‘On A Holiday’ is, oddly enough, a hybrid of The Kooks and Morrissey, taking the former’s retro sensibilities and the latter’s veiled mournfulness. Thus, all the stops are in place for these Liverpudlians to be huuuuge.
The Bravery used to sound like their Big Apple compatriots, Interpol. So in case any intrepid rock scribes point out the similarity, they’ve decided to take some influence from across the pond instead. ‘Unconditional’ is yet another new-wave revivalist number, and it’s near impossible to distinguish it from other thumping anthems provided by The Kaiser Chiefs, Futureheads, and Franz Ferdinand. Good or bad thing? Depends on how highly you value the concept of originality.
Pulling every epic indie trick in the book, Boy Kill Boy come across like a more serious version of the Kaiser Chiefs. So ‘Back Again’ is dabbled in pop tunefulness, whilst front man Chris Peck’s soaring vocal remains franticly over-earnest. It makes for a gem to dance to while drunk. But a spin on the stereo reveals this to be more of the same Britrock drivel, from an act to file under ‘never-gonna-happen’.
With those other candidates for the job, AC/DC, confirming an O2 Arena show today, it looks an odds-on certainty that Oasis will be unveiled tomorrow as the headliners of Slane ’09.
Loved by the Kaiser Chiefs and bushy moustached Ukrainians alike, The Chalets have partied their way round most of the western world in recent months. Stuart Clark hears about backstage beerathons, ding dongs with Kele from Bloc Party and monkeys in track-suits.
This year’s Heineken Green Energy festival has something for every music lover. Whether anthemic stadium rock (Snow Patrol) is your thing or you enjoy boisterous pop (Kaiser Chiefs), it’s a festival packed with sonic treats.
They once blagged a soccer scholarship to America as a laugh. Now back in the UK with a number one album, The Hoosiers are at the forefront of their very own scene: “odd-pop”.
Kaiser Chiefs and Hard-Fi may have sold more records, but they’re mere also-rans in the tabloid fame game compared to Sam Preston. Ed Power finds out how the Ordinary Boys frontman is coping with life post-Big Brother.
Try not to let their awful name put you off this debut from Leeds band Duels. The Bright Lights sees the band trading in the same kind of kitchen-sink estate tales espoused by the Arctic Monkeys and fellow Yorkshire outfit the Kaiser Chiefs but without the humour of Alex’s crowd and the instant catchiness of Ricky’s mob. This, however, doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing.
The voice of a new generation? A poor man’s Kaiser Chiefs? The band from the Lifestyle Sports ad? However one views the Staines phenomenon that is Hard-Fi, you can’t argue with a performance that sells out months in advance.
The organisers of Oxegen '08 have revealed that the three day festival is now completely sold out. Plus, they've announced the day by day line-up so far...
As predicted, Snow Patrol emerged the big winners at the Meteor Music Awards, which took place at The Point in Dublin last night. Click for photos from the night
They’re mates with Humanzi and have hung out with Juliette Lewis. Give it a little while and Leeds dance-rock outfit The Sunshine Underground will probably be stars in their own right.
The first batch of acts have been confirmed for T In The Park, Oxegen’s sister festival which takes place over the same weekend, July 8 and 9, in Scotland.
“Goth groove” hopefuls Angel Pier are only a year in existence but already they’ve wooed audiences from Galway to New York. Might they be Ireland’s next break-out success?
Life gets busier and busier for The Chalets who, as you will have seen on hotpress.com last week, have their Eurosonic set broadcast live by 2FM at 11pm on Thursday January 12.
Every hip indie musician is namechecking (and soundchecking) Gang Of Four these days. But there’s more to the band than scratchy guitars and funky rhythms – as guitarist Andy Gill tells us, their unique sound was forged during a time of musical innovation and political radicalism.
As social phenomena – teenage pregnancy, counterfeit designer clothes, weekend binge-drinking – rip through small towns like a cultural wildfire, it’s only fitting that there’s some comeback to the suburban suffocation.
Behind the strange stage name, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly’s Sam Duckworth is an old-fashioned dreamer who thinks music should say something and has little truck with blink-and-they’re-gone scenes.
Turning 30 has made Hot Press feel a bit geriatric, but we’re mere kids compared to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which celebrates its 40th birthday this year.
Sudanese boy soldier turned rapper Emmanuel Jal is one of the highlights of this year’s Festival Of World Cultures, which takes place in Dun Laoghaire from August 25 to 27.
As social phenomena – teenage pregnancy, counterfeit designer clothes, weekend binge-drinking – rip through small towns like a cultural wildfire, it’s only fitting that there’s some comeback to the suburban suffocation.
Phil Udell switches into Marty Whelan mode as he joins The Chalets at a European rock festival with a difference - and lots and lots of lovely French wine!
The scion of Wexford rock ‘n’ roll royalty, Odi has, at the age of 26, managed to kick start a music career as well as modelling and appearing in Emmerdale.
A case of food poisoning in the Keane camp was Welsh band The Automatic's golden ticket to a Jools Holland performance. Next stop, a UK top five hit in the form of ‘Monster’.
Having graced the Closer soundtrack and made the cut for the OC’s illustrious collection, Damien Rice is doing very nicely out of compilations these days.
There's a veritable treasure chest of musical swag up for grabs in the RTE/People In Need Telethon auctions on eBay.ie right now - and it's all for a good cause!
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.
Donegal rockers The Revs begin their extensive tour of the Republic on Friday, and if you want check out what they’re like, you can watch a live'n'sweaty performance online.
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova and The Pogues have been officially confirmed for Oxegen, along with the full day-by-day schedule for the July festival.
With plenty of urban anfums contained in their follow up to Ego War, one could draw a comparison with The Streets, but that wouldn’t take into account the worryingly large spectrum of beats, samples, tempos, layers and kitchen sinks musicmeister Tom Dinsdale uses on Generation.
Control, Good Books' debut album, is self-confident – as it should be, coming from a group who’ve previously released three singles that made the hip’n’happening pee with excitement in their skinny jeans.
This showcase concert was sponsored by Jack Daniels, so punters began the night on what was a happy note for those who like their drink with a bit of fire in it, with a complementary bourbon.
Yet another music festival, you say? Well, the new Indie-Pendence fest not only has some great acts lined up, but will have free admission to all events as part of the long-standing Mitchelstown Music & Arts Festival.
The first batch of acts for Scotland's T In The Park Festival have been announced, giving a strong indication of who'll be coming to Punchestown this year.
Older and wiser but still mad for it, Oasis have delivered their best album in years. In an exclusive – and expletive-filled – interview Liam Gallagher holds forth on fatherhood, brotherly love and explains why Coldplay and The Killers are limp-wristed also-rans.
Renowned Irish recording engineer and producer Brian Masterson has been added to the line-up for Music Ireland 07, which takes place in the RDS from October 5 to 7.
It’s certainly the most energised and stylistically wide-reaching of all his solo albums to date, bringing together pretty much every musical direction he’s taken in a career that stretches back almost 30 years.
Music fans will have to be out of the pub and home by 11pm on Thursday January 12 as 2FM broadcast the whole of The Chalets and The Radio’s sets live from the Eurosonic Festival in the northern Dutch town of Groningen.
Officially the hottest band of the moment with phenomenal sales of their debut album in its first few days of release, the Arctic Monkeys stole the show at the second date of the NME tour.
The Mean Fiddler Music Group, which is chaired by MCD supremo Denis Desmond, has sold its name and six of its venues to the MAMA Group Plc for a figure believed to be £6 million.
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?
The absolute refusal of The Young Knives to push themselves beyond a rigid musical four-four-two (unlike their near-contemporaries British Sea Power who you’ll often find with three up-front), would suggest that they’re destined never to prove themselves on the world stage.
Watching so many acts in sequence, the audience may have discerned a hierarchy. Those on the cusp of mainstream success played with a cocky disregard for the actual event.
The sun shone on our Sunday Chatroom, with talkative adventures aplenty and guests The Flaws, Gemma Hayes, Mark Geary, Hadouken, Foals, The Roots, Michael Franti and more!
It’s too early to write Maxïmo Park off, or to turf them into the ever-growing pile of indie also-rans. But they’ll need to pull out all the stops to recover their poise after this worrying misstep.
Learn from the best with a wide range of workshops and master classes from some of Ireland's finest musicians, and some others from further afield. The workshops on offer this year include 'How To Get A Kick-Ass Recording' by the Bodytonic Crew, and master classes in drumming by Bobby Arechiga (in association with Meinl Cymbals), as well as much, much more...
The world’s hippest rock crit reviews a year when music rediscovered its power to inspire – and reveals his nomination for Artist of 2005. (You’ll never guess).
In the first installment of Hot Press' Oxegen coverage, Phil Udell, Steve Cummins and John Walshe pick out their personal favourites of the weekend. This Thursday's Hot Press will feature extended coverage from Kim Porcelli & Ed Power as well as more exclusive photos from Liam Sweeney, Graham Keogh & Andrew Duffy - PLUS the Phantom reports from backstage!
Online Gallery Of Live Shots Here
A question mark continues to hang over Bono's motivations for associating with sundry right-wing politicians. Plus: why there has to be an alternative to the dogmatic positions adopted by the Provos and the Indo on the Northern issue.
Having debuted at Number One in the UK album charts last week, it would appear that working-class Coventry trio The Enemy are now officially the next big thing.
All the action from Sunday at Oxegen '08, caught on camera. Including top acts Kaiser Chiefs, MGMT, Rage Against The Machine, The Kooks, The Raconteurs, Roisin Murphy and Republic Of Loose.
All Write Now, we said. And boy did you follow instructions! The entries poured in from all over Ireland, and further afield, in their thousands. We were snowed under – but, as the song says: That’s the way, uh huh, uh huh, we like it…
