Former My Bloody Valentine frontman Kevin Shields in among those interviewed in a new documentary on the shoegazing movement. Billy Corgan and Trent Reznor also feature.
Dublin is a shithole basically! that's the opinion of Kevin Shields, one of the two Irish members of My Bloody Valentine, who quit the fair city six years ago because of what they saw as the stifling atmosphere of the place. Since then they've lived and gigged all over Europe and their 1988 album Isn't Anything has put them on top of the critical approval lists and independent charts. Here, taking a break from their US tour, the band reflect on their art, their careers and what they see as the general awfulness of the Irish music scene. Interview: Helena Mulkearns
Bobby Gillespie's still staying up all night but now it's because there's a baby in the house. Otherwise, it's all systems go for Primal Scream at their bunker hq - Witnness cometh, Mani's back and Kate Moss, Kevin Shields, Robert Plant and AndrewWeatherall all feature on the groundbreaking evil high
After three years, 18 engineers and £250,000, Kevin Shields emerged from behind the sandbags with an alchemist’s elixir that went no wave, new wave, everywhere and nowhere.
Having parted company with Primal Scream, Kevin Shields has remixed two Bow Wow Wow tracks for Sofia Coppola’s latest blockbuster-in-the-making, Marie Antoinette.
Oh, the irony! That well-known abuser of ears, Kevin Shields, is one of the people opposing the granting of a late licence to the Room 68 bar in the Hampstead area of London.
Primal Scream bandmate Kevin Shields may be complaining about the neighbours, but Mani hasn’t thrown the towel in yet. He tells us why things are looking up for the Scream.
The Franks' last release was a shimmering seductress of a single remixed by the hand of God (Kevin Shields!), and their fourth album contains more sonic surprises but not all necessarily of the pleasant kind.
The Reindeer Section return with not-difficult-at-all second album; Del 9 get The Frames animated; Kevin Shields produces Primal Scream; and The Sabbath means no work and all play
Exclusive: Kevin Shields, the missing presumed lost genius of Irish rock, re-emerges to tell the truth about sandbags and barbed wire, the making of Loveless, early Dublin days with Gavin Friday, Liam O Maonlai and U2, and his Bafta-winning work on Lost in Translation.
Despite having Kevin Shields stolen away from them by Gemma Hayes, Primal Scream are in the best shape of their careers. So says Bobby Gillespie in a no punches pulled interview.
Tim Booth is not a man who has ever been unduly troubled by contemporary notions of cool and un-cool. In the early nineties, when Nirvana were storming the barricades, Primal Scream had the nation under an acid-drenched groove and Kevin Shields was in the process of reinventing guitar music with Loveless, Booth and his cohorts in James were encouraging patrons at Student Union discos all around Britain to literally sit down to the strains of the anthemic stadium rawk number, er, ‘Sit Down’.
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
The fabulous Fantastic Plastic label celebrates its 100th release with the December 3 unleashing of Now That’s What We Call Music…Volume 1, a 16-track digital compilation.
Though first emerging in the same wave of Brit garage bands as The Libertines, The Beat Up (formerly known as The Beatings) have only now gotten around to releasing their debut.
Around this time last year, American Whip was being treated to the kind of rave reviews that might have suggested it would feature in many people’s albums of the year lists. Problem was, it was never actually released due to label legal wrangles.
Word has reached us that our current '100 GREATEST IRISH ALBUMS' issue is flying off the shelves. We've had to restock several newsagents already - and while we'll endeavour to manage supply as best we can, it's clear that it's going to become tough to track down!
The best bands have a gift for making connections even when they’re tearing things apart and – on tonight’s evidence – the Primals have a desire to join things up that verges on the evangelical
It just gets better: The Hives and The Dandy Warhols are just a few of the latest confirmations for Witnness... and the next near-definite addition will be no less than Primal Scream. Read on for Bobby Gillespie's album preview ("It's probably the best thing we've done since 'Higher Than The Sun'")
I wonder if My Bloody Valentine were aware of the avalanche they were about to trigger when they first took Belinda Butcher's airbrushed vocals and smothered them with layer upon layer of white noise guitar?
As Gemma Hayes steps back into the fray with her long-awaited third album, Hot Press arranges for her to have a tete-a-tete with long-time collaborator Dave Odlum.
South by Southwest indeed. Belladonna was conceived when Lanois made a sojourn to Mexico last year, but while the music herein is undoubtedly derived from a border state of mind (the sundown mariachi elegy of ‘Agave’ being a sort of musical equivalent of Marquez’s In Evil Hour), it’s also capable of migrating through various time zones.
Yes, with explanations like that it couldn't be anyone but Bobby Gillespie talking us through the song titles and tracklisting of the new and as-yet-untitled Primal Scream album
Yes, with explanations like that it couldn't be anyone but Bobby Gillespie talking us through the song titles and tracklisting of the new and as-yet-untitled Primal Scream album
"AURORA BOREALIS/The icy sky at night."
Neil Young's opening lines from Pocahontas could've been written to evoke the first international release by Icelandic quartet Sigur Ros.
Schooled in proper rock star etiquette, Primal Scream behave precisely as gentlemen drawn to their profession ought to with a big young-dumb-and-full-of-cum sound to match.
Quasi are Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss, an (ex)-husband-and-wife team who have been delivering a steady stream of albums since the mid-90s, always taking care to lace their sweet organ-driven alt-pop with darkly humorous, acidic lyrical poison. They may be the musical equivalent of Father Ted’s outwardly-blissful, secretly-psychotic “odd couple” John and Mary, so at odds are their sound and their words.
Having shifted from playing drums in “loud, noisy rock bands” to becoming a Hot Press contributor in 1996, Peter Murphy has fast gained a reputation as one of Ireland’s leading journalists.
Stunning is only the start of it. To come back from a showcase having seen one great new band is an achievement. To see three is staggering. From the off it seemed destined to be a special night.
In 2007, Hot Press will celebrate its 30th anniversary. By way of a prelude to the up-coming festivities, at Music Ireland ‘06, we will be unveiling the Hot Press Covers Exhibition featuring a selection of the great, and historic images that have adorned the front page of the magazine, from June 1977 onwards...
HAVING DECIDED that smooth career paths are for wimps, Primal Scream have embarked on a flight of musical fancy that's wildly oscillated between brilliance (Screamadelica) and sub-Black Crowes retro cack (Give Out, But Don't Give Up).
Holmer may be our last hope, a vinyl junkie who evidently doesn't give a fiddler's fuck for ersatz (or otherwise) notions of lineage, tradition, nationality.
Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes, from Death in Vegas, explain how they survived Big Beat, made one of the albums of the year and ended up working with their heroes.
Interview: EAMON SWEENEY.
While Electric Picnic did not lack for non-musical highlights, the hottest action was to be found on stage, where the likes of the Sex Pistols and My Bloody Valentine whipped up a storm.
Rollerskate Skinny frontman Ken Griffin is back with an ace new band, Favourite Sons. And, would you believe it, they’re the toast of New York’s rock scene. Even Jack White’s a convert.
Today sees the first unveiling of the complete Hot Press Covers Exhibition online, featuring a selection of the great and historic images that have adorned the front page of the magazine, from June 1977 onwards
Très formidable. A lush collection of chilled cosmic electronica is just what a weary post-Chrimbo body needs. What’s more, nobody does it better than that duo with those haughty sounding names, JB Duncknel and Nicolas Godin.
Patrick Freyne interviews chief Charlatan tim burgess, about 20 years of music, a new collaborative album and his role as a mentor for this year’s JD Set band competition.
MAZZY STAR are still going strong, but HOPE SANDOVAL has also got a side project up and running. She tells NICK KELLY all about
HOPE SANDOVAL AND THE WARM INVENTIONS and her collaborations with everyone from The Chemical Brothers to Bert Jansch
Whether feeding dubious cups of coffee to celebrity chefs or coercing Joe Strummer to dress up as an Indian on Top Of The Pops, Alex James is a man who knows how to squeeze every ounce of enjoyment out of life.
THE UNDERTONES have played a series of triumphant gigs since reforming. GEORGE BYRNE met the Derry punk legends, now augmented by Today FM producer Paul McLoone on vocals
The MTV Europe Music Awards 2002 may have been a bit of a damp squib, but an electrifying Foo Fighters, a boards-sweeping Eminem and a nekkid Christina Aguilera prevented it from being a total washout.
A fresh-faced Snow Patrol grace our cover in 2004, with appearances elsewhere from Tommy Tiernan, Kevin Shields, The Streets (and a banana), plus The Thrills (and a skeleton).
From the profound and the insightful to the weird, funny and just plain daft, Paul Nolan rounds up what the famous and infamous had to say for themselves in 2004...
DAVID HOLMES new album is likely to
elevate him to the world s DJ-ing A-list.
STUART CLARK visited him in Belfast to hear tales of voodoo, punk, Primal Scream and, er, Gilbert O Sullivan.
Pictures: MYLES CLAFFEY
It was one of rock's most bizarre and impressive spectacles - the MANIC STREET PREACHERS live in Cuba, in front of an audience including Fidel Castro! STUART CLARK was there, and spoke to JAMES DEAN BRADFIELD about Bill Clinton, Top Of The Pops, Bono, Elian Gonzales and the band's new album
Massive Attack explain why they are outspoken opponents of the proposed war in Iraq, give high praise to Sinéad O’Connor and reveal how a porn soundtrack left them gasping for airtime.
As the Bush-Gore election night morphed into pure strung-out political farce, a footloose hotpress writer found himself hunkered down in Amherst, Massachusetts, the place Emily Dickinson and Dinosaur Jnr have both called home. With smalltown American as his window on the world, this is the view that Peter Murphy got
Back in their terrifying heyday, they threw pigs’ heads around on stage, covered themselves in muck, provided Marilyn Manson with a career and wrote ‘Community Games’ for Aidan Walsh. Having escaped the clutches of a sinister born-again Christian turned transvestite, they’re now making movies with Neil Jordan, dining with Damien Hirst and consorting with Tony Blair. All in all, it’s been a long, strange trip for The Virgin Prunes
