Following on from yesterday’s news that Spiritualized will be performing at Wired @ the Kilkenny Arts Festival, the rest of the line-up has been unveiled.
That's me sold on Trashmonk. Mona Lisa Overdrive contains some of the most unusual, atmospheric, surprising and mystical songs that I've heard in ages.
That's me sold on Trashmonk. Mona Lisa Overdrive contains some of the most unusual, atmospheric, surprising and mystical songs that I've heard in ages.
Damien Rice has emerged as one of the most distinctive and independent voices of recent years, achieving a remarkable level of success and artistic respect with O – the debut album that was recorded on a shoestring in his own bedroom. Famously media shy, he agreed to talk to Hot Press about the Free Aung San Suu Kyi 60th Birthday Campaign, and the beautiful tribute single ‘Unplayed Piano’, recorded with Lisa Hannigan. But, tape rolling, he talked about a whole lot more, giving the most candid and complete insight yet into the real Damien Rice.
The star of what s set to be the summer s hottest movie, High Fidelity, on love, obsession, movies, rock n roll, his pal Bruce Springsteen and the records he turns to when he s had his heart broken. With support from co-star Lisa Bonet and director Stephen Frears. Text: CRAIG FITZSIMONS
Jape and Lisa Hannigan may inhabit opposite ends of the musical spectrum but their careers have followed remarkably similar paths. On the road together in the UK, he talks about bagging the Choice Music Prize and she discusses her dramatic split from Damien Rice
Her split with Damien Rice caused headlines around the music world. Now Lisa Hannigan is taking her first steps as a solo artist with a wonderfully ethereal debut album, Sea Sew. She talks to hot press about the end of her partnership with Rice, her hopes for the future and the influence of romantic entanglements on her powerfully feminine songwriting.
Following a strong start with a slew of slickly produced soul/dance singles, including 'All Around The World' and 'This Is The Right Time', Lisa Stansfield has failed to live up to her initial promise as a soul diva of substance.
Lisa Dorrian was popular and fun loving. Then she fell foul of the North’s paramilitary underworld. A year since she vanished, her family is still trying to uncover the truth about her disappearance.
Critically-acclaimed novelist LISA ST AUBIN DE TERAN's latest book, The Hacienda, is a gripping
autobiographical account of how she and her daughter escaped from a tyrannical, insane
husband in deepest Venezuela.
Interview: ADRIENNE MURPHY.
Pic: Cathal Dawson
A frankly rather cynical Joe Jackson (no relation) suggests that love might not be the only reason that Lisa-Marie Presley's decided to become Mrs. Michael Jackson.
Stuart Clark meets The Bellrays' vocalist Lisa Kekaula and hears how she developed that voice, why Lemmy is a big fan and why she's in bed with Alan McGee
Music fans who came to the open day of the Oh Yeah music centre in Belfast were treated to a host of special performances, including an acoustic set from Gary Lightbody.
After what was at times a stressful year, Damien Rice is on the verge of a major international breakthrough. Fiona Reid gets the inside story from the hungover but happy singer
Analyze That will probably find a receptive enough audience among those who lap up The Sopranos and related shtick: the idea of a third installment, though, is genuinely terrifying.
In the second and final part of the ultimate interview, elvis talks about colonel Tom Parker, marriage to priscilla, his '68 comeback, his quest for enlightenment and the truth about his drug intake. but as he dreams of an exciting future, at 42 he doesn’t realise that the end is close at hand
*The quotes in this recreated interview are drawn from a wealth of reliable sources and involved extensive research into many rare articles and books
There'll be plenty of time to grow old and boring later. If you're not engaged in honest, direct, idealistic political activity while you're young, there's something badly wrong....
Nobody will mistake this with a great screen weepie, but Holly’s compellingly narcissistic, Oprah-fied ‘journey’ will surely do for right here, right now.
That kittenish sass that works so well on record - beating the boys at their own game, girly but authoritative, laughing and intelligent as jailbait - simply doesn’t carry live: it's too baby-powder-soft, has no sharp edges, nothing to punctuate the music
This year’s Hollywood hymn to tainted hippy-era rock’n’roll excess – think Boogie Nights meets Drugstore Cowboy – the overblown but highly engrossing Wonderland provides an unexpectedly riveting memorial to the life and times of legendary ’60s and ’70s porn-star John Holmes.
Sci-fi revolutionary and reluctant cyberpunk, William Gibson marks the publication of his new novel pattern recognition by offering Peter Murphy a peek into the present and a brief history of the future.
It’s all about broken down tour buses, Alan Partridge, high speed collisions, Moby, broken ribs, Mina Suvari, MTV stars and David Bowie as Ash launch a sonic assault on America. So riddle me this: can Ireland’s hardest-working rock’n’roll outfit crack the big one?
Without wishing to trash the Hot Press party line, our Damien has always left me perplexed, uninterested and wondering what all the fuss could be about. Might '9 Crimes' be the record to change all that? Actually it might. This is lovely stuff, once again led by the twin muses of Lisa Hannigan’s voice and Vyvienne Long’s cello, although you have to wonder at the strategy of releasing it two weeks after the album.
Dutch act Tekken do exactly what they set out to on ‘Hardcore’; featuring filthy breaks, oppressive drums and dark, hardcore style chord, it’s a brilliantly evocative track. Meanwhile, ‘Lisa’, sees them go deeper and more spacey while retaining a menacing vibe.
The great and the good of Irish music (plus a couple of blow-ins) come together to support the Make Trade Fair campaign, and the music isn’t bad at all. Written by Paul Noonan and with vocals by Gary Lightbody and Lisa Hannigan, it’s not difficult to guess the musical direction – but happily ‘Some Surprise’ is a fine record in its own right. Fair play to the lot of them.
But what about the music? If it did feature what was described recently as the “usual suspects” there’s no denying the popularity of the current class of 2003.Short sets from Lisa Bresnan, Bellxi’s Paul Noonan, Leya and Nina Hynes got the show on the road with Bresnan in particular impressing everyone present with her knock-out voice.
David Holmes soundtracks the sequel to mafioso-meets-headshrinker comedy Analyze This, starring Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal and Lisa Kudrow. What's it called? Analyze That, strangely enough
Get ready for new Dublin rom-com Goldfish Memory - not to mention its soundtrack, featuring Hedrock Valley Beats, Damien Rice, Lisa Hannigan and Glen Hansard among others
The author and former Conservative MP on clashing with Ian Paisley, shaking hands with Gerry Adams, sex and drugs in the house of commons, what Margaret Thatcher did and didn’t know about her closest aides and why kissing and telling on John Major is justified
Sex and sanctity, grit and glitter, penthouse and pavement, God and the Devil, and all conical points in between!
PETER MURPHY dials M for ADONNA, the pre-eminent pop icon of this and every other year
Glen Hansard takes on Justin and Lisa Hannigan shows Pink how to Get The Party Started with a touch of class: Irish musos show 'em how it's done on Even Better Than The Real thing
Last month's tough budget provoked extraordinary public outrage, with thousands taking to the streets in protest. In the new issue of Hot Press, Brian Cowen defends the government's decisions to raise taxes and cut funding for healthcare and education.
Snow Patrol have announced that they’ll be wearing blue ribbons at their Belfast Botanic Gardens gig on August 23 as a tribute to missing Bangor woman Lisa Dorrian.
RTÉ's Other Voices have announced more acts for next year's show, including Christy Moore and Declan Sinnott. Plus, your last chance to get tickets for the recordings....
While in college studying film, Grant Lee Philips helped form a moderately successful act called Shiva Burlesque, whose 1990 album Mercury Blues opens with ‘Who is the Mona Lisa?’. After many big releases as Grant Lee Buffalo (most notably 1993’s Fuzzy), and two offerings under this moniker, Philips is back with Virginia Creeper.
Current HP cover stars The Blizzards, and Metallica – who featured on the front cover of our previous issue – are currently riding high in the top two chart positions.
"...no-one will accuse One Night Only of re-inventing the wheel, but their sure-footed songcraft, and earnest, unfussy delivery earmarks them as potential upper echelon chart botherers."
Christy Moore headlines a benefit concert for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. At short notice, Moore recruited artists such as Damien Rice, Lisa Hannigan, Mary Coughlan and Declan Sinnott. Together they served up a feast of folk and blues.
Performing in front of a stage set that Cecil B. De Mille would’ve been proud of, it was clear from the off that Britney was just one element (albeit an important one) in what was an all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza, almost old-fashioned in concept. Themed around the “Onyx Hotel”, it owed a good deal to the Moulin Rouge movie with hints of Lisa Minnelli’s Cabaret and almost every other classic Hollywood musical of the last 60 years.
Perhaps the most marketable band in the USA right now, TLC are usually assessed in terms of their take-no-shit sexual politics, their increasingly adventurous visual image (Girlz In The Hood meets Barbarella), and their private lives (rapper Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes once burned down her millionaire boyfriend's mansion). If anyone ever bothered seriously analysing the stuff contained on their records, their jaws would drop even further.
The first Hot Press of 2008 focuses on the many weird and wonderful things that are in prospect, in music, movies, comedy, fashion – oh, and life in bloody general! It promises to be a fascinating year.
Joe Jackson re-evaluates Elvis' prolific but inconsistent movie career – and the decisions that would lead to the ultimate downfall of the man known as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Beats and pieces: The much-awaited October DJ and Digital Music Academy (DDMA) will be teaching this generation’s budding DJs on Saturday/Sunday October 2nd/3rd at The Digital Hub
Clubbers rejoice – the Planetlove summer festival is bound for County Meath. And the really good news is this year's event will feature some of the best in Irish DJ talent.
Duetting pairs Lisa Hannigan (pictured) and Gary Lightbody as well as Sinead O'Connor and Republic Of Loose, are set to perform live together at the forthcoming Meteor Irish Music Awards.
He loves Natasha Bedingfield and Charlotte Hatherley, but has no time for Franz Ferdinand, Donnie Darko and hammock-sized bras. Lisa Coen wakes Ian McCulloch from his slumbers and finds the Echo & The Bunnymen legend in wonderfully morose form.
STUART CLARK looks ahead to SOUTH BY SOUTH WEST 98, which gets underway in Austin, Texas on March 18h and which will
feature a varied Irish musical bill of fare.
Albert Hammond Jr isn't just a pretty face. As well as his solo career and dayjob with The Strokes, he's also co-written a screenplay adaptation of Charles Bukowski's Pulp
Luke Unabomber explains how Manchester’s electric chair night has progressed from a “shitty little club” into one of the UK’s most successful dance events, with special guests, mix cd on release and worldwide touring dates. It’s about the music, apparently
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.
We’re not sure whether it’s having one of the coolest names in music or boasting a killer live show that’s got Kilkenny four-piece Myp Et Jeep where they are today. But we certainly aim to find out.
After a lengthy Facebook campaign by fans of leading man Rupert Grint, gritty Belfast-based drama Cherrybomb has finally secured a cinema release for 2010. We catch up with co-director GLENN LEYBURN to find out about the movie that the world nearly didn’t see.
Patrick Hedlund catches up with Damien Rice and The Frames in Boston and finds they’re having more success on-stage than in the bowling alley. Additional reporting Stuart Clark
Is there a technique to picking up a member of the opposite sex – or does it just happen? Feeling that he could do with a little bit of help in that department, journalist Neil Strauss hooked up with a cult community of Pick Up Artists and set out to learn the secrets of the trade. With all those Christmas parties looming, his advice might just come in handy.
Though soaked in the musical culture of Southern California, female-fronted indie quartet Saucy Monky say there’s an undeniably Irish strain to their music.
Gareth Murphy’s Atlantean project takes Irish music on a journey of depth and discovery that sees it flirt with Arabic, Spanish and Indian stylings, Jah Wobble and Eno, all under the influence of maverick filmmaker Bob Quinn.
With the second part of The Gallery Of Photography s Robert Mapplethorpe Exhibition running until January 31 in Temple Bar, paul o mahony takes a look at the photographer s raison d jtre and talks to the Gallery s Director, christine Redmond.
Not content with being a key member of the Damien Rice band, Vyvienne Long has released an EP that finds her doing wondrous things to the Flaming Lips and Pharrell Williams.
The Walls and The Jimmy Cake do their bit for European unity by bringing their music – and an insatiable appetite for the craic – to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Our reporter Danielle Brigham survives to tell the tale.
Fetishised in film and song, suicide has become part of the everyday language of pop culture. So why are schools so afraid even to talk about it? There is always a better way.
GEORGE MARTIN was intrinsic to much of The Beatles brilliance. Now he s coming to Dublin for a series of special concerts. GEORGE BYRNE sets the scene.
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.
As one glance at her CV shows, Barbara Hammer is not your run-of-the-mill avant garde, militantly anti-establishment lesbian film-maker. Tara Brady spoke to the acclaimed documentarist and harvard fellow ahead of her upcoming appearance at the 12th Dublin Lesbian & Gay film festival.
Fresh from a starring role in the Readers Poll, Josh Ritter has even more reasons to be cheerful – like touring with Joan Baez and getting to know Damien Rice.
Sybil Mulcahy might put on the glam as an entertainment reporter for TV3, but when it comes to house buying and furnishing, she’s the picture of prudence.
It s hardly surprising that the neurotic Monica Geller is widely regarded as the least popular member of the Friends ensemble. Nevertheless, you ll be pleased to hear that Courteney Cox, the 33-year-old Alabama native who plays the Big Apple s tidiest twentysomething, revels in the role. What s more, with her success in Wes Craven s masterful suspense chiller Scream, she remains the only cast member from the smash-hit sitcom to have achieved major box office success. And now there s a sequel on the way . . . Interview: chris donovan.
One of favourite alt.country bands, Richmond Fontaine, return from a long lay-off with perhaps their finest album yet. Plus, the original ‘Galway Girl’ (who is actually from Clare), has just released a fantastic new record.
YOU WON'T GET STRONG ODDS ON THESE
ROMANTIC PAIRINGS HITTING IT OFF IN 1995 BUT THE BOOKIES HAVEN'T RECKONED WITH Hot Press RESIDENT CUPID PROTEGé LIAM FAY DONNING HIS CLERICAL GARB ONCE AGAIN.
Tales of high profile solicitor Gerald Kean's astonishing ability to make truckloads of money - and spend it - have become the stuff of tabloid wet dreams.
Seven years after his last solo LP, David Holmes lost his father. That trauma, and working on the Bobby Sands-era drama Hunger, seem to have brought a new humanity to his work.
In Auckland, it was punk rock, gang wars, heroin and prostitution. In Cavan, it s rolling countryside, a recording studio in a church and more dogs than you could throw a stick for. It s been a long way from there to here for BRENDAN PERRY, the former partner in Dead Can Dance who now has a solo album on release.
Interview: NICK KELLY. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
Kim Porcelli leafs through a new version of the book that kickstarted the sexual revolution, and brought toes into contact with some very strange places
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.
Unheard of a year ago, Carlow teen Saoirse Ronan is the actress of the hour in Hollywood. Here, she and her actor father Paul Ronan talk about her remarkable rise.
Andrew Maxwell who has followed up a year of successful television appearances with a sell-out stand-up show and a nomination for a prestigious comedy award.
Following the success of her Mercury-prize nominated debut album, Gemma Hayes was struck down suddenly with writer's block. Her artistic recovery was a long, painful process, taking her from a sleepy Kerry village to downtown L.A.
It was a night of mayhem, hysteria and high decibel screaming which left LIAM FAY psychologically, emotionally and aesthetically scarred. It was TAKE THAT’S Irish debut at The Point. This is his report from the front line.
Genital warts, cherry popping, male pattern baldness, archery and kate moss… it's access and, indeed, excess all areas as hotpress readers subject darkness mainman Justin Hawkins to a thorough probing.
Speaking exclusively to Hot Press, Nathan Connolly has assured fans that solo projects for both himself and frontman Gary Lightbody are only tentative at present.
Adored by Hollywood’s elite and admired by everyone from the dearly-departed Oasis to Bruce Springsteen, Kasabian’s career has gone into over-drive this year. Main songwriter Serge Pizzorno dishes the dirt on those swine flu rumours, how Quentin Tarantino might be the next alumni from Tinsel Town to fall under their spell and why he’ll need to take a few days off after their Arthur’s Day celebrations in Dublin.
"Early highlights like the soul-searching ‘Eskimo’ and the sharp, bitter melancholy of ‘What I Am’ confirm that they will not just be going through the motions today."
Ahead of their Slane appearance, Adam Duritz of The Counting Crows spills the beans on everything from the inspiration behind his songwriting to Gemma Hayes
Hot Press readers worldwide want to know about Bono for president, Larry for lead singer, that mysterious tattoo, the greatest book, and more. Bono and Larry smoulder on the coals of the hp mixed grill
We asked the members of hotpress.com to submit questions for Korn’s kilt-wearing frontman Jonathan Davis and then locked him in a room with just a spotlight and a tape recorder
With a self-recorded and self-released album – called simply O – Damien Rice has emerged as a major force in Irish music. But that’s just the start of it: the record is now in the charts in both the U.S. and the U.K., and with the kind of momentum he has generated, the feeling is that it might just go all the way.
QUADROPHONIC diarist DONAL SCANNELL chronicles the Dublin-based collective s recent jaunt around the US of A, and reports that Uncle Sam is currently welcoming drum n bass with open arms. Pic: Bruce Dye
It’s been ten years since his last novel, but Neil Jordan has now reprised his role as one of Ireland’s finest contemporary prose writers with the dark gothic drama, Shade. In a wide-ranging interview with Olaf Tyaransen the Oscar-winning writer/director discusses the challenges of literary craftsmanship, swimming with sharks in Hollywood, working with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, his disinterest in celebrity and why Ireland continues to be his preferred place of residence.
It's been over four intriguing years since Damien Rice's extraordinary debut album O was launched. That record went on to become a huge underground international hit, selling in excess of 2 million copies. Now his long-awaited follow-up – the similarly simply titled 9 – is finally ready to hit the shops. So how did Rice so successfully capture the collective imagination? And will the latest instalment in the Rice musical biography propel him to even greater heights? Hot Press talks exclusively to some of the key players in his remarkable rise and rise.
The media is in turmoil, with huge losses being posted by some of the country’s biggest broadcasting and publishing groups. It is a dramatic backdrop to the Hot Press Interview with DAVID McREDMOND, chief executive at TV3. In no mood to mince his words, the independent TV boss repeatedly goes for the jugular, insisting that RTÉ’s dual funding must end, and telling the State regulator to get off TV3’s back.
The spectacle of U2 playing to 50,000 admirers with OASIS as their support band would seem to suggest that reports of PopMart's demise have been greatly exagerrated. And, behind the scenes, the mood is even more upbeat as the two bands revel in a mutual appreciation society.
Neil "Access All Areas" McCormick was with them in the dressing room, the mini-bus and the after-hours bar.
A brief encounter with Dido – author of multi-million-selling debut album No Angel and brand-newie Life For Rent – not to mention one of the nicest popstars you’re ever likely to meet.
The inspiration for ‘Fuck Her Gently’; Kyle’s stoned scene from Almost Famous; did KG really eat JB’s shitzel? And the best way to do cock push-ups. Tenacious D answer the readers’ questions. Turning up the heat Patrick Hedlund.
DAVID HOLMES is about to leave his native Belfast for New York City, where he will record his third album. STUART BAILIE took a final opportunity to speak to the artist also known as Homer. On the agenda: Hollywood soundtracks, rumours of brawling, past glories and future plans.
Pics: MICHAEL TAYLOR.
EDDIE IRVINE is Ireland s leading sporting playboy. The Grand Prix driver is a multi-millionaire whose taste for the extravagant runs to owning a private jet, a yacht and around ten cars. Here, the ladies man of Formula One talks to NIALL STANAGE about sex, drink, drugs, rock n roll oh, and driving.
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...
Kim Porcelli investigates Speakers’ Corner, the “forum for public discourse” currently running in Temple Bar each Sunday. The brainchild of Kila’s Rossa O’Snodaigh, the event promises all manner of political and social debate. But are the people of the Republic actually all that bothered? Photography Cathal Dawson
When a police investigation was launched into Michael Jackson’s alleged activities with Jordan Chandler, the King of Pop’s media image went from Peter Pan into the fire. In his new biography christopher andersen becomes the spokesman for Wacko’s degeneration offering a damning portrait of the real man behind the mask. Report: Bill Graham.
Neil McCormick embarks on a verbal showdown with Hollywood's most famous drug store cowboys and discovers that 1994 was the year in which the hot shots traded in their smoking guns for a pill called Prozac.
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.
These days he may be more famous for his movies than his prose, but in conversation Neil Jordan remains linguistically precise as he dissects the Hollywood machine, reveals his love for Lord Of The Rings and discusses his latest movie The Good Thief, starring Nick Nolte.
On the eve of the release of Tour De Flock, BellX1’s live album and DVD from Dublin’s Point Theatre, Paul Noonan, Brian Crosby and Dominic Phillips answer the weird and wonderful questions of hotpress readers, from the swimming habits of monkeys to ripping the gusset of your pants on stage.
Sex And The City star Kim Cattrall is back on our screens in John Boorman’s The Tiger’s Tail, a dark satirical comedy planets away from her role as the kit-shedding Samantha.
UNLESS YOU’VE BEEN FREQUENTING THE LATE-NIGHT HOSTELRIES OF DUBLIN, YOU’RE UNLIKELY TO HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO ENGAGE IN A BATTLE OF WITS, ER, MANO A MANO, WITH ACE QUIZ MASTER GEORGE “I KNOW A LOT MORE THAN YOU DO” BYRNE. WORRY NOT. THAT’S WHAT THE HOT PRESS QUIZ OF THE YEAR IS FOR. NOW GO FOR IT. SECONDS OUT!
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.
inishing off a year in which his immersion in the craziness of orthodox religion won him a top journalism award, Liam Fay finds himself standing atop a windswept Hill of Tara in the dead of night in the depths of winter all the better to survey the diverse landscape of paganism and witchcraft in 90s Ireland.
In a rare interview, Simpsons writer Mike Scully talks about the show’s A-list musical guests, his love for Ned Flanders and upsetting the entire population of Brazil. He also tells us what to expect from The Simpsons Movie, which blockbusters its way onto the big screen in the summer.
Albert Reynolds has, it seems, wilfully wrecked a coalition government whose achievements were numerous and real, possibly endangering the peace process while he’s at it. BILL GRAHAM wonders why, and ponders the repercussions of the foolhardy actions of Harry Whelehan’s No. 1 fan.
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.
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]
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
The young Carlow-based actress Saoirse Ronan is on the brink of Hollywood stardom, thanks to her Golden Globe-nominated performance in Atonement and her upcoming starring role in the next Peter Jackson movie, The Lovely Bones. In her first ever in-depth interview, she spoke exclusively to Hot Press about her sudden rise to fame.
For close to a decade, Lillie’s Bordello has been the nightclub of choice for the famous and not-so-famous of Dublin cultural life. But with the passing of the Celtic Tiger era and the current uncertainty over the club’s future, can Lillie’s retain its position as the capital’s number one celebrity haunt?
LIAM FAY gets a hot line to DAVID BYRNE on the eve of his Dublin concerts and found a pretty talkative head, discussing everything from Brazlian merengue music to Tommy Cooper.
In the second and final part of an extensive interview, MIKE SCOTT discusses inspiration and influences, recalls his difficult solo years and explains the death and resurrection of THE WATERBOYS. Interview: PETER MURPHY
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
Cum On Feel The Noize of turning pages as Slade s NODDY HOLDER does a literary tour to promote his autobiography, telling tales of
Phil Lynott, Oasis, Gary Glitter, Glam-Rock Excess, MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY and Suicidal Groupies. ANDY DARLINGTON tags along.
Fiona H. Stevenson aka Fay Wolftree Webb was the gifted Hot Press writer once dubbed the ‘High Priestess of Punk’ in Ireland in the mid-’80s. in later life, having moved to England, she had to cope with the complex and difficult reality of living with manic depression. on December 18, 2003, aged just 39, Fiona died, apparently of a prescription drug overdose. in a personal tribute to Fiona, and as a means of highlighting a major mental health concern, former Hot Press writer Paul O’Mahony here recalls his first love and enduring friend.
Beaten down by the acrimonious collapse of In Tua Nua and lifted up by a hard-fought victory over cancer, leslie dowdall is back with a new album and new outlook on life. I m just delighted to have been given a second chance, she tells joe jackson. 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
Beaten down by the acrimonious collapse of In Tua Nua and lifted up by a hard-fought victory over cancer, Leslie Dowdall is back with a new album and new outlook on life. “I’m just delighted to have been given a second chance,” she tells Joe Jackson. Pix: COLM HENRY.
It’s Christmas time and, as far as the hotpress journalistic elite are concerned, there’s not a turkey in sight. JOHN WALSHE, COLIN CARBERRY, CHRIS DONOVAN, EAMON SWEENEY and BARRY O'DONOGHUE report on the Irish acts who are going to be huuuuuuuuge!
over the next 12 months.
Helena Mulkerns catches up with the charming Dublin-based chanteuse on a tour of East Coast college campuses, and finds a wilfully free spirit at ease with her sexuality – if not with the industry’s categorisation of such guitar-wielding women.
To coincide with the release of the Today FM DJ’s double-CD compilation tracking the history of alternative rock in Ireland, Tom Dunne talks to Jackie Hayden about the state of Irish music, singer-songwriters versus guitar bands and the role of Irish radio.
The still vibrant 64-year-old on why Morrissey’s like Father Frank, why Iraq is like Vietnam, and on her meetings with Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Bono, Phil Spector and a whole Oval Office full of presidents.
After a lengthy period spent "feeding my brain" CERYS MATTHEWS insists she’s really "up for it" again. Although our stop press news suggests her optimism may be slightly premature. Meantime, OLAF TYARANSEN hears about love, politics, presidents, boy bands and CATATONIA's best album yet
When Jeff Buckley drowned in the Wolf River, Tennessee, five years ago, the world lost a fledgling musical visionary, his lone album Grace becoming a sacred text of loss and unfinished beauty. In his short 29 years on earth, his power and grace touched many, especially his mother Mary Guibert and his former bandmate Gary Lucas.
JOHN WHELAN journeys through the former Yugoslavia with New Age travellers, the Rainbow tribe, on the occasion of the 12th European Rainbow gathering which, this year, was held in Slovenia. The event encapsulated the very essence of international socialism; and the earthy conditions in which it was held only served to underline its lineage with the true spirit of Woodstock.
Giant lemons, 100ft toothpicks and enough lights to put Las Vegas on full-scale UFO alert. Helena Mulkerns watches with gob well and truly smacked as U2's PopMart extravaganza opens for business at the Sam Boyd Stadium.
Pix: All Action
It's been ten years that's shaken a fair bit of the world and now, suddenly, OASIS are back. what better time for a reflective, confessional, candid and scandalous one-on-one with a man who always gives great quote, NOEL GALLAGHER. Interview: STUART CLARK
It was inflight double entendres all round as Bell X1 donned cabin crew attire for a special Hot Press photoshoot. When not showing an unhealthy interest in women’s clothes and fancy Raybans, they talked about their chart-topping new album Blue Lights On The Runway, their imminent breakthrough in the US and freezing their arses off on The Late Show with Dave Letterman
WILLIAM GIBSON is no ordinary science-fiction writer. Aside from coining such essential nineties' terms as Cyberspace and Cyberpunk, his work has also influenced everyone from computer hackers to scientists developing virtual reality technology. In the rock world, he's regarded as a visionary and artists as diverse as U2, Billy Idol and The Rolling Stones have all claimed inspiration from his novels. Interview: Liam Fay. Cyberpics: Cathal Dawson.
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?
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 second and final part of his exploration of the Secret Sexual History of Elvis Presley, joe jackson describes the king s prowess as a peak performer, reveals the great loves of his life, and charts his sordid, sad and ultimately tragic decline and fall.
In the second and final part of his exploration of the Secret Sexual History of Elvis Presley, joe jackson describes the king s prowess as a peak performer, reveals the great loves of his life, and charts his sordid, sad and ultimately tragic decline and fall.
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.
A pair of tickets to the Other Voices session at St. James Church are now being auctioned off on eBay for one last opportunity to get into the sold-out show.
Keyboardist Herbie Hancock achieved legendary status through his adventures with Miles Davis and a myriad other jazz outfits, although his profile as an innovator has been lower since his jazz fusion activities in the '70s.
At the centre of this inventive film is Danny Huston’s performance which lends an incredible joie de vivre and aching humanity to a character that is inescapably vile in many respects
The Full Monty's inexplicably gigantic success was a nice enough story when it happened, but it got way out of hand, and we might have to live with the consequences for some time to come.
If the mere mention of the word 'art' generally has you reaching for either the remote or the revolver, I'm with you all the way - and as movie premises go, it might seem that the tale of a bohemian New York photographer's struggle to retain her 'artistic integrity' is one best left to the poseurs.
Dublin’s newly-opened Gallery Number One was the venue last Sunday as The Frames played an acoustic gig to celebrate the publication of Zoran Orlic and Janine Schaults’ photo-book on them, Behind The Glass. View the photo gallery here!
The incomparable Dead Can Dance – reunited after seven years for a European tour that kicks off tonight in the Olympia – have created a sound that diverges sharply from anything else in contemporary rock/pop, drawing on ancient and sacred musics from around the world.
The mix of folk, country & western, orchestral sweeps and the inherent sense of melancholia make Manzanita as emotive as any of Derrick May’s greatest moments.
There’s plenty to look forward to at the forthcoming Dublin Fringe Festival, but all you avid Donal Dineen listeners will be pleased to hear he’s putting on a show himself.
No slouch on the fiddle and banjo, Donegal’s Diver also plays guitar, bouzouki, bodhrán, bass, shaker and is a dab hand at writing new tunes, several of which feature on the album
If you’ve been giving your local record retailer an earbending because they don’t have the eponymous Cake Sale album in stock, you need to apologise because its release has been put back a week to November 3.
Cathy Davey’s summer has just become even busier with the Tales Of Silversleeve woman headlining the Eurocultured Festival in Smithfield Plaza, Dublin this August.
...or at least a fan of dance music: rumours that Creamfields '02 was off, are scotched as Faithless and Underworld among others are confirmed for the late August bash
It ‘s upsetting, however, that the specific track choices here frequently reduce truly great artists with vari-coloured work, and a number of obsessions and preoccupations, to their one track that most addresses what a lecturer at my university used to call The Ongoing Fight.
Much to the dismay of his accountant, Damien Rice follows up last year's non-profit single, ‘Lonely Soldier’ with another charity release. This time, the Kildare man is supporting the Free Aung Suu Kyi 60th birthday campaign, a global initiative aimed at freeing the Burmese Nobel peace price recipient who continues to remain under house arrest in military ruled Burma.
Music Review | Live
22% | 8 Mar 2005
Lisa Coen
Considering that you’d pay a small fortune to see a better-known outfit yawning through the usual stuff that they take for granted will entertain us, Garageland gigs are a bargain for your &euro:8. Tonight’s unsigned acts were on their toes and eager to impress the partisan crowd, so from the beginning that guaranteed a great atmosphere.
Not to be outdone by FM104’s Bestest Bits, Ray D’Arcy has released a collection of the “groove-tastic” covers that have graced his Today FM morning show over the past year.
The Cake Sale does for Irish musicians what The Reindeer Section did for Scotland’s: i.e. it makes a group of disparate songwriters and performers sound like the most talented and cohesive band in the world ever.
The charm of rural Ireland caught the attention of a couple rather out of the ordinary - supreme goth Marilyn Manson and his new wife Dita, a stripper.
If they ever get around to making Mannequin into a trilogy (we can but hope) the casting directors need look no further than the leads of Wicker Park. Indeed, the central couple are so lacking in charisma or rudimentary signs of life, their plasticity had me wondering if the film was a follow-up to Todd Haynes’ Barbie doll epic Superstar.
A galaxy of Irish stars led by members of BellX1, Snow Patrol and Damien Rice have announced their support for a charity album, under the guise of the band The Cake Sale.
Musicians have reacted with anger to the revelation that albums recorded by international artists in Irish studios qualify as 'Irish' for radio airplay.
Their three-minute cartoon punk pop may be perfect bubblegum listening, but one the novelty wears off, you're left with comic music: all painted-on grins and jokes that have worn a bit thin
The advertising campaign for Crowded House’s final Best Of… album a few years back ran something along the lines of it was surprising how many of their songs you knew without realising it.
Sometimes the smallest things can make you love something even more. Amongst the series of press platitudes adorning Nerina Pallot’s debut album is one quote that stands out. “This really is quite good, even if it isn’t Celine Dion”: Nerina’s mum.
Following their superb performance on the Live Stage at The Music Show, at the beginning of October, the grapevine in the international music industry has been humming about The Brilliant Things.
The sceptics might argue that for a group with such a troubled recent past to preach of increasing the peace is a touch hypocritical but, as that cover suggests, this has been something of a learning experience for all involved.
Perhaps I’m placing too many expectations upon the nine tracks that made the final cut, but suffice it to say that were it not for nostalgic value, this might well have been the album the discography forgot. Die-hard fans might well be appeased but for anyone seeking cutting edge, grab-you-by-the-cochlea dance music, then you won’t find it in this release.
I would hesitate to describe this album as lightweight but it does have a lightness of touch and feel that places Shelley's often humourous songs a long way from the verbal invective of, say, Elvis Costello's more barbed material.
O'Snodaigh's songs exude a confidence and an intelligence that go way beyond the empty platitudes and three-chord trickery of yer standard Irish songsmithery.
Since most trad acts are essentially covers bands regurgitating note-for-note copies of tunes they’ve been spoonfed by somebody else, we must be thankful for outfits like Kila, Danu, Altan and Solas who invest new zest into an often clichéd genre. Thus, Waiting For An Echo is a challenging mix of old tunes and new, instrumentals and songs, fast and slow, happy and sad, tight and easeful, with a pot-pourri of influences.
Few, if any performers in the English folk tradition - with the exception of Richard Thompson - have as distinctive a style or presence as Martin Carthy.
THE COLOSSUS of Rides returns here with an album of soft soul-to-soul type smoochies. Exactly who this album is aimed at is a bit of a mystery to me – as a wanna-be lothario myself I found the lyrical content risible.
As U2 get ready to launch their Vertigo World Tour in San Diego, a whole gaggle – or should that be whoop? – of Irish artists have covered their songs on the Today FM supported Even Better Than The Real Thing.
It’s what every remembrance should be: not a reflection on the ache of losing him, but a celebration of our insane good luck at having had him in the first place.
They say less is more. Obviously ‘they’ hadn’t seen Broken Social Scene. I quickly ran out of fingers trying to count exactly how many individuals comprise this rampaging Canadian horde. But, hey, let’s not worry about quantifying the experience, it’s the quality that counts, right?
Though a charity gig hardly makes for the perfect barometer, it is still perpetually astounding to note the evolution (or devolution?) of Damien Rice’s live audiences.
An acoustic live record stripped back to its bare essentials, Live From The Union Chapel, in its simplicity and frankness, showcases the essence of Rice.
A huge crowd turned out on Friday, Deceember 8, to pay their respects at the funeral of Suriya Moodliar, who died on Tuesday following an 18 month battle with cancer. Suriya was at the heart of operations with Interactive Music, a licensing and marketing company she set up with her husband Oliver Walsh.
Even aside from the abundance of quality tracks, the boo boos have a tongue in cheek “I know I’m making a fool of myself but I don’t care” twang to them
No sooner had the Xmas decorations been taken down than The Blades, the last vestige of one’s misspent youth, decided to call it a day with an emotional performance in the Olympic Ballroom.
Located in the top floor of one of north Dublin’s last remaining tower-blocks, Hotel Ballymun is both an art project and a dynamic social experiment. It’s also proof of what a community can achieve when it pulls together.
The Sex Pistols are back! In what has the look of a major coup for the event, punk’s great trailblazers are among this year’s headliners at Electric Picnic 2008, which takes place in Stradbally over the final weekend in August.
Get a cross section of the Irish music industry to record/re-record tracks in their native tongue, thereby focusing the attention of the very group of people who hold the future of the language in their hands. It could have been awful, of course, a crass attempt to get down with the kids and make learning cool. Yet Ceol ‘06 manages to work on a number of levels.
Sno Angel Like You manages to retain the scuzzy, down-home, come-into-the-parlour-and-take-a-microscope-to-my-heart feel of Howe Gelb’s previous work, while delivering some of the most uplifting, enthralling, soaringly beautiful and gloriously soulful music you’re likely to hear this year.
While 1987 will of course be recognised as the year U2 conquered the world, spare a thought for those whose careers begin beneath the shadow of ‘The Joshua Tree’.
The sticker on the cover bears an NME quote proclaiming Giant Sand "the founding fathers of modern Americana", and while that does some disservice to everyone from Lewis & Clark to The Long Ryders, it'll set curious newcomers in the right direction.
Music Review | Live
20% | 10 May 2004
Kim Porcelli
Incredibly, the woman before you in the rustling, blindingly white wedding dress, Mrs Tracee Mae Miller (flame-coloured cascade of hair; skin like a porcelain doll; sugary-breathy voice like the thought at the back of your mind), will turn out not to be the most interesting thing on stage tonight.
The earthy lass meets haughty lady thing is, perhaps, a little too neat, but while no Virgin Suicides, My Summer Of Love cleverly maintains a delightfully dreamy feel almost despite its insistent naturalism and Mike Leigh styled workshop dialogue.
They are the basis for some of the most iconic images in rock. Now, for two days they will be on exhibition at the RDS in Dublin, as part of The Music Show.
"Those who have discerned the link between Goldfrapp’s sartorial caprice and her tendency toward seemingly arbitrary shifts in musical direction will have twigged what’s in store on Black Cherry"
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.
Television has given the US a PR platform on a plate, and boy have they used it well. American literature classes have played their part in the Americanisation of the planet too. Everyone from Henry Miller to John Grisham has helped the cause of the Great American Way.
Larry Clark's powerful, but problematic rendering of a real-life 1993 murder-case paints a disturbing portrait of bored, disaffected American youth and the moral void that they inhabit
Oh to be a fly on the wall of the U2 office when somebody plays the opening of track 2 of the Lisahall album and thinks, "Oh, how nice, a cover version of 'Numb'," only to discover it's really called 'Connection 17'.
A couple of recent outdoor parties on a beach in north County Dublin have proved that there’s life in the old rave dog yet. We won’t mention the location in case there are any members of An Garda Siochana reading, but suffice to say global warming can’t be all that bad a concept if it enables over 1,500 techno loons to dance until dawn on a Dublin beach in April and May.
While Mr Rice is a notoriously camera-shy chap, we shouldn’t mistake this reticence for a meekness of character. Far from it – because from beginning to end, 9 is a serious statement of authorial intent.
The cream of the crop from Saturday's live pictures, taking in Crystal Castles, Elbow, Duffy, Franz Ferdinand, Grace Jones, Lisa Hannigan and tonnes more!
The Icelandic tourist board may never recover from Jar City, a gloomy, riveting police thriller that might as well come with billboards instructing would-be travellers to abandon all hope.
It gives your reviewer great pleasure to report that on this album the singer has quite literally cut the crap and created a vibrant and inventive urban variation on an old school R&B set (that’s R&B as in rhythm in the beats and blues in the voice rather than rhinestones and baubles).
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
There are a glut of new Irish dance releases to tell you about, not least the fantastic debut album from Third Eye Surfers, also the first Irish hip-hop collection.
There are a glut of new Irish dance releases to tell you about, not least the fantastic debut album from Third Eye Surfers, also the first Irish hip-hop collection.
For decades Irish authority figures prattled on about family values, while in real life our attitudes to children were Victorian compared to Mediterranean cultures. It’s time the State enshrined their welfare in our constitution.
Poxy fucking Irish weather!
Now that we’ve let the elephant out of the room – or should that be tent? – let’s concentrate on the musical delights that Day Two of the Picnic had to offer.
Hey, it was messy out there. Nine evenings of dance music across town. Incessant surprises from DJs and the local dance practitioners. The collective shebang was called Digital Belfest, a development from the rock-tastic Belfest events that take place here on regular occasions.
One of Ireland's most beloved dance emporiums has shut its doors, blaming plummeting CD sales. But it may soon be back, as a vinyl-only store. Is the future of music retail in Ireland?
Opinions are somewhat divided on the future of trad – some feel the music should retain its explicit links with the past, while others contend that the only way for the genre to survive and flourish is through stylistic diversification. Plus the usual round-up of news from around the country.
But only if we let them. Draconian changes in the arts infrastructure have been proposed, the damaging effects of which will be felt for generations to come. Now is the time to shout: STOP!
Temple Bar Outdoors announced the launch of the first ever Latin Quarter Festival, which will run over the August Bank Holiday Weekend and features a host of international and local musicians and DJ’s as well as a street carnival experience across Dublin’s Cultural Quarter.
Dermot Carmody talks to Richard Cook, director of the Smithwick's Cat Laughs Festival, about the challenges of organising an event that remains Ireland's premier showcase for both new and established comedic talent.
Indie rock isn’t just about hip fringes and attitude. It means doing your own thing – not because you’re looking for fame and fortune but because you care deeply about music
The new album from Alison Krauss and Robert Plant (pictured) is one of the folk records of the year. As is Steve Earle’s remarkable ode to his adopted New York.
Last week, I was surprised – and rather tickled, if the truth be known – to get a call from Larry Bass, CEO of Screentime ShinAwiL, the production company behind You’re A Star – the third series of which is set to take the headline slot on RTÉ every Sunday night for 17 weeks commencing in November.
There is a huge wealth of music talent in Ireland today. In this economic meltdown, the government should help the industry live up to its potential through the introduction of initiatives that would make Ireland a better environment for musicians.
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.
Budget cuts almost spelled the end of Other Voices. But the team behind the Dingle music institution rallied around – with the result that this year’s line-up is arguably among the strongest in the history of the show
Liverpool club Cream has, as expected, announced a major change in their DJ booking policy for 1997. From January the club will be concentrating on resident DJs in its main rooms, and guests will now only occasionally appear in the club’s Courtyard area.
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.
In the new Hot Press, Peter Murphy picks his 20 highlights from the last 35 years of home-grown alternative culture (in strictly chronological order!). Take a look and then have your say on the indie moments that rocked in your lifetime...
To suggest that music is thriving in Sligo is akin to declaring that there s been a bit of an upturn in the economy lately. Music of all breeds, creeds and colour can be found in abundance around the county.
Music Review | Live
17% | 7 Sep 2006
They said it couldn’t be done, but this year’s Electric Picnic achieved the impossible by being even more joyous, vibey and action-packed than its predecessors. Hot Press was in the thick of things as 200 acts and 30,000 music lovers descended on one very big house in the country.
