Perennial chart favourites of the early to mid ‘80s, Madness remain adored by their fans. Flying trumpeter Chas Smash explains why he wouldn’t change a thing.
*Who would have thought it strange that all of us would change*, Madness sing on the title-track of their new album, a record which while transporting the erstwhile Nutty Boys as far from their animated cartoon ska-pop beginnings as they have ever been, still sees the band playing to their single greatest strength - a winning way with a tune.
The Dangermen Sessions is no ordinary Madness album. Rather, it's a collection of ska covers and classic tunes, each infused with Madness's signature energy and excitement. Tracks include Bob Marley's 'So Much Trouble In This World', The Supremes' 'You Keep Me Hanging On' as well as The Kinks' 'Lola'. The album is the offspring of a handful of super-secret gigs at Camden's Dublin Castle, where Madness performed under the name of its alter-ego The Dangermen. It'll have you seeing this superb band in a unique new light, guaranteed.
To buy click here
As one of Britain’s most consistent singles bands ever (in a six-year period between 1979 and 1985 their first twenty releases made the Top 20; spookily enough their twenty-first stalled at No.21), Madness were frequently under-rated by ‘serious’ critics on the rather patronising grounds that they seemed to be enjoying themselves a bit too much and therefore couldn’t be regarded as heavyweight contenders.
What, exactly, is the deal with Madness? While the original Madstock comeback was trailed as a once off, they’ve popped up at regular intervals yet never really made it feel like a permanent arrangement.
Full profiles on Faithless, Antony & The Johnsons, Slayer, The Who, Bell X1, Status Quo, The Flaming Lips, 50 Cent, Madness, Christy Moore, Elton John and Lionel Richie.
May 10 saw a crowd of several thousand take part in a pro-cannabis rally outside the Dáil. However, political expediency and media scaremongering mean that misinformation about the drug continues to be rife.
Madness, madness, war. Spin that globe and wonder. We live in murderous and turbulent times. The most awful century known to history is drawing to a close in much the same way as it dawned.
As the Magnificent Seven prepare to mosey into Thurles, Stuart Clark probes Chas Smash's - or should that be Cathal Smyth's? - split personality and continuing flirtation with Madness
The books of author PATRICK McGRATH depict insanity and psychological breakdown with a detail and accuracy that are second to none. LIAM FAY meets the mental hospital worker-turned-writer to discuss the very particular nature(s) of madness. Pic: CATHAL DAWSON.
The books of author PATRICK McGRATH depict insanity and psychological breakdown with a detail and accuracy that are second to none. LIAM FAY meets the mental hospital worker-turned-writer to discuss the very particular nature(s) of madness. Pic: CATHAL DAWSON.
Dubbed-out, synapse-frazzling acid house madness (clocking in around 105bpm) that sounds like Hardfloor on ketamine. This is the latest installment in a brilliant series of phreaked-out collaborations.
Can you dance to minimal? Adam Beyer seems to think so and, on his first Fabric mix, ditches his usual panel beating techno madness in favour of a more considered selection from 2 Dollar Egg, Dominik Eulberg and Reinhard Voigt.
After more than 15 years in the business, Aslan are still able to command massive, devoted audiences in music venue and record shop alike. John Walshe joins the Lions' club on the road
Karmarouge Noir travel to the dark side as Spanish producer Pablo Akaros delivers the spooky, acid-infused ‘Por La Boca’. However, the real madness is audible on ‘Big Wave’ and lead track ‘Celofans’, where space trance riffs and epic chords unfold over churning, grinding drums.
Continuing on from his Amen-murdering 12"-only adventures in 2003, Luke Vibert delivers 13 slices of totally enjoyable electronic mayhem that veers from the rave-ripping raga jungle madness you know and love to bruising industrial r'n'b/dubstep, all liberally dosed with oh-so-silly samples. Minimal bores everywhere should be made listen to this.
Hailing from Dublin and weighing in at over six hundred pounds, the Fight Like Apes experience is a chaotic clash of electronics and rock, topped off with a frontwoman who can soothe and confront in equal measures. As debuts go, ‘How Am I...’ is a serious achievement, a kaleidoscope of different ideas that somehow manages to hang together and forge its own identity. Most impressive of all, amongst the madness lie three genuinely great songs that – the odd swear word aside – could grace daytime radio with no bother. They’re pretty much everywhere over the coming months, not to see them at least once would be a crime.
From the beautiful opening drone of ‘Caribou’ to the hypnotic, looped madness of their 15-minute take on ‘Planet of Sound’, Frank Black and collaborators Two Pale Boys have managed to capture the off-kilter magic of old Pixies classics while pulling them into their own gorgeously surreal soundworld.
Written and directed with neurotic flair by husband and wife team, Dominic Harari and Teresa De Pelegri, Only Human sees Jewish Madridista Leni (Aleandro) bring her Palestinian fiance Rafi (Toledo) to meet her parents, belly dancing sister, orthodox brother and a barking mad grandfather given to boasts about the number of Arabs he has shot. Though the ensuing madness is set almost entirely in a seventh floor apartment, this maniacal farce somehow contrives to work in possible accidental slayings, shootings, happy hookers, sexual frictions and a runaway duckling to the occasional strains of Hava Nagila.
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.
THEY'VE HAD more hits than Madness, were the first reggae group to top the charts in the U.S. (with 'Red Red Wine') and have been the unofficial 'international ambassadors of reggae' for over a decade and a half now.
Watching a gentleman carrying rabid rats as weaponry, then banging out Haydn pieces, suggests that youthful masculinity is a kind of psychosis one must conquer and Duris does incredible work conveying the madness and the contradictions, as does the director, whose deft touch carries a plot which might otherwise look schematic.
This is a band bubbling and bristling with intelligent musical and literary references. Bowie, the Stripes, Cockney Rebel, Madness, D. H. Lawrence, the Wasp and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
if you are the kind of individual who lives for musicals, Baz Luhrmann’s latest blast of kitsch madness is almost certainly the most mouth-watering feast served up for your consumption since Madonna’s Evita
The summer months are seeing a whole host of festivals taking place, with the August Bank Holiday Weekend being the signal for en masse mayhem and madness. Music features largely in all festivals, with diverse tastes catered for, so there is something for everyone.
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.
New research suggests cannabis is five times more damaging than cigarettes and can increase the risk of psychotic illness. But not everyone’s convinced.
In Jon Ronson’s new collection of his newspaper columns, this most provocative of commentators turns the spotlight on his own life and family, where things are not quite as normal as you might think.
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.
NO DOUBT word has reached you of the zealous young man who hot-footed it into the lions’ enclosure at London Zoo brandishing a bible and promptly got severely mauled for his efforts.
Spitfire aeroplanes, dogs in disguise, aphex babies and karma police: founding No Disco producer Rory Cobbe waxes visual on ten of his favourite videos of all time
American singer-songwriter SHAWN COLVIN explains that her fourth and latest album A Few Small Repairs is about more than just her recent marital breakdown. Interview: JOE JACKSON
She made her reputation as a poet but Gil Adamson’s debut novel is no work of high-flying lyricism. Instead, it’s a gritty morality fable set in the Canadian wild frontier. She talks about making the transition from poetry to bloody reality.
“Come up and see my snails sometime,” is hardly the best chat-up line ever coined, but an undaunted Jackie Hayden decides to brave all and call on Today FM jockette Ann-Marie Kelly.
THERE probably isn’t any other play quite as relevant to the changing political landscape in Ireland right now as A Night In November by Marie Jones. It’s currently running in Eamon Doran’s, on the site of the former Rock Garden, and focuses on the experience of a young Northern Protestant, who finds he must completely re-evaluate his life and attitudes after attending a qualifying match between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in Belfast’s Windsor Park and then following the Irish teak to New York.
He's had his ups and downs over the course of a long and distinguished career. In a rare interview, Dwight Yoakam talks about sundered musical partnerships and explains how he's learned to love again.
Shop-assistant by day, budding songwriter by night, Funzo's Liam McDermott has finally gotten around to unleashing his debut album. He talks about forging his own path and his love for musical cross-pollination.
"I don't know whether they're going to replace No Disco with something equally interesting or, as is depressingly often the case, a duller, watered-down version": as one of the artists who benefitted from exposure on No Disco, DAVID GRAY offers this tribute to the show’s pioneering spirit. A Hot Press exclusive
A the Zutons prepare another visit to these shores, saxophonist Abi Harding talks to Ed Power about their hugely successful debut album, the not very difficult follow up and how she can spot a creep at a distance.
He emigrated in '95, sang with jeff at sin-e, acted with denis leary, consoled nyc's firefighters and tripped around the planet with emmylou harris – but for mark geary, the adventure is only beginning
the biggest grossing tour of the year or just the grossest tour of the year? Jackie Hayden encounters tales of everyday madness and sadness in the trail of St Therese
Craig Fitzsimons, a fan, springs to the defence of Red Bull, the soft drink sensation that
seems to have become a victim of establishment reefer madness .
Twenty years after its original release, George Lucas sci-fi epic STAR WARS is back on the cinema screens of the world, fully restored and with several minutes of extra new footage. CRAIG FITZSIMONS explores the myth, mayhem and madness of the film, and attempts to nail down exactly what makes it so great.
They may have been dismissed as your typical goofy American oddballs, but as Craig Fitzsimons discovers when he meets THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS co-conspirator JOHN LINNELL, there’s definitely some sort of method to their madness.
Eamonn McCann accompanies The Pogues across the sea to Scotland s centre of Irishness, Glasgow, and enters a complex world of fiercely divided loyalties, joyous celebration and soccer madness.
Will the election of Barack Obama to the White House usher in a new era of peace and global harmony? Or is there a danger we are pinning too much hope on the shoulders of one man?
With a cracking new solo album on the shelves and a move to Paris on the cards, things are starting to happen for former Jubilee Allstars frontman Barry McCormack.
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.
They all left poxy factory jobs to be in a band, they used to dress in Clockwork Orange costume onstage, and they confess that they only signed to their current label so that one of them could sleep with Saffron from Republica. They are THE JOSEPHS, and your host is PETER MURPHY.
The hype parade doesn't interest Carlow's finest, 79 Cortinaz. Whether it's cold-calling record stores or hand delivering CDs, they'd rather take a grassroots journey to the top.
No, they’re not Jack White’s extra-curricular band. Rather, The Racketeers are long time veterans of the Irish scene with shades of Nick Cave and Johnny Cash in their darkly fascinating sound.
He's got a young family and a demanding day job, but that hasn't prevented Davy Matchett, supremo of Only Gone Records, from fighting the good fight on behalf of the Belfast music scene.
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.
While some white label mixes are illegal, Belgian outfit Soulwax have gone through an arduous process in order to licence the music featured on their 'legal bootleg' album 2 many DJs, as Eamon Sweeney reports
Best known for his mirth-inducing, deadpan quips on Have I Got News For You, paul merton is travelling to Kilkenny this year for the Murphy's Cat Laughs comedy festival. A typically upbeat barry glendenning asks him about bad comedy, failed marriages, mental breakdowns and Don't Feed The Gondolas.
Best known for his mirth-inducing, deadpan quips on Have I Got News For You, paul merton is travelling to Kilkenny this year for the Murphy's Cat Laughs comedy festival. A typically upbeat barry glendenning asks him about bad comedy, failed marriages, mental breakdowns and Don't Feed The Gondolas.
Best known for his mirth-inducing, deadpan quips on Have I Got News For You, paul merton is travelling to Kilkenny this year for the Murphy's Cat Laughs comedy festival. A typically upbeat barry glendenning asks him about bad comedy, failed marriages, mental breakdowns and Don't Feed The Gondolas.
Celebrating its 21st anniversary this summer, 1998's Galway Arts Festival promises to be the best ever. Hot Press' honorary Tribes-man, COLM O'HARE, previews the main attractions and offers a comprehensive guide
to the best places to eat, drink and make merry.
This Is My Father is a new Irish film which manages to be commercial but not patronisingly Irish. CRAIG FITZSIMONS spoke to one of the stars, PAT SHORTT.
Tanya Sweeney meets You’re A Star judge, DIY practitioner and Thai food enthusiast Hazel Kaneswaren in her laidback Co. Cavan abode. Photography by Cathal Dawson.
Comic book genius Alan Moore, who was also the original author of the big screen Jack the Ripper yarn, From Hell, has now turned his attention to fellow visionary/madman, William Blake. Peter Murphy reports
He s the man behind Reservoir Prods , a load of Premiership goals and a woozy Robbie Williams. But most he s behind pop songs with big fuck-off choruses , a passion PHIL WOOLSEY extends with his new band NINEBAR
Dylan is a farmer with a difference – he's a cannabis cultivator. He is squeezed by both criminals and the Gardai. But he aims to put Ireland on the map for quality, organically grown weed.
MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER talks to JOE JACKSON about Party Doll And Other Favourites, a Greatest Hits collection which she hopes will breathe new life into a tired format.
the poet Allen Ginsberg died at his East Village home in New York on Saturday, 5th April, just two months short of his 71st birthday. After more than four decades of constant, and often controversial, conflict with such repressive figures as J. Edgar Hoover, Fidel Castro and Newt Gingrich, liver cancer finally succeeded where they had always failed in silencing the notoriously outspoken writer and self-confessed beat-hip-gnostic-imagist performance poet.
She is already established as Ireland’s most seductive screen icon. but in Sixteen Years Of Alcohol, Susan Lynch turns in a marvellously enigmatic performance.
Aslan’s Christy Dignam lives not too far from where he grew up in Dublin. He talks to Hot Press about birdwatching, how he stays away from drugs and his disdain for celebrities who complain about fame.
Professor Ivor Browne has observed more cases of mental illness than the editor of Oireachtas Report. Siobhán Long takes a seat in the psychiatrist’s chair and hears Ireland’s leading man-in-a-white-coat give his diagnosis on the links between creativity and schizophrenia, the dangers of psychosurgery and the inevitable demise of the Catholic Church.
Contrary to what you may have been led to believe it is not against the law to drink and drive. So why is there a concerted attempt to demonise those who do it responsibly? Colm O’Hare who’d had a few drinks before being breathalysed recently asks: what’s it all about?
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.
Great slogans, great scams, great music and wreckless eric too. 20 years after the label first saw the light of a record shop, richard balls gets some of the key players to reminisce about the glory days of stiff records.
Magician to the stars Keith Barry reveals all about succeeding in Hollywood, performing for Justin Timberlake, Paris Hilton and Jack Osbourne, being given his own MTV show, and the perils of his orthodontically hazardous work with bullets. Interview by Tanya Sweeney. Photos by Graham Keogh.
Director PADDY BREATHNACH, producer ROB WALPOLE and writer CONOR McPHERSON take time out from polishing their latest haul of gongs to talk CATHY DILLON through the making of I Went Down.
NIALL STOKES on the tactical and personnel blunders that left MICK McCARTHY with few legitimate excuses for Ireland's failure to qualify for Euro 2000.
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.
He's famed for his method-acting obsessiveness and supposed reclusive streak. But could the real secret about Daniel Day-Lewis be that he's actually rather normal?
Kenny Egan brought back a silver medal for Ireland from the Olympic Games – but almost everyone agrees it should have been gold. A national sporting hero, he tells Hot Press of his plans for the future...
Reporting from the frontline of the Palestine-Israel conflict has convinced RTÉ’s Richard Crowley that the spiral of violence is likely to continue. But it is wrong to believe that the blame is equal.
The past year hasn't been the easiest for Whipping Boy and all who sail in him. Their debut album, though critically acclaimed, did not sell well and they've also had to weather their own share of record company hassles. But, as Gerry McGovern discovers, the band are still setting their own agenda, and forging forward with their own brew of hope, confidence and fuck-ye-all attitude.
As Velvet Revolver prepare to play Dublin on January 12, Duff McKagan talks to Steve Cummins about the band's chart-topping success and his pancreas-exploding days of yore with Guns N' Roses.
Welsh actor Rhys Ifans is best known for his role as the easy-going slacker Spike in Notting Hill, but in reality he's a driven actor who's more concerned about imminent war than the state of the British film industry. But he still enjoys a pint, and yes, he did sing with the Super Furry Animals
Catherine Hardwicke won the Sundance best director award for Thirteen, her controversial and unflinching depiction of teen queen sex, drugs, shoplifting and self-harming. Moviehouse meets the director and co-star Holly Hunter.
An overnight sensation after ten years and a theatrical star with no special love of the theatre, Martin McDonagh is a playwright with his eyes set firmly on the big screen.
Interview: Olaf Tyaransen.
They are senior members of the ‘frat pack’, the insider clique that rules Hollywood comedy. But do Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson ever stop goofing around in real-life?
Having lost his way for a bit, Liam Howlett is back with a new enthusiasm and a new sound for The Prodigy. “No one has filled our shoes – now we’ve come back to tread on everyone else’s feet,” he tells Tanya Sweeney.
An overnight sensation after ten years and a theatrical star with no special love of the theatre, Martin McDonagh is a playwright with his eyes set firmly on the big screen.
Interview: Olaf Tyaransen.
In a year that saw events which will forever change the world in which we live, selected hotpress contributors offer some personal recollections of the past twelve months. We begin by listing the critics’ choice of 2001’s single and album releases
Don’t go, they said. but they didn’t follow their own advice. Now, after much professional and personal upheaval, the Hothouse Flowers are back, once more in love with the idea of “ringin’ the bell”.
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
They may be nothing more than a tribute band but if so, they re a damn good one. JACK L and his BLACK ROMANTICS have been unanimously lauded for their Jacques Brel-inspired Wax album: The idea was to bridge the gap between Brel and Scott Walker. Now Jack L himself talks to JOE JA
1 guitar + 1 drum kit + 1 boy + 1 girl = The White Stripes. In other words, sweet, sweet noise meets the best brother and sister penned pop since The Carpenters. Eamon Sweeney meets Detroit's finest, who play Dublin Castle on Saturday, May 4th as part of the Heineken Green Energy Festival
Rock bands, a brain haemorrhage, surviving cancer, and now a successful career as both a
novelist and TV producer.
FERDIA MacANNA s life has been nothing if not eventful. He talks to Peter Murphy.
Siobhan MacGowan s debut album Chariot confirms that the sister of you-know-who is a force to be reckoned with in her own right. Here she tells Joe Jackson how her music charts an emotional journey from darkness into light. Pix: COLM HENRY
DO YOU WANT NAILS OF FEEDBACK DRIVEN THROUGH YOUR BRAIN? DO YOU WANT YOUR EARS TO BLEED? THIS IS HARDCORE AND IT'S THE MOST VITAL ATTITUDE IN ROCK'N'ROLL, FROM LOU REED TO THERAPY? VIA NICK CAVE, FUGAZI AND... CHRISTY MOORE. OR SO SAYS GERRY McGOVERN, WHO ALSO ADVANCES THE THEORY THAT 'HARDCORE IS GENERALLY FOR HARD WHITE MEN'. SHOOTING GALLERY AWAITS YOUR RESPONSE!
He's famous for asking the questions and sometimes getting unexpected answers. Like when one woman confessed to a distressing three in a bed romp. These days the RTE reporter is a little more circumsect about his own personal life but still outspoken and controversial on the subject of aids.
Annie Nightingale on BBC Radio One is Dance Music s fixture for insomniac clubbers. But for the BBC s first-ever female DJ this is just the latest incarnation of a career that began, sort-of, by insulting John Lennon. ANDY DARLINGTON reads the book, sits in on the show, and even finds time for an interview.
They came from sunny Melbourne to Chipping Norton, England to record their debut album, and thence to Ireland on a whistlestop tour that took them from the capital to the wilds of Leap and beyond. SIOBHAN LONG urges THE KILLJOYS to put down their back–packs for a while and make time for a chat.
Black Francis' chaotic St. Stephen's Green appearance is quickly becoming the stuff of legend. See what he had to say to Hot Press' Roisin Dwyer and Elaine Hughes beforehand.
MORE PEOPLE SMOKE IT IN THE UK THAN GO TO CHURCH, THE AMERICAN LAW JUDGES ADMIT THAT IT'S THE SAFEST THERAPEUTICALLY ACTIVE SUBSTANCE KNOWN TO MAN BUT STILL THE WAR AGAINST CANNABIS RAGES ON. OLAF TYARANSEN EXAMINES THE VESTED INTERESTS WHICH STAND IN THE WAY OF ITS LEGALISATION.
First there was the bad shit then the mad shit – the biggest-selling album in Irish history, an international hit and a record you hear “in every shoe shop”. So, having climbed the white ladder to phenomenal success, how does David Gray follow that?
While the path to rock n roll stardom is never smooth, RICHARD ASHCROFT has experienced more ups and downs than most. In a wide-ranging interview with DAVE FANNING, he talks about drugs, The Verve, his new solo album and why the old hometown doesn t look so bad.
With his pounding third novel, The Rooms, Declan Lynch has written one of the books of the year – a driven story of love, lust and alcohol that introduces one of the great anti-heroes of contemporary fiction.
Republic Of Loose are that rarest of beasts – an Irish rock band who can get their groove on. Ahead of the release of their new album, they talk about standing out from the crowd.
Irish director Terry George has made one of the most powerful movies of the year in Hotel Rwanda, the Oscar-nominated film that tells the harrowing story of the genocide of the Tutsi tribe by Hutu extremists. Here, the ex-Republican activist – and former hotpress contributor – talks to Tara Brady about collaborating with Nick Nolte, Don Cheadle and Joaquin Phoenix, the challenges of bringing such provocative material to the screen, and why the West's failure to intervene contributed to the scale of the atrocity.
The Corrs Talk On Corners was the biggest-selling album of 1998 in the UK. So far it s shifted 6 million copies worldwide and rising. And now the band are set to embark on their American campaign, with who knows what ultimate destination at journey s end. So they ve had it easy, eh? It s all a big marketing scam, masterminded by the moguls in the American record company that signed them? We thought you d like to know so we put these and other accusations to someone who should know, their manager of nine years, john hughes. And got some interesting answers too. Interview: niall stokes.
DAVID GRAY’s sell-out December gig at Dublin’s Point Theatre was an intense, emotional affair.
NIALL STANAGE reports on a remarkable night and offers a personal perspective on the singer-songwriter’s journey
SIMON FOWLER of OCEAN COLOUR SCENE speaks to Colm O'Hare about the band s new album, his outing at the hands of the tabloid press, and hanging out with Noel Gallagher.
Following in the footsteps of Joy Division, The Smiths and The Stone Roses, Mancunian rockers Doves have continued the tradition of musical excellence for which their hometown is internationally renowned. With their new opus Some Cities in the offing, vocalist Jimi Goodwin here discusses apocalyptic weather, urban decay and those abandoned recording sessions with Madonna’s producer.
The most momentous journalistic event of the decade nay, the millennium has come to pass. They said it could never happen, but after months of careful pre-planning and tense negotiation, nick kelly has finally interviewed NICK KELLY. Here, the Stars Of Heaven fan remorselessly grills the former Fat Lady Sings mainman about his long sabbatical from the music industry, his perception of modern culture, and his cracking new album Between Trapezes. Pix, gimmicky t-shirts and
unfeasibly large trousers: mick RAGING PUFF QUInn.
Tori Amos’ new album, the acclaimed Scarlet’s Walk, was inspired equally by her joyous pregnancy with daughter Natashya and the tragedy of September 11, which led the singer-songwriter on a musical quest to discover the true soul of America
Until recently one of the ultimate indie cult bands, The Flaming Lips have survived the ravages of heroin, acid and a hunting trip with William Burroughs. Now, their new album At War With The Mystics finds them taking their funky psychedelia to strange new places – including the upper reaches of the charts for the first time. Could it be that their moment has finally come? Interviews: Craig Fitzsimons (now) and Peter Murphy (then). additional reporting: Stuart Clark, Ed Power and Jackie Hayden
The man behind the Mystery Train is a bit of a mystery himself but, at Peter Murphy's request, writer and broadcaster JOHN KELLY steps forward to talk about Enniskillen, friends in high places, the fall and rise of his broadcasting career, his lack of intercourse with Dave Trimble, "taking the soup", desert island music and Uaneen.
Broadcast Views: Cathal Dawson
From schlock kingpin to master of understated horror, auteur David Cronenberg has travelled a long way. His latest movie probes the underbelly of Russian criminals in London.
Once he cleaned up in the charts, now he s cleaned up himself. Bruised but unbroken, MARC ALMOND is back and busy on all fronts. And, whisper it, there s even talk of SOFT CELL reforming. Interview: NICK KELLY.
JENNIFER BATTEN, as well as being a solo artist in her own right, has spent 10 years slinging six strings for michael jackson. Amazingly, she has survived to tell her story to peter murphy.
Pix: Cathal Dawson.
When My Little Funhouse signed on the dotted line with Geffen, they were precisely 12 gigs old and probably knew more about the inner workings of a thermo-nuclear reactor than they did a recording studio. Since then they’ve toured the world, taken on the same heavyweight management as Guns N’ Roses and moved to Los Angeles where Slash and Matt Sorum are among their best buddies. Brendan Morrissey tells Stuart Clark why the Kilkenny metallers will either end up filthy rich or six feet under.
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
Having scored critical and commercial success – not to mention putting Irish cinema on the map with the likes of My Left Foot and In The Name Of The Father – Jim Sheridan has now mined his own past for in America, a haunting remembrance of the film-maker’s time as a struggling immigrant on the streets of New York.
Critical brickbats aside, the success of TRAVIS seems to know no bounds. Here FRAN HEALY and co talk to STUART CLARK about drugs, Oasis, Paul McCartney, Ali G, and drunkenly dancing on computers! The man who took the photos: STEVEN FISHER
Tim Booth does. The James frontman chats candidly to John Walshe about fame, riches, sexuality, being called a 'faggot' on the Lollapalooza tour, and the band's
brilliant 10th album, Millionaires.
Queen of catharsis as the leader of Throwing Muses, Kristin Hersh raised a few eyebrows with her debut solo album Hips And Makers, a sublimely private collection which made it all the way to the Top 10. Here she explains her approach to songwriting, the emotional extremes she suffers and what it’s like working with The Sexiest Man Alive to NIALL CRUMLISH.
Bum, bottom and crevice may be dirty words but pop certainly isn't as Stuart Clark discovers when he enters the fluffy pink bunny rabbit world of the Lightning Seeds.
“I grew up in a tough neighbourhood, and we used to say, ‘You can get further with a kind word and a gun than with just a kind word’.”
- Robert De Niro as Al Capone in The Untouchables
Rregarded as the original, manufactured boy band, once upon a time The Monkees ruled the world. Now, half of television's fab four are back and, as you might expect, they have quite a tale to tell. Joe Jackson talks to Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz
Edwyn Collins, late of Orange Juice and whose third solo album was recently released, gets all acidic about the state of the music business. Interview: Patrick Brennan.
You'd have thought that 12 consecutive top 40 hits would have earned them the key to the executive bathroom but, nope, before the ink was even dry on their Guinness Book Of Records entry, THE WEDDING PRESENT were shown the door by their record company. Unperturbed, everyone's favourite indie popsters found a new label, a new bass player and a new studio accomplice who's helped them produce their best album since the classic George Best. A slightly battered and bruised DAVE GEDGE gives a blow-by-blow account of the events to our ringside reporter STUART CLARK.
In the second part of a major interview concerning his brief as Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht - and his vision for the future of the Arts in Ireland - MICHAEL D. HIGGINS talks about the enormous potential for job creation in the related areas of film, music and heritage, the changes he would like to see in the tax-free status afforded to artists and answers his critics in relation to Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act. Interview: JOE JACKSON
In the first of a new Hot Press series, in which we ll be asking well-known Irish people to step onto a national podium, author and
publisher dermot bolger delivers his state of the nation address.
So this is Christmas and what have we done... As U2 prepare to enter the final yearof the decade, Bono devotes a long night at his home in Dublin to reflecting on his life, his music and U2's extraordinary career to date. Interview: Liam Mackey
With a new ‘Best Of’ bringing the band’s story up to date, U2’s guitar man steps forward to riff on good times and bad, the private life of a public figure, discovering the secrets of the universe on mushrooms, and why, after all these years, few things match the high of being a member of U2
There’s no pipe of peace – in fact no pipe at all from the non-smoking sinn féin leader – as Olaf Tyaransen asks if, given Osama Bin Laden’s use of terror as a political weapon, Gerry Adams might not have some sympathy for the world’s most wanted man. that question and other contentious queries relating to the IRA, Jean McConville and the murder of Garda Jerry McCabe are dealt with in an interview which also takes in Eoghan Harris, George Bush and Bono, and ends with the interviewee humming a familiar Monty Python tune.
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.
Thanks to Eddie Hobbs Ireland is more financially astute than ever before. But his meteoric rise as champion of the little people hasn’t been free of controversy.
He may be better known as manager of The Corrs – but John Hughes has been a musician for well over 30 years. Besides, with a US top 50 album to his credit in the 1980s, his new record – the remarkable Wild Ocean – is just the latest instalment in an extraordinary journey that has taken him close to the edge and back. interview: Niall Stokes
For Gen X-ers like Kurt Cobain, Matt Groening and Sonic Youth, Daniel Johnston is akin to Syd or Roky, a gifted figure beset by the demons of delusional paranoia and manic depression. A 1994 tribute album featuring Beck, Tom Waits and eels showcased his ghostly and surrealistic folk songs, and now, as the remarkable documentary film The Devil And Daniel Johnston goes on release, hotpress is granted an audience with the man who isn’t there.
RICHARD BROPHY journeyed to the Czech Republic to see CJ Boland perform at the Summer of Love dancefest. But the trip included encounters with lunatic drivers and Beretta-toting security men, too. Pics: Peter Matthews.
WITH THE RELEASE OF HER FIRST LIVE ALBUM *LOVE FOR SALE* MARY COUGHLAN HAS PUT THE PERSONAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAUMAS OF THE PAST THREE YEARS BEHIND HER. IN A FRANK INTERVIEW SHE OUTLINES HER DARK DAYS TO SIOBHAN LONG AND INDICATES THAT PERHAPS A FUTURE COVER VERSION OF *WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN* MIGHT JUST BE IN ORDER.
The mainman in Tenacious D and scene-stealer in High Fidelity, Jack Black is now at the heart of a box-office phenomenon in School of Rock. But who does he really want to be – Laurence Olivier or Ronnie James Dio? Tara Brady asks the tough questions.
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
ALI HEWSON is the first time presenter of Black Wind White Land, a documentary on the devastation which has blighted Bylorus since the nuclear accident in Chernobyl. Interview: Joe Jackson.
Fame has come remarkably quickly for Lily Allen, with her sensational debut album Alright, Still hitting the No.1 spot in the week of its release. But, with babysitting for Bez on her CV, anything is a breeze – and the bolshie young singer is taking it all in her stride. Plus, having lived in Ireland for a number of years, she has more than a few interesting tales to tell. Just don’t ask her about Bob Geldof...
Raised on the road by evangelical hippies, Joaquin Phoenix has overcome the tragic death of his brother, River, to become one of Hollywood’s most brooding leading men.
Chris Robinson of Southern American rock giants The Black Crowes talks to Graham Nellan about his “total fuckin’ Shangri-La” lifestyle of sex ’n’ drugs ’n’ MTV . . . while looking for a bottle of vinegar.
Drinking, arguments, men in kilts, rickshaws, more drinking, and the search for an errant sheep: it's all part and parcel of one night out in Dublin. On-the-spot report: NIALL STANAGE
FUN LOVIN’ CRIMINAL Huey Morgan offers stuart clark a guided tour of the rotten apple, detouring occasionally to take in topics such as California Mist, London gangsters, Tricky, Ian McCulloch and Tony Bennett, as well as his high-profile relationship with Jerry Hall’s daughter. And, let’s see now, there was one thing . . . oh yes “every American’s inalienable right to have nails hammered through their scrotum if they want”.
Private, reserved and self-controlled, Tanita Tikaram seriously wonders if there’s a place for her music in the world of frantic rock and frenetic rave. Interview: Joe Jackson
With a new 'best of' bringing the band's story up to date U2's guitar man steps forward to riff on good times and bad, the private life of a public figure, discovering the secrets of the universe on mushrooms and why, after all these years, few things match the high of being a member of U2.
Special hotpress.com members edition: "director's cut" featuring interview sections unavailable anywhere else.
Few bands have managed to divide
critical opinion quite so spectacularly as Kula Shaker. Mystic musical saviours to some, prog rock nightmares to others, the one thing that everybody s agreed on is that mainman Crispian Mills gives exceedingly good quote. Interview and
periodic bewilderment:
Stuart Clark
From small-time ramshackle punk'n'Irish troubadours to 'international touring act' in the space of six incident-packed years, The Pogues have not only produced music to consistently surprise and delight - they've put it in the charts too! With the help of band members Phil Chevron and Jem Finer, Bill Graham examines The Pogues' enigma in advance of the outfit's impending Christmas single 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah' (phew!) and their seasonal show at The Point Depot in Dublin.
andy darlington meets skunk anansie with a live grenade in his hand
Peter Murphy s damning Hot Press review of their latest album Stoosh. You could cut the tension with a knife
which appears to be exactly what Skin wants at this very moment. Will anyone here get out alive?
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.
Recently returned from a visit to Baghdad, MICHAEL D. HIGGINS calls on Ireland to take a lead in demanding an end to sanctions against Iraq, arguing that Saddam Hussein can never justify the deaths of children and the use of long-suffering civilians, as tools of opposition to his regime.
Powerful evidence of both early experiences of racial prejudice and the premature ending of her relationship
with her father is still to be found in the work of
NINA SIMONE, one of the few artists alive who gives equal weight and force to the political and the personal. In this rare interview, conducted during her recent visit to Dublin, JOE JACKSON meets a lover and a fighter. Pics: CATHAL DAWSON.
Well, absolutely, as anyone who's seen the gifted young Manchester United midfielder crack home a patented 30-yard rocket will testify. But off the pitch, as Jonathan O'Brien discovers, it's that little bit harder to get DAVID BECKHAM overly excited about anything. With the possible exception of discount designer clobber!
Although arguably the outstanding female country artist of her generation, Emmylou Harris has always distanced herself from the Nashville
mainstream. From early recordings with Gram Parsons and Bob Dylan through to her most recent Daniel Lanois-produced album Wrecking Ball, her work has been characterised by a maverick spirit and real fire in the belly.
PETER MURPHY caught up with her in Dublin.
With a little help from Timbaland and The Neptunes, Justin Timberlake’s debut solo album justified propelled him from N’Sync baby food salesman to purveyor of the slickest dancefloor pop since the days when Michael Jackson was black. here, via the wonders of modern technology, HP eavesdrops as the boy wonder receives a Woodward & Bernstein-style investigative enema from the Euro-press.
Inevitably, The Best Of Nick Cave ... The Bad Seeds can only hint at the scope of the band's back catalogue. But if one listens to the group's ten studio albums chronologically, there are no gear-grinding changes of direction or radical overhaulings of the sound, all the more remarkable considering the amount of personnel that passed through the line-up.
As one half of D’unbelievables, Jon Kenny became one of Ireland’s most famous and successful entertainers. but the hard touring took its toll and, he believes, may even have contributed to the cancer which threatened not only his career but his life. now fully recovered, Kenny is back as a solo artist but one still hugely inspired by small-town Ireland and its rich crop of characters. Photo Cathal Dawson
The old fashioned virtues of talent and charisma, combined with the latest innovations in media technology, look set to make JACK L Ireland's first superstar of the new millennium. JOHN WALSHE has the inside story on a man who is about to get to The Point.
The old fashioned virtues of talent and charisma, combined with the latest innovations in media technology, look set to make JACK L Ireland s first superstar of the new millennium. JOHN WALSHE has the inside story on a man who is about to get to The Point.
Over the hills and far away, Chumbawamba come out to play! They get knocked down. But they get up again. They get dropped by Indie One Little Indian, and then get signed up by Capitalist major EMI. Then the Tub-Thumpers Anonymous go on to score the most unlikely hit single of 1997. So what now for Alice Nutter and her chums? ANDY DARLINGTON reports.
Over the hills and far away, Chumbawamba come out to play! They get knocked down. But they get up again. They get dropped by Indie One Little Indian, and then get signed up by Capitalist major EMI. Then the Tub-Thumpers Anonymous go on to score the most unlikely hit single of 1997. So what now for Alice Nutter and her chums? ANDY DARLINGTON reports.
With The Story Of O, poet and journalist OLAF TYARANSEN has written an Irish memoir like no other before, a remarkable, powerful, controversial and outrageously funny book that s set to catapult him into the literary
limelight and to the top of the best-sellers lists over the coming weeks. If you think that the accompanying pix tell the naked truth, just wait till you read the book. Ireland s first outlaw autobiography, it s an uncompromisingly confessional tale of literature, sex, drugs, rock n roll and rebellion. But it is also a beautifully-written tour-de-force, a love story that will entertain, shock and move readers. In this short extract, the author battered by the rigours of his pro-cannabis election campaign and broken-hearted by the apparent collapse of a long-term relationship goes completely off the rails. Nude portraits: MICK QUINN
You wanted the best, you got GENE SIMMONS. Here, the motormouth frontman of KISS, the world s greatest showband, talks about sex and women at length (quelle surprise), discusses his Jewish heritage, explains why Kierkegaard and Nietzsche obviously never got laid, and announces to an increasingly bemused JOE JACKSON that he Gene, that is possesses the world s smallest penis.
They say he s a Man Of The World it s just that for two decades the world in question happened to be Saturn. andy darlington meets peter green, the man who created fleetwood mac, then wrote the longest suicide note in rock n roll history.
One of the greatest penslingers in rockdom, he’s championed U2, Joy Division and Kylie and taken a critical scalpel to Oasis, The Strokes and their “miserably narrow mates”. he’s also locked horns with Germaine Greer, helped Frankie to relax and let The Frames slip through his fingers.
It’s Christmas, time for some of the leading lights of the Irish musical family to return from far-flung stages and convene for a traditional evening of reflection, revelation, conversation, merriment and, well, gargle. The guests: Glen Hansard and Colm Mac Con Iomaire of The Frames, Gemma Hayes, Mundy and David Kitt.
Following the sudden death of his girlfriend in the early ’90s, traumatised US writer Bill Carter took off for the unlikely destination of war-torn Sarajevo. Whilst there, he established a series of satellite link-ups with U2’s Zooropa tour, which still rank among the most divisive and controversial moments of the band’s career. Despite the subsequent media fallout, an unconsummated affair with an indian supermodel, and several brushes with death, Bill Carter has lived to tell his extraordinary tale.
He’s the joker in the Irish music pack, a working class hero who has at once conquered and subverted the mainstream. For his first album in six years JERRY FISH and his MUDBUG CLUB have also roped in some top-tier collaborators including rockabilly queen Imelda May and Carol Keogh.
Not since the death of Elvis has the passing of a music legend so gripped the world. As fans and detractors alike struggle to come to grips with the sad, strange end of Michael Jackson we assess his legacy – as musician, celebrity and enduring icon and talk to some of the people who knew and understood him best.
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
It should have been the biggest indoor rock n roll knees-up of the year but oasis three nights at The Point were as notable for what happened off stage as for what happened on it. Does Liam s partial no show spell the end for the dreadnoughts of Britpop or is it just the latest hiccup in a career that seems to thrive on adversity? Report: siobhAn LONG.
He was the shock winner of the Progressive Democrats leadership race. In his first major interview Ciaran Cannon sets out his vision for the beleaguered party, explains why Michael McDowell was really a sweetheart, decries the rise of the nanny state, calls for the legalisation of prostitution and lifts the lid on his misspent youth as a mod.
In the second part of his examination of the cult of CHARLES MANSON, PETER MURPHY looks at the cult leader s trial, his continuing influence of left-field heroes and the controversy over his recordings. Also: BONO on U2 s decision to include Helter Skelter in their Rattle And Hum set.
They may refuse to play the media game, but whether it’s dating page three models, accepting awards dressed as the Village People or earning the ire of Keith Richards, there’s never a dull moment in the world of Alex Turner and Arctic Monkeys.
The on-going trauma of being a Liverpool supporter isn?t the only reason that author, journalist and broadcaster declan lynch has been kept away from the Foul Play desk over recent issues ? he?s also
been readying his
theatrical debut, Massive Damages,
a tale, at once
rip-roaring and
sobering, of libel,
barristers, journalists, showbands . . . and Sting. Interview: jonathan o?brien.
Pix: MICK QUINN.
His father, the Rev. Ian Paisley, has been one of the dominant figures in Irish politics over the past 40 years. Now Ian Paisley Jnr is a Junior Minister in the new Northern Ireland administration. So how different is he from his father? And how does he feel about cross border co-operation, education, abortion and homosexuality?
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.
You know you re doing something right if your book disturbs both Cat Stevens and Snoop Doggy Dogg. But Sligo-born eamonn sweeney s debut novel, Waiting For The Healer, with its explosive mix of booze, blood, manic comedy and rock n roll, is also winning rave reviews for its uncompromisingly forthright author. Interview: liam fay.
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
An overnight success story that was years in the making, The Strokes have been dismissed as flagrant hype and lauded as the saviours of rock 'n' roll. Eamon Sweeney, a journalist who has spent more time in their company than most, gets the fullest account yet of the rise and rise of New York's band of brothers. "Whatever happens, we'll be there together," they tell him. "we won’t let each other fall."
Over the past decade or so, Will Self has remained one of the most fascinating, infuriating and downright provocative writers in contemporary literature. Now, following the publication of his typically inventive and challenging new book, Dr Mukti and other Tales of Woe, the perennially combative author gives Hot Press the low-down on the perils of psychiatry, his relationship with ultra-controversial artist Sebastian Horsley, and that memorable showdown with Paul Merton on Room 101.
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.
In the final months of his battle with cancer, TONY GREGORY sat down with Hot Press to discuss his life and career. Knowing it would be his final interview he was in a reflective frame of mind.
Confronted by an autobiography with a dual narrator, Joe Jackson asks the real Ray Davies to stand up and testify on homosexuality, marriage, groupies, the essence of Kinkdom – and the true story of Lola.
Watching David Bowie on television recently one couldn't help but think of Neil Hannon. Not that he is a musical "chameleon"—to use the phrase most often applied to Bowie—but he does seem to be a person more comfortable presenting to the world a series of ever-changing poses designed to conceal rather than reveal his "real self", as in vocally situating himself somewhere between Barry White and Prince on the magnificent Charge, or satirising—while still relishing—his role as the eponymous sexist hero in Becoming More Like Alfie. Strangely enough, Neil confesses that he was thinking something similar while watching Bowie being interviewed
When Siniad O Connor tore up a picture of the pope on the Saturday Night Live television show in the US recently, she unleashed a storm which has been swirling around her ever since, causing her at one point to announce her premature retirement from the music industry. One month on, bruised and weary she may be but Siniad is neither downhearted nor repentant. Having declared war on the Roman Catholic Church she is determined to keep taking the battle to the real enemy. Interview: Niall Stokes.
pat mcCABE is on a roll. Neil Jordan s film adaptation of his acclaimed novel The Butcher Boy has been rapturously received. His latest meisterwerk Breakfast On Pluto about a border county transvestite is about to be published. He s going on the road with Jack L. And what s more he was recently named Monaghan Man of the Year! Interview: liam fay.
Pics: Mick Quinn
From A to Z, Paul Nolan and Ronan Fitzgerald introduce all the runners and riders for Punchestown – throwing in a baker’s dozen of acts who are not to be missed * along the way
If a city can be defined by a catchphrase, then Let the good times roll epitomises new orleans. Landing in The Big Easy slap-bang in the middle of Mardi Gras, siobhan long gets a crash course in gumbo, voodoo, hot music, chilling crime and, believe it or not, legal Ecstasy. But, most of all, she gets a masterclass in how to party. Pix: steve lasky and cathy anderson
The publication of EMILY O'REILLY's Veronica Guerin: The Life And Death Of A Crime Reporter, has stirred up a hornet's nest in Irish media circles, with journalistic heavyweights such as Paddy Prendeville, Vincent Browne and Gene Kerrigan queueing up to take pot-shots at the author. Here, she takes the opportunity to answer her critics.
Interview: OLAF TYARANSEN. Pics: COLM HENRY
He’s been many things: a roadie with De Danann, a carpenter with Druid, a founder of the world-famous Macnas theatre group and, not least, a six-foot four-inch Connemara man in a skirt and self-styled “cranky fuck”. But now Paraic Breathnach spends a lot of his time crying tears of rage. Olaf Tyaransen finds him down but definitely not out. Portrait Aengus McMahon
With his new album sex, age and death in the shops, BOB GELDOF, songwriter and performer, is back in our midst. but after the traumatic personal events of the last five years - events which inform the songs on the new record - the private man is arguably under scrutiny as never before. In this heartfelt, eloquent and, at times, angry interview with JOE JACKSON, Geldof talks about the loss of Paula Yates, the death of Michael Hutchence and his own painful journey back to happiness
John Walshe travels to Berlin to see Ash in superlative live form on Paddy's night. And no wonder: the band reckon their new album, free all angels could put them in the Michael Jackson league! plus: why they're so down on Louis Walsh, Westlife and Ronan Keating and so up for Bono, John Hume, David Trimble and - wait for it - Darius of Popstars. Flash photography: Mella Travers
Winning an oscar was a culmination of a life-time's struggle for GLEN HANSARD. But success extracted a heavy toll on the singer, plunging him into self doubt and leaving him feeling confused and adrift. As The Swell Season prepare to release their second album, he talks about the long road back to sanity, his romantic break-up with songwriting partner MARKETA IRGLOVA and why, having derided Ireland in the press, he’s now proud of his home country
again. Plus Irglova talks about the end of their love affair and the challenges that fame and Fortune bring.
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
In a remarkable interview, the legendary David Kelly looks back on a long and adventurous career including parts in box office smashes, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Waking Ned.
An ex-con, a foe of The Krays and a man capable of such acts of violence that he once sliced off a prison guard s ear, Mad Frankie Fraser now makes quite a nice living for himself spinning yarns about his gangster years. Stuart Clark interrogates him about prison, drugs, the IRA, Arsenal and a novel theory on Veronica Guerin s murder which, Fraser insists, the Irish media haven t had the bottle to print. Mugshots: Cathal Dawson
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
From “Outspan” to Glen Hansard, from Grafton Street to Hollywood – and onwards to Lisdoonvarna 2003. A portrait of The Frames as a most unusual band. Part one of a two-part special feature by Peter Murphy. [Main Photos: Mick Quinn]
Falling in love not only altered David Kitt’s heart but helped reshape his musical vision. Olaf Tyaransen visits his home cum studio and hears about the family affair that is his new album and how meeting Poppy reawakened his love of pop. all this and why the son of a Minister opposes the smoking ban! Photography Roger Woolman.
You thought Noel V Ginnity was a bland cabaret funnyman, peddling lite entertainment to American tourists and OAPs at the Burlington Hotel. But you were wrong! Wince as the 59-year-old Meathman unleashes an unstoppable torrent of vitroilic bile at virtually every other stand-up comedian in Ireland and a whole lot more besides. Interview: liam fay. Pix: mick quinn.
With the death of Johnny Cash two weeks ago, music’s Mount Rushmore finally crumbled. From the hell-raising country outlaw of the ’60s to his final incarnation as a patriarchal figure intoning songs of guilt and redemption, Cash’s voice resonated down through the years with undimmed intensity. In this special Hot Press tribute to the Man In Black, Peter Murphy talks to Cash collaborators Sandy Kelly and U2, and recounts the turbulent life and times of one of the most iconic figures in 20th century music
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 second and final part of an extensive interview, director Jim Sheridan discusses his troubles with Gabriel Byrne and Noel Pearson, explains why he could marry Daniel Day-Lewis but would fail to measure up against Richard Harris, and suggests the best way forward for the embattled Irish film industry. Plus: the ouija board prophecies which seem to have shaped his life. By Joe Jackson.
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
London has long been recognised as one of the world's leading centres of entertainment and musical excitement - not to mention pleasure in all its multifarious manifestations. But when you really need it, do you know where to find it? Fay Wolftree brings you the insider's inside guide to Europe's premier rock 'n' roll metropolis.
IN THE FIRST PART OF A WORLD EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW IN THE LAST ISSUE OF HOT PRESS, BONO UNVEILED THE NEW U2 ALBUM, SPOKE ABOUT ITS GENESIS IN CYBERPUNK LITERATURE AND THE BAND'S HUNGER TO PUSH ROCK'N'ROLL TO ITS LIMITS. HERE HE ELABORATES ON HOW U2 GO ABOUT WRITING THEIR SONGS AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF GLOBAL CHAOS, HIS ARTISTIC REFERENCE POINTS OUTSIDE MUSIC, THE SUBVERSIVE POWER OF HUMOUR, AND HOW HE ADMIRES THOSE WHO 'PARTICULARLY AGGRESSIVELY' DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD. AND THEN THERE'S THE STORY ABOUT JOHNNY CASH AND THE EMU. CAN THIS MAN BE FOR SURREAL? INTERVIEW:JOE JACKSON.
It's been a long strange trip and no mistake, one that describes a discernible line from
Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music through to the Handsome Family.
But there's even more going on beneath the surface. GREIL MARCUS, the music critic's music critic,
is PETER MURPHY's guide on a mystery train whose other passengers include Elvis Presley, Robert Johnson, Mark Twain, Nick Cave, The Blair Witch, Bill Clinton, The Band, Siniad O'Connor, Beck, William Burroughs, William Faulkner and Bob Dylan. And that's just the first class carriage. All aboard
The legend of the booker prize-winning author is of a life of fear and loathing and bad craziness that not even Hunter S. Thompson would dare to invent. But the truth is even stranger than the fiction. From a pampered mexican childhood through lost family fortunes, doomed movie ventures, alleged swindling, a couple of convictions and a serious drug habit, Peter Finlay has re-emerged atop a mountain in Leitrim, a little god of the literary world. Interview Olaf Tyaransen Photo: Nick Hitchcox
The year began with contrasting and contradictory alignments. On the one hand, the United States were about to invest a new president, a young, rock’n’roll-loving sax-playing boyo from the south called Bill Clinton, offering the possibility of America as the last great hope again.
And so, unbelievably another year has bitten the dust. Here, continuing a tradition as Christmassy as the eating of turkey and the consumption of way too much alcohol, The Hog reflects on a turbulent year, when we all grew older and much, much wiser.
Systematic drops its biggest record to date. ‘Computer’ features Chicago claps and a dark ebm low end, providing the backing to Paris’ account of cybersex: ‘There’s a girl on my computer screen/ She says she’s 20 but I know she’s 17/ There are stains on her underwear/ I know where they come from but I don’t care.’ Like all great electronic music, it’s sleazy, dystopian and hypnotic.
Names like Lord Composer & The Silver Seas Orchestra, Harold Richardson & The Ticklers and Lord Messam & His Calypsonians mightn’t mean much here but in Jamaica they’re the stuff legends are made of
Recorded in the French Black Box studios by Kittser/Mic Christopher production impresario Karl Odlum, Ann Scott’s ‘Madness’ is a warm, shimmering, uplifting number that offers an alternative take on the female singer songwriter vibe.
Jesper Dahlback may be praised for his tough techno and jazzy house, but it’s the work he makes in the middle ground that really marks him out as a great producer.
Fresh from supporting The Arcade Fire on their European tour, Montréal act and City Slang signing Malajube tour Ireland to coincide with their debut album.
Where did it all go right? Oasis are back. Six years on from Noel Gallagher’s enquiry as to where it went south, the Gallagher brothers have begun to regain some of their phenomenal mid-'90s popularity
Dublin producer Donnacha Costello has made the transition from dubby, minimal techno to full on acid house revivalist and this EP sees him take his love of old skool sounds to a euphoric conclusion.
The six-piece outfit are undeniably exciting, with Holmes’ trademark infectious breakneck apocalyptic voodoo grooves, fleshed out with pulsating bass, pounding drums, stabbed jagged shards of guitar and equal-parts-scary-and-beautiful vocals from rapper Sean Reveron and chanteuse Petra Jean Phillipson.
Former graffiti artist turned DJ/producer Richard Sen hand picks a selection of tracks that inspired the work of his Bronx Dog alias and his own solo projects.
Trans Am have consistently been one of Americana's more intriguing exporters of out-there guitar pop – and the 21-track Red Lines consolidates that reputation.
Having stopped touring with the band two years previously, head Boy Brian Wilson set about creating what could really be his solo masterpiece, provoked by The Beatles’ most recent works to go beyond the formulaic limitations of your average pop song.
Films about the Yugoslav war have tended to prove less than successful in box-office terms over here, but you would be doing yourself a diservice to overlook Danis Tanovic's tense, disquieting thriller
You’d want to be extremely hard of heart to remain uncharmed by The Revs. True, they don’t do anything startlingly original, but they’ve got attitude and commitment.
Rogues’ Gallery – traditional sea songs, pirate ballads and chanteys, interpreted and performed by an eclectic mix of artists – is part high art, part punk aesthetic.
Taking place tonight in the Dublin Point, the Meteor Ireland Music Awards will feature performances by Paddy Casey, Bell X1 and The Thrills among others
A mess but a pretty Resnais-inspired mess, The energetically baffling Science Of Sleep stars Gael Garcia Bernal as a Mexican returning to mother’s Parisian apartment after the death of his father.
With a masterful debut EP in their back catalogue and consistently positive word on the street surrounding their gigs, Second Level Crossing is the full length debut from Dublin based trio Rollers/ Sparkers.
Despite splintering into countless sub-genres, heavy metal has witnessed few bands such as System Of A Down. You could tie yourself in knots trying to work out what sets this band apart. Maybe it's their Armenian roots or the fact that they’re the most politically motivated rock band since Rage Against The Machine.
Since 1977 Hot Press has looked at music, books, film, culture and politics. This bumper birthday issue looks back at the best bits of the last 30 years.
Based on the true-life story of British mountaineer Joe Simpson, who went merrily climbing in the Peruvian Andes in 1985 with his mate Simon Yates, Touching The Void is another profoundly hair-raising documentary from the accomplished Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin MacDonald (One Day In September).
A double CD of 22 tracks from any region is unlikely to be without its dodgy bits, and this collection is no exception. Still - all hail main motivator John Finn for making it happen.
Establishment rules O.K.! That’s the message to be drawn from ’85s long playing output!
In a year which has been yawn-inducing rather than epoch-making, it speaks volumes about the state of the art that the year’s best buys were reissues of one sort or another by Echo And The Bunnymen, Velvet Underground and The Doors.
“And now we havf ze results of ze ‘elseekni jooury” … burble, squeal, zeekzrrzzsngtum … oops, we’re sorry, we’ll write that again … the result of the Hot Press jury, who wish to profusely thank David Byrne for all those pints he bought us in the International Bar last week – even if he did rather endanger his chances with all those neo-structuralist musings about The Bogmen.
The band announced today that they will issue their upcoming Graffiti Soul tour entirely on USB sticks that concert-goers can purchase directly after each show.
A BIOPIC of the renowned cellist Jacqueline du Pre, based on her sister's book A Genius in the Family, this worthy but less-than-pleasant psychodrama charts the parallel lives of supertalented, tortured Jackie (Emily Watson) and her quietly-spoken sister Hilary (Rachel Griffiths).
The highlight of the evening comes when he asks the crowd to form a human tunnel. As more and more people join in, the tunnel sneaks out the door and around the corner
Some of the nation’s top comedians – plus visiting international stars – will appear at this summer's Carlsberg Comedy Festival, which takes place in the Iveagh Gardens, Dublin.
England, Half English is the usual blend of the personal and the political, sung in the same familiar drawl, but with enough arch humour to save it from disappearing up its rear
Playing a thief mistaken for an actor playing a detective (you’d have to be there), Downey Jr. hooks up with caustic gay detective Perry (Kilmer) and a hooker with a heart of gold (Monaghan) to discover why the corpses of beautiful women are turning up with alarming regularity.
WHIPPING BOY (Project Arts Centre, Dublin)
TO GET a crowd up and dancing requires something special - but then Whipping Boy have always had that something.
To be fair, director Justin Lin does a mean car-chase and makes terrific use of gaudy J-pop. Sadly, whenever the film slows down to include frivolities like dialogue, things are neither fast nor furious, but duller than a factory car manual.
Fight Like Apes have rescheduled some of the dates on their upcoming Irish tour, and will now support the Ting Tings on their September/October UK tour.
The vital stats: four members, four beautiful though not necessarily new born children between them, nine songs, 23 minutes long – including the seven-minute closer. And 100% garage rock.
The flowering of post-rockers like Mogwai and Godspeed . . . may also bear fruit for the three-leafed Australian clover that is Warren Ellis's gang but in terns of trends and fashions, Dirty Three have always stood on their own six fee
For Some Strange Reason is a mature and confident sounding album by a band who could show some of their younger rivals how to write decent rock tracks.
As one might expect, the proceedings are highly performance-driven, but it’s Julianne Moore’s tormented turn which steals the show, and grants a heartbreaking humanity to a character whose actions are morally reprehensible.
Yup, the brothers gonna folk you up. Anti-folk that is: Jeffrey and Jack’s garage troubador aesthetic topped off with smarter-than-your-average-bear lyrics and delivery courtesy of our old friends Arch and Knowing. If irony is dead, nobody invited these Lower East Siders to the wake.
The Parole Officer comes as a welcome antidote to the recent avalanche of sentimental Britflick crap, and certainly beats the likes of Bean hands down.
Personal catastrophe invites two possible responses – surrender or quiet, dignified resistance. Eels, the American indie-pop band who flaunt their private traumas like couture fashion, have stumbled upon a third way. They’ve learned to laugh at the grisly comedy that is life.
Not that you’d know it from their records, which are awash with avant-garde moroseness. Their most celebrated, 1998’s Electro Shock Blues, recalled the protracted death from cancer of the mother of singer and group leader, Mark Everett.
First, the facts. Everything Picture is 102 minutes of music spread over two CDs, an audacious debut from an encouragingly unconventional Newcastle-originated quintet with a long and tumultuous history of in-fighting.
Timothy Treadwell was an amateur conservationist whose obsession with grizzly bears would lead to his grisly (sorry) demise in 2005. Apparently suffering from at least three kinds of mad, Treadwell would spend 13 summers in a remote Alaskan park attempting to live among the bears before the creatures he repeatedly made kissy faces at would attack and devour both him and his unfortunate girlfriend.
BDB’s characteristic ramshackle guitar and endearingly imprecise vocal are this time combined with full string and horn arrangements, creating a kind of folksy motown feel, Detroit crossed with Devon
Fashioning an Altmanesque daisy-chain around the mucky pathways travelled by Schlosser, Fast Food Nation attempts to ape the multi-layered, global narrative of Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic.
Lead by leather-skirt clad, shape-throwing glam diva Mika, the ‘Bomb deliver a supremely melodic collection of glitter-flecked garage-punk, reminiscent of early-’90s Nirvana faves Shonen Knife.
Here’s the pitch. Take one ’60s pin-up turned crawler from the ’70s wreckage turned Weimar Republican and furnish her with a body of songs drawn from co-writes with and original compositions by PJ Harvey and Nick Cave.
Although Michell’s film is ultimately a little undone by the familiarity of its theme (yes, there’s a scene wherein our hero stumbles upon his stalker’s altar and the inevitable Clerambault’s showdown), Enduring Love is far too clever and far too engaging to be dismissed as a mere bunny-boiler.
Original Pirate Material is the best album by a British artist since OK Computer. He is a rapper, producer, songwriter and bedroom boffin extraordinaire that has set a new benchmark for just how thrilling, insightful, innovative and brilliant music can get
1985 has got to remember as the year when one of the most spoiled, wasteful, self-indulgent and ephemeral industries on earth suddenly woke up, not only to the urgent insistence of its conscience within the person of Bob Geldof, but to its power to actually achieve something, (to raise money and thereby save lives), given the right motivation and mechanism.
Thankfully for them, the Manchester three-piece deliver on the promise of their debut, as their sophomore effort is brimming with the kind of timeless guitar tunesmithery that marked their earlier work
Esentially a hip-hop version of Dirty Dancing (yes, that bad) Save The Last Dance is a crushingly predictable affair of the all-too-familiar 'boy meets girl from opposite side of the tracks and they get together through their mutual love of dance' variety.
Senile old men, feline old women, pillars of society, killers in search of notoriety and "a guy wearing plastic antlers [who] presses his bum against the glass." Times may change, empires may rise and fall, but the characters who populate Nick Cave's world remain as lunatic as ever.
Senile old men, feline old women, pillars of society, killers in search of notoriety and "a guy wearing plastic antlers [who] presses his bum against the glass." Times may change, empires may rise and fall, but the characters who populate Nick Cave's world remain as lunatic as ever.
The twin worlds of Pink the pop star and the punk rock princess collided here tonight and made awkward bedfellows. The outcome of which one will win out is still in the balance.
Such a strange and contradictory year. Mixed fortunes complemented perfectly by a bizarre range of listening choices. A disc for every mood, and every memory.
In the lobby, the queue for the men’s toilets is 50 yards long, and there is no queue for the women’s – definitely a Pogues gig. Mundy, fair dues, braves the challenge of supporting the unlikely returned heroes, and does very well too, getting the hall in form for the near-sold out gig at the Point. If it’s been over a decade since we’ve seen the Pogues play together, it doesn’t sound that way tonight.
THE WEIRDEST, most bizarrely-conceived movie in living memory – bar none – Being John Malkovich is practically impossible to get your head around on one viewing, and even harder to coherently explain.
Senile old men, feline old women, pillars of society, killers in search of notoriety and *a guy wearing plastic antlers [who] presses his bum against the glass.* Times may change, empires may rise and fall, but the characters who populate Nick Cave's world remain as lunatic as ever.
Here he comes again, Tricky, leering out of the spliff-smog, all expectations of ever recreating the warped coffee table perversions of Maxinquaye well and truly dispelled by those difficult second and third albums.
Bill Clinton has written to the organisers of the Good Vibrations Records anniversary concert to commend the label, along with boss Terri Hooley, for their support
There's more to the Electric Picnic than great music as Adrienne Murphy discovered when she checked out some of the festival's off-the-beaten path attractions
Pop must always, always be stupid – stupid as in not understanding the rules, as in running blind, as in stupid with desire, stupid with joy, as in stupefied. That kind of stupid. Supergrass, then, are the most unremittingly stupid band I have ever met.” – Taylor Parkes, Melody Maker
UNIMAGINATIVELY BILLED as a hybrid of Forrest Gump and The Truman Show, this expensively-budgeted time-travelogue boasts an intriguing enough premise (two Nineties kids let loose in a Fifties TV show) as well as its fair share of highly inventive visuals, but owing to an excess of sub-Capra sentimentality and a grossly over-extended running time, it ends up spoiling much of its own impressive initial impact.
Songs of Praise will launch their new clubnight on October 15, promising to bring the madness that is Songs of Praise Rock + Roll karaoke to a whole new level.
While lacking both the texture and scope of the Channel Four series which inspired it, Stephen Soderbergh's Traffic is an accomplished and intelligent, if flawed examination of the insidious nature of the contemporary drug-trade and America's escalating war on the same.
Day two, and Franz Ferdinand provide pure entertainment, That Petrol Emotion win the attention of a new generation and the Body And Soul area hosts the mother of all night parties.
Many of these gorgeous songs, which are steeped in mournful pedal steel (especially the thematically representative ‘Sex, War and Robots’) and couched in intricate arrangements, deal directly with broken relationships and war.
American Doll Posse is Tori Amos's most ambitious role-playing exercise to date. She’s stepped outside the comfort zone of her Bösendorfer piano and seen to it that the boys and girls in the band earn their pay.
BellX1 have announced a run round Ireland in support of their Blue Lights On The Runway album, which is due on February 20 and is preceded by the lead single, ‘The Great Defector’.
Alice and Blood Money are Siamese twinsets written by Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan for a stage production directed by Texan image alchemist Robert Wilson
The glum view is easily stated: finally, after eight years, the Bay City Rollers revival. The dominant pop purveyors – Duran, Wham, Spandau, Culture Club, Young, Kershaw, and Jones – regressed to the most conservative models of teen exploitation.
When art student Roger Herbert set up fastfude.com as part of a term project, little did he know that five years later it would be one of Northern Ireland’s most popular and controversial music sites
THERE WERE two Irish records in the UK club charts simultaneously for the first time ever recently. As Belfast boy Wand’s remix of Dubliner Kerri Ann’s ‘Do You Love Me Boy’ slipped from number 27 to number 29, Northern duo Agnelli & Nelson crashed straight in at number five.
It's been a hell of a ride at Hot Press central over the past few weeks, what with a controversial drugs issue to defend, and a whole new look to usher in.
THE UGLY scenes concerning Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne over the transfer of players and bad vibes all round, are symbolic of a recurring syndrome in League of Ireland football.
Our war correspondent assesses the geopolitical ramifications of the proposed gulf war with special regard to its likely impact on sales of the new Foghat album
Being a fiendishly appropriate headline for a column in which our hero reveals how easy it is to win an Oscar and offers his suggestion for the ultimate musical instrument of torture. (And no, it’s not the accordion).
Till now, Pogues' compliments have invariably centred on Shane MacGowan's singular songwriting. The group's erratic performances which could descend into some ramshackle acoustic heart of darkness meant the praise wasn't always extended to his fellows.
2004 was dominated by the Special Committe on the Traditional Arts’ failure to agree on the way forward for traditional music. Elsewhere, the TG4 National Music Awards attracted major attention and Music Network continued to do an estimable job of getting traditional music into new venues around the country.
My favourite sportswriter at the moment is a guy called Mike Wilson, a sports hack from Edinburgh who, late last year, had the fiendishly simple idea of commemorating the twentieth anniversary of Scotland s 1978 World Cup disaster by writing a book about the whole sorry shambles.
The lesson of the last major clampdown on prostitution – as depicted in Paul Reynold’s Sex In The City – is that Michael McDowell would do well to get off the statute books laws which result in pointless and expensive exercises in policing.
No, we’re not talking about swearing off sex, or even avoiding what others might think of as indiscretions at the office Christmas party. But safe sex - now that is a good idea!
AN RTE radio reporter had the temerity to ask Jackie Charlton whether he thought that four goals were enough against Liechtenstein, a place of comparable size to a region of Tallaght.
As he prepares for the Murphy s Ungagged Festival in Killarney this weekend, the compire s compire, JOHN HENDERSON, tells NICK KELLY why rumours of stand-up comedy s death have been greatly exaggerated.
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.
When Anne Sexton made the point in a recent Hot Press article that she always carries condoms, it provoked more than a bit of controversy over the airwaves.
Why all football fans should be delighted at the appointment of Brian Kerr as the new Ireland manager – and other probably unrelated matters concerning the demon drink!
Atomic Bomb is positively Spector-esque in its ambition, although curiously enough, it’s not a showy record, the playing being mostly subservient to the songs.
Having dragged Britain into war, former Prime Minister Tony Blair is now touting his services as a peace-dealer in the middle east. With Christmas on the way, no wonder he's looking crazier than ever before
A new study shows that cannabis takes lung cancer out of smoking. So why are the authorities not telling us? Plus: witches, Lisbon and the Mighty Stef.
Have you got a ticket? The way things are looking, that's going to be the question of the year. U2 played Slane Castle as one of the support acts when Thin Lizzy topped the bill there in 1981. Since then they have gone on to become the biggest band in the world.
I met someone last night for a pint. Jim is 35, has recently separated from his wife, moved to London, and has begun his own exploration of this gay life. We started talking to each other on one of the telephone lines that are proliferating in London; it s getting so that one can order sex in this city faster than a pizza.
One of the music world s best-loved and most charismatic figures, IAN DURY finally lost his battle with cancer in March of this year. But as this edited extract from a major new biography by author RICHARD BALLS shows, Dury left life as he lived it fighting and smiling all the way
As Velvet Revolver prepare to play Dublin on January 12, Duff McKagan talks to Steve Cummins about the band's chart-topping success and his pancreas-exploding days of yore with Guns N' Roses.
Metallica have emerged as the most popular metal band in Ireland to judge by their showing in the chart of the one hundred best metal tracks of all time as chosen by the readers of Hot Press and the listeners to 2FM’s increasingly popular Metal Show.
Tommy Tiernan has become engulfed in a nasty controversy over remarks made in the context of a comedic performance. The furore raises the question: are there meaningful boundaries to ‘acceptable’ humour?
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.
Lord Laird’s chequered past and unsavoury acquaintances make his criticism of Phil Flynn somewhat strange. Plus: Our columnist recalls a difficult meeting with Van Morrison and explores the origins of the singer’s legendary pugnacity.
The Catholic Church may snatch the bodies of non-believers and dodge responsibility for child sex abuse, behind a cloud of legal obfuscation – but the heathens are growing in strength.
When we last left U2, at the conclusion of 1997’s Pop, they were marooned on a spaghetti Golgotha, shouting, “Wake up dead man!” at a god who had apparently reneged on his promise to live forever. Well pilgrims, here’s the resurrection shuffle.
Fay Wolftree ponders whether or not attending a Pink Floyd concert was an inspired move or a momentary lapse of reason. Either way, the bell was in Earls Court.
Football fans in North Korea enjoy a good deal more freedom than many might have suspected. Plus: The story behind John Hume and David Trimble’s decision to bring arms manufacturer Raytheon to Derry and why Skruf are one of the bands to look out for in 2005.
You can very much hear the band gradually piecing together the constituent elements that would make Bleach such a bewitching sonic brew; the gonzo experimentation and guitar pyrotechnics of the ‘80s US underground, married to Cobain’s Beatles-like melodic sensibilities and, of course, that searing, indelible voice.
Under severe editorial pressure, journalist/comedian BARRY GLENDENNING is forced to interview himself. But then, given time, he would have anyway.
Pic: Peter Mathews.
...it was a year like any other year at Féile - except that there were dozens of extra acts on show, on not just two but three stages. There was also the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, the Chris de Burgh stripper incident, Michael Hutchence dispensing condoms...and a rather loud Little Red Rooster that nearly got itself strangled. And the crack Hot Press team of reporters who attempted to keep up with it all? Words: Bill Graham, Stuart Clark, Tara McCarthy, Lorraine Freeney and Chris Donovan. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
‘That’s entertainment’ was the message of the year but not as Paul Weller intended it, for in 1986 popular music was closer to mass entertainment as Declan McManus’ pater knew it than any year since Elvis Presley swivelled his hips on the Ed Sullivan show.
12 steps to help you take on the Portuguese city of Porto, with all the best hotels, restaurants, and hot spots. Plus, top travel news from around the world
D UNBELIEVABLES are probably the most popular comics in Ireland. As preparations continue for the opening of their new show, Olaf Tyaransen talks to the duo about rural Ireland, negative press, and whether they have yet made their fortune.
Having made his reputation as gonzo journalist and memoirist with such books as Story Of O, Palace Of Wisdom and Sexlines, Olaf Tyaransen branches into short fiction in this Hot Press exclusive.
Colm O'Hare turns over a new leaf or two from the huge variety of publications on the shelves this Christmas, from rock biographies to more general Irish published works. So, for those of you who like your entertainment between the covers, read on . . .
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.
Continuing his occasional Bum Notes series of reminiscences on life as a musician, Peter Murphy fondly casts a nostalgic eye over the birth of his daughter and the, eh, interesting rock ’n’ roll circumstances that surrounded it.
Jesus Christ And The Church Of Gnostic Rock. Peter Murphy on the good, clean, but mostly dirty, fight for the soul of the Devil s Music. Part One: The Old Testament.
The relationship between drugs and creativity has always been a hotly debated subject. But narcotic indulgence has proven to be the downfall of many a gifted artist.
There are those who believe that the future of music as an art form is seriously under threat from the rise of music piracy. Where will it all end? The truth is that no one truly knows.
