The HP-7 Summit is back with Michelle Doherty, Rocky O'Reilly, Niall Breslin, Mark Greaney, Niamh Farrell, Messiah J and Danny O'Donoghue sat around the only table that matters this Christmas.
Post-secret gig, JJ72's Mark Greaney is caught out there by the Hot Press newshound. Read on for tidings of I To Sky's first single, finding true love with producer Flood and Freddie Mercury moments
Currently on the comeback trail following 2002’s much under rated I To Sky LP, Mark Greaney and co have gone on a New Order kick. Pushed along by synthesizers and with a thumping bassline from new member Sarah Fox, ‘She’s Gone’ is vaguely reminiscent of the Mancunians' 2001 hit ‘Crystal’, particularly in its conclusion.
RTÉ is doing its bit for Irish music with the 2FM 2moro 2our. Patrick Freyne went along to the live launch to catch a glimpse of the hit bands of the future.
JJ72 are being cast as the great new hopes of Irish music. Intense, passionate and melodic, their music has captured an increasing number of fans. With a single in the UK Top Thirty and a debut album about to hit the shelves, they tell NIALL STANAGE how good they are and how good they want to be. Portrait of the Artists As A Young Band: MICK QUINN
Irish indie supergroup Concerto For Constantine have been announced as the support act for the Smashing Pumpkins' eagerly-anticipated visits to Dublin and Belfast.
It would not be stretching the truth to say that JJ72 are currently Ireland’s tightest rock band, and the intimate surrounds of tonight’s venue only confirmed this.
JJ72 aim to hot up the charts with a re-recorded, John Leckie-produced version of I To Sky track 'Always And Forever'. Read on for details of B-sides and the video
Along with the music, beer and scoffing, there was some serious talking done at the Electric Picnic. Shilpa Ganatra was taking notes as The Chalets, Flaming Lips, JJ72, Bob Mould, James Blunt, Tommy Tiernan, Declan O’Rourke and The Devlins were subjected to a public grilling by the Hot Press journalistic elite. And John Walshe.
Enter the maelstrom of I To Sky and you will hear the joyous sound of three musicians happening upon great musical moments, expressing them passionately and exuberantly, and then casting them aside to alight upon new gems
JJ72 FANS DESPERATE for new material will be pleased, nay, thrilled to hear that the band are making a number of exclusives available through their .com website.
JJ 72 have been hailed by some critics as the finest thing to come out of Ireland since U2 - and no wonder. With a hugely impressive debut album under their collective belt, the expectations are even higher for the follow-up, I To Sky. They share with their illustrious predecessors a predilection for intense songs of spiritual yearning - and a desire to make music that truly stands the test of time. But is it rock'n'roll?
Elstree, remember me, went the old Boggles tune. The location is a far-flung suburb of north London, former nerve centre of an entire B-movie industry, now home to television shows like East Enders, Holby City (wandering through the corridors, your correspondent comes across a room identified by the rather ominous notice: Make-up - GUTS), and of course Top Of The Pops.
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?
Whatever JJ72 Version 2.0 might be, they’re no support band. A couple of years ago the trio would have had a shot at headlining here, but a new pragmatism has seeped into the music. They’ve condensed the sonic architectural shapes of I To Sky (an album not so much released as sent straight to tax write-off limbo) into byte sized synopses of what they do best.
...here's the Hot Press Irish Music Awards, and a massive bash avec much live music is pencilled in for Belfast in April. Read on for the categories and nominees in full
