For 25 years Music Maker have been a central force in the Irish instruments industry, their premises in Exchequer Street in Dublin a veritable musical mecca for international and Irish customers alike. Latterly they have expanded into distribution with MIDI (Musical Instrument Distribution Ireland) and were also involved in the initiative to create the permanent memorial to Rory Gallagher being unveiled this week. Jackie Hayden talked to the key players about the Music Maker success story, and even heard the one about the man with the child's organ!
The guitar is back – and how! Instrument sales are healthier than they’ve been in years. but that’s not the only good news from Ireland’s music equipment shops.
This year, Lesley Kane, general manager with both Music Maker and MIDI (Musical Instrument Distribution Ireland), chalks up 20 years in the musical instruments industry. Jackie Hayden gatecrashes the celebrations to quiz Kane on her career to date.
Looking for a guitar/ bass/ amp/ drumkit/ keyboard/ sampler (circle as appropriate)? hotpress.com does the hard work of finding the best deals, so that you don't have to
"I compressed the vox, EQ'd the drums and turned down the reverb on the guitar channel but it still sounds like it was recorded through an analogue four track"
Confused?
Aspiring Keith Moons, John Bonhams and Meg Whites take note: June 24th brings a drum workshop with a difference, in the shape of special-guest-teach Chad 'Red Hot Chili Peppers' Smith
Live on your TV and your wireless, 2TV will be broadcasting all summer long. JACKIE HAYDEN goes behind the scenes on the show that shakes up Sunday mornings.
...cos it's mano-a-mano combat time for Petronella and Sutras, the two remaining competitors of the Bacardi Hot Press Song of the Year competition. Put up your dukes
This is her fourth album, a hugely ambitious concatenation of every kind of black American music you can think of, from jazz, r 'n' b and soul to funk, go-go and hip-hop
This collection sees Levon return to his roots to reinterpret classic songs from his childhood and pay homage to those who influenced him along the way.
As part of the build-up to Music Ireland ’06 in the RDS next month, hotpress has launched a nationwide campaign to encourage musicians to support their local instrument shop. Jackie Hayden explains the central importance of the local store to the Irish music industry – and to every musician’s livelihood.
Mike Got Spiked are a quartet well schooled in the forge-work of the form. The rhythm section is nimble and quick, and singer Gavin McGuire has a fair set of lungs on him. They frequently carry off tricky muscle-funk licks and Rancid-like ska-metal hybrids with handbrake turn metre shifts (‘To Have You Here’, ‘Teen Idol’, ‘Find Yourself’) not to mention the odd muso fusion fuckabout (‘5 Second Heaven’, ‘All You Need’), although the songs invariably go scurrying back to the power chords and layered harmonies of a Linkin Park chorus. More worryingly, they have little to say, and no artful way of saying it.
Blur axeman, Graham Coxon, releases his second solo LP and, like his 1998 debut, The Sky's Too High, The Golden D is a trip into the speed/trash/hardcore underbelly of America.
To make it in the rock 'n' roll business you need a dream, a vision, a sparkle in your eye . . . and tons and tons of equipment. STUART CAROLAN guides you to the best bargains and damnedest deals in this Hot Press Equipment Special.
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.
