They may make an unholy racket, but Slipknot are definitely on the side of righteousness when it comes to the Iraq War. Corey Taylor tells Phil Udell why George Bush is vying with Rick Rubin for top spot on their hate-list.
Poet, actor, philosophy graduate and rap lyricist Williams’ main shtick is to utilise unorthodox backing on his spoken word diatribes. On this follow-up to the Rick Rubin produced Amethyst Rockstar he brings in everything from chamber music, lush orchestration and heavy rock riffs. Like much hip hop, it can come across as repetitive and overly angst-ridden but there’s no doubting his skills with textures.
He’s best known as the voice of Soundgarden and Audioslave. But now grunge legend Chris Cornell has embarked on his most far-fetched adventure yet – a hook-up with uber-beatmaster Timbaland.
Metallica are back with an album that recaptures their brain-frying '80s pomp. Frontman James Hetfield talks about the dark side of hedonism and his love of Thin Lizzy.
MACY GRAY’s latest album "THE ID" documents two years of “love-life changes, sex-life changes and body changes”. FIONA REID hears her tales of drugs, men, music and late nights
As U2 gear up for the release of No Line On The Horizon, they meet HP to talk about the creation of their latest masterwork, meeting world leaders, the way they’re perceived in Ireland, the current state of the music business and their future plans.
Cecilia Peck, director of music documentary-political travelogue Dixie Chicks: Shut Up And Sing reminisces about her Dingle childhood and explains what it’s like being part of a great Hollywood dynasty.
The enigmatic pied-piper of psychedelic rock Donovan is to be honoured with a festival and a new documentary. Long based in Ireland, he talks about working with David Lynch and his plans to bring a new movie project on the road.
When punk-funk art rockers The Rapture emerged a couple of years ago, they failed to translate tragic hipness into big sales. Road psychosis aggravated the problem, but they weathered in-fighting to ditch the DFA production and strike out on their own.
They may be novices in the beer-swilling, coke-snorting and babe-pulling stakes but if it's killer tunes you're after, THE JAYHAWKS leave the competition standing.
STUART CLARK gets a crash-course in country living from MARK OLSON.
Country music’s stock has never been higher. First Johnny Cash gained an entire new generation of fans, then Hollywood began to pepper its films with bluegrass and roots music. Now, everyone from Jack White to Van Morrison is waking up to the magic of country. Ireland's getting in on the act too, with the launch of the Midlands Music Festival, a two-day celebration of all things hatted and booted. Colm O’Hare traces the rebirth of a genre.
After laying At The Drive-In to rest, two of their members have put together another outfit who are determined to push back the boundaries of modern music. In a far-ranging interview, Peter Murphy talks to The Mars Volta about reincarnation, hanging out with the Chili Peppers and their Hispanic roots.
What happens when the lead singer of Soundgarden gets together with three quarters of Rage Against The Machine? Answer: the high-IQ post-grunge of Audioslave.
They've masterminded recordings by Lily Allen, Estelle and Kate Nash, to name a few. In this exclusive interview, Future Cut lift the veil on their whizz-bang production techniques.
Few things faze gary louris and marc perlman, the original members of the jayhawks. In fact, their only regret is that they don t have breasts. Interview: Peter Murphy.
Garrett ‘Jacknife’ Lee’s management company, Big Life, have confirmed that the producer is about to start work on the follow-up to How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb with U2.
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.
Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo is one of rock’s great eccentrics. In an exclusive interview he talks about meditation, chastity and why ego is the enemy of art.
First we had Blur vs. Oasis and now it’s Oasis vs. U2 as the two go head to head on November 20 with their respective Stop The Clock and U218 Singles Best Of… albums.
Citing “irresolvable conflict”, grunge legend Chris Cornell has packed in his day job with Audioslave to pursue a solo career. Here, he explains why he’s decided to go it alone.
Like his compadres Dylan, Cohen, Nelson and Prine, Kris Kristofferson’s voice is showing the results of too much living, but it still can convey more passion and commitment than a chartful of boy bands.
The days of pop dominance are over. The worm has turned, and a whole new slew of blood and guts rock and roll bands are coming through with records that carry more than a hint of greatness. The darkling posse is headed by the Kings Of Leon – but there are outfits from all over the world who will be vying for poll position over the coming 12 months.
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
With the final countdown to Christmas already well underway, what’s on offer by way of music-related presents is on every rock’n’roll fan’s mind. We took Jerry Fish into HMV in Grafton St. and asked him to pick out the most desirable items on offer – including, of course, his own wonderful new record Live At The Spiegeltent.
With the final countdown to Christmas already well underway, what’s on offer by way of music-related presents is on every rock’n’roll fan’s mind. We took Jerry Fish into HMV in Grafton St. and asked him to pick out the most desirable items on offer – including, of course, his own wonderful new record Live At The Spiegeltent.
To be fair to the perpetually bellyaching rap-metallers, this time they are at least moaning for the good of society and not just for personal pain - the current American regime gets a right old Bush-whacking on this record.
Our annual HP-7 summit brings together some of the pre-eminent movers and shakers in irish music to reflect on everything from backstage catering to the end of war, pestilence and famine. Your host: Stuart Clark.
Rap-metal splicings are a hairy business, with even the better efforts (Anthrax/Public Enemy, Cypress Hill’s last couple of albums) resulting in a scoreless draw. So it is with Collision Course.
In the making of their third album, Coldplay may have abandoned all hope at one juncture and come within an inch of splitting up, but the record has now finally arrived in the shape of X & Y. Chris Martin and co. here give Peter Murphy the inside story on the fraught creation of perhaps the most anticipated album of the year.
Taking The Long Way is the kind of record you could slot between Lucinda and Emmylou at any Nashville Babylon hootenanny without anyone batting an eyelid. Listen without prejudice.
Before Aerosmith and Run DMC joined forces for the classic ‘Walk This Way’, it was thought unthinkable. Metal? and Rap?? Together???! But in this, the decade of fusion, the boundaries have been well and truly broken by Korn, Limp Bizkit and others. It was only a matter of time before some clever soul squeezed the concoction of pseudo rap/metal on to compilation disc.
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.
A lucky 250 U2 fans got the chance to meet their idols at a book signing in Eason's on O'Connell Street yesterday (September 24).
View our photo gallery direct from Dublin 1.
Sex? Yep. Drugs? Uh-huh. Rock 'n' Roll? Yesireebob! Aerosmith were no strangers to the unholy trinity of debauchery during the '70's and early '80's but find that having cleaned up ten years ago they're now cleaning up with the punters. Not that they're beyond having fun, fun and, er, more fun as our resident boogiemeister Stuart Clark finds out.
Renewing acquaintances with Hot Press, a chipper Noel Gallagher reveals how he helped Italy bag the World Cup, explains why Oasis are better than U2 – sort of – and tells us about the band’s new 'best of' collection.
The still vibrant 64-year-old on why Morrissey’s like Father Frank, why Iraq is like Vietnam, and on her meetings with Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Bono, Phil Spector and a whole Oval Office full of presidents.
Niall Stokes draws on his best-selling book Into The Heart: The Stories Behind The Songs Of U2 to offer a unique insight into the way in which some of the greatest songs in the history of popular music came into being.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers visited Lansdowne Road, Dublin on July 8 but we caught up with the band in Paris recently and heard why the west coast warriors of funk-rock have never been hotter
If this album really does mark the fading to black of one of hip-hop’s true heavyweights then at least we can take some consolation in the fact that the self-styled ‘Michael Jordan of rap’ has gone out at the top of his game.
Meet Glen Campbell is a masterclass in how to make a song your own. The man knows it too: dig the sleeve’s Ezekiel quotation: “Sing to the lord and make music in your heart to him.”
Hot Press was granted an exclusive preview listen to so-new-it's-not-even-finished-yet Red Hot Chili Peppers LP By The Way, due out on July 8th. Peter Murphy gives us the rundown
Close your eyes and you get flashes of Hispanic action painters flinging colours at bare canvas in whitewashed shanties, or shackled poetical prisoners sketching prohibited images in black dust in a hot tin shed.
From the time cracks first began appearing in the Spice Girls' foundation, Mel C was fingered as the one most likely to survive the hype; the girl with the tonsils, the 'tude and the talent. That may still hold, but unfortunately, on her debut outing, she's failed to channel those attributes into one coherent direction.
Metallica certainly have a lot to prove with Death Magnetic, the follow-up to 2003’s St. Anger, an album which divided the critics and the band’s own audience.
Gone, or at least sidelined, is the four-piece purity perfected on Blood Sugar Sex Magik in favour of noodly guitar soundscapes, synths, choral harmonies and full orchestral arrangements
One of the things that becomes clear as the wonders of A Rush Of Blood To The Head unfolds is that Coldplay are making a truly startling sound within a basic rock format
What producer Rick Rubin’s done for Diamond is rescue him from the super-sized supper set and corporate private party circuit. The result is an album that sits closer to Lee Hazlewood or Tim Hardin than Billy Joel (another hard-nosed ballad-toting veteran whose talent is all too often mismanaged by unsympathetic handlers).
To mark AC/DC's sell-out return to Ireland, Hot Press celebrates one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time – tracing their drama-packed early years and talking to some of the musicians they helped influence.
Hard rock has taken on many forms, but if it's loud enough to annoy the neighbours, it should be categorised as good old-fashioned metal. Peter Murphy guides you through our choice of the Top 30 metal albums of all time.
