In addition to Seasick Steve, the Royal Hospital Kilmainham will also be playing host to The Human League, Heaven 17 and ABC, and Aimee Mann and The Sharon Shannon Big Band.
At some point Sharon Shannon realised that being one of the most highly-regarded instrumentalists in Irish music doesn’t make you the kind of dynamic performer that pulls huge crowds, so she has evolved a stage show where she gets to do what she’s best at and steps back enough to let her motley assortment of rabble-rousing yahoos do their thing as well.
Here is an album conceived in Winkle's Bar, Kinvara, the juices got flowing over a weekend rave-up, with Liam O'Maonlai, Adam Clayton and Mike Scott just dropping around for a blast.
Sharon Shannon and her Big Band – with guests Mundy and Shane MacGowan – play a special light night gig in Castlebar this Christmas season, with more dates around the country.
The Script and Sharon Shannon were just two of the big acts honoured at last night's Meteor Awards, where Hot Press editor Niall Stokes also picked up an award...
With a guest list worthy of a Paddy Moloney project, this is an album which, on the face of it, could have sunk beneath the pressure of too many big names, too many egos jostling for position.
Recorded over two nights in July at Dolan’s Warehouse in Limerick, Sharon Shannon’s new live album is one big party piece; every one of the 29 tracks on this double-CD set is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.
IN HER collaborations with the likes of Mary Black, Sharon Shannon and The Fallen Angels, Maire Breatnach has always invested their work with something extra special.
From her humble origins in Corofin, Co. Clare to The White House, Sharon Shannon has blazed her own unique trail across the landscape of Irish music. Her extraordinary success notwithstanding, she has remained an enigmatic and elusive presence, renowned for the child-like sense of wonder she radiates. Here, for the first time, she opens up, telling her own remarkable story to Hot Press. Interview: Gerry McGovern.
From her humble origins in Corofin, Co. Clare to The White House, SHARON SHANNON has blazed her own unique trail across the landscape of Irish music. Her extraordinary success notwithstanding, she has remained an enigmatic and elusive presence, renowned for the child-like sense of wonder she radiates. Here, for the first time, she opens up, telling her own remarkable story to Hot Press. Interview: GERRY McGOVERN.
Why the media were wrong in their assessment of Sharon Shannon’s court case; the latest musical venture from producer, director and PR ace, Mary McPartlan, plus the usual round-up of news from the world of folk and traditional music.
Having made his name in the folk arena with Emmet Spiceland, Planxty and The Bothy Band, DONAL LUNNY went electric with the ground-breaking Moving Hearts. In the second part of a wide-ranging interview reflecting on all of the major characters and plots in Irish music since the folk revival blossomed in the '60s, he talks about the demise of the Hearts, the impact of Riverdance, Shane MacGowan, Sharon Shannon, Altan, Coolfin – and what he'd like to do with Sheryl Crow. Tape: NIALL STOKES
Damien Dempsey takes two Meteors and then represents Ireland at the London St. Patrick’s day parade..and much more in Folk Centre: the latest folk news, with Sarah McQuaid
Not since The Bothy Band in 1976, has an Irish traditional group signed to a major international label. By linking up with Virgin, ALTAN have confirmed their status as the pr-eminent force on the Irish scene and signalled their readiness to take on the world. Of course, theirs has been no overnight success story and, with the tragic loss of Frankie Kennedy, one that has also involved an immense amount of emotional courage. Interview: BILL GRAHAM. Pics: COLM HENRY
Current HP cover stars The Blizzards, and Metallica – who featured on the front cover of our previous issue – are currently riding high in the top two chart positions.
WELL KNOWN in Irish music circles as a session musician, Ennis born/Nashville resident O'Beirne has lent his distinctive 6 and 12-string acoustic guitar talents to artists as varied as Sharon Shannon, The Waterboys and Marianne Faithful.
So then: a Francophile Belinda Carlisle album featuring Brian Eno, Sharon Shannon and Fiachna O Braonain on songs written and/or popularised by Piaf, Brel, Gainsbourg and Hardy. I swear, I haven’t been at the brown acid.
Amanda Byram was today unveiled as the host of this year’s Meteors Awards and nominees for 2009 were revealed - as well as the fact that Sharon Shannon would receive a lifetime achievement award.
Alternative country is mourning the death of former Wilco multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett. But will his estranged band-mates step in to finish his uncompleted masterpiece?
Folk centre with Sarah McQuaid: the forthcoming debut solo album from Nollaig Casey features contributions from such luminaries as Sharon Shannon, Rod Mcvey and Liam Bradley.
A new compilation album charts DONAL LUNNY s extraordinary musical journey to date but Colm O'Hare finds that the COOLFIN founder still has his eye fixed firmly on challenges to come
There are those who would assert that the only thing worse than one accordion is two accordions, but this pair of nimble-fingered players use the full range of their respective instruments to create a glorious-sounding whole
Pauline Scanlon returns to the fray on August 17 with Hush, her second album which was recorded in Nashville with Lunasa guitarist Donogh Hennessy producing.
From punk princess to MTV starlet to French warbler, it’s been a long strange journey for Belinda Carlisle. But right now, what she really wants to do is open a donkey sanctuary.
Trad quartet Lunasa, named to honour the Irish harvest god Lugh, who also gave his name to the month of August, have become something of gods themselves within the Irish trad scene. Jackie Hayden talks to them in the wake of the release of their new album Se.
More than 20 years after she first toured Europe with Planxty, Nollaig Casey has finally found time to record this long-overdue solo debut. And a major treat it is, too.
The Stables in Mullingar has become an essential stopover on the Irish rock touring circuit. Here, the venue's booking man, David McLynn tells Jackie Hayden about the current state of rock in the Midlands.
Director have confirmed a major Irish tour and the details of a new song which currently doesn't appear on their platinum-selling We Thrive On Big Cities album.
The Queen of Zydeco, Boris Bob Dylan Grebenshikov and an erstwhile Rolling Stone were among the unlikely collaborators on ANTHONY THISTLETHWAITE S latest opus, Crawfish & Caviar. COLM O HARE hears more.
One of favourite alt.country bands, Richmond Fontaine, return from a long lay-off with perhaps their finest album yet. Plus, the original ‘Galway Girl’ (who is actually from Clare), has just released a fantastic new record.
With his new album The Mountain, STEVE EARLE has turned his hand to bluegrass. He talks to SIOBHAN LONG about the record, his colourful past and his love of Irish music.
All told, the last ten action-packed years have seen Mary Black release nine solo albums - from her eponymous debut Mary Black through to the recent chart topper The Holy Ground. Here Chris Donovan takes a retrospective look at what's on offer - and concludes that herein lies the true meaning of the words Black Magic.
In Meitheal, the duo of STEVE COONEY AND SEAMUS BEGLEY released one of the finest albums of the year. Here they talk about their spin on the tradition, the connection between Gaeltacht people and the Aborigines – oh and the logic of playing the accordion with a pen-knife. Interview: SIOBHÁN LONG
In Meitheal, the duo of STEVE COONEY AND SEAMUS BEGLEY released one of the finest albums of the year. Here they talk about their spin on the tradition, the connection between Gaeltacht people and the Aborigines – oh and the logic of playing the accordion with a pen-knife. Interview: SIOBHÁN LONG
Roots music may help build bridges between past and present and us and them, but the media stance is still often isolationist. So says simon emerson of the afro celt sound system. siobhan long takes notes.
Roots music may help build bridges between past and present and us and them, but the media stance is still often isolationist. So says simon emerson of the afro celt sound system. siobhan long takes notes.
Not to be outdone by FM104’s Bestest Bits, Ray D’Arcy has released a collection of the “groove-tastic” covers that have graced his Today FM morning show over the past year.
Or perhaps we might have reached for another old familiar headline - Fears and Loathing in RTE - as the bosses at Radio 1 announce the chopping of virtually all specialist music programmes from the schedule. It is, writes Bill Graham, an act of cultural criminal negligence.
Not content with sending Danu over to Brussels next week to mark the start of Ireland's EU Presidency, the Department of Arts, Sports & Tourism are mounting a six-month long Cultural Programme taking in all of the member states.
Not content with sending Danu over to Brussels next week to mark the start of Ireland's EU Presidency, the Department of Arts, Sports & Tourism are mounting a six-month long Cultural Programme taking in all of the member states.
Such is the close proximity of most of the well-known pubs to each other and to other central locations that Galway could quite conceivably have been designed with the pub crawler in mind. The sheer abundance and variety of pubs that Galway has to offer the thirsty reveller is one of the big attractions of the City of The Tribes. Galway pubs are renowned for their unique and friendly atmosphere, mighty craic and impromptu traditional music sessions.
California-born, Harvard-educated, Alison Brown is not your everyday bluegrass flagbearer. But her emotive playing – and the contribution of her Compass Records label – have made her a leading figure in the American roots scene.
The sheer quality, not to mention quantity, of the GALWAY ARTS FESTIVAL once more triumphed over inadequate facilities.
OLAF TYARANSEN reflects on a cultural banquet.
John Spillane has remained a stalwart of the traditional scene for close to two decades. With his excellent new album Hey Dreamer having just hit the shops, Spillane sounds off to hotpress about his long and eventful career, his enthusiasm for younger artists such as Damien Dempsey and Juliet Turner, and why the organisers of the European Capital of Culture events in his native Cork have gotten things spectacularly wrong. words Colm O’Hare photos Mick Quinn
Calling all up-and-coming music stars! The path to success can sometimes seem dauntingly steep. But, in an ongoing series, JACKIE HAYDEN looks at the various challenges which face new bands, and how to overcome them. This issue: RECORDING. Photo: KAREN CAULFIELD
Are you ready for hip hop, be-bop trad? Then EILEEN IVERS is ready to take you to the bridge. SIOBHAN LONG meets the fiddle player with the world at her fingertips.
Ór, meaning gold, is indeed a suitable title for this collaboration between two of Ireland's finest acoustic labels, bringing together as it does 16 tracks going back over a 30-year period, which indicate at first glance just what a rich seam our native music mines.
It's been almost two years now since Anam's Brian O hEadhra unpacked his rucksack from top to bottom, two years of tearing all over the globe, from Düsseldorf to Darwin, Chicago to Castletownbere. With three albums well and truly reared, the band have recently been coaxing their fourth offspring, First Footing, out into the big bad world, blinkering its eyes against the glare of daylight.
At just 23, Siniad Lohan is one of the brightest prospects to have appeared on the Irish music scene for some time, with the Woman s Heart stars taking her to their collective bosom not to mention her acclaimed debut album which is nestling comfortably in the Top 10. Siniad an scial: Siobhan Long.
From the biggest international names to the most dynamic local creations, festivals make Ireland a good place to be in summer, even when the sun refuses to put in an appearance
When it was announced in Hot Press that a new incarnation of De Dannan was about to hit the road, it came as a surprise to one of the group's founders, Alec Finn. Here, he talks about why he objects to the use of the name by his former musical partner, Frankie Gavin.
Japanese tin whistlers, Harlem Gospel singers, Indian mandolin players . . . De Dannan have traded scales and tales with them all. Dermot Stokes catches up with Frankie Gavin and Alec Finn and is entranced as the Michael Palins of pan-cultural playing share excerpts from their ongoing odyssey.
Danu may just be the hardest working band in trad. With their fourth album The Road Less Travelled only recently released and another promised for the spring, When Jackie Hayden put a number of key issues to the band’s accordionist Benny McCarthy and bodhran player and uilleann piper Donnchadh Hough he found that they don’t just work hard, they talk hard too.
With her own debut album, ELEANOR McEVOY, one of the stars of 'A Woman's Heart', has come out of the folk closet and revealed herself to be a real rocker - feedback, distorted guitars and all. Interview: COLM O'HARE
With her own debut album, Eleanor McEvoy, one of the stars of A Woman s Heart , has come out of the folk closet and revealed herself to be a real rocker feedback, distorted guitars and all. Interview: Colm O Hare.
Mark McClelland was a feature and music writer for Cork's Evening Echo for four years. Here, he presents his top ten most significant musical acts to emerge from Cork.
It’s off to the most Northerly gig in the country with the island angels of ALTAN as BILL GRAHAM spends a weekend in Donegal with our most dynamic traditional outfit and posits the theory that by looking to the past for inspiration Altan may hold a significant key to the future.
In the past, many Irish people suffered from an inferiority complex about their own culture – about the language, music, film and literature of this island. But music is one arena where things have changed dramatically. Report: Jackie Hayden
The Waterboys are back, with arguably their most complete record yet, Book Of Lightning. In this remarkably open and honest interview, Mike Scott talks about his songwriting genius, about relationships, his family, his boozy years in Galway - and turning U2 onto Greenpeace.
For the launch of his second album, UNDER THE MOON, MARTIN HAYES returned from his new home in Seattle to his native town of Feakle, deep in the heart of Clare. BILL GRAHAM travelled west to meet one of the musicians responsible for the resurgence in Irish music and discuss his roots in the local tradition, and speculate on the possibilities and conflicts opening up within the genre.
In the second and final part of an extensive interview, MIKE SCOTT discusses inspiration and influences, recalls his difficult solo years and explains the death and resurrection of THE WATERBOYS. Interview: PETER MURPHY
He’s worked with Van, Dylan, Christy, Sinéad, The Cranberries and many other household names – but now he’s gone centre-stage himself as the composer of The General soundtrack. JOE JACKSON meets RICHIE BUCKLEY. Pix: Mick Quinn
Beaten down by the acrimonious collapse of In Tua Nua and lifted up by a hard-fought victory over cancer, leslie dowdall is back with a new album and new outlook on life. I m just delighted to have been given a second chance, she tells joe jackson. Pix: COLM HENRY.
Beaten down by the acrimonious collapse of In Tua Nua and lifted up by a hard-fought victory over cancer, Leslie Dowdall is back with a new album and new outlook on life. “I’m just delighted to have been given a second chance,” she tells Joe Jackson. Pix: COLM HENRY.
It's off to the most Northerly gig in the country with the island angels of Altan as Bill Graham spends a weekend in Donegal with our most dynamic traditional outfit and posits the theory that by looking to the past for inspiration Altan may hold a significant key to the future.
His career was almost over before it began. But hard work - and a surprise hit - have turned Edmund 'Mundy' Enright into one of Ireland's most widely adored stars. Here he reflects on some of the high points of what has been an amazing journey, during the course of which he has rubbed shoulders with some of the greats.
To coincide with the release of the Today FM DJ’s double-CD compilation tracking the history of alternative rock in Ireland, Tom Dunne talks to Jackie Hayden about the state of Irish music, singer-songwriters versus guitar bands and the role of Irish radio.
Though their second album, All The Way From Tuam, has yet to hit the shops in Britain, The Sawdoctors are beginning to pack em in in the strangest of places like Norwich and Leeds. Bill Graham talks to Leo Moran about the band s phenomenal success to date and, against a backdrop of cynicism among rock s self-conscious cognoscenti, asks the perennial question: what is hip?
He’s a legend, an icon and a farmer. His hit singles tally in this country is surpassed only by Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard. He is, above all else, the man who brought... ...us ‘Do You Want Your Old Lobby Washed Down’ and ‘Carrots From Clonoun’. Behold the unexpurgated brendan shIne on sex, drugs, drink, the accordion, grunge, GATT and Donie Cassidy’s wig. Interview: Liam Fay. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
It’s getting rather crowded round at Singer-Songwriter Towers, but Declan O’Rourke’s first full album suggests he’s too good not to be given his own room.
NIALL STOKES takes a very personal journey back through the music and memories of a friendship with a man he was proud to have known
THE DRIVE to Cork was a lonely one. Ry Cooder on the deck, that sweet slide guitar shooting off tracers: the memories, stacked up like a vast
rack of on-line CDs, kept slipping in and out of the engagement slot. No need ever to press the play button. Now and then I had to hold back the
tears as the music of past friendship flooded the car and, with it, a terrible awareness of all the things that might have, but hadn't, been done.
The news of Rory Gallagher s tragic death has sent seismic shock waves through the music world. Here was a man who managed to combine the gift of being an authentic creative genius with the even rarer gift of being a genuinely decent, honourable human being. Over the next six pages, Hot Press pays tribute to both the legend and the person, with contributions from the stars, friends, fans and colleagues who were touched by the Gallagher magic, and takes a trip through the backpages of an extraordinary career.
Don’t let her steal your heart away!
sheryl crow: Hot Press Readers’ Love Of The Year and Bob Dylan’s favourite singer-songwriter is the hottest new star in rock'n'roll. Helena Mulkerns charts the singular rise of Kennet, Missouri’s most celebrated slacker country queen.
You will cheer, You will scowl, You will stare in disbelief - but don't blame us...
'cos it's all your fault! Yep, it's the Hot Press Reader's poll Results.
With Cameron Crowe s Almost Famous putting rock hackery on the silver screen, no less, Peter Murphy wonders if Seventies rock journalism is the new rock n roll. Helping him with his enquiries: PAUL MORLEY and GREIL MARCUS
MIKE SCOTT once fronted the greatest rock n roll band in the world, but before the world got a chance to wake up to the fact he had gone west and invented raggle taggle. Now with a new Waterboys album, A Rock In The Weary Place, just released, Scott takes time out to reflect on his strange but true adventure. By PETER MURPHY
Galway based, Dingle native Pauline Scanlon has a lot going for her on this impressive debut, not least of them a distinctive, occasionally beguiling voice, which seems to soar several miles above the varied arrangements on offer here.
Not an official release in the strictest sense, this in-store sampler serves as a timely reminder – if one were needed - of the quality, variety and commercial potential of the current batch of homegrown releases.
Journey is not merely a trawl through the ubiquitous Donal Lunny's back pages but a compulsory purchase potted summary of three decades of Irish trad and the company it's been keeping.
Spilllane’s trademark sweetly elegant delivery ensures the album doesn’t take itself too seriously, and for all their gloominess, these tracks exhibit Spillane’s remarkably prolific output of gorgeous, peaceful tunes.
The Magnetic Fields' Stephin (sic) Merritt was of course simply havin' a larf when he wrote those lines but he put his finger on something here all the same.
Ten years on we come upon a timely update showcasing some of the artists featured on the first album as well as a pleasure cruise through some not catered for back then
THESE TWO compilations have been released to commemorate the tenth anniversary of promoter Vince Power's hugely successful annual celebration of Irish music.
THE BALLOT–BOXES HAVE BEEN OPENED, THE VOTES SCRUTINISED UNDER THE STRICTEST OF SECURITY AND NOW THE RETURNING OFFICER STEPS UP ONTO THE STAGE TO ANNOUNCE THE RESULTS OF THE 1993 HOT PRESS READERS’ POLL
Siobhán Long was at the Olympia Theatre to hear Ireland’s finest musicians
pay their respects to the much lamented Altan flautist who died last September.
The event, sponsored by Smithwicks/Hot Press, was a truly memorable and moving occasion.
ELEANOR MacEVOY has a lot to answer for. Without her that little vessel that goes lub-a-dub-dub every time a stethoscope gets near it would still be languishing in the advertising pages of the Irish Medical Times, all arteries and veins, but no soul.
There’s nobody else quite like Damien Dempsey. His vocal style is very much an acquired taste. It takes a few listens before you start liking it, but after a while and you wonder where he’s been all your life.
With The Book Of Lightning, Waterboys fans will be thrilled to have Mike Scott back on form, while the uninitiated will get a chance to understand what all the fuss was about.
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.
Annual article: With Compass Records taking over the Green Linnet catalogue, the Nashville label has now become one of the biggest traditional imprints in the business.
One of the most influential trad bands of the past quarter century, De Dannan have set out on the comeback trail - and they’re kicking their resurrection off with a comeback show to remember.
The Critics Panel who voted for the Top 30 Albums and Singles of the Year are as follows: Bill Graham, Liam Fay, George Byrne, Stuart Clark, Lorraine Freeney, Tara McCarthy, Gerry McGovern, Neil McCormick, Dermot Stokes, Oliver P. Sweeney, Siobhan Long, Steve Averill, Andy Darlington, Colm O’Hare, Joe Jackson, Niall Crumlish, Olaf Tyaransen, Patrick Brennan, Nicholas G. Kelly, Jackie Hayden and Niall Stokes.
Following the demise of the Music Board last year, hopes are high that the incoming Culture Ireland committe will herald a new era in state support for traditional music. Plus the usual round-up of trad and folk news from around the country.
A new initiative from Musicbase could help to win more airspace for Irish music here. It's just one of a range of ideas floated by industry leaders. Report: NIALL CRUMLISH.
Last week, I was surprised – and rather tickled, if the truth be known – to get a call from Larry Bass, CEO of Screentime ShinAwiL, the production company behind You’re A Star – the third series of which is set to take the headline slot on RTÉ every Sunday night for 17 weeks commencing in November.
Now that American rock ’n’ roll has succumbed to its self-destructive urges and with its British counterpart reduced to self-indulgent navel exercises, the stage is now set for the radical rejuvenation of Irish music both as an international commercial viability and as a cultural touchstone for the new generation at home. Bill Graham meets philip king, the captain of the flagship of the latest revival river of sound, and finds that in the wake of the Riverdance phenomenon, it’s full steam ahead for Irish trad. Pix: NUTAN.
THE USUAL people have been spluttering the usual outrage since the revelation in the Sunday Tribune (August 29th) that a former senior civil servant, Michael Lillis, met Gerry Adams on two occasions earlier this year to discuss peace in the North.
As the Irish Music Industry hurtles towards the next millenium, Colm O’Hare reports that the philosophy of the key players is to accentuate the positive and keep both feet on the peddle. Anyway, nobody ever said that world domination would be easy . . .
Well, reader, we ve finally reached the end of our journey, after navigating our way across the length and breadth of the 32 counties (and detouring briefly to New York for a tincture of the tastiest in that honorary 33rd county).
As St Patrick’s Day approaches, what better time to celebrate all that’s great about Irish culture. From music and film to food and literature, Ireland has always punched far above its weight.
It reads like a scene from Twin Peaks but turns out to be far stranger than any fiction. Bill Graham dons his best John Travolta strides and eavesdrops on the American slants being given to Irish traditions at the Green Linnet Folk Weekender.
Pix: DAVID NEWTON.
