You’ve never seen them like this before. Now available on DVD with extra features and footage, the new edition of The Beatles Anthology is as close to a definitive visual tale of the band as we’re ever likely to get. Producer Chips Chipperfield tells Colm O’Hare how it came together
Twenty-three year old Thea Gilmore may have five albums and a record label to her name, but she still give kudos to ma and pa. Born and raised in rural Oxfordshire, her Irish parents – “quite liberal characters” – gave her a carefree upbringing and a healthy musical nourishment.
Officially the Beatles’ recorded swansong, Abbey Road reflected the growing rift between McCartney and Lennon, proving that the Beatles as a collaborative unit were over. Ironically, it made for some of the most beautiful and harmonically accomplished music of the band’s career.
GEORGE MARTIN was intrinsic to much of The Beatles brilliance. Now he s coming to Dublin for a series of special concerts. GEORGE BYRNE sets the scene.
Panic At The Disco frontman Brendon Urie talks about channelling The Beatles, recording at Abbey Road and the influence on their music of Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk.
Liverpool's musical exports have included The Beatles, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Teardrop Explodes, Pete Burns, the KLF, the Lightning Seeds, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and many more. Mercury nominees The Coral are the latest scallywags to capture the attention of the music press who have picked up on their blend of classic rock influences and irreverent energy
In a Hot Press exclusive brian kennedy is interviewed by his friend Pat McCABE. On the agenda: Belfast, religion, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles and the current state of popular music. Pics: Cathal Dawson
Pigeon-hole them as Belfast hardcore merchants at your peril in the past few months Therapy? have released two classic punk-pop EPs that shook the British charts, and even got them into the pages of teen-bible Smash Hits. As they begin recording their new LP, they take time out to get nervous about Fiile, get angry about the Beatles, and explain why the days of the nine-minute instrumental epic are over. Interview: Lorraine Freeney.
30 years after the savage Tate/LaBianca murders that epitomised the dark side of the American hippy dream, CHARLES MANSON aka God aka The Devil, continues to exert a potent influence on popular culture. In part one of a two-part feature, PETER MURPHY recalls the twisted vision of a charismatic man whose personal interpretation of The Beatles Helter Skelter helped give rise to one of the crimes of the century.
Although their previous studio album Revolver is now the more acclaimed, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is arguably The Beatles' most famous work and the one that had most influence on the music and society of its time.
From the backstreets of Waterford to a place on the podium next to the Beatles, Gilbert O'Sullivan lived an extraordinary life. Now 60, he looks back on his rollercoaster career.
The hitherto undisclosed links between 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds' and Our Lady Of Fatima. Plus: Why the current impasse in the Peace Process reveals the fatal flaw in the Good Friday Agreement.
Ahead of his Dublin gig, Motown legend Smokey Robinson tells Hot Press what it was like running one of the greatest music labels in the history of pop music.
Noel Gallagher and Paul Arthurs of Oasis talk about their staggering rise from being unemployed no-hopers to Top Ten chart act striving to outshine T.Rex, The Beatles and Neil Young to name but three and show Tony Clayton-Lea how to order a peanut.
His decision to take care of business may have been a turning point but, at heart, Kieran Goss remains primarily preoccupied with his guitar and his pen.
Brian Wilson is among the most influential forces in modern music and created, in The Beach Boys' 1966 album Pet Sounds, what many music fans agree is the greatest record ever made. In February he takes his world tour to Dublin's Point Theatre and Stephen Robinson asks what's on the set-list
Carl Perkins, the rock pioneer who wrote Blue Suede Shoes and no less than four songs for the Beatles, is dead. ANDY DARLINGTON remembers his career from Sun Records and the legendary Million Dollar Quartet , through to Johnny Cash s Live At San Quentin . . . and a movie knife-fight with David Bowie
On the release of a double CD retrospective of his forty years as a performer-songwriter, Johnny McEvoy talks to Jackie Hayden about his early days as Ireland’s answer to Bob Dylan, meeting the great man himself, supporting and introducing The Rolling Stones, defending The Wolfe Tones, not apologising for the troubles in the North, U2 and the key albums that have inspired him.
His admirers have included Kurt Cobain, Beck and Jack White. But Billy Childish is far from your average cult musician. He’s dabbled in conceptual art, is equally influenced by The Kinks and Joe Strummer and doesn’t listen to music – especially if it has anything to do with Leonard Cohen.
It is hardly a surprise to learn that the fifth Super Furry Animals’ album was due to be christened Text Messaging Is Killing The Pub Quiz As We Know It.
On the occasion of Mr McCartney’s recent visit to this country and in a welcome contribution to the on-going debate on the merits or otherwise of popular culture, our Mr Snort explains why the Beatles were a load of shite.
PIGEON-HOLE THEM AS BELFAST HARDCORE MERCHANTS AT YOUR PERIL - IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS THERAPY? HAVE RELEASED TWO CLASSIC PUNK-POP EP'S THAT SHOOK THE BRITISH CHARTS, AND EVEN GOT THEM INTO THE PAGES OF TEEN-BIBLE SMASH HITS. AS THEY BEGIN RECORDING THEIR NEW LP, THEY TAKE TIME OUT TO GET NERVOUS ABOUT FEILE, GET ANGRY ABOUT THE BEATLES, AND EXPLAIN WHY THE DAYS OF THE NINE-MINUTE INSTRUMENTAL EPIC ARE OVER. INTERVIEW: LORRAINE FREENEY
Dave Grohl looks back on 20 years of playing music and talks about the birth of his daughter, the trapped Beaconsfield Miners and why Neil Young is his hero.
As the new leader of the SDLP and Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland, MARK DURKAN will have plenty to occupy his mind in 2002. Here he talks about the early death of his father, politics and paramilitaries in the North, the Dublin/Monaghan bombings, his opposition to Sellafield and membership of Greenpeace – and what Mo Mowlam might have piped into the Good Friday talks!
Words: JOE JACKSON
it goes without saying that the 78 mins 53 secs you will spend in the company of Love will contain more instances of genius than the combined efforts of the class of ‘06 put together.
DAVE FANNING meets the inimitable ROBBIE WILLIAMS to talk about his latest album, his battles with the booze, the Take That legacy, his desire to play a politically incorrect James Bond, a vaguely remembered visit to Bono s loo and why he loves and hates The Beatles
Regarded by many as The Beatles’ finest work, and coming a mere eight months after the superb Rubber Soul, their seventh album Revolver was light years further on in terms of musical innovation, paving the way for the acid- and meditation-fuelled psychedelia to come, and pioneering lyrical invention that thrashed the conventions of the pop song.
He believes that country music can make people "turn their hearts away from sin." He also believes that Jerry Lee, Elvis and The Beatles failed to answer the call of Jesus and that many rock groups - U2 consPICUOUSLY not included - are now doing the devil's work. JOE JACKSON hears the gospel according to Ricky Skaggs.
The author and former Conservative MP on clashing with Ian Paisley, shaking hands with Gerry Adams, sex and drugs in the house of commons, what Margaret Thatcher did and didn’t know about her closest aides and why kissing and telling on John Major is justified
A breathtaking variety of acts have come together - as Lennon might have put it - to focus attention on the ongoing genocide in Darfur, under the auspices of Amnesty International.
Johnny Ray invented rock ’n’ roll. Elvis Presley marked the beginning of the downfall of popular music. The Beatles only ever wrote one great song. Cranky stuff maybe, but when the speaker is Tony Bennett – the man Sinatra called “The best singer in the business” – you have to listen. Joe Jackson does and, in this exclusive interview, hears how a Jewish-Italian New York kid grew up to be a musical legend, a respected painter and a man who, at 67, can still kick ’90s rock off MTV.
After his celebrated band the blades failed to make a breakthrough in the 1980s, PAUL CLEARY more or less turned his back on music for 15 years. But now unexpectedly, he’s back with a terrific solo album crooked town and more than a few tales to tell.
Interview: LIAM MACKEY
For many people it is U2's greatest album. Twenty years on, to mark it's re-release, Colm O'Hare talks to Daniel Lanois and reflects on the extraordinary background to a monumental album.
Citing influences from The Beatles and the Beach Boys to Steve Earle and Ron Sexsmith, Sundrive combine the best of their favorite bands to create their own brand of guitar pop. This subdued single is a departure from their previous upbeat release, ‘A Day Like Today,’ but the result is successful and proves that they’re a versatile outfit.
The Urges are a Dublin outfit who style themselves on '60s Britpop. While they are technically faithful to the genre, 'Around & Around Again' in essence sounds like The Beatles, The Kinks, The Coral and The Hives arguing over the guitar not being twangy enough and sticking knitting needles into the amp.
Are Ash reinventing themselves as some kind of Sparklehorse/Super Furry Animals hybrid? Because, on the strength of this single, you’d swear they’d pulled off just such a transformation. They’ve given free rein to their pop sensibilities with a chorus as wide as an open horizon, while the Beatles plunge that leads into the second verse certainly shivered my timbers. Elsewhere, the guitar solo flickers to a blaze big enough to convince us that the Ash we know and love are still in there somewhere. It’s a belter – the sound of a summer we haven’t yet been given.
The Beatles and the Stones should, by rights, have been assigned to some sort of rock’n’roll museum by now – nice to look at, but surely irrelevant in this day and age.
Messiah J & The Expert and Captain Moonlight have some competition in the credible Irish hip hop stakes with the emergence of teen rapper Maverick Sabre.
There’s enough 1970s-style rock and roll on this wildly eclectic album to boot it firmly out of the folk category. But with the likes of Andy Irvine, Martin Hayes, Cara Dillon and Bert Jansch on board as well, who’s to argue? Besides, it’s a good cause. With all profits going to the Ulster Wildlife Trust and the WWF, this labour of love by music journo Colin Harper is – amazingly – the first wildlife charity recording since the Beatles gave ‘Across The Universe’ to No One’s Gonna Change Our World back in 1969.
If, like me, you never quite forgave the Beatles for calling it a day and never allowed yourself to get to know them properly ever afterward, this is what we were missing
The good news is that Holes In The Wall doesn't sound like the product of teen angst, instead coming on like it has been well-drilled in classic British rock, from The Beatles through to Oasis
Cajun Dance Party, the band most likely to be sent to the headmaster’s office for being too twee, know all about youthful abandon – they're currently studying for their A-Levels.
The lion’s share of I'll Be Lightning is an impressive, pleasantly surprising record. There's evidence of timeless songcraft, but there’s a welcome element of whimsy here, too.
Brendan Wade and Paul Bell have both enjoyed long and varied musical careers. Now as THE SWANS they speak to ADRIENNE MURPHY about their soon-to-be-released new album.
In the words of visionary film-maker David Cronenberg, "There are records you listen to when you want diversion, and there are records you go to when you're in spiritual trouble." We asked an array of today's brightest stars to tell us about the artists they feel provide the greatest sustenance in time of turmoil and upheaval.
When Rubyhorse quit their native Cork for the US in 1997, they had no game plan. Now they’re being hailed as one of the rock hopes for 2003, with appearances on Letterman and Conan O’Brian to their credit – as well as an extraordinary collaboration with the late George Harrison.
When it comes to meeting musical legends, few people have hobbed with as many rock ’n’ roll nobs as Blondie.
Kicking back before their recent Vicar St. show – an amazing night, in case you’re wondering – Clem Burke and Chris Stein are recalling some of their choicest encounters.
Erasure - namely Vince Clarke and Andy Bell have been creating electronic pop for over a decade. John Walshe catches up with them on a recent promotional tour.
It’s hard to believe, we know, but occasionally Dave Fanning likes to put his feet up and switch off from the outside world. Who would have thought, though, that he’d have such an interest in kitchen renovation?
While the word pop currently raises the hackles of anyone who considers themselves a music fan, Pugwash’s Thomas Walsh, whose music is influenced by the move, XTC and the Kinks, is attempting to set the record straight
The most brilliantly outspoken mind in rock’n’roll, or just a mouthy Sheffielder who says mean things about Johnny Borrell? As the second REVEREND AND THE MAKERS album hits the shelves, Celina Murphy chases down the ever-intriguing Jon McClure.
In the first part of a two part special on the vital areas of songwriting, publishing and copyright, Jackie Hayden talks to Irish singer-songwriter Kieran Goss about his craft, on the eve of the release of the Northerner's new album Red Letter Day, his follow-up to the multi-platinum Worse Than Pride.
tim rogers, frontman of Australian popsters you am i, talks to nick kelly about the primeval forces that made him want to get into the rock n roll business.
Russian born, New York reared, Regina Spektor writes songs that seem to inhabit their own dark little world. No wonder she’s been compared to both Tori Amos and the anti-folk movement.
Who better to launch this year’s Music Show than Irish band of the moment The Script? In a taster of what to expect from October’s RDS weekender, Danny, Glen and Mark treated a roomful of fans, music students and industry professionals to their thoughts on illegal downloading, songwriting, the dreaded Auto-tune and touring with Macca and U2.
The work of Birr fashion illustrator Sorcha O’Raghallaigh is attracting nods of approval even from those who have little interest in fashion. Jackie Hayden talks to her as her second exhibition comes to Dublin.
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.
Horslips axeman Johnny Fean is honouring us with a masterclass at the upcoming Music Show in the RDS. Here, he talks about his formative influences and Horslips’ upcoming reunion
Anointed by the blogosphere, Tapes ‘N Tapes are just about the hottest thing in indie rock right now. Despite his rather fraught stage persona, frontman Josh Grier turns out to be a picture of charm. And no, he can’t explain the slightly silly name either.
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.
Stuart Clark joins Bon Jovi for one wild night in Mexico city and hears how the band survived drink, drugs, dodgy haircuts and, ah, parasitical infections to hobnob with a beatle and stake their claim as “one of the best rock ’n’ roll bands on the planet”
Stuart Clark meets The Bellrays' vocalist Lisa Kekaula and hears how she developed that voice, why Lemmy is a big fan and why she's in bed with Alan McGee
The boy from San Diego, Jason Mraz, earned enough kudos with his debut album, Waiting For My Rocket To Come, to convince famed U2 man Steve Lillywhite to produce its sequel Mr. A-Z.
They've ditched the tweed and taken their music in a darker direction. The Young Knives talk about Gilbert and George, the Mercurys and Thom Yorke's seaside hideaway.
Imagine the scene. It is August 15th, 1977. Joe Jackson of Hot Press arrives at Graceland, to do the ultimate interview with Elvis Presley. Elvis is in the music room,seated at the piano and singing 'Blue
Eyes Cryin In The Rain'. They sit down across the table, Jackson pushes the record button - and so begins the final interview with the greatest rock'n'roll star of them all
The Black Crowes! Blowjobs! Journey! Drink! Bob Seger! Vick’s inhaler! and why Keith Duffy is more fun than the Manic Street Preachers! Stereophonics let their hair down in the company of Stuart Clark
Paul McCartney talks of life after linda, September 11th and the memories of his firefighter father, being 'lucky enough' to write with John Lennon and his new solo album, Driving Rain
She's the hard-rocking- and by all accounts, hard-drinking- Norwegian indie-babe sensation. Ida Maria tells us about the rare condition that lets her see music as colour and more.
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.
Though soaked in the musical culture of Southern California, female-fronted indie quartet Saucy Monky say there’s an undeniably Irish strain to their music.
Emerging Scottish indie band The Emperor’s New Clothes insist they are not the emperor’s new clothes, as some cynical rock journalists have recently claimed. The Glasgow quintet are one of the new wave of Scottish bands currently hogging the rock limelight.
We’ve been banging on for months about the utter fabulousness of CAT MALOJIAN - now, with the release of their latest album, the rest of the world is set to get a taste of their genius too.
He wasn’t going to sing and then he sang. He wasn’t going to talk to the press and then he talked. And, finally, when he was good and ready, Paul McCartney wowed an audience with his greatest hits. Stuart Clark sees Macca in Manchester warming up for Dublin
Our correspondent road-tests a rare but legal herb which might offer him an epic, life-affirming religious moment or make him feel like a mere atom in a speck of dirt up some earthworm's arse. How did he fare? Read on...
Annual article: Bright young things like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen captured the HP critics’ hearts this year, though they somehow neglected Johnny Cash and Mark Lanegan...
Glaswegian quartet TRAVIS may have spent much of the last year playing
support to Manc legends Oasis, but deep down, all they want to do is rock. Interview: NICK KELLY
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
No, she doesn’t hate Tim Wheeler but yes, she does look up her own chart position first. A solo Charlotte Hatherly on Bowie, Star Wars and life with and without Ash.
Reformed baa-aaa-aad boys pet lamb are back with a new album that's going to make Roadrunner sorry they ever dropped them. Getting the wool pulled over her eyes: Adrienne Murphy.
englebert humperdinck s legendary career stretches over the past 30 years. Now, however, it s reinvention ahoy! as he releases . . . a dance album. adrienne murphy meets The King Of Romance and is told she has a beautiful handshake .
The taut, stripped-down techno of Berlin's Get Physical is at the bleeding edge of contemporary dance music. Now the label has released its first mix album.
Responsible dad or not, Liam Gallagher is still capable of some serious rock’n’roll hellraising and giving good quote. Roy Keane, Patsy Kensit, Nicole Appleton, Yoko Ono, Bono and magic mushrooms are all on the agenda as the Oasis singer shoots from the hip. Getting the beers in: Olaf Tyaransen
How Eric Eckhart quit his swish job, sold his house and cars, split with his girlfriend and burned his picket fence in order to pursue his creative vision.
From Yorkshire to the former USSR, from Leeds to Kiev, from The Wedding Present to their latest CD Kultura, THE UKRAINIANS are a unique band. ANDY DARLINGTON submits a political, sociological and musical report on their progress so far.
They may have been one of the most consistently hotly-tipped bands in Ireland over the past three years but Lir are still mere babes in the great rock’n’roll scheme of things. It’s ironic then that they should so often be accused of harking back to the ’70s. Interview: Jackie Hayden
The producers of choice for everyone from Justin Timberlake to Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo are also earning plaudits for their rock and hip-hop influenced side project, N*E*R*D
They’re the unsung heroes of plaintive Irish pop. Ahead of a new run of live shows, Saville talk guitars, pedals and Wurlitzers – and explain why musicians should be prepared for the worst whenever they go on stage.
STUART CLARK DISCOVERS HOW IT TAKES 14 YEARS TO BECOME AN OVERNIGHT SENSATION WHEN HE DISCUSSES FAME, FORTUNE AND BELINDA CARLISLE'S SEEDY PUNK PAST WITH REDD KROSS MAINMAN STEVE McDONALD
Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes, from Death in Vegas, explain how they survived Big Beat, made one of the albums of the year and ended up working with their heroes.
Interview: EAMON SWEENEY.
Adam Duritz of Counting Crows and Kieran Kennedy a mutual appreciation society that went public during the Heineken Green Energy Festival get together to discuss songwriting, critics, genius, mediocrity and what it takes to be a rock n roll outlaw. Referee: PETER MURPHY.
Did you ever find yourself wondering ‘Where have I heard that song before?’ Well, Andy Darlington may be able to help as he trawls through the tangled undergrowth of that increasingly common phenomenon: The Cover Version
UK white hopes mansun have toned down their visual image but their music remains as defiantly maverick and angular as ever. Interview: deirdre cartmill.
Their debut Hot Fuss sold over 4 million copies and in the process set The Killers up as one of the brightest young hopes of the modern era. On the eve of the release of their second album Sam’s Town, the band look like settling for nothing less than U2-sized supremacy. Now, if only Brandon Flowers would shave off that, ahem, controversial face fuzz.
With presenter John Creedon on a roll with his new mid-afternoon slot on RTE Radio 1, Jackie Hayden crosses the threshold of his Cork abode to see what the man gets up to away from the mike.
To mark the release of her new album And Winter Came, Enya talks about quietly becoming a phenomenon and explains why it may at last be time to head out on the road.
A New Jersey-ite Eurocentric who mixes the buttoned-up gravitas of Dusty Springfield and Karen Carpenter with the lush orchestral tapestries of Bacharach and Spector. A Girl Called Eddy’s bohemian rhapsody is well worth acquainting yourself with.
Roll out the Union Jack and strike up the first verse of Rule Britannia. Al Murray is bringing his pub landlord character back to Dublin. Looking forward to the gig, Murray talks about stripping to his boxers in front of Dita Von Teese and hanging out with Phil Collins and Alex James (while remaining fully clothed).
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.
As the management force behind Boyzone, Westlife and Samantha Mumba, LOUIS WALSH is Ireland s Mr. Pop. In a candid interview with Joe Jackson he talks about his relationships with his acts, the ones that got away, the importance of the producer, the uselessness of critics and why he s unlikely to end up managing Van Morrison. Portraits: Cathal Dawson
Neil Young is God, the Riot Grrrls are a cod and Hot Press is the greatest music magazine in the Northern hemisphere. So says Monica Queen of ‘hard alternative country rock band’ thrum. Interview: Patrick Brennan.
After five years of hard graft and dedicated shoegazing, The Boo Radleys came up with Giant Steps, an album so ambitious in scope that it’s been perched at the top spot of many end-of-year polls and has seen them heralded as the new Best Band In Britain.
Interview: LORRAINE FREENEY
From Chet Baker through Joe Cocker to The Cranberries, the world of music owes the late Denny Cordell an enormous debt. Bill Graham pays tribute to an inspirational craftsman who made Ireland his final home and resting place.
Silence. there is all too little of it. Elevators whimper with muzak, grocery stores boom non-stop consumer announcements , college dormitories wail a grotesque collage of Robbie Williams and The Doors.
Jeremy Hickey, aka Rarely Seen Above Ground, has become one of the most acclaimed artists in the Irish indie scene. He talks about the intriguing origins of his unique musical style.
Donegal three-piece The Revs have in two short years become one of the country's most successful independent outfits, but, as Nadine O'Regan discovers, the majors are beckoning
As the countdown to the 4th Hot Press Bacardi Unplugged final continues,
JACKIE HAYDEN speaks out against those who would protray band competitions as irrelevant anachronisms.
Super Furry Animals are yet another Welsh band poised for huge success on the back of their new album. They talk to STUART CLARK about their rejection of Brit Pop, strange Japanese fans and the glory days of The Free Wales Army. Pics of Super Furry Animals with super furry animals: Mick Quinn.
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
Having built up a solid reputation on the gigging circuit, blues outfit Ali and The DTs have just released their debut album. Harp player Christian Volkmann discusses the details of their unique sound with Colm O’Hare.
He’s Ireland’s latest singer-songwriter sensation. But Colm Lynch is no mere Damien Rice clone. In fact, his debut album, A Whisper In A Riot might be the most exciting thing you’ve heard in years.
After enjoying spectacular success in the early 1970’s, Gilbert O’Sullivan suddenly found his career brought to an involuntary halt by legal red tape that took five years to unravel. The Waterford singer–songwriter managed to survive those dark days, though, and is now back doing what he loves best – playing live and making records.
By rights that should make him a happy man, but, as Joe Jackson discovers when he locks horns with the former ‘Bisto Kid’, there are certain aspects of the past that are hard to reconcile.
Compositional genius, musical visionary, tormented genius – Brian Wilson is many things, but a garrulous interviewee is not one of them. Peter Murphy undergoes strenuous discourse with one of the true icons of ‘60s culture.
In another case of “Bono made me do it”, former hotpress-er and U2 biographer Neil McCormick explains to Jackie Hayden how he ended up living near Bob The Builder and about the travails of interviewing all four U2 men on four different continents in the same evening. Photos by Mark Harrison.
The college circuit is an important stepping stone in rock music around the world. While the potential remains unfulfilled in Ireland, there’s a new breed of Ents Officer who are aiming higher.
Having written his own obituary on his latest album, RANDY NEWMAN rises from the grave to discuss love, age, irony, honesty, the importance of melody and the tightrope act of being an idealist in pessimist's clothing. JOE JACKSON helps roll away the stone.
UNLESS YOU’VE BEEN FREQUENTING THE LATE-NIGHT HOSTELRIES OF DUBLIN, YOU’RE UNLIKELY TO HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO ENGAGE IN A BATTLE OF WITS, ER, MANO A MANO, WITH ACE QUIZ MASTER GEORGE “I KNOW A LOT MORE THAN YOU DO” BYRNE. WORRY NOT. THAT’S WHAT THE HOT PRESS QUIZ OF THE YEAR IS FOR. NOW GO FOR IT. SECONDS OUT!
Richard Ashcroft spent the best part of the ’90s on a quest to make one of the great rock albums with The Verve. Having succeeded with Urban Hymns, he promptly broke up the band. Now, with the imminent release of his second solo album, Human Conditions, an upbeat Ashcroft discusses his excitement about collaborating with Brian Wilson, his youthful adventures in clubland, and why The Verve had to split
On the eve of Kraftwerk’s headlining appearance at the Electric Picnic, mainman Ralf Hütter talks with rare candour about David Bowie, U2, hip-hop, cycling and why sometimes even man-machines have to smile.
There’s no argument. The Rolling Stones new record Voodoo Lounge finds the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world of yore back in fighting trim, stomping out that distinctive blend of musical mayhem we know and love in positively swaggering style – good enough, some would say, to see off any contenders to their coveted throne. At the centre of this triumphant return to form is one Michael Philip Jagger, who sounds lean, mean, hungry and ready for the fray. Here he raps with Don Was – producer of Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Was Not Was, Bonnie Raitt and of course The Rolling Stones – about the primeval power of music and how to keep on doing it even at the grand old age of twenty (Sorry! I’ll read that again) . . .
dEUS are winning over more and more fans with their idiosyncratic, guitar-based songs. NICK KELLY met lynchpin TOM BARMAN to talk about love, loss and famous Belgians. Pics: CATHAL DAWSON.
Cocooned in the twilight zone of superstardom since he was a child, and living with a father who sexually abused and terrorised his own children, it was no wonder that MICHAEL JACKSON developed some strange tendencies. Why was a thirty-five-year-old man so intent on befriending pre-teenage kids, and whisking them around the world with him? Given Jackson's own transparent childishness, it all seemed so innocent - until accusations of sexually using the children he befriended exploded last month. Reflections: OLAF TYARANSEN
It s re-introductions all round, as the Starman embarks on a hazardous solo mission. Stuart Bailie records him taking one giant leap for a man.
The Starman walks into a public bar in Chorlton and looks for a quiet spot. The old regulars at the back are nudging each other. They re sure that they recognise the face
and the style of a traveller who s been all the way up there and back.
Their debut album Hopes And Fears launched a host of hit singles, going on to become one of the most successful British records of the past five years. But, their indie background notwithstanding, Keane have still been dismissed by some self-styled aficionados as just too nice to be considered real rock'n'rollers. "If only people knew," says lead singer Tom Chaplin.
Still making great music after all these years, Van Morrison is an Irish genius worthy of comparison with the most enduring ’60s legends such as Bob Dylan and Neil Young
U2 and Ash played Belfast to support the Yes Vote in the Belfast Agreement. Hot Press columnist Stuart Bailie was the compére for the evening. And it rocked, big style.
In a rare interview, US alt culture icon Tom Waits talks to Dave Fanning about touring with Zappa, getting the nod of approval from Dylan, his fastidious approach to songwriting and why Bill Hicks remains America’s foremost political commentator
DOMINO RECORDS has released some of the most essential music of the 90 s by the likes of Sebadoh, Palace Brothers, and Elliott Smith. NICK KELLY talks to lynchpin Laurence Bell and one member of the label s current roster, Stephen Pastel of The Pastels.
placebo have probably garnered more column inches in the British press for frontman
brian molko s effeminate appearance than for their music.
colm o hare meets the men who want to be a band that parents hate .
They looked great, played great, wrote great songs and, in PAUL CLEARY had a frontman with bundles of charisma. Yet THE BLADES never followed U2 into the stratosphere. On the occasion of the release of a retrospective set GEORGE BYRNE rewinds the tape
Astronomical record sales, sell-out tours and critical plaudits have not dimmed Coldplay's reputation as the worried men of pop. Bassist Guy Berryman gives us the lowdown.
Pete Cummins, has just released his first album as a solo performer, from which the single ‘Flowers In Baghdad’ was picked up by Neil Young’s website chart
Veteran 2FM DJ Larry Gogan was honoured by IRMA earlier this month, in recognition of the forty years he has spent at the top of his profession. To mark the occasion, Hot Press catches up with the presenter to discuss the beginnings of his career during the showband era, how Irish music has changed down through the years – and the time he earned Larry Mullen's thanks for playing U2 records despite the protestations of station chiefs.
Court cases! Vintage wines! Smack! Bad craziness! A burst pancreas! And a chart-topping album! It can only be the posthumous but never-ending saga of the defining rock band of the ’80s and ’90s. Stuart Clark gets the latest from Duff McKagan
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
Why are four Birmingham lads skulking through Barna Woods in Galway, and why is there a camera crew following them around? john walshe met up with ocean colour scene on the set of their new video, Traveller s Tune . Pix: AENGUS McMAHON.
Razorlight have catapulted to superstar status with their No. 1 single 'America'. As they prepare to wow Oxegen this weekend, we talk to mainman Johnny Borrell about cricket, saving the planet and dating Kirsten Dunst.
The release of Born may confirm that hothouse flowers are back to their blooming best, but as john walshe discovers, liam, peter and fiachna have a few vinyl skeletons in the closet. Readers of a nervous disposition are advised to proceed with care.
One of the most distinctive and colourful characters in Dail Eireann, Junior Minister WILLIE O’DEA is also passionate about his commitment to reforming adult education. Here he talks to Joe Jackson about his brief, about Michael Noonan, Frank McCourt and “Stab City”, and about his recent outspoken comments on taxi drivers, political donations and other controversies. And, yes, he admits he did inhale and was “legless” the night he got elected
SEBADOH, for so long the epitome of the slacker rock band,
seem poised to finally make the breakthrough.
NICK KELLY met them in Dublin only to be asked for cocaine,
and told that Kurt Cobain was so lame he killed himself .
The Kooks' first album was a million-selling sensation. As they unleash the long-awaited sequel, frontman Luke Pritchard talks about the death of his father, his feud with television presenter Simon Amstell and much more...
The release of Born may confirm that Hothouse Flowers are back to their blooming best, but as John Walsh discovers, Liam, Peter and Fiachna have a few vinyl skeletons in the closet. Readers of a nervous disposition are advised to proceed with care.
After years of pushing the self- destruct button, Pete Doherty has proved his detractors wrong with a solo album that's on a par with anything he did with the Libertines.
OUT FROM BEHIND THE GREASE-PAINT THAT ADORNS HIS FACE ON THE COVER OF ‘SPIKE’, ELVIS COSTELLO EMERGES TO TALK ABOUT THE MUSIC THAT RUNS IN HIS FAMILY FROM BIG-BAND TO SPEED-METAL, HIS MUCH-TOUTED IRISH CONNECTION, WORKING WITH PAUL McCARTNEY, HIS CONTEMPT FOR MUCH OF TODAY’S POP MUSIC AND THE FEELINGS THAT INSPIRED HIS DEATH-WISH FOR MARGARET THATCHER.
To some it is the great white hope in the battle against illegal file-sharing, and the idea that music on the internet comes for free. But to others, it is another nail in the coffin for artists who earn a paltry sum for the streaming of their music.
In Belfast recently for the Film Festival, Albert Maysles talks to Tara Brady about his early days with the Drew Collective and the challenges he faced pioneering fly-on-the-wall documentary making.
They may sport one of the most original sounds in rock’n’roll – but along the way they’ve been influenced by some of the greats.
STUART BAILIE identifies the ten (plus!) key influences on the music of U2
Hot Press persuaded NIALL STANAGE to become a busker for a day on the streets of Dublin. Here's his account of what happened. Cameo appearances: ALBERT REYNOLDS, TOM DUNNE, LORRAINE KEANE, LIAM MACKEY, 9-month-old EOIN BLAKELY, the GARDA SIOCHANA and a bunch of self-confessed "REBELS". Pics of the bunch: PETER MATTHEWS.
He's the godfather of English whimsy, the spiritual successor to Syd Barrett. So why the hell is Robyn Hitchcock sharing a pokey tour bus with three fifths of REM?
A frankly rather cynical Joe Jackson (no relation) suggests that love might not be the only reason that Lisa-Marie Presley's decided to become Mrs. Michael Jackson.
The Smiths: the band who helped re-write the book of guitar rock, the indie darlings who became mainstream legends, the dream of a group which gave the world the unique reality of Morrissey. guitarist Johnny Marr recalls the thrilling heyday of Manchester’s finest.
peter murphy meets the multi-faceted pelvis, whose debut album Who Are You Today marks them out as one of the most formidable new Irish
talents in years.
When the Be Here Now tour fell apart at the seams in 1997, the end seemed nigh for Britain’s biggest rock’n’roll band. Then Noel Gallagher gave up drugs and moved to the country. With a stunning new album on the way, the Oasis mainman tells Stuart Clark where it all went right.
With a career-best new album under their belts, Razorlight's Johnny Borrell talks about bling, mid-career reinvention and Britain's battle with metrosexuality.
Few Irish albums have been as eagerly awaited as THERAPY?’s Troublegum and while the jury has yet to deliver its final verdict, early indications suggest that the band from Larne may be about to fulfil their own prophecy and become multifuckingnationally huge. But does taking on the world mean having to compromise the hardcore principles they’ve fought so hard to protect?
ANDY CAIRNS and MICHAEL McKEEGAN tell Hot Press trouble-shooter GERRY McGOVERN that displaying your gums doesn’t mean having to sacrifice your teeth. Pix.: MICHAEL QUINN.
Peter Murphy considers Nirvana’s legacy and wonders will we ever hear their like again. Producer Butch Vig and Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age help him with his enquiries
Beginning 1989 as complete unknowns and ending it with a major international recording deal, two well-received singles and acres of press coverage, the scale of An Emotional Fish s progress has been the envy of their contemporaries. But how did the band go from being minnows to the catch of the year? Paddy Kehoe dons his waders to find out.
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
For the person in the eye of the storm, massive success can involve a titanic struggle. Especially when, as you’re trying to keep your bearings, ordinary life jumps up to punch you in the teeth. Now, after death, birth, fatigue, grief, joy and the "mindfuck" that is "the tidal wave of success," it is time, says David Gray, to get back to the music. and – whisper it – maybe even have a little holiday.
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.
They're fronted by a dead ringer for Xena, Warrior Princess; they've just won the Heineken Hot Press Best New Band Award; and, like inbreeding, they're big in Alabama. They're junkster, and here, deirdre o'neill and graham darcy tell jackie hayden exactly what they've been up to since they first "trespassed" on the American Dance Charts.
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.
Credible clothing at an affordable price, dressing up Pulp and remodelling Tony Blair as a transvestite it s all in a day s work for wayne hemingway of hip fashion label red or dead.
Interview: Olaf Tyaransen
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.
Or should that be Black pages? Mary Black and her long-time friend, producer and collaborator Declan Sinnott look back over ten years of solo work, and the steady progress which finds her ready to take on the world with her latest album, The Holy Ground. Interview: Joe Jackson.
Or should that be Black pages? Mary Black and her long-time friend, producer and collaborator Declan Sinnott look back over ten years of solo work, and the steady progress which finds her ready to take on the world with her latest album, The Holy Ground. Interview: Joe Jackson.
Or should that be Black pages? Mary Black and her long-time friend, producer and collaborator Declan Sinnott look back over ten years of solo work, and the steady progress which finds her ready to take on the world with her latest album. The Holy Ground. Interview: Joe Jackson
You cook them, we serve them up in the Q&A cantina. At the table to answer the questions posed, in our second serving this fortnight, by members of hotpress.com: Ash
Harder, faster, louder... Motorhead have been rocking the planet for the past 26 years. As they prepare to do battle again at the Xtreme festival, Lemmy answers your questions. Warts and all
The first time The Killers played Oxegen they fretted whether anyone would turn up to see them. Now they’re sweeping in to headline the main stage. They talk to us about being chased by papparazi, growing up in Middle America and sharing a bill with Bono and, er, Gary Barlow
One of the most familiar faces and voices in Irish broadcasting, Dave Fanning has interviewed just about every rock and movie star worth knowing. But here Olaf Tyaransen goes behind the public image to unearth some of his more secret history: working with the disgraced “Captain” Cooke; nude interviewing with U2; getting ripped off by the nanny; and much more.
40 years after the Clancy Brothers brought Irish ballads to an international audience and won famous fans like Bob Dylan, Tommy Makem is still committed to the power of song – but appalled at the way modern Ireland treats its own culture.
The Fathers of Heavy Metal? "That child is not mine!", roars JON LORD, who played keyboard through 25 years of DEEP PURPLE splits, reformations, recriminations and tears. Now he's got a new album and tour reuniting the classic "Deep Purple in Rock" formation to talk up, with side-swipes at Metallica, the David Coverdale/Jimmy Page album, and just why Coverdale's sexually explicit lyrics made the Lord "a tad embarrassed."
Interview ANDY DARLINGTON
He’s been at the helm with U2 since 1979. In the intervening time he’s been involved in every aspect of the career of the biggest rock band in the world. In a rare in-depth interview, Paul McGuinness talks about the highs and lows of managing the fab four and reflects on the State of the Nation and the implosion of the Irish economy.
Evan Dando of Lemonheads is one of rock's new wave of sex gods. But for a man of such apparently heavenly looks, he is rather short on statements of, er, philosophical gravitas. Bearing witness: TARA McCARTHY
Arising from the ashes of aborted supergroup Zwan, onetime Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan returns with a hotly anticipated solo debut. Still brimming with that patented goth angst, he tells Paul Nolan about his collaboration with fellow doom-merchant Robert Smith, his friendship with the two Davids – Lynch and Bowie – and, oh yeah, why he's still sore about the Pumpkins.
Best known for his Irish Times column An Irishman s Diary, KEVIN MYERS has been denounced as arrogant, bigoted, pompous and prejudiced. And those are just the people who like his witty writing! On the occasion of the publication of a collection of his writings, the journalist they either love or loathe talks to JOE JACKSON about class, prostitution, drugs, relationships, the North, Mary Ellen Synon and more. Photography: CATHAL DAWSON
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.
RICHARD THOMPSON s new album Mock Tudor consolidates his position as one
of the most articulate and influential songwriters around. GEORGE BYRNE met him.
It's Christmas, 1997 is drawing to a close and Noel Gallagher is in suitably reflective mood. "I can't be bothered writing music anymore", says the Oasis mainman before telling Stuart Clark precisely what he thinks of Liam, Meg, Sinéad O'Connor, that cunt Mick Jagger and England's chances of lifting the World Cup.
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.
As the final countdown to Blur’s Oxegen comeback gets underway, Alex James talks about falling in and out with his bandmates, collaborating with New Order’s Bernard Sumner – and why Clonakilty Black Pudding will definitely be on the band’s Punchestown rider.
From Dickie Valentine to The Darkness: Andy Darlington dusts the five decades of Christmas records and chats to Slade's Noddy Holder about his haunting ghost of Chris- singles Past.
Are Bono and the boys just a really good rock band or have they succeeded where the priests and politicians have failed and unlocked the neuroses of our colonial past? Joe Jackson indulges in a spot of cultural sparring with John Waters and finds the author of Race of Angels: Ireland and the Genesis of U2 well able to maintain his guard.
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.
Sprawling across four restless, angry and sometimes contradictory sides, "Rattle And Hum" is nothing less than U2's most ambitious album yet. Review by Bill Graham
In the last issue of Hot Press, Noel Gallagher said his piece - this time out it's brother Liam's chance to shoot from the lip, as only he can, on love, life, OASIS and the whole damn thing. Interview: GEORGE BYRNE.
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.
Robyn Hitchcock – wayward musical genius or fruitcake, depending on your point of view – is on the brink of even greater notoriety with the patronage of REM and the release of his strongest album to date. Andy Darlington does his best to uncover the man behind the mayhem.
Every Picture Tells A Story
You don’t have to hire the services of a professional photographer or the PR agency to help your band achieve world domination. But it certainly helps! Colm O’Hare offers some valuable advice to the would-be stars of tomorrow and talks to some music biz insiders who can point you in the right direction.
One of Ireland’s premier singer/songwriters whose work has been covered by Christy Moore and the Corrs, Jimmy MacCarthy’s latest album The Moment illustrates a lighter side to his character. Below Jimmy gives us the inside track on the songs, the singers and the craft of writing
The Boomtown Rats are undoubtedly the most important band ever to emerge from - or get out of - Ireland. They've had more front covers, appeared on more radio and TV shows and most importantly sold more records than any Irish group or artist has ever done.
How the mafia did Noel a favour by twatting Liam; the U2 song Oasis might cover; the most he’s spent on cocaine; a great night out in Ireland’ and what it will say on his tombstone. Noel Gallagher answers the reader’s questions. Turning up the heat Stuart Clark.
...or was it? U2's recent Irish dates were greeted with everything from wide-eyed adoration to open hostility. BILL GRAHAM was in the crowd at Pairc Uí Caoimh and the RDS and puts the Zoo TV experience into perspective. Pix: COLM HENRY
And that s just the band! Galway s finest, The Stunning, take time out from sticking pins in themselves as their debut album Paradise In The Picturehouse finds itself perched atop the Irish charts to explain the secret of their success to an attentive Michael O Hara, who undergoes a road to Damascus experience en route.
Although the acclaimed C Mon Kids was conspicuous by its absence from the
Best-Of-96 polls, The Boo Radleys sice and martin carr aren t bitter. As they prepare for an assault on the States, peter murphy gets the lowdown on their hatred of videos, their contempt for producers and their disapproval of outfits such as Dodgy, The Lightning Seeds and Everything But The Girl.
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
Nirvana - Ten years after. Peter Murphy talks to producer Butch Vig, musician Mark Lanegan and critic Greil Marcus, and gets the inside story of the making of Nevermind, the classic album that changed the face of music, unveiled the anthem 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and brought the world face to face with a screaming soul called Kurt Cobain.
With ‘Yellow’, Coldplay captured the imagination of even the most resistant of hard-boiled rock’n’roll cynics. Now, as A Rush Of Blood To The Head achieves lift-off in the U.S., even the sky is no longer the limit.
Morrissey famously said that he hoped the author would die in a motorway pile-up. David Crosby was freebasing when he gave him the best interview of his life. He once went a whole year without speaking to another human being. And now he s just updated his classic biography of The Byrds and made it five times longer. He s JOHNNY ROGAN, the rock biographer s rock biographer. And he s talking to Jonathan O Brien.
t certainly would, Joe. But you can have a toot on my megaphone if you like! Gavin Friday discusses the finer points of sexual politics not to mention the post-Freudian subtext to his stunning new meisterwork Shag Tobacco with Dr Joe Jackson. Our man in the white coat concluded: Gavin s time has come. But is the world finally read
It’s been a hell of a year for The Thrills, propelled from rehearsal rooms in rainy Dublin to a number one album, sell-out shows and limo-driven tours of L.A. at night. Hotpress catches up with the band as they kick off an irish homecoming trek with an exclusive Dublin fan club gig.
LIAM FAY gets a hot line to DAVID BYRNE on the eve of his Dublin concerts and found a pretty talkative head, discussing everything from Brazlian merengue music to Tommy Cooper.
MARILYN MANSON may be the epitome of Middle America's worst nightmare but, as STUART CLARK discovers, he's not that bad, really. On the agenda: Bono, Eminem, Moby, George W. Bush and the Columbine shootings
Jailed in the '70s and '80s for gun-running and membership of the IRA, Kerry-born MARTIN FERRIS was one of the most senior Republican figures in the south to throw his weight behind the Sinn Fiin-backed peace process. Now, a Kerry County Councillor with ambitions to take a Dail seat, Ferris has earned a particular reputation for being tough on drugs in his native Tralee.
Interview: NIALL STANAGE.
You re the frontman with The Stunning, you make an innocent remark about farmers and acid house and you end up creating banner headlines in The Western People. Lorraine Freeney assures Steve Wall that this is the sort of stuff Hot Press never stoop to, and also hears about the new album, Deco in The Commitments and the art of bridging the rural-urban divide.
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.
Once a rock’n’roll performer in his youth, CONOR McPHERSON has now graduated into one of Ireland’s brightest theatrical and literary talents. Still only in his mid-20s, he’s already written the screenplay of the acclaimed Irish thriller I Went Down, as well as several acclaimed plays, This Limetree Bower and his latest effort The Weir. Here, he talks to JOE JACKSON about the mixed reception he’s received from Irish theatre critics, and the influence of rock music on his work.
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
The boys are back in town for Galway s Big Beat and SHAUN RYDER is back in the saddle. I m actually now becoming some sort of poet-film-directing-intelligent-motherfucking-artist-luvvy-darling sort of guy and it s wonderful, he tells PETER MURPHY. Pics: Michael Quinn
The last 18 months have been a hell of a ride for The Thrills, catapulted from the relative obscurity of the south dublin suburbs to the top of the uk charts, rubbing shoulders with Van Dyke Parks and Peter Buck along the way. But are the band suffering from diver’s bends? is that laid-back california-in-my-mind facade starting to crumble? We put on our therapist’s hats and endeavour to find out, if something’s gotta give, what gives?
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
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 1993 going down as the year that Irish rock finally emerged from U2’s shadow, HOT PRESS takes an introductory look at four of the rapidly emerging outfits that are poised to make headlines and sell bucket–loads of records in ’94.
Schtum, Ash, Joyrider, Compulsion.
Determined to establish a firm identity for their second album, A House forsook exotic locations and took themselves off to Inishbofin to record I Want Too Much, musically and emotionally their starkest statement to date. Bill Graham met up with them to discuss their new-found assertiveness and discovered a band with a single-minded approach to the music industry and its numerous pitfalls
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
Over the past five years, Oklahoma psych-pop practitioners The Flaming Lips have become perhaps the foremost cult band of their generation. Olaf Tyaransen caught up with the Lips’ main man Wayne Coyne at the Jack Daniels birthday bash in Tennessee to discuss life, love, major label patronage and the vexed question of whether or not there’s life on Mars.
As the founder of Island Records Chris Blackwell can claim a unique role in the evolution of popular music. He pulls up a chair and shoots the breeze about his Jamaican heritage, his relationship with Bob Marley and taking power-lunches with U2.
What on earth is milky-white, squeaky-clean, God-fearin PAT BOONE doing,
wearing leather
and studs and singing heavy metal anthems? JOE JACKSON delves behind the year s most bizarre comeback to extract a rare and fascinating interview with a man who once alienated rockers and now finds himself ostracised by Christians.
Many Irish holiday-makers will be heading for the United States this year. But there’s much more on offer in that vast playground than the dubious prospect of sweltering in the crushing heat of an Orlando football stadium in June. Jackie Hayden travelled with a bunch of media types to the small town of Lynchburg in Tennessee and visited the source of one of the world’s great spirits, Jack Daniels, making some musical connections along the way.
Olaf Tyaransen sings the reunion city blues as an unhappy DEBBIE HARRY forces him to take the scenic route through the rise, fall and rise of BLONDIE. But, hey, it all ends happily ever after...
We asked the fans to vote for U2's Greatest Hits and they did - in their thousands. The result is a selection of 20 tracks which, without doubt, would combine to produce a record to rank among the weightiest and most powerful anthologies in the history of rock. The full track listing is not without its controversial selections and omissions, however. Bill Graham and Niall Stokes take us through the fans' vision of the fab four's dream album.
The latest Boy to leave the Zone, the launch of Mikey Graham s solo voyage has been attended by
controversy and criticism. But don t underestimate his determination. I m not the passenger, he tells PETER MURPHY. Portraits of the Artist: DECLAN ENGLISH
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.
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.
Funky Ceili, non-conformist politics and the approval of Bob Dylan, Robin Williams and Johnny Cash to name but a few. Larry Kirwan tells Liam Fay how Black 47 have become the hottest band in New York and one of 'The Ten Most Hated Things About America
Er, perhaps not, but after 25 years of waxing, back-combing and tottering around on six-inch heels, Mr. Pussy has certainly earned the right to call himself ‘Ireland’s Most Misleading Lady’. LIAM FAY gets a lesson in cross-dressing from the man who’s stripped Bono to the waist, offered solace to Charlie Haughey and stuck a hairy appendage under Ringo Starr’s nose. PIX: Colm Henry
ave Fanning: We just played "Wild Things Run Free" (sic) and as you say yourself you are "back in the harness". Now, except for the vocals would it be a fair assumption to call the music on the new album pop with a rock steady beat?
A flyover near the old Harland & Wolff shipyard was the starting point for a remarkable three months that has seen Franz Ferdinand challenging U2 and Coldplay for the title of ‘Biggest Band In The World'. Daredevil photographic exploits completed, Hot Press jumped on their tour bus and got the lowdown on Snoop, Bono, Kanye West, Natasha Bedingfield and nights of debauchery with the Scissor Sisters.
Fashion designer, punk Svengali, musical maverick, filmmaker and occasional pervertor of justice. MALCOLM McLAREN has been all of these things – and more – in a rollercoaster career that's seen him become a hero to some and an unscrupulous villain to others. STUART CLARK tools up at Ron & Reggie's Gangland Surplus Store for a showdown with the man who manufactured cash from chaos! Scene-of-the-crime photographer: COLM HENRY.
With compass in hand and their newly unfurled Map Of The Universe nestling comfortably on their laps, Blink are boldly going where few Irish bands have gone before. But what happens when they get to Cork and Ballybunion? Intrepid explorer LIAM FAY dons his rucksack, climbs aboard the Blinkmobile and survives to tell the tale.
The glitz and glamour is but the tip of the iceberg a lot of blood, sweat and tears has also gone into making THE CORRS the huge success they are. And it s not just about the music either the tricky business they call show has to be negotiated too. NIALL STOKES gets the inside story from the captain of the ship, manager JOHN HUGHES, with supporting testimony from some of the crew.
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.
Damien Dempsey has battled his way centre stage, winning the support of luminaries as diverse as Morrissey, Robert Plant, Sinéad O'Connor, Larry Mullen and Brian Eno along the way. Now with the release of his third album Shots, he is poised to make a major breakthrough. Interview by Tanya Sweeney. Photos by Cathal Dawson.
He’s jammed with Bob Dylan, partied with Keith Moon, sued The Byrds, traded spiky tops with Rod Stewart, had close encounters with Presleys Reg and Elvis and played "name that key" with John Lee Hooker, but arguably the best moment in his life was when he was named small breeder of the year. RON WOOD, the man who would be the queen mum of rock 'n' roll, tells a mean tale.
Words: STUART CLARK. Pictures ROGER WOOLMAN
It sounds like the stuff of hype and overnight success – from struggling garage band to next big thing and accolades from noel gallagher, morrissey and bono – but even at an average age of 23 The Thrills have paid their dues. Olaf Tyaransen hears how the summer’s hottest band went from worshipping whipping boy to having beck’s da play on their debut album.
As famous for being mates with Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher as for being pop stars in their own right, ocean colour scene take time out from a hectic touring and recording schedule to explain to john walshe just how popular they are. Pix: mick quinn.
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
DAVID HOLMES is about to leave his native Belfast for New York City, where he will record his third album. STUART BAILIE took a final opportunity to speak to the artist also known as Homer. On the agenda: Hollywood soundtracks, rumours of brawling, past glories and future plans.
Pics: MICHAEL TAYLOR.
Michael O'Higgins interviews Bertie Ahern, one of Fianna Fail's young tigers and a man many are tipping as a future leader of the party and possible Taoiseach
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.
Bono, Adam and Larry. Not to mention the self-styled King Boogaloo himself, Mr B. P. Fallon, whose new book U2: Faraway So Close offers an intimate visual and verbal diary of the band’s world-record shattering ZOO TV tour. For good measure the, um, also self-styled Mr Ramalama talks about Jimi Hendrix and the Mafia connection, toting guns with Tone Loc, giving Little Richard a hard-on, and other little, um, side voyages into other territories, man. Er, tape recorder thingy: Joe Jackson.
Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone talks about toffs in politics, Tony versus Gordon and sheds light on his own intervention in the Troubles, at the height of the bloodshed.
Has Madonna become the immaterial girl? Or will the Re-invention tour re-establish her as the foremost female icon on the planet? On the eve of her first ever Irish appearance at Slane, Peter Murphy takes a look at the strange twist the Queen of Pop’s career has taken – and how she is now fighting back, for all she’s worth.
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.
Bloodied but unbowed by press smears, Scottish socialist firebrand George Galloway is one of the most vocal anti-war politicians in Britian. In a characteristically frank interview he discusses Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Resepect, and why Shannon could be considered a terrorist target.
It’s been a long, strange trip for David Grohl, from Nirvana drummer to Foo Fighters frontman, via Queens Of The Stone Age and Tenacious D. Now he’s back with a new Foo album, he’s buried the hatchet with Courtney Love and he’s still as rock’n’roll as ever
The initial rumours were that it was going to be a rock n roll record . Then subsequent whispers hinted at everything from trip-hop to techno to ambient. But U2 s eighth studio album, Pop, is all of these things and more. It s the first album since 1983 that they ve made without the assistance of Brian Eno, it s been a long time in the making roughly a full year, all told and it s selling like the proverbial warm buns. Here, NIALL STOKES talks to BONO and ADAM CLAYTON, as well as co-producers FLOOD, HOWIE B and THE EDGE, about its lengthy genesis and what the band hoped to accomplish in creating it.
Pix: STEPHANE SEDNAOUI .
As the punk revolution took hold in the UK, Manchester was notable for the bleak, industrial soundtrack even its most successful bands were making. But that all changed with the explosion there of a new and hedonistic culture, centred in and around The Hacienda, a club run by the city's most influential music biz entrepreneur, the boss of Factory Records, TONY WILSON. The story of the transformation of the city into the centre of rock'n'roll's emerging drug and club culture – of the change from Manchester to Madchester – is told in 24 Hour Party People. With the Happy Mondays as it primary musical focus, there's no shortage of on-screen drugs and fighting – but this is really the extraordinary saga of one of the great rock'n'roll towns, in all its gory glory… Tara Brady reports
Ahead of their return to Ireland, Muse reveal they’re about to go through their U2 phase, talk about magic mushrooms and explain why, when it comes to conspiracy, they’re on Jim Corr's side.
Coke is it. Coke is the real thing. It's not the choice of a new generation but the choice of countless generations past, present and future. Coca-Cola knows how to get American presidents elected and is even responsible for Santa Claus as we know him.
Here BILL GRAHAM delves into Mark Prendergast's unauthorised history of the company, For God, Country and Coca-Cola, and discovers over a century's worth of evidence that Coke is no ordinary soft drink.
With anti-Republican sentiment running high in the wake of the Enniskillen massacre and the O’Grady kidnapping, and with the first wave of joint RUC-Garda arms searches in progress, Kate Shanahan travelled to Belfast for an exclusive interview with Sinn Féin President, Gerry Adams. In it, the Westminster MP recalls his childhood in Belfast, evaluates the position the IRA now find themselves in and outlines his personal views on subjects as diverse as abortion, the Catholic Church, Dessie O’Hare, Bono and the role of violence in the Republican struggle.
n a career spanning 25 years in the glare of the stagelight, CHRISTY MOORE has known every emotion from insecurity, despair and vilification to adulation, triumph and the warm glow of creative fulfilment. He has dabbed in drugs, drink to excess, suffered a heart attack for his troubles and made some of the finest records that have ever been subjected to critical scrutiny in this country. Now, in a frighteningly honest interview, he tells it like it is and was. Cross-examination: JOE JACKSON. Microscopic camerawork: COLM HENRY.
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]
It's been over four intriguing years since Damien Rice's extraordinary debut album O was launched. That record went on to become a huge underground international hit, selling in excess of 2 million copies. Now his long-awaited follow-up – the similarly simply titled 9 – is finally ready to hit the shops. So how did Rice so successfully capture the collective imagination? And will the latest instalment in the Rice musical biography propel him to even greater heights? Hot Press talks exclusively to some of the key players in his remarkable rise and rise.
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.
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
The Manson Family at work, rest and play, in sickness and in health. Peter Murphy travels to britain and the US to bring back the full, intimate story of a band on the run
While the entity that is U2 continues to be the dominant focus in the creative lives of its four members, away from the band, Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry have all indulged in extra-curricular activities, bringing them – and their music - into contact with such legends as Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Keith Richards, and Roy Orbison, By Dermot Stokes
Long before boomtime Ireland there was boomtown Ireland, a country where the national symbol was not a tiger but a rat. to coincide with the release of the best of the boomtown rats, Bob Geldof looks back to the tepid Irish scene of the mid-’70s from which the rats emerged, biting, snarling and laughing, to take on the establishment, Britain and, almost, the world.
He began working in music as a drummer, but Dave Pennefather's greatest success has been as MD of Universal Music. Hot Press looks back over the life and times of a man with a larger than life reputation.
After being a magnet for A&R men during the 80s, Dublin has recently developed into something of an underachiever. The city may have the second biggest growth-rate in Europe but there are a hell of a lot of gigs and records that simply aren t selling. peter murphy casts a critical ear over the capital s music scene and decides that what s required is a full-scale artistic enema.
They go together like a horse and carriage. You can't have one without the other - or words to that effect. In fact, however, even rock 'n' roll has yet to invent an erotic language that does justice to the breadth and complexity of human desire. In pushing out the boundaries, madonna has taken on the role of sexual pioneer, and done it with courage and no little success. Niall Stokes weighs up the evidence . . .
In the second and final part of his exploration of the Secret Sexual History of Elvis Presley, joe jackson describes the king s prowess as a peak performer, reveals the great loves of his life, and charts his sordid, sad and ultimately tragic decline and fall.
In the second and final part of his exploration of the Secret Sexual History of Elvis Presley, joe jackson describes the king s prowess as a peak performer, reveals the great loves of his life, and charts his sordid, sad and ultimately tragic decline and fall.
U2 are about to unleash their new album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. The world’s media are descending on Dublin. And Bono is back at the punch-bag, getting into fighting shape before the shit storm really explodes. The gloves are off. He’s got work to do. And he’s going to do it. Words Stuart Clark, additional reporting by Niall Stokes.
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 future is here. Well, somehow it always is. And, as usual, it is both familiar and strange. Nothing seems to change, but one day you turn around, it is 1995, and you are cybersurfing on the internet, summer seems to last all winter, ambient-acid-techno is bubbling away on the radio, your fax machine shows up on the Antiques Roadshow and papa’s got a brand new drug.
Annie Lennox has listed the version of Debussy’s ‘Syrinx’ as recorded by Irish flautist James Galway as one of the eight tracks she would take to a desert island.
Former Revs leader Rory will launch debut solo album God Bless The Big Bang with an instore signing and acoustic session at HMV on Dublin's Henry Street.
"THE WEEN diet of mind enhancing drugs has been replaced with alcohol and pharmaceuticals, giving the band new insight into the psyche of working class America."
Hot on the heels of acquiring a controlling interest in Spain’s Benicassim Festival, former Mean Fiddler supremo Vince Power has opened a new “supper club” in the Piccadilly area of London.
The sophomore album from Swedish rockers Mando Diao is a schismatic affair. A few minutes of sheer brilliance like gems ‘Added Family’ and ‘Next To Be Lowered’ get our hopes up one moment only to frustrate them the next by been-there, heard-that mediocrity.
The sophomore album from Swedish rockers Mando Diao is a schismatic affair. A few minutes of sheer brilliance like gems ‘Added Family’ and ‘Next To Be Lowered’ get our hopes up one moment only to frustrate them the next by been-there, heard-that mediocrity.
At the end of Febraury the first show in a series of nights dedicated to individual artists will take place in the Sugar Club. The inaugral show will be dedicated to Jeff Buckley.
Dublin Transition Year ska band The Dynamicks brought the city to a standstill (well, not really), by performing on the roof of Trinity Street Car Park today.
The grim brothers on two CDs, recorded live over two nights earlier this year in Wembley Stadium might not exactly be the blueprint for a perfect night in.
Fresh from working with looney/genius producer Phil Spector (currently under arrest for murder), Uk minstrels Starsailor join REM for their Marlay Park date in July
STEREOPHONICS’ LOVE AFFAIR with this island of ours continues when they play The Point Theatre, Dublin on November 13th and the Odyssey Arena, Belfast on the 14th.
When Mr Smith went to Washington - or, actually, Hollywood - to perform his Oscar-nominated 'Miss Misery' from Good Will Hunting at the Academy Awards a few years ago, a worldwide audience of sensitive indie mopers cheered at the vindicating incongruity of it all.
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.
Having become the first single to reach the UK number one on downloads alone, Gnarls Barkley's single 'Crazy' have made history again - and this time, it's a record that's stood for 12 years.
The Sleepy Jackson is that kind of album: a touch unfocused, sprawling (especially given that it’s only twenty odd minutes long) but never less than enthralling
Recorded in mono, containing twelve tracks and running for just over half an hour, Platespinner is the latest addition to this year's glittering parade of greatness from one of America's most vibrant underground scenes.
In the current issue of Hot Press, the musicians of Ireland have spoken - but what do they know? Have YOUR say on the top 100 albums of all time. Ever.
Box Camera possesses a subtle appeal that mightn’t be evident on first listen, but be patient and the lush melodies and layered hooks begin to work their charm.
It's difficult to argue with I Am Sam's efficiency as a gushing weepie, and the central performances are effective, if showy in an Oscar courting kind of way
Every so often an album comes along that just leaves you with a big, gob-dawed smile on your face. Keep It Like A Secret is one such record. The third opus to seep out of the heart and mind of Boise, Idaho's Doug Martsch, this is a joy to behold.
City Of Men allows you to enjoy the gun totting favelas and favelados as they strut around the streets of Rio De Janeiro without ever allowing you to forget that their lives are hellish and brief.
That's me sold on Trashmonk. Mona Lisa Overdrive contains some of the most unusual, atmospheric, surprising and mystical songs that I've heard in ages.
That's me sold on Trashmonk. Mona Lisa Overdrive contains some of the most unusual, atmospheric, surprising and mystical songs that I've heard in ages.
Overall, the ultra-smooth consistency of the homegrown production and Gartside’s sugar-coated vocals could make this album a monotonous experience for non-fans.
With this debut album Julie Feeney announces herself as the most intriguing female voice - bar the criminally neglected Shaz Oye - to come out of Ireland since Sinead O’Connor.
Edwyn Collins is one of pop music's nice guys, a solid second-division player that typifies the virtues of consistency and reliability while occasionally displaying flashes of brilliance
The Discovery Of A World Inside The Moone is not nearly as pretentious as the title would suggest. It is simply the third album of glorious guitar pop from US eccentrics, The Apples In Stereo, whose frontman, Rob Schneider’s CV includes production duties for The Olivia Tremor Control and Neutral Milk Hotel, as well as guesting on Cornelius’ well-received Fantasma.
I HAVE to say that I have always loved Christie Hennessy’s material. Perhaps more than any songwriter working today, his stuff is the real deal, with no attempt at artifice or concealment. But that is not to say that his songs are not insightful, for he deals with a wide range of issues in his material, from loneliness to mental illness, and always with a sensitive hand.
Jim Noir arrives onstage wearing a bowler hat, which is not something you see everyday but somehow fitting. For Noir, the first years of the 21st century are of little consequence.
Fresh from the news that Vodafone control 18% of the Irish singles market and 3 control 14%, Apple CEO has launched an attack on record companies as to why iTunes music can only be played on an iPod.
He has encompassed bare bones acoustic music, bluegrass, r’n’ b, hard country, soundtrack music and rock and held it all together with a voice that could never really be anything other than country.
As a mainstay of The Waterboys when they were a proper band, Karl Wallinger's skills as an arranger contributed vastly to the panoramic sweep of their music. However he's surpassed himself completely on 'Goodbye Jumbo' the second offering from his World Party vehicle.
The erstwhile Jam and Style Council frontman was attempting another reinvention in a career that has seen him traverse the genre divides of punk, mod and soul.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009 will be the 50th anniversary of the death of '50s rock legend Buddy Holly, “the day the music died” according to Don McLean in his hit song ‘American Pie’.
It took the best part of two years for Cotton Mather's superb second album Kontiki to reach this part of the world but the Texan Power Pop trio more than filled in any holes in their public profile with a series of rapturously received shows in these islands, including a barnstorming gig in HQ.
When Rodney Crowell last played here, at the Kilkenny Rhythm and Roots weekend, as part of his solo act he read (from a work in progress - a book about his childhood) a piece about the first time he heard Johnny Cash and the song 'I Walk The Line'.
Since he announced himself to the world with the release of his debut album back in 1986 Dwight Yoakam has remained one of the most vital exponents of hi-octane hillbilly music.
His new record, his 18th, straddles the divide between rock and hardcore country. Eager and energetic, it marks a fresh phase for Yoakam’s music.
You had to be there, I guess. Except of course that there was actually then, 1977, and I was 15 and Ian Dury and the Blockheads released New Boots And Panties and that was the first time I ever heard the words sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll used in the same sentence.
Sountracks are getting weirder, that's for sure. No longer an excuse for stringing together the usual clutch of Motown classics, they are increasingly challenging audiences' sense of time and place by crossing genres and spanning generations.
Sountracks are getting weirder, that's for sure. No longer an excuse for stringing together the usual clutch of Motown classics, they are increasingly challenging audiences' sense of time and place by crossing genres and spanning generations.
The thirteen tracks herein can be split roughly into two camps - the originals penned quick and recorded even quicker for soundtracks, and the covers dashed off as extra incentives on special edition albums, or just for pig iron
The Roses have been compiled numerous times before against the band’s wishes, hence the fact that Ian Brown and John Squire buried their grievances and hand-picked these fifteen stone cold classics for the one disc is an event in itself.
Steeped in classic sixties West Coast pop styles, albeit with a futuristic edge, this LA trio have a recent history that most like-minded outfits would kill for. They not only appeared on the first Austin Powers movie soundtrack but, far more impressively, they form the core of Brian Wilson's 12- piece backing band on his current stateside tour.
John Lennon is back but trust him to deflate the expectations that have been invested in his return. The message of Double Fantasy is that he and Yoko won't be anybody's heroes if they can't be each other's. This is a family album, Yoko's as much as his.
There is nothing particularly new, different or innovative about the way they grind their axe, but they do it with such old-fashioned gusto and consistency that it's easy to get caught up in the sheer exuberance of it all
Widely credited as the pioneers of the genre which has become known the world over as alt. country, Wilco have redefined their own musical parameters in recent years, concentrating on the alternative and ditching much of the country influence that characterised the classic albums of Woody Guthrie material they made with Billy Bragg. Personally, I find the new Wilco more than a bit frustrating.
This melting pot of sound is like Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes fronting a band made up of members of Arcade Fire and Elbow, with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke handling production duties.
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.
Weird name? Check. Alienated'n'angry persona? Check. Usage of 'fuck', 'kill' and 'die' in lyrics? Check. Makeup worn even though artist is a goddamn GUY!? Check.
Album number three for the man who would be pop king finds Robbie Williams in increasingly contemplative mood. Which isn’t all that surprising, as anyone who has been observing him of late would agree.
On their last album Slang, Def Leppard moved away from the stomping, Glam-influenced anthems with which they'd earned their fame and fortune and slipped into experimental mode but that album's looser, funkier structures were met with a distinct lack of interest from their fanbase and so, for Euphoria, they're back on more familiar ground.
A match made in ... heaven? The Handsome Family - the husband and wife duo of Brett and Rennie Sparks who make beautiful, if rather spooky music together.
This ought to be a series of thrilling monkeyshines to be accompanied by popcorn and Revels. But 21 can’t make ‘action’ at the tables look any more exciting than completing a tax return.
THE LAST time this listener encountered the Black Crowes, the band were, visually and sonically, stuck in '74. Like, 1874. After a year on the road flogging the Three Snakes And One Charm album, these former Sisters Of Morphine resembled some weird cult that'd crawled out of a peyote-pit on Walton's mountain, all tie-dyed dungarees and sandals, looking as bad as they must've smelled.
He's been languishing in the undergrowth for way too long. But Lonnie Donegan has emerged from the shadows with a mighty fine album, a calling card to be proud of, especially when he comes knocking on the doors of an entire generation who missed out on the delights of 'My Old Man's A Dustman'.
Album number three sees them progress to such a startling extent that they have a right to believe both critical acclaim and commercial success will follow.
Photographer JILL FURMANOVSKY has snapped and shuttered virtually all of the rock industry's big names during her illustrious 25-year carrer, from
U2 to Dylan to Miles Davis. Her latest subjects are Oasis, who she's "spent three years having an absolute ball with." olaf tyaransen caught up with her. Pic: Colm Henry
One of the most successful bands in British history after the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, the legendary Status Quo have confirmed an Irish Tour in February 2009.
Patti Boyd, former wife of George Harrison and (subsequently) Eric Clapton, is to stage an exhibition of her photography at Gallery Number One in Dublin.
The use of rock music for soundtracking and advertising purposes has opened up important new avenues for artists eager to get their music out to a mass audience.
If ever a cause needed highlighting, it’s the ongoing tragedy in Darfur, Sudan, which in the recent words of Goal’s John O’Shea "the international community has all but abandoned".
The BBC once described them as "the most successful British band since the Beatles", and they're certainly proving their worth as their reunion tour makes a new stop in Dublin.
The first three albums scarcely need any new recommendation from me. For all that, the disc which makes this boxed set an absolute must-buy for all Rory Gallagher fans, is the splendidly titled Waiting For The G-Man.
Question: Why do so many rock bands take the tradesman’s entrance these days? And when was it they became so self-referential, self-effacing, heterogeneous, monosexual; cut off from the tributary streams of the other arts, adopting forelock tugging as a stance? What happened to glamour, decadence, risk, dandyism, wit? The idea of the pop star as alien emissary, queer weirdo, sin-eater, beautiful freak?
For the most part, that's what this album is - simple rock 'n’ roll music, best heard whilst drunk and with your mates, however, they're still sounding a lot more melodic and tuneful here than they have in years
While the arrangements, production and execution of ideas are as excellent as you’d expect the songwriting is surprisingly lightweight and indistinctive.
You look up 'skiffle' in the Chambers 20th Century Dictionary and it says "a strongly accented jazz type of folk music, played by guitar, drums and often unconventional instruments etc. popular about 1957".
One of the most useful lessons re-learned during the Heineken Green Energy Careers In Music seminars in Dublin, Cork and Galway is that while those in the business have a reasonable grasp as to how it works and why, from the stand-point of a seventeen-year-old would-be, the Music Industry can appear like one ginormous complex monster.
U2 played an electrifying mini-set to an audience of 10,000 at Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) this evening, to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
An emotional Westlife have expressed sadness for McFadden's "amicable departure", with Bryan denying rumours of any ulterior career moves. Photos by Cathal Dawson.
Forget brain surgery or being Shane MacGowan's oral hygienist, the toughest job in the world has got to be that of an A&R man.
At around about the same time that I was telling everybody that Thee Amazing Colossal Men were going to conquer the world with their second album, a demo from five pasty-faced Londoners went from the Clarkian desk to bin in record time on account of its tired Bowiesms.
When The Revs imploded, frontman Rory Gallagher bit the bullet and supported himself playing the bars in Lanzarote. Eighteen months later, he’s back with a new solo album.
Getting inside the head of one of modern music’s deepest enigmas was both a challenge and a privilege, says documentary maker Stephen Kijak, director of Scott Walker 30 Century Man.
There is no question about it. He may look as if he's been dipped in a bottle of red ink but it is Adam who stands there bollock naked before the camera and the world on the back sleeve of the latest, long playing opus from the band whose name begins with U and ends with 2. And is that Eve who hovers topless behind Bono on the front?
After the rip-roaring success of last year's event, Music Ireland '07 has been extended to a three-day event, incorporating a dedicated student day on Friday October 5. Aimed primarily at second-level schools, the day is set to be one of the most educational and entertaining school tours in the country. For those wishing to follow a career in music, the show is a real treat.
Gary Cooke's Apres Match Eamon Dunphy impression is both his finest moment and an albatross around his neck. Not that he's complaining. He's got a World Cup to be getting on with.
The Aftermath are the first rock band from Longford ever to hit the charts. But right now, they live in Mullingar, the new happening epicentre of rock’n’roll.
ABBA have seldom been acknowledged by those who arbitrate or presume to arbitrate on matters of rock taste. Apart from a brief flirtation about five years ago, rock culture – in as much as the phrase actually signifies anything concrete – has continued to stick them with the legacy of their Eurovision success.
Q: Which top Irish quiz-masters’ pathological obsessions include Something Happens, Shamrock Rovers and the amount of shopping days left to the next Suede gig? A: George “You Started, So I’ll Finish” Byrne
It s the last song of the night. It s the final gig of the year one that has witnessed bizarre accidents, frustrations, some classic moments and the growing consensus that Snow Patrol is an increasingly fierce act.
Pelvis are a band going places. To London for a start, where they are playing every fleapit dive, indie emporium and up-market lounge bar that will have ’em.
’85 was a remarkably stagnant year. Twelve months after the end of ’84, little seems to have changed or advanced musically and I only hope and pray we won’t be running on the same spot when ’86 ends.
Over the past 12 months, The Mighty Boosh have made the transition from cult favourites to arena-filling icons. Noel Fielding chats to Ed Power about playing huge venues, his friend Russell Brand's recent difficulties, and borrowing clothes from Courtney Love.
Dublin's Hyland Brothers are aiming to punch their way into the Guinness Book Of Records. How? They are all launching individual bids for European boxing titles.
It's hard to believe that it's so long since John Fogerty's last album. In the intervening time span, rumour and speculation flared intermittently about a new album in the marking - yet Fogerty, one of rock'n'roll's most tantalisingly enigmatic recluses remained silent.
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.
"The Foos rock out royally, the reverberations from the kick drum dislodging confetti from the ceiling": Hannah Hamilton - and hotpress.com's three prizewinning guest reviewers - report from the Point's front line
Elvis was first sighted in a 7-Eleven in central London, sneering at the staff while purchasing cigarettes and condoms, looking for all the world like the new king of rock'n'roll, shabbily dressed and sharp-tongued, a man with a mission. It seems such a long time ago, now.
Music Piracy is a continuing problem, and it s not just internet innovation which is fuelling its rise. COLM O HARE spoke to some of those trying to
preserve legitimate music
Another one from the archives: in a feature from 1987 – as Michael Jackson releases Bad – Neil McCormick charts the phenomenal career of the enigmatic star.
It may not seem as glamorous as appearing on Top of the Pops but it can be a hell of a lot more lucrative. That’s right, publishing is one of the most widely misunderstood and underestimated aspects of the music industry. The message for Irish songwriters: get weaving! There’s classics that need writing . . .
Sprawling across four restless, angry and sometimes contradictory sides, "Rattle And Hum" is nothing less than U2's most ambitious album yet. Review by Bill Graham
