How did Brandon Flowers, Ronnie Vannucci, Dave Keuning and Mark Stoermer go from the Las Vegas dive bar circuit to selling four million copies of their debut album, Hot Fuss? On the eve of the band's highly-anticipated Oxegen 2005 appearance, Stuart Clark talks to the people involved in the making of The Killers.
The singer is actually much more assured onstage than the last time I saw The Killers, at the Olympia in 2004, when his inhibitions seemed to be holding him back.
The band churn out the dreariest material from both Sam’s Town and Day & Age, and – although I’m definitely in the minority – I find myself feeling a bit bored.
They may be one of the hottest bands of the year, but Las Vegas synth fiends The Killers are planning to cool off this Christmas with some well-earned down-time and a skiing holiday in Utah. But not before they’ve discussed texting Charlize Theron, hanging with Elton John and that David Bowie tribute with Stuart Clark.
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.
A respectable collection which raises the question: why do the Killers pad their albums out with mediocre filler, when they have at least some decent alternative material to spare?
More slightly unhinged Americana from The Killers, this time sounding for all the world like Meat Loaf – complete with brass section and over-the-top choir. It’s taken a bit of time to get used to their second coming but it’s starting to sound very natural all of a sudden.
As previously revealed on hotpress.com, The Killers will headline the Tennents Vital show in Belfast this August. Now organisers have confirmed support acts, as well as a change of venue.
Stuart Clark discusses Michael Jackson’s trial, Roxy Music, The Killers, David Bowie and the ideal soundtrack for bonking with a newly peaceful and content Moby.
Stuart Clark discusses Michael Jackson’s trial, Roxy Music, The Killers, David Bowie and the ideal soundtrack for bonking with a newly peaceful and content Moby.
They’ve embraced the big sound of America but The Killers still aren’t fully comfortable with the burdens of stardom, reveals frontman Brandon Flowers.
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
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.
As girl band the saturdays prepare to play this year’s Oxegen, Edwin McFee gets a frosty reception when he talks to Irish member Una Healy. Undeterred, he manages to find out about their bust up with Basshunter, their admiration for Girls Aloud and more.
Sam’s Town suggests that the newly face-fuzzed Brandon Flowers has contracted a serious dose of Bruce-llosis (a quick scan of the album’s titles yields a number of Boss buzzwords: “river”, “town”, “Jonny”, “wild”). No bad thing necessarily, but any rock band without the E-Streeters’ skill or Springsteen’s Steinbeckian grasp of American history should beware of straying across the wrong side of the New Jersey tracks and ending up in Bon Jovi-ville.
Sam’s Town consistently grandstands to the bleachers, makes cheap plays for the listener’s emotions and foolhardily flaunts with the conventions of good taste. Just like a great rock ‘n’ roll record should.
TV presenter, stand-up and all-round gifted wit and raconteur Dara O'Briain has quietly become one of the major Irish success stories in Britain over the past few years. In a rare in-depth interview, The Panel presenter here discusses stardom in the UK, The Killers, Colin Farrell, Michael Parkinson, RTE, Sinn Féin and that ringing endorsement from a certain Samuel L. Jackson. interview Tanya Sweeney photos Liam Sweeney
Older and wiser but still mad for it, Oasis have delivered their best album in years. In an exclusive – and expletive-filled – interview Liam Gallagher holds forth on fatherhood, brotherly love and explains why Coldplay and The Killers are limp-wristed also-rans.
The soundtrack to the third Spiderman film features tracks from The Killers and The Flaming Lips, but the honour of lead track goes to ‘Signal Fire’ by Snow Patrol. The sound is – well, like any other Snow Patrol song: sweeping guitar chords building with percussion to the chorus.
All change in the Bravery camp, it would appear. Gone are the silly haircuts, black nail-polish and ‘80s-influenced synth-rock, replaced by a fairly standard rock approach that sits somewhere between Feeder and The Killers and even references Bryan Adams. Get over the shock and it’s not at all bad, although whether their audience will go with them remains to be seen.
Having sold-out their previously announced Point Theatre date in less than 15 minutes, The Killers have announced additional Dublin shows in the RDS Main Hall on February 27 and 28.
Doubtless buoyed by their success in the Hot Press Readers' Poll, The Killers have confirmed a Main Stage appearance at Oxegen, which takes place on July 9 and 10 in Punchestown.
Where The Killers and Interpol play karaoke with Joy Division’s legacy, BSP pay closer attention: ‘It Ended On An Oily Stage’ is a funereal romp that would make marble weep. That’s a recommendation, by the way.
Ahead of their long-play debut, Myths Of The Near Future, comes the Londoners’ second major label single. And while ‘Magick’ was a pompous affair which, if it could talk, would have said, “Ooooh, look how kooky and different we are,” they’ve thankfully dropped that façade. ‘Golden Skans’ (what’s a ‘skan’?) is less electronic and plenty mainstream, but crucially, doesn’t sound forced. It’s vaguely reminiscent of The Killers, and perhaps paves the way they should have gone with ‘Sam’s Town’: a dark, faux-spooky affair which KOs you with killer hook after killer hook. And all this without mentioning ‘new rave’ once.
You know you’re getting older when new artists come along who were first inspired to pick up a guitar by Pete Doherty. Glaswegian Amy MacDonald is part of the new wave of musicians, equally versed in all aspects of the medium. What impresses most is that she has both a young and old head on her shoulders. She may take a great deal of her motivation from the sheer thrill of making music and hanging out with bands (her online diary gushes with tales of sitting behind the Killers at the Brits and the like) but ‘Poison Prince’ belies a maturity beyond her years. Her voice is rich and clear and the song marries a mainstream sheen with the kind of Scottish folk twang so beloved of the missing in action Sons And Daughters. An album follows in the summer, I’d keep an eye out if I were you.
"...no-one will accuse One Night Only of re-inventing the wheel, but their sure-footed songcraft, and earnest, unfussy delivery earmarks them as potential upper echelon chart botherers."
New Order are giants, the four-piece that saved guitar pop. At a terribly dull time in the '80s, they brought the rush of possibilities of electronic music to the knuckle-dragging indie masses and added sophistication, sex and mystery to their genre of choice, a genre dying on its arse. Every guitar band that has added electronica to its palette without fear of the sky falling in – from U2 to The Killers – owes New Order a cut.
New Order are giants, the four-piece that saved guitar pop. At a terribly dull time in the '80s, they brought the rush of possibilities of electronic music to the knuckle-dragging indie masses and added sophistication, sex and mystery to their genre of choice, a genre dying on its arse. Every guitar band that has added electronica to its palette without fear of the sky falling in – from U2 to The Killers – owes New Order a cut.
The Killers wrapped up Oxegen for another year but not before the 80,000 music fans in attendance saw the likes of Arcade Fire (pictured), Kings Of Leon, The Gossip, Klaxons and Brian Wilson.
WHAT motivates a writer to consign words to page? By what method do they arrive at their chosen subject matter? Is the writer more or less a voyeur than those who read their scribblings?
Hitmen are hot. Ain’t it always the way? You can never find a well dressed, cold blooded killer when you need one, then half a dozen all come along at once.
“I grew up in a tough neighbourhood, and we used to say, ‘You can get further with a kind word and a gun than with just a kind word’.”
- Robert De Niro as Al Capone in The Untouchables
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...
Having spent the summer in Europe wowing huge festival audiences, Royseven are now concentrating on matters of a domestic nature. Phil Udell joins them as they experience the highs, lows and drunken dancing eejits of the Irish live circuit.
Coldplay, White Stripes, Strokes, Queens, Garbage, Oasis, JJ72, Franz... With a whole slew of major albums in the pipeline, it looks like ‘05 will be the wrong year to kick that addiction to noise.
Louis Walsh and Bono suffer a roasting as Echo And The Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch talks to Hot Press about life as an indie-pop legend and explains why he’s rock music’s answer to Frank Sinatra.
It's eyes down and no conferring as Colm Russell asks We Are Scientists about their new album, intra-band bullying and why Alex Turner wouldn't know a hit single if it bit him in the ass.
The border counties may not exactly be a hotbed of indie rock but that hasn’t stopped Monaghan hopefuls The Flaws from producing one of the year’s most mesmerising debuts.
…In October, actually. The reunited band’s guitarist and songwriter, Gary Kemp, talks about their rivalry with Duran Duran, inspiring Quentin Tarantino and the group’s long association with Ireland.
Danielle Brigham catches up with new Britrock darlings The Futureheads to discuss their recent gigs in, respectively, a ski resort and the biggest shopping mall in the world, touring with Franz Ferdinand, appearing on The OC soundtrack and their collaboration with Bloc Party.
Donegal rockers The Revs have been ensconced in Malmo’s prestigious Yellow Studios for the last three months working on the eagerly anticipated follow-up to Suck. Steve Cummins joins the group in Malmo for an exclusive listen to what many expect to be their breakthrough album.
Live at the Marquee on Friday June 29: They were the gaudiest of the ‘80s pop sensations. 20 years on, Duran Duran leader Simon Le Bon explains why the good time boys are a band for the long haul.
She began her career as a police reporter before taking a job in the Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Virginia. There, she spent as much time in the morgue as possible, watching autopsies - including dozens on bodies which had been savagely maimed and mutilated in the course of being murdered. Now she writes crime novels, but Patricia D. Cornwell keeps going back to the morgue to witness the kind of gruesome sights that would give an angel bad dreams.
Interview: Liam Fay Pix: Colm Henry
They once blagged a soccer scholarship to America as a laugh. Now back in the UK with a number one album, The Hoosiers are at the forefront of their very own scene: “odd-pop”.
Manic Street Preachers have turned the guitars down, but not the bile. A slimline James Dean Bradfield tells a pleasantly plump Stuart Clark why John F. Kennedy, Billy Connolly and Jesus Christ Superstar are in league with Satan. Or words to that effect.
As Joy Division, and then New Order, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris have been responsible for some of the most spellbinding, groundbreaking and downright brilliant music of the past twenty-five years. With their new album Waiting For The Sirens' Call in the top 10, the legendary trio here sound-off about the legions of bands they’ve influenced, Madchester, Ian Curtis, 24 Hour Party People, Bez, Gwen Stefani, and why they intend to continue their quest for sonic innovation for some time yet.
EAMONN McCANN reports on detailed, eye-witness claims of the Catholic Church’s involvement in the Rwandan genocide of 1994 – and of the Vatican’s efforts to protect the guilty
From piano-plonking crooners to nihilistic electro-pop duos, the UK and US are bursting at the seams with fresh talent in 2007. Could there be a new Arctic Monkeys out there somewhere?
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.
The new year, according to some astrologer or other, was a very good time for making resolutions, as long as you got on with them from the start. If you’ve left it ’til now, forget it. Depending on your particular weakness, you might be just as well off.
Belfast human rights lawyer PAT FINUCANE was shot dead in his home by the UFF ten years ago. There has long been a suspicion that the security forces colluded in his assassination. Recent developments do nothing to alter that belief. By NIALL STANAGE.
He’s spent years trying to live down his bubble-gum pop days but, two decades after the event, former hearthrob Jason Donovan is finally going back to his roots.
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.
In Zaire, Irish journalist David Orr stumbles upon a village massacre, part of a horrific epidemic of tribal slaughter which the country's authorities seem in no rush to end.
Below is an extract from a new book by michael mccaughan which tells the story of how rodolfo walsh, an irish-argentinian writer and activist, met his bloody end at the hands of the state in buenos aires in 1977
She learned her craft with the Wild Oscars and Kaydee, and more recently featured on the John Hughes album Wild Ocean. Now, Tara Blaise has taken flight with the release of her debut album Dancing On Tables Barefoot – a record that unveils an impressively free-spirit and a desire to live life to the full.
Columnist Kevin Myers called her “our pretty little she-shinner” but an unimpressed Mary Lou McDonald insists that her party is actually run by a group of formidable women. She also reveals that she believes Gerry Adams when he says he was never in the IRA, defends Sinn Fein’s fund-raising, discusses the release of Jerry McCabe’s killers, and names her least favourite irish politicians. plus: the newly elected MEP’s views on drink, drugs, music, media, religion, and more.
Kenny Egan brought back a silver medal for Ireland from the Olympic Games – but almost everyone agrees it should have been gold. A national sporting hero, he tells Hot Press of his plans for the future...
It's been a long strange trip and no mistake, one that describes a discernible line from
Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music through to the Handsome Family.
But there's even more going on beneath the surface. GREIL MARCUS, the music critic's music critic,
is PETER MURPHY's guide on a mystery train whose other passengers include Elvis Presley, Robert Johnson, Mark Twain, Nick Cave, The Blair Witch, Bill Clinton, The Band, Siniad O'Connor, Beck, William Burroughs, William Faulkner and Bob Dylan. And that's just the first class carriage. All aboard
Champagne corks were popped last week as Snow Patrol joined that elite group of bands who’ve simultaneously topped the charts in Ireland and the UK. It’s all a far cry from the days when their fame was confined to the University of Dundee Students Union bar. Gary Lightbody takes time out from wowing the masses in Dublin and Belfast to tell Stuart Clark about their twisty and turny route to the top.
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.
Never mind pressies and OD’ing on cranberry sauce, the important thing about Christmas is that it signals the return of the HP-10 Summit. Absolutely no blushes are spared as Ireland’s rock ‘n’ roll elite dissects the musical year that was 2006. Keeping order: Stuart “Paxman” Clark. Taking photos: Graham “Paparazzi” Keogh. Taking the piss: Eyebrowy
Never mind pressies and OD’ing on cranberry sauce, the important thing about Christmas is that it signals the return of the HP-10 Summit. Absolutely no blushes are spared as Ireland’s rock ‘n’ roll elite dissects the musical year that was 2006. Keeping order: Stuart “Paxman” Clark. Taking photos: Graham “Paparazzi” Keogh. Taking the piss: Eyebrowy.
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.
In a world exclusive interview, Morrissey sets the record straight on sex, religion, politics, David Bowie and his Irish heritage, and casts a Trinny & Susannah-esque eye over Brian Cowen
On Sunday 16 October a unique event takes place in The Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, as the climax of the 1994 Dublin Theatre Festival. Organised by Amnesty International, Voices Of The Disappeared is intended to highlight their campaign on “ Disappearances” and Political Killings. Stuart Carolan reports.
And so, unbelievably another year has bitten the dust. Here, continuing a tradition as Christmassy as the eating of turkey and the consumption of way too much alcohol, The Hog reflects on a turbulent year, when we all grew older and much, much wiser.
Full profiles on Faithless, Antony & The Johnsons, Slayer, The Who, Bell X1, Status Quo, The Flaming Lips, 50 Cent, Madness, Christy Moore, Elton John and Lionel Richie.
There’s no pipe of peace – in fact no pipe at all from the non-smoking sinn féin leader – as Olaf Tyaransen asks if, given Osama Bin Laden’s use of terror as a political weapon, Gerry Adams might not have some sympathy for the world’s most wanted man. that question and other contentious queries relating to the IRA, Jean McConville and the murder of Garda Jerry McCabe are dealt with in an interview which also takes in Eoghan Harris, George Bush and Bono, and ends with the interviewee humming a familiar Monty Python tune.
As U2 gear up for the release of No Line On The Horizon, they meet HP to talk about the creation of their latest masterwork, meeting world leaders, the way they’re perceived in Ireland, the current state of the music business and their future plans.
They love Ireland and Ireland loves them. As the Arcade Fire ramp up for world domination, the band talk about love, death, war and making music in churches.
Fr Shay Cullen, an Irish Columban Missionary priest, tells Jason O’Toole about falling in love, the battle against corruption in the Philipines, the scourge of western sex tourism – and why the Irish government isn’t doing enough to protect children from paedophiles.
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.
Not content with bringing you the cream of new Irish and overseas talent, this year’s Hard Working Class Heroes festival has rounded-up some prominent industry names to participate in its workshops and panel discussions.
Turning 30 has made Hot Press feel a bit geriatric, but we’re mere kids compared to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which celebrates its 40th birthday this year.
Songs of Praise will launch their new clubnight on October 15, promising to bring the madness that is Songs of Praise Rock + Roll karaoke to a whole new level.
The line-up for this year's Oxegen festival is getting bigger and better with the addition of many new Irish and international acts, including UK indie kids Editors.
Having been available for the past four years as a white label 12”, Tim Wheeler’s collaboration with legendary dance producer Arthur Baker is finally receiving a commercial release.
The Fundamentals are set to release their debut single ‘Brother’ on November 21 in Flannery’s in Kilkenny on Decadent Records, with a nationwide tour to follow.
New Order will play this summer's Oxegen festival and there is a strong possibility that Queens Of The Stone Age and the Cocteau Twins will also be added to the bill
HOTPRESS is encouraging the real fans of music and sport to let us know who is ripping you off! Contact us on outatout@hotpress.ie or call (01) 241 1500 to tip us off. The fans must stand up and play their part in the Out A Tout campaign. The time for complaining is over. The time for action is now.
The first issue of (RED)Wire digital music magazine will be available for download on December 1 to coincide with World AIDS Day. It's the latest initiative from (RED), the HIV/AIDS organisation whose prime movers include Bono.
Extreme heat can provoke strange reactions. People lose the ability to fret over pointless dilemmas. Such as: do I watch New Order or the Super Furry Animals? Or, when are Audioslave on and is there time to visit the loo first?
In a manner befitting their name, various setbacks and the loss of over a hundred demos have meant the follow up to the Delays’ widely under-rated 2004 debut has endured a difficult birth. The wait, however, has been worth it.
The first live Brits since 1989 took place at Earl's Court in London last night, with Lily Allen walking away empty-handed despite being the most nominated artist.
Amanda Byram was today unveiled as the host of this year’s Meteors Awards and nominees for 2009 were revealed - as well as the fact that Sharon Shannon would receive a lifetime achievement award.
More than another group of wannabes hoofing together the latest trendy noise, Bloc Party are a ridiculously sophisticated outfit and Silent Alarm is a most gratifying piece of aural amusement.
It all comes down to this. After making their way through their respective heats, Cork’s Lotus Lullaby and Waterford’s Ashley Sheehan & The Mute gathered in Cyprus Avenue for the final of Murphy’s Live and a winning prize of two grand’s worth of recording time.
HOTPRESS is encouraging the real fans of music and sport to let us know who is ripping you off! Contact us on outatout@hotpress.ie or call (01) 241 1500 to tip us off. The fans must stand up and play their part in the Out A Tout campaign. The time for complaining is over. The time for action is now.
Elevator is safer-sounding, less adventurous and less exciting than their last blast Make Up The Breakdown, an evolution possibly not unrelated to their being snapped up by a major label. The intimidating energy level remains undiminished, and there still isn’t a note out of place - all that’s missing is anything resembling a sharp edge. At its worst, the frantic cramming of hooks and harmony vocals can create a faintly twee, sugary effect, conjuring spectres of an amped-up They Might Be Giants. At its best, there’s more than enough bite and balls in the guitar work to render such objections irrelevant.
Men out of time, The Verve were a neo-psychedelic jam-rock outfit who got fortuitously swept up in the Britpop boom and stumbled upon a timely form of Big Music.
You think you have a basic understanding of someone, and then Hollywood goes and makes an incredible movie about them and puts your knowledge to shame. That's just what audiences experience with Director Bennet Miller's eye-opening Capote.
“ROSE-mair-ee!” yells a sold-out Olympia along with Paul Banks, as the Morse-code bassline of ‘Evil” jitters away beneath. “HEAV-en re-STORES you in LIFE!” So, yes, onstage it looks like Interpol: five smart-suited gentlemen throwing rock shapes in a graveyard-mist fug that is ‘lit’ (if you can say that about a near-dark stage) in their trademark two colours, black and dark red. But turn around to face tonight’s all-singing, all-dancing crowd, and you could be at an Oasis concert circa Definitely Maybe.
Tokyo is like a sci-fi version of the West – plus, the people are immaculately polite, the trains run on time and the chances of something unpleasant befalling you are virtually zero.
Hordes of penny-pinching citizens of the Republic have fled to the North in search of, at best, a 4% saving on their Christmas shopping. Are their brains functioning properly?
In the first installment of Hot Press' Oxegen coverage, Phil Udell, Steve Cummins and John Walshe pick out their personal favourites of the weekend. This Thursday's Hot Press will feature extended coverage from Kim Porcelli & Ed Power as well as more exclusive photos from Liam Sweeney, Graham Keogh & Andrew Duffy - PLUS the Phantom reports from backstage!
Online Gallery Of Live Shots Here
One of Ireland's most beloved dance emporiums has shut its doors, blaming plummeting CD sales. But it may soon be back, as a vinyl-only store. Is the future of music retail in Ireland?
The world is full of well-meaning people making things worse.
After the murder of the three Quinn children, well-meaners jammed the lines to phone-in programmes with suggestions, for example, that a covered walk-way should be constructed along the length of the Garvaghy Road
The opening night of a U2 tour can be fraught with peril. But in the Camp Nou in Barcelona tonight they exorcised the demons of previous tours and started on a winning note. Report: Olaf Tyaransen
It hasn’t been an easy time to raise political arguments. I was on UTV’s Counterpoint programme the Thursday after the Greysteel massacre and had sharpened my thoughts in advance for cut-and-thrust interplay with ex-UDA chief Glen Barr, Gregory Campbell of the Democratic Unionists and Mark Durkin of the SDLP.
