The Police reunion tour, which included a sell-out September stop-off in Croke Park, is the big winner at this year’s Billboard Touring Awards in New York.
Having played to 80,000 people last year in Croke Park, The Police have confirmed that they’re returning to Ireland for a June 20 show in the grounds of Belfast’s Stormont Castle.
The Police's reformation is the reunion they said would never happen, and according to guitarist Andy Summers the band is still the same mix of egos and visionaries.
A report from the World Health Organisation recently concluded that cannabis was less harmful than cigarettes or alcohol. So why is the Garda Commissioner persisting with the same old fictions?
By Olaf Tyaransen.
There is a serial killer on the loose in London, who has targeted the male gay community. But because of the spanner ruling, which has made a criminal offence of consenting SM sex practices, those who are most at risk are finding it impossible to talk to the police. And inevitably, the sensational distortions of the british media are only making matters worse. This year's Gay Pride March took place against that disturbing backdrop. Fay Wolftree reports. Pix: Leo Regan
2007 was another vintage year for Iggy. Here, he finds the time to discuss reforming the Stooges, his relationship with Bowie, the Stones and his trailer park upbringing.
Sting – all dull AOR anthems, mawkish charidee singles and empty celeb blather, right? wrong! The artist formerly known as Gordon Sumner here talks to hotpress about the lingering fall-out from the break-up of the police, hanging with über-hip filmmakers Terry Gilliam and David Lynch, and getting the seal of approval from the late Johnny Cash.
No, it’s not The Police making a dramatic comeback. But you could be forgiven for thinking Sting and the boys had gotten together again when you first hear Luke Jenners' singing on the new single from the New York electro-punks. Expectations are high for the band’s next album, Pieces Of The People We Love, due in September. ‘Get Myself Into It’ lacks the serrated groove of hits such as ‘House Of Jealous Lovers’. Still, its staccato reggae tinged chorus will make sure it’s another dance-floor filler.
To coincide with a tour supporting Bloc Party (only in Blighty – humph!), Metric, a Canadian quartet who often lend their lead singer Emily Haines to Broken Social Scene, are releasing this little gem of a T.U.N.E. from their 2005 release, Live It Out. ‘Empty’, the album’s opener, is reminiscent of BSS for the first minute or so as it floats along gently and inconspicuously, before raw and rockin’ energy breaks out of nowhere. If you already have the album, give yourself a pat on the back, and then get this for the b-side: a Howie B remix of ‘The Police And The Private’.
Belfast musician Colin Reid likes to surprise his audiences, something he’s sure to accomplsh with an instrumental suite inspired by Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman
During the days of protest at last month's G8 summit in Italy, police raided the Independent Media Centre in Genoa and tried to seize video footage. Journalist and documentary-maker Eamonn Crudden was among a group of twelve who travelled from Ireland to Genoa for the protests. He told ADRIENNE MURPHY about the experience.
The first arrests have taken place in Britain as a
result of a new form of direct action against genetically
engineered plants. ADRIENNE MURPHY, herself an active opponent of GE, reports.
Adrienne Murphy reports on the aftermath of the violence which engulfed the Reclaim The Streets protest in Dublin and finds many wondering, not for the first time, 'who will guard the gardai?'.
Trinity College Dublin Student Union President Rory Hearne was arrested, detained and brutalised by Czech police at the World Bank
and IMF protest march in Prague on September 26th. He relates his experience to Stephen Robinson. Pictures: PETER MATTHEWS
Currently promoting his debut solo album The Ideal Condition ahead of his appearance at Electric Picnic, Paul Hartnoll made his name alongside his brother Phil in Orbital, one of the most significant dance acts of the past 20 years.
At a time when the British hip-hop scene is again witnessing extreme violence, COLM WALSH meets MC HARVEY of SO SOLID CREW and discovers how the problem is affecting the UK garage scene
Dubliner Anita Thoma was arrested in New York city on St Patrick s Day last while protesting against the ban on gays and lesbians taking part in the city s parade. Stephen Robinson reports.
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.
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.
For the most part, the May Day protests – timed to coincide with Europe’s Day of Welcomes – were peaceful. But outside Farmleigh House, where the European Union’s 25 Prime
Ministers were meeting, the shit finally hit the fan.
But who started it? Olaf Tyaransen went to the final protest march against Britain’s repressive criminal justice bill and found himself reading helpful hints on how to throw a brick with maximum effect before a full-scale riot broke out. This is his report . . .
ANYONE HOPING to learn about the Irish troubles from the cinema would probably conclude that Sinn Fein and the IRA had better declare a cease-fire quickly, before they do themselves some serious damage.
He said it, we didn't. Henry Rollins may not be the most obvious embodiment of the American Dream but nowadays everything he touches seems to turn to dollars. Dan Oggly discovers the alternative approach to commerce.
A Private Members' Bill which aims to put ticket touts out of business will come before the Dail in September. Here we talk to some of the scalpers themselves, to get their reaction. By Peter Murphy.
...So said David St. Hubbins 20 years ago in Marti DiBergi’s seminal documentary or, if you will, rockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap. In the time that’s elapsed since then, the Tap have become synonymous with all manner of excess, on the road hi-jinx and bizarre gardening accidents. In a special hotpress tribute, we ask a plethora of their admirers for their own Spinal Tap-style stories. And remember, it’s such a fine line between stupid and clever.
JAMES HANRATTY, the son of Irish parents, was hanged for a notorious murder in England in 1961. Following the recent release of the Bridgewater Three, another miscarriage of justice now looks set to be overturned, posthumously clearing the name of a 25-year-old who was wrongfully sent to the gallows. Report: RICHARD BALLS.
It's been sniffer dogs and paddywagons all the way as The enemy visit some of Britain's less salubrious Rock n' Roll locales. If they can stay out of jail, though a support tour with Oasis awaits.
Don't tread on us, said Buffalo Bill Clinton, and the Cruise missiles shot off at Baghdad. Hitting this and missing that, amassing what the Americans presumably see as acceptable "collateral damage", including six civilians.
A true-life tale of a once-famous Victorian murder investigation paints a fascinating picture of a society undergoing profound changes – and has eerie parallels with today’s fears about the rise of a surveillance culture, explains author Kate Summerscale.
The chattering classes express revulsion at Young Ireland's spitting, shouting and shagging, but their piety masks a disgust at anything youthful and working class.
Eco-activists were barely noticeable, but local people and concerned visitors took up the fight against the MONSANTO GE sugar beet trials at a dramatic day of action in Co Wexford last Sunday. ADRIENNE MURPHY was in the thick of it.
With reports of President Robert Mugabe’s demise having proven premature, the ongoing oppression of the Zimbabwean people has resulted in worse levels of homelessness and poverty than ever before.
Comedian and promoter MALCOLM HARDEE discusses his hopes for the Laughter Lounge, Dublin s spanking new 400-seater venue dedicated exclusively to stand-up comedy, and tells BARRY GLENDENNING the epic tale of the night he stole Freddie Mercury s birthday cake.
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.
Despite the IRA’s declaration of a ceasefire, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the Provos, like their Loyalist counterparts, are still engaging in “punishment attacks” and in the issuing of expulsion orders. Report: Liam Fay. Pics: Alan O’Connor
For two weeks now, the people of Rossport in North Mayo have been besieged by hundreds of Gardai, including riot police and even members of the Emergency Response Unit. Despite the pressure, hundreds of locals are protesting every morning.
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.
It was an historic occasion when Bryan Adams bounded on stage in Ho Chi Minh City last week, kick-starting the first rock gig in Vietnam since the fall of Saigon. Report: Kevin Barrington.
WHILE THE BIRMINGHAM SIX AND THE GUILDFORD FOUR CAN, AT LONG LAST, ENJOY THEIR CHRISTMAS DINNER AT HOME WITH THEIR FAMILIES, THERE ARE STILL MANY OTHERS WHO WILL RING IN THE NEW YEAR LANGUISHING IN PRISON CELLS ON THE STRENGTH OF VERY DUBIOUS CONVICTIONS.
FRANK JOHNSON IS ONE OF THEM.
REPORT: RICHARD BALLS
Shakespear s Sister siobhAN FAHEY makes her acting debut in a powerful new short movie that goes to the heart of the Dublin heroin epidemic. Here, she tells craig fitzsimons about the legitimate highs of working in both music and film.
The Make Poverty History marches in Dublin and Edinburgh were among the biggest political demonstrations in years. Rory Hearne kept a diary of an inspiring week on the barricades.
They've been steadily losing ground to a resurgent Sinn Féin - and now there are rumours of a merger with Fianna Fáil. So does the SDLP really have a future? Mark Durkan clears the air.
. . . and listening too. GERRY McGOVERN discusses the distressing implications of the latest surveillance and state security technology with TOM COONEY of the Irish Council of Civil Liberties.
Western spin depicts it as a blow for democracy, but for Raied Al-Wazzan, an Iraqi doctor based here for 15 years, the occupation of his country is illegal and must be resisted.
Welcome to Galway . . . now turn out your pockets, face the wall and spread your legs. Olaf Tyaransen reports on how new laws are being used to spoil the party way out west.
GREG BAKER on the rise of neo-fascism and the disturbing - and violent - implications of the election of a British National Party councillor in the East End of London.
Before he was the face of televised pop Jools Holland played empty pubs alongside U2, mentored a skinny kid called Mark Knopfler and rode to school in Daniel Day-Lewis's dad's Mercedes.
Being sued for rape didn’t stop Snoop Dogg giving Phil Udell the benefit of his views on NWA, record labels, going solo and how the Bible encourages him to party. Photos by Liam Sweeney.
Peering through a letter box, fielding flying knickers and knocking out a strong contender for album of the year - it's all happening for Cooper Temple Clause
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.
The 25th anniversary edition of London Calling includes an album’s worth of previously unheard material, and most of it’s amazing! Stuart Clark talks to Mick Jones.
Ted Hawkins, in Dublin recently to play a never-to-be-forgotten gig in Whelan’s, talks about his journey down the long and winding road which led him from an early, joyless life of petty crime and racial discrimination to his belated fame as one of the most respected of contemporary blues men. Interview: Gerry McGovern.
It's hard-hats and flak-jackets all round as the new improved Carter usm launch a full frontal attack against John Major, Third World repression and Pizza Hut. Frontline correspondent: Stuart Clark. War photographer Cathal Dawson
From indie shy-boys to multi-platinum chart toppers, it’s certainly been a long, strange journey for The Shins. By now, we all know that Natalie Portman played a part in their success – but what’s Elliot Smith go to do with it?
The procedures and policies of the judicial system in Northern Ireland has come, once again, under close scrutiny with the case of the Ballymurphy Seven. Stuart Carolan travels to Long Kesh to hear the stories of Hughie McLoughlin and Mickey Beck, who along with Tony Garland, are the longest-ever remand prisoners in the province.
They were Ireland’s original of the punk species, and thirty years on from their debut, Paranoid visions are still fizzling with anti-establishment fury. The difference, they say, is that nowadays they are more likely to channel their rage through music rather than chuck a bottle through a shop window
He survived the IRA London bus bomb of February 1996 only to find himself wrongly accused of involvement in terrorism by the British press. His name having been duly cleared young Dubliner BRENDAN WOOLHEAD should have been able to put the worst behind him. Instead, he succumbed to heroin addiction and died in a London hospital having just undergone a costly and controversial detoxification treatment that is now being advertised in Ireland. In the week of the inquest into his death, OLAF TYARANSEN reports on the disturbing implications of a tragic case.
If the media are to be believed, we’re living in a hotbed of crime which is one of the most dangerous places in Europe. But, as SIMON BASKETTER discovers, the latest official figures simply don’t add up.
Important questions of the Stevens inquiry team were left unasked by the recent Panorama investigation into collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces, and the murder of Pat Finucane
With the publication of his memoirs, Shai shahar has packed in his gigolo life and turned to talk radio and sex education on the Internet. paul o mahony, who previously profiled Shai in these pages, catches up with a sex icon.
Amid very public images of violence and allegations of intimidation and brutality on the part of members of the force, public confidence in the Gardai has plummeted. Imogen Murphy reports on what needs to be done.
Having just bagged the coveted Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival, John Boorman's eagerly awaited biopic of Dublin's most notorious fun lovin' criminal, Martin Cahill, has been hailed as a silver screen masterpiece. Craig Fitzsimons hears about the physical, moral and financial perils of making The General.
From frontman with incendiary collective Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy to his current incarnation as hip-hop zen master, Michael Franti has remained one of the true radical voices of the US underground.
Steve Earle is known for his passionate political views. But never mind standing firm in the face of conservative America. The hardest thing he ever did was follow Christy Moore onstage.
On the eve of the release of their highly anticipated debut album, Dublin quartet Delorentos take five from their latest video shoot to discuss playing with Gang of Four, hanging with Steve Albini and playing football in Texas.
"Hope is a scarce commodity in the Inner City," writes Gerry McGovern. Here, he hears from Paul Hansard, who has lived in the Inner City all his life, about the many and varied injustices aimed at the working class, the frustration of never rising above the level of subsistence and about trying to wish for better for your children
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.
As host of her own show on Network 2, CLARE McKEON is no stranger to controversy. Here she talks frankly to OLAF TYARANSEN about abortion, drugs, motherhood and her legendary temper.
The Junk yard: Voices From An Irish Prison is the title of a powerful new collection of writings by inmates of Mountjoy Prison. ADRIENNE MURPHY hears how the pen has replaced the spike for one former inmate, PENNER, and also talks to the anthology s editor, MARSHA HUNT.
Ahead of his public interview in Dublin with Hot Press, Wire creator David Simon talks about the genesis of the series and about his controversial new Iraq-set show.
Thanks to internet fueled word-of-mouth, Brooklyn’s Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are indie-rock’s latest sensation. But they’d much rather you compared them to Hall & Oates.
The master of the historical psychological thriller,
CALEB CARR's own life has not been short of drama.
Here, he talks to OLAF TYARANSEN about growing up with the Beats and the shock of discovering that his father was a convicted murderer. Pics: Mick Quinn
The master of the historical psychological thriller,
CALEB CARR's own life has not been short of drama.
Here, he talks to OLAF TYARANSEN about growing up with the Beats and the shock of discovering that his father was a convicted murderer. Pics: Mick Quinn
The master of the historical psychological thriller,
CALEB CARR's own life has not been short of drama.
Here, he talks to OLAF TYARANSEN about growing up with the Beats and the shock of discovering that his father was a convicted murderer. Pics: Mick Quinn
History is likely to remember FW de KLERK as the man whose most significant political accomplishment ensured his own political downfall. Peter Murphy meets the last South African President to hold power in the era of apartheid. Pic: COLM HENRY.
Progress doesn t always follow a straight line. Far from it. Sometimes you take two steps sideways for every one step forwards. There s another image that holds progress to be a kind of tumbleweed effect. We roll forward, but sometimes we re going backwards, and mostly we re just marking time. Frustrating? Yes, but it has the ring of truth.
Nowhere is this more evident than in Northern Ireland.
If you’re going to follow up a hit like East Is East, best to do it in style – by turning to Blackpool, darts and morris dancing. Damien O’Donnell tells Craig Fitzsimons about his “uncool” new movie
THE PRODIGY may be one of the biggest dance acts in the world but, increasingly, they’ve been developing a rock ’n’ roll attitude. As the band line up for their Friday night headlining slot at Féile, techno guru LIAM HOWLETT talks to STUART CLARK.
Those opposed say it’s an acute infringement on civil liberties. Supporters say it’s an essential step. Anti-social behaviour (ASB) may be a serious issue – but there is an increasing belief that the on-the-spot fines and Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOS) proposed by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell are not the answer. Karla Healion reports.
GREAT WESTERN SQUARES frontman gary fitzpatrick has built a career out of crafting beautifully heartfelt C'n'W vignettes, prowling around ancient pubs and being "a sad bastard who drinks too much". nick kelly says: "Cheers!"
BLOODHOUND GANG might not be paragons of good taste, but they do live out the rock n roll lifestyle like no other band. JIMMY POP talks to STUART CLARK about swearing, drugs, porn stars and amusing Germans! Pop Pic-er: Declan English
With the Dutch having just taken over from Ireland as EU President, paul o mahony looks at their liberal domestic drugs policy and visits Amsterdam s unique hash and marijuana museum.
With interest in this year’s 10th Roundstone Arts Festival already building up, we sent our very own Roundstone Cowboy Jackie Hayden to check out this year’s line-up.
Backed by apparently damning new scientific findings, there is a move across Europe to outlaw ‘Spice’ and other legal smokes. Will this bring an end to the booming legal high industry – or encourage smokers to look further afield for their chemical buzz?
IT IS no secret that homeless figures in the capital soared with the Goverment's brilliant 'care in the community' initiative. Supposedly intended to reintegrate long-term psychiatric patients back into society, all that seems to have been achieved is the closing down of hospitals and an increase in the numbers of bewildered people living rough, denied the only security they have ever known.
An escalation of violence within certain deprived pockets of the Travelling community has provoked a Garda clampdown that many regard as heavy-handed. Meanwhile, despite some notable efforts to improve cross-community relations, Travellers must continue to cope with discrimination, alienation and a growing accommodation crisis. Mic Moroney reports on a people struggling to survive in the shadow of the Celtic Tiger.
An ex-con, a foe of The Krays and a man capable of such acts of violence that he once sliced off a prison guard s ear, Mad Frankie Fraser now makes quite a nice living for himself spinning yarns about his gangster years. Stuart Clark interrogates him about prison, drugs, the IRA, Arsenal and a novel theory on Veronica Guerin s murder which, Fraser insists, the Irish media haven t had the bottle to print. Mugshots: Cathal Dawson
A full 17 years after their acclaimed eponymous debut exploded onto the American alt-rock landscape, Milwaukee malcontents The Violent Femmes are back with a new album (Freak MAgnet) and the same old typically off-kilter worldview. Interview: PETER MURPHY.
Christy Dignam of Aslan has never been one to pull his punches and, as a result, controversy has dogged the band with every new public utterance. Now as their debut album Feel No Shame nestles at the top of the Irish charts, in an in-depth interview he attempts to set the record straight, on his attitude to U2, poverty, drugs, groupies, his personal life and the macho implications of the band s image and music. Sceptical Eye: Cathy Dillon
GER PHILPOTT examines the terrible ordeal of American writer Robert drake who was savagely attacked in Sligo earlier this year against the wider backdrop of continuing violence against gays in Ireland.
From Belfast, NIALL STANAGE reports on the still-growing controversy surrounding Brian Nelson, British Intelligence and the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane.
Taking time out from a hectic schedule of stage, studio and club work the one and only Boy George sets the record straight on Eminem, Graham Norton, Elton John and the new homophobia
So says Phil Harnoll of the hugely influential electronic duo, Orbital, but then he's a man whose views are just as radical and progressive as the band's music. Interview: Helen Toland
Initially billed as a celebration of gay culture by its organisers, the forthcoming DUBLIN MARDI GRAS seems to be splitting its supposed target community right down the middle. Although its supporters see it as a laudable complement to the long-established Gay Pride Festival, there are those who view it as simply a cynical money-making exercise on the part of businessmen unconnected with the gay scene. STUART CLARK reports on the brewing controversy.
These days he may be more famous for his movies than his prose, but in conversation Neil Jordan remains linguistically precise as he dissects the Hollywood machine, reveals his love for Lord Of The Rings and discusses his latest movie The Good Thief, starring Nick Nolte.
But it wasn’t confined to cell block number nine. In fact the whole of Dublin city centre was engulfed as mobs of rioters were given the run of the city by Gardai, in the wake of the protest against the holding of the Love Ulster parade in O’Connell Street. Rory Hearne pieces together the anatomy of a riot.
And even worse, they took it to heart. Thus was Sebastian Horsley refused entry to the United States for the launch of his book Dandy In The Underworld.
SEAMUS HEANEY once described Ireland as a country that went from the medieval to the post-modern in a generation. More than any other native band, Horslips embody that idea. Over their ten-year career, the band lurched back and forth from neo-classical Irish chamber music to progressive rock to acoustic folk to psychedelic pop to glam rock; here was one combo capable of going from Carolan to Caravan in a single bound.
For the Chinese community in Northern Ireland, life can at times be difficult in the face of racism and violent attacks. But they can also spare a little time to party, as our very own Chinese checker Colin Carberry discovered on a visit to the hectic offices of the Chinese Welfare Association. Photos: Amberlea Trainor.
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.
Getting press accreditation for the world’s greatest cycling race seemed like a dream come true. Then the Tour de France turned into the Tour de Farce. SHANE STOKES recalls the death of innocence during three tumultuous weeks in July.
Neil McCormick embarks on a verbal showdown with Hollywood's most famous drug store cowboys and discovers that 1994 was the year in which the hot shots traded in their smoking guns for a pill called Prozac.
Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison and Lewis Carrol may all be touchstones for the muse of sinÉad lohan, but this is one talented and increasingly successful singer-songwriter who definitely does things her way. joe jackson meets a self-confessed "spacer".
Pix: Mick Quinn
When the IRA ceasefire began in the early minutes of September 1st last, nationalists in Belfast and Derry rejoiced in the streets. In the South Armagh village of Crossmaglen, however, there was barely a murmur. Over the past 25 years, the sniper’s bullet and the mortar bomb have claimed the lives of more soldiers and RUC personnel in this small area than anywhere else in Northern Ireland. Anne Connolly visits what has become the most militarised zone in western Europe and takes the post-ceasefire pulse of a stubbornly resilient little town. Pics: Jason Clarke.
Renowned for his elaborately-posed images of nude figures in public settings, artist Spencer Tunick is hoping Irish people will strip off for him when he visits these shores in June.
IAN STRACHAN was jailed for blackmailing a member of the Royal Family over allegations of a sex and drugs ‘scandal’. But a media blackout ensured that little of the substance of the case was reported.
The good and beneficial use of music and the hard and brutal treatment of junkies next big thing finley quaye delivers the sublime and the ridiculous in equal measure to jonathan o brien.
May 10 saw a crowd of several thousand take part in a pro-cannabis rally outside the Dáil. However, political expediency and media scaremongering mean that misinformation about the drug continues to be rife.
RICHARD BROPHY journeyed to the Czech Republic to see CJ Boland perform at the Summer of Love dancefest. But the trip included encounters with lunatic drivers and Beretta-toting security men, too. Pics: Peter Matthews.
For close to twenty years, MARTIN CAHILL led the forces of law and order a merry dance. Known as the General, he was suspected of masterminding virtually every major crime committed in Ireland – but for as long as matters, the Gardai had been unable to pin anything on him. And when he was brought to court on petty charges, he posed outside for press photographers, dropping his trousers to reveal a pair of Mickey Mouse boxer shorts. Last week, however, the game was cut brutally short when Cahill was blown away within 100 yards of his South Dublin home by an IRA hit squad. Report: NEIL McCORMICK.
In an exclusive interview, DeLorean executive Brian Beharrell talks about the $24 million cocaine bust that hastened the demise of the sports car manufacturer's Belfast base.
John Noonan, who played a pivotal role in the IRA’s military campaign against the British occupation of Northern Ireland, gives a revealing interview to Jason O'Toole.
Best-selling crime-writer PATRICIA
CORNWELL
has a gripping new tale of sex, exploitation and violence to tell. But this time it s her own.
LIAM FAY hears the story she didn t tell on Kenny Live.
Pix: colm henry
Criminologist paul o mahony is one of the country s most progressive and radical thinkers on Irish criminal
justice. olaf tyaransen hears his provocative and important analysis. Pix: cathal dawson
In the last issue of Hot Press, NIALL STANAGE wrote about his experiences as a busker-for-a-day. This time around he meets the real thing those who try to make their living on the streets of Dublin. PICS: CATHAL DAWSON
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.
Having lost his way for a bit, Liam Howlett is back with a new enthusiasm and a new sound for The Prodigy. “No one has filled our shoes – now we’ve come back to tread on everyone else’s feet,” he tells Tanya Sweeney.
Chris Robinson of Southern American rock giants The Black Crowes talks to Graham Nellan about his “total fuckin’ Shangri-La” lifestyle of sex ’n’ drugs ’n’ MTV . . . while looking for a bottle of vinegar.
A defining personality of the seismic changes in Northern Ireland, Billy Hutchinson is a paramilitary turned politician, a convicted UVF murderer who spent 16 years in the Maze and who will now represent the PUP in the new Assembly. But if Hutchinson has abandoned violence, it hasn’t altogether abandoned him. As he reveals in this interview with niall stanage, there have been three attempts on his life by the INLA in the last 18 months.
Pics: Michael Taylor.
. . . she was reet petite! That's not true, actually. Instead, the maverick motorbike-riding DUP councillor and former Lord Mayor of Belfast talks about loyalist paramilitary violence, the assassination of prison officers, the indifference of London, his hostility to Mary Robinson, his scorn for the Official Unionist Party - and his own willingness to take up arms in the cause of keeping the six counties out of a united Ireland. Interview: JOE JACKSON. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON
One of the nation’s most acclaimed playwrights, Conor McPherson has examined the Irish condition in forensic detail in plays and films such as The Weir, Port Authority and Saltwater. In his new play Shining City, McPherson uses the disturbed psyches of his lead characters as a means to explore loneliness, isolation, friendship and salvation in the ghostly setting of contemporary Dublin. “The city holds some very dark feelings for me,” he admits to Kim Porcelli.
In what may well be the most effective marriage yet of rock and pragmatic politics, U2, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed and others are pushing the Amnesty International message on the 'Conspiracy Of Hope' tour. Pat Singer joins them on the road.
Defecating lemurs, exploding dogs, dirty movies, alien abduction and, of course, the longest feet in pop. it can all only mean that Gruff Rhys & Co. are back.
RAYTHEON, the armament-technology firm which manufactured Patriot and Sidewinder missiles, is establishing a plant in Derry and the local politicians couldn t be happier. EAMONN McCANN reports.
Californian-born JIM PAGE is no ordinary protest singer. Best known on this side of the Atlantic as the writer of such classics as 'Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Russian Roulette', his music has continued to move hearts and minds well into the corporate nineties. Here, he traces his roots from Bob Dylan to Public Enemy, and explains why he wrote a special song in tribute to Sinead O'Connor. Interview: GERRY McGOVERN
Andy Darlington travels to Manchester to meet the Stone Roses, an outfit who’ve progressed past the point of being just a band to become something altogether bigger...
WITH ITS RESOUNDING ECHOES OF THE TROUBLES, THE WAR BETWEEN THE BASQUE SEPARATIST GROUP ETA AND THE SPANISH STATE REMAINS BLOODY AND SEEMINGLY INTRACTABLE. WITH HIS FIRST BOOK, DIRTY WAR, CLEAN HANDS, IRISH JOURNALIST PADDY WOODWORTH PRESENTS A COMPELLING BUT OFTEN HARROWING ACCOUNT OF HOW VIOLENCE DEFEATS POLITICS AND TERROR BEGETS TERROR. AND, REFLECTING ALSO ON HIS OWN PAST POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT WITH SINN FÉIN, HE TELLS JOE JACKSON HOW HE HAS COME AROUND TO THE VIEW THAT TALKING IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN WAR. AUTHOR PORTRAITS: CATHAL DAWSON.
Commander of the notorious Company C of the UDA in Belfast, Johnny Adair was given 16 years for directing terrorism. While he was never convicted of murder, the rumour mill suggests that he has been reponsible for as many as 43 deaths.
After two years of being that bloke who used to be in the Stone Roses, John Squire is back in the saddle with The Seahorses. On the eve of their Heineken Green Energy appearance at Dublin Castle, Madchester s answer to Jimmy Page talks to Stuart Clark about old friends, new challenges and his penchant for obscure Belfast punk bands.
Liam Fay calls on Shane MacGowan at home, where over mugs of brandy, the singer cheerfully rationalises his notorious alcohol-intake in the face of widespread concern that he might be drinking himself to an early grave. The premier Pogue disagrees, predicting instead a happy fulfilling life away from the stage, in which he would own and run a fully-licensed restaurant in London and face extended vacations in Thailand.
As the first ever Green Party member in The Mansion House, Dublin’s current Lord Mayor, JOHN GORMLEY, is certainly unique. However, dismissed as a novelty by some and derided by others, the substance of his views as a politician have often been completely overlooked. Here, the capital’s number one citizen is unchained. Interview: JOE JACKSON. Pix: COLM HENRY.
Former cop, private eye and the only man on the Presidential ballot paper, derek nally is the dark horse candidate who could yet shake up the race for the Park. Here he holds forth on low standards in high places, how Sean Doherty almost destroyed the gardai , the foul treatment of Albert Reynolds, the case for the decriminalisation of prostitution and why he wasn t surprised by J. Edgar Hoover s penchant for frocks. Interview: liam fay.
Pix: Cathal dawson.
What promoters and clubbers perceive as Garda heavy-handedness in the -war on drugs- is making life increasingly difficult for dance venues across the country. STUART CLARK reports.
Martin Sheen has starred in at least two of the greatest films ever made, survived a massive heart attack, found God, and campaigned tirelessly for social justice in the Third World. Now, he’s gone back to school, studying Philosophy and English at (of all places) the NUI in Galway. Jason O’Toole meets him for his only Irish print interview.
Gregory David Robert‘s life reads like the most sensational book, a painfully true but scarcely believable saga of academic success, crime, heroin addiction, incarceration, torture, escape, re-capture, and finally, literary acclaim. Peter Murphy hears the extraordinary tale of australia’s ‘gentleman bandit’ turned author. photography Liam Sweeney
As his singular contribution to the birthday party, guest writer Elvis Costello offers a handful of stories from his ten years on the beat, which serve to illustrate why, in his own words, “I’d rather be a folk music fan than a teen idol.”
Promoter Jim Aiken, who passed away recently, was a hugely important and universally admired figure in the Irish music scene. Here, leading industry representatives pay tribute. (free content)
The Winner In Me - Don Baker's Story, by Jackie Hayden, is the painfully honest account of the private life of one of Ireland's best-known musicians, and describes his efforts, as an adult, to come to terms with an unhappy childhood and a past littered with violence, crime and alcoholism. In this exclusive extract, Don describes how he believes his troubled childhood relationship with his mother left him with an enduring fear of betrayal in his relationships with women.
Origin of Symmetry? Freak of Evolution more like. The common response to Muse’s Showbiz debut in 1999 was akin to a primitive people’s first glimpse of a spacecraft over the prehistorical landscape. Here was an unlikely but hugely accomplished hybrid of prog-rock flash, quasi-symphonic attack and ferocious virtuosity, spearheaded by Matt Bellamy’s soaring tenor and Dick-ian lyrics. An impressive sound, even if you didn’t know what the hell it was.
The Catholic Church has blamed ‘system failure’ and human fallibility for its failure to crack down on the paEdophile Fr. Brendan Smyth. Not so, argues BILL GRAHAM: here, he
examines the role of the Church and, particularly, Cardinal Cahal Daly in the wake of Fr. Smyth’s crimes, and comes to some damning conclusions.
Public Enemies is an extraordinary and controversial book of photographs of British neo-Nazis, taken by Hot Press’ London photographer Leo Regan. “You’re never going to combat racism unless you know where it’s coming from”, he says. Report: Stuart Clark.
With their new album, Gotta Go There To Come Back, in the bag, Stereophonics have chosen a very special gig at the Heineken Green Energy extravaganza in Dublin, to make their return to the stage. No wonder the boys are feeling bullish! Chris Martin, Ronnie Wood, Fran Healy, Rod Stewart, Noel Gallagher, U2 and the Rolling Stones – Kelly Jones has opinions on all of them! So who’s feeling the lash of the ‘phonics frontman’s verbal assault, then?
As Secretary Of State in Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam [pic left by Mick Quinn] played a crucial role in formulation and implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. It helped that she is no conventional politician but rather a warm, down-to-earth and decent individual with a genuine commitment to positive action. in both the UK and Ireland, she became by far the most popular British figure in the history of Northern politics - which may explain why, in the end, she was shafted.
With State Of Play and Shameless, Paul Abbott has taken more risks than any other writer of TV drama – with spectacularly successful results. Now, Channel 4 have asked the BAFTA award winner to write a pantomime, that’s destined to be one of the highlights of the festive season.
While high-profile successes have been scored by the authorities in the so-called war on drugs, the problems associated with heroin addiction in Dublin are worse than ever. Report: Adrienne Murphy.
30th Anniversary retrospective: From the murders of Tupac and Biggie to the bizarre implication of Marilyn Manson in the Columbine massacre; from Courtney, Axl and Spector’s falls from grace to the canonisation and demonisation of Peter Doherty... here’s a potted history of the most controversial events in the last 30 years of rock ‘n’ roll.
JOHN FARRELL was brought up in an Irish working–class neighbourhood in Brooklyn. From a very young age he knew that he was gay. But it took twenty–five years before he could go fully public, with this powerful, funny and tragic telling of his own journey to sexual maturity.
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.
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
Yup, we thought you'd like our stab at a tabloid headline. Thing is, there was a time when Danny Boy O'Connor looked inexorably set on a course for the California State Penitentiary. Then he discovered the therapeutic qualities of the House Of Pain and apart from the odd skirmish with the 2FM Roadcaster, there's been no looking back since. Crime reporter: Stuart Clark.
No-one has ever asked suzanne vega before if Luka the story about child sexual abuse which made her famous was based on personal experience. Here for the first time ever the singer reveals that indeed it is and that she is still dealing with the after-effects of that traumatic experience. Interview: SIOBHAN LONG. Pix: COLM HENRY.
The reclassification of cannabis in Britain was a good day for the UK’s estimated five million users. But not a great day. A drug that is much less damaging than alcohol or tobacco remains illegal in most parts of the world, including Ireland, a situation which criminalises the user and benefits only the criminal gangs. It’s high time for a change, argues Olaf Tyaransen.
A mere six months after taking on the role of Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern has been appointed by Kofi Annan as one of four envoys to assist in the reform of the United Nations and the achievement of Millennium Development Goals. Jackie Hayden spoke to him last week in his Dundalk office about this key appointment, as well as a range of key issues including the war in Iraq, political bribery, Shannon refuelling stops, Gerry Adams and the IRA, our immigration policy, the Health service, his real hopes for the Peace Process and the influence of Dave Fanning on his musical tastes. Photography by Emily Quinn.
Peter Murphy takes a train to the wild west (Galway that is) with the original Texas Jewboy, crime writer and legendary stardust cowboy Kinky Friedman. Peter Matthews has the negatives.
A STRANGE sound can be heard in L.A. late at night, when the traffic has finally begun to die down, Mickey Rourke has parked his Harley, Bruce Willis has turned off his 1,000 megawatt speakers and the denizens of the Dream Factory are getting ready to embrace the great unconscious.
Where hip and hype go together, that's where you'll find The Hives who are buzzing to tell Stuart Clark all about Kylie, curling, punk rock, nice forests and bad Norwegian jokes
Meet Larry Harvey, the man behind burning man, the world’s most extraordinary festival, in which a whole city, run as a gift economy, springs up in the arid nevada desert to celebrate creativity, non-conformism and the healing power of fire.
“Crossover” may be a favourite buzz-word at the moment but as rap and the rock mainstream strike an uneasy alliance, it’s clear that a huge gulf still exists between black and white culture.
Cast by certain sections of the media in the role of villain, Ice-T has spent the past decade pounding home the message that unless America is willing to accept a major race war, something has to change.
Here, the Iceman talks to GERRY McGOVERN about censorship and the politics of rap and gives him an exclusive preview of his Return Of The Real album. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
When Siniad O Connor tore up a picture of the pope on the Saturday Night Live television show in the US recently, she unleashed a storm which has been swirling around her ever since, causing her at one point to announce her premature retirement from the music industry. One month on, bruised and weary she may be but Siniad is neither downhearted nor repentant. Having declared war on the Roman Catholic Church she is determined to keep taking the battle to the real enemy. Interview: Niall Stokes.
One of the government’s most vocal and effective critics, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte could well be the next Tánaiste. He talks about iPods, happiness, gay marriage, breaking the law - and Enda Kenny’s hairdo.
Velvet Revolver axe-man Slash, one of the most influential guitarists of all time, joins bandmate Duff McKagan in reflecting on Guns N' Roses' hellraising heyday.
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
During their 11-year lifespan, New Zealand popsters Crowded House racked up four hugely successful albums and umpteen hit singles.
It was, therefore, all the more of a shock to their legions of fans when they called it a day in 1996. Here, erstwhile mainman NEIL FINN explains the reasons for the split in typically candid fashion to NEIL McCORMICK, as well as discussing the anticipated reaction to his new solo album, Try Whistling This.
The creator of Bowling For Columbine, this year’s most devastating big screen documentary, shoots from the hip on violence, gun control, Charlton Heston, George Bush, satire and the Canadian solution to an American problem
Marital breakdown can be hell for both parties. But for many fathers that’s just the beginning of the nightmare, as they are systematically excluded from contact with their children. For A special hotpress report, Peter Murphy spoke to three fathers about their first-hand experiences of Irish Family Law, and here relates their deeply troubling and unsettling stories.
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.
Edwyn Collins, late of Orange Juice and whose third solo album was recently released, gets all acidic about the state of the music business. Interview: Patrick Brennan.
Following the publication of The Ferns Report, there is no longer any hiding the rampant extent of clerical sex abuse of children in Ireland. But in Pope Benedict II, the Roman Catholic Church is headed by a man who knows the detail of what went on – and yet has done nothing to redress it.
Following the publication of The Ferns Report, there is no longer any hiding the rampant extent of clerical sex abuse of children in Ireland. But in Pope Benedict II, the Roman Catholic Church is headed by a man who knows the detail of what went on – and yet has done nothing to redress it.
RTE are set to screen a documentary series about Carlisle United football club. But the fly on the wall had better keep his ears covered since the team’s manager, Dubliner Roddy Collins, is no shrinking violet. And, as Stuart Clark discovers here, even on subjects unrelated to football, the brother of boxing champ Steve doesn’t pull his punches. Images Liam Sweeney
Tori Amos has rocketed to international prominence with her album "Little Earthquakes", but behind the public success story lies the private trauma
of a young woman who was raped at the age of 22. In an uncompromisingly honest interview with Joe Jackson, Tori talks about that terrible experience, it's lasting scars and how her music has helped to set her free again.
Dylan is a farmer with a difference – he's a cannabis cultivator. He is squeezed by both criminals and the Gardai. But he aims to put Ireland on the map for quality, organically grown weed.
With their biggest dates ever in Ireland looming, LIAM MACKEY dips into voluminous hotpress archives and selects a small sample of what the paper said about U2 over the years
A disquieting true-life tale of family intrigue, child abuse and inept judicial proceedings, capturing the friedmans is one of the most compelling and acclaimed documentaries of recent years. Tara Brady talks to the film’s director, Andrew Jarecki.
Kieron "Wolf" Ducie, describes what happened on the night Katy French passed away in compelling detail. He also recalls the build-up to the tragic events that unfolded.
The case for and against Holocaust Revisionist and Nazi apologist DAVID IRVING being allowed to speak on a public platform in Ireland. For: GERRY McGOVERN. Against: EAMONN McCANN
ADRIENNE MURPHY, Hot Press writer and environmentalist was among seven people charged with sabotaging a Monsanto-owned GM sugar beet crop in Wexford last June. From the field to the courtroom, from taking a stand to taking the stand, this is her personal account of a tumultuous ten months. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
With the focus of world attention increasingly on Unionism and its capacity to respond positively to the IRA ceasefire, IAN PAISLEY JNR. – the son of Dr Ian Paisley – talks about culture and the Protestant identity, about his father’s emotive brand of politics, about secret deals and about ‘that petty little Fuehrer’ Albert Reynolds. Interview: Joe Jackson. Pix: COLM HENRY
and didn’t like what he saw... Fatboy Slim tells Stuart Clark about an encounter with Man Utd so unpleasant that even Zoe Ball is thinking of switching her allegiance to Brighton. Plus: the highs of Normstock and the lows of So Solid Crew
In Ireland, he’s the biggest name in comedy – a superstar who can pack them into live shows and shift DVDs by the jumboload. But having conquered his homeland, Tommy Tiernan faced the question: where to from here? The answer was America, the Holy Grail for anyone in the entertainment business. The story of his battle to win hearts and minds is captured in Jokerman – Tommy Tiernan Takes On America, a documentary series that is about to hit the screens on RTE. But first, there’s the important matter of a Hot Press interview to attend to.
As the General Election looms, many polls suggest Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny is the next Taoiseach in waiting. So what is he really like? And where does he stand on the issues that matter to Hot Press readers?
Now happily settled in the west of Ireland as commercial manager of Eircom League side Galway United, 38-year-old Londoner Nick Leeson will forever be remembered as the 'rogue trader' who brought about the collapse of Barings Bank in Singapore. He talks frankly, and affably, to Jackie Hayden about his long, strange trip.
Dutchy Holland, currently serving an eight-year sentence in Wandsworth Prison, gives a remarkably revealing interview where he discusses all aspects of his life as a career criminal.
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
From Oasis to The Ping Pong Bitches, ALAN McGEE is living proof that there s life after
success, excess, Labour, near-death and, oh yes, Creation Records. Even if you re a Rangers
supporter. Interview: STUART CLARK
Morrissey of The Smiths has taken the place of both Duran Duran and the Thompson Twins, single-handedly wiping them out, at least on my one increasingly [used] cassette. When I told him whose conversations we were taping over he said, "Good. I'll talk louder then." Not a man to be taken lightly.
At the end of an exciting, painful and earthshaking year, Bono reflects on the political and the personal – from drop the debt, September 11, Afghanistan and Genoa to the death of his father Bob, the birth of his son John and the enduring friendship which underpins U2’s music and career. Interview: Niall Stokes
[this interview originally appeared in the spectacular Hot Press Annual 2002 - used in the pictures below - a very limited number of this unique collectors item will shortly be on sale - email u2@hotpress.ie to reserve a copy]
The global economic system is out of control and leading humanity on a road to environmental self-destruction. So says visionary economist RICHARD DOUTHWAITE, who argues that Ireland, for all its problems, is well placed to give birth to a new kind of culture that would ultimately safeguard the future of the planet and its inhabitants. Interview: ADRIENNE MURPHY
After two decades of electro-pop hits, the PET SHOP BOYS have gone back to basics with their new album Fundamental – and thrown some timely political digs into the mix while they’re at it. But the real battle is getting people to take them seriously.
Fetishised in film and song, suicide has become part of the everyday language of pop culture. So why are schools so afraid even to talk about it? There is always a better way.
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...
Back in the saddle witha politically charged new album, Burning TimesChristy Moore and co-collaborator Declan Sinnott are putting the agit-prop back into folk. In a rare interview, Moore speaks frankly abot Hattie Carroll and Rachel Corrie, Richard Thompson anoraks, interpreting Morrissey and recently being detained by British authorities under anti-terrorism laws.
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.
She’s no saint. She swears and smokes and doesn’t think she’ll go to heaven. But the one-time Dublin street kid has used the nightmare of her own past life to help make unlikely dreams come true for abandoned children across the world. Peter Murphy hears her extraordinary story.
The drink, the drugs, the fights, the sex, the loves, the hates, the hits and the Taoiseach's daughter - here are Ireland's most successful boy band as you've never heard them before.
Hearing their confessions: Joe Jackson
In the definitive life of two halves, GEORGE BEST has been both the supreme footballer and a raddled alcoholic . With a new paperback biography just published and a movie version of his life on the way, LIAM MACKEY reflects on the genie who got trapped by the bottle.
Nerdlinger frontman Cormac Sheehan inadvertently got caught up in the rioting in Genoa last week while attending the G8 summit protest with anti-capitalist group Globalise Resistance.
Bobby Gillespie's still staying up all night but now it's because there's a baby in the house. Otherwise, it's all systems go for Primal Scream at their bunker hq - Witnness cometh, Mani's back and Kate Moss, Kevin Shields, Robert Plant and AndrewWeatherall all feature on the groundbreaking evil high
The still vibrant 64-year-old on why Morrissey’s like Father Frank, why Iraq is like Vietnam, and on her meetings with Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Bono, Phil Spector and a whole Oval Office full of presidents.
His father, the Rev. Ian Paisley, has been one of the dominant figures in Irish politics over the past 40 years. Now Ian Paisley Jnr is a Junior Minister in the new Northern Ireland administration. So how different is he from his father? And how does he feel about cross border co-operation, education, abortion and homosexuality?
With the opinion polls predicting a tight finish in the upcoming General Election, there is an increasing likelihood that the Greens will play a part in the next Government. So what is their leader Trevor Sargent really made of?
Giant lemons, 100ft toothpicks and enough lights to put Las Vegas on full-scale UFO alert. Helena Mulkerns watches with gob well and truly smacked as U2's PopMart extravaganza opens for business at the Sam Boyd Stadium.
Pix: All Action
A member of one of the most famous political families in the country, Conor Lenihan gave up a career in journalism to follow his late father brian into politics. Tipped for promotion in Bertie Ahern’s September reshuffle, the rising star talks to Hot Press about Charlie McCreevy, Charlie Haughey. His father’s political downfall and the future of Fianna Fail. [Photos: Liam Sweeney]
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.
Over the past decade or so, Will Self has remained one of the most fascinating, infuriating and downright provocative writers in contemporary literature. Now, following the publication of his typically inventive and challenging new book, Dr Mukti and other Tales of Woe, the perennially combative author gives Hot Press the low-down on the perils of psychiatry, his relationship with ultra-controversial artist Sebastian Horsley, and that memorable showdown with Paul Merton on Room 101.
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.
The rise and fall of chef CONRAD GALLAGHER was Icarus-like – one moment the toast of Dublin’s glitterati, the next a virtual pariah.
but unlike Icarus, Gallagher has fought his way back, bloodied but unbowed and determined to pay off all his debts
Interview: OLAF TYARANSEN
Famously opinionated Dubliner and textbook Renaissance man, ULICK O'CONNOR still has plenty to say about everything – even if RTE, he claims, don’t want to hear about it. following the recent publication of his first volume of diaries, the great man offers his views on marriage, drugs, the North, art, corruption, wild times in the Chelsea hotel and more.
Words: OLAF TYARANSEN
Nearly a decade after the release of their debut single, U2 are widely regarded as the No. 1 rock band in the world. But the album and the film "Rattle And Hum" depict another kind of reality entirely. Larry, Adam and The Edge talk to Niall Stokes.
No problem! Eamon Gilmore has just taken over at the helm of the Labour Party. Here, in a wide-ranging interview, he talks about Bertie Ahern, the future of Labour, Gay marriage, God, abortion, bias in the media – and a whole lot more besides.
She can't sit still. She has the attention span of a senile goldfish. And she has got some very strange personal habits. But Bjork is still one of the brightest and most compelling pop stars the nineties has produced thus far. LIAM FAY travels to darkest Blackpool for a close and often strange encounter with the Icelandic imp herself.
Ciaran Cuffe [right by Mick Quinn] doesn’t look much like a typical Teachta Dala. So little so, in fact, that when the Green Party TD comes out to greet photographer Mick Quinn and myself in a guarded reception area in Leinster House, we simply don’t recognise him. He just doesn’t look the part.
With the general election approaching, the leader of the Labour Party offers his views on Bob Dylan, Bono, Ali Hewson, Sile De Valera, RTE, Sellafield, The Abbey Theatre, marital breakdown, the decline in power of the Catholic Church, the rise of Sinn Fein, the irrelevance of the PDs, his ambitions for Labour, and the perception of him as a smoked salmon socialist. All this, and the enduring appeal of a certain song
Shane MacGowan is not happy with the newly published A DRINK WITH SHANE MacGOWAN.
for a start, it should be called Several drinks with Shane MacGowan, he points out. Plus there's a lot in it that's "garbled, dodgy and well-suspect". and on top of that, he wouldn't even stand over SOME of HIS OWN opinions AS expressed in the book. in fact, if shane had his way he'd "burn every fucking copy". Olaf Tyaransen tries to get the record straight while, inevitably, getting the drinks in. photography: Mick Quinn
So says the new Minister for Drugs, Pat Carey. Which makes an interesting change from the usual sensational stuff we’re fed by politicians, the Gardaí and the media. But is he right?
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
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]
Minister for Finance Ruairi Quinn on hair loss, economic growth, hairy times in government and hair-raising incidents in the house. Demon barber: Liam Fay.
Since their debut single ‘Wired To The Moon’ went gold here The Revs have established themselves as Ireland’s hungriest and most energetic rock combo, with an appetite for gigging and an eye for publicity that has seen them embroiled in a number of amusing controversies. But behind the brash exterior is the fascinating story of three dedicated young musicians who have overcome their status as outsiders to build one of the biggest and most loyal grass roots following of any local act. Now with the release of their debut studio album, Suck, they are ready to go international.
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.
Prince may be content just to party but in a four-page special the Hot Press journalistic elite takes a look at everything 1999 has to offer. And then some.
The recipient of a Late Late Show tribute and the outgoing presenter of The Arts Show, MIKE MURPHY avails of a timely opportunity to reflect on the highs and lows of his personal and professional life and to assure JOE JACKSON that, contrary to certain popular mythology, he is neither a marshmallow nor a flowerpot man
24-inch, 'raging hard', double-ended dildos ahoy - this is the full, behind the counter account of the shelf gratificaton to be found in your friendly, local Dublin sex emporium
Saturday, July 13th, 1985 will go down in history as Live Aid Day, the extraordinary culmination of Bob Geldof's attempts to mobilise the international music industry behind urgently-needed famine relief in Africa. Among the stellar cast performing for 72,000 people at Wembley Stadium, London are U2, a band determined to rise to the occasion. Report: Neil McCormick
Masturbating for charity – it was a new one on us. So whose idea was it? What was the purpose? Who would turn up? And what would happen in real life, when the doors to the Wank-a-thon were finally declared open? There was only one way to get the real SP on what promised to be one of the most bizarre events ever mounted in London. Send for our man Tyaransen: he wouldn’t make his excuses and leave! Or would he?
The front page of the Observer carried a very interesting lead story last Sunday. Apparently Britain's intelligence services are seeking powers to seize all records of telephone calls, emails and internet connections made by every person living in the UK. Already a confidential document has been sent to the Home Office, in which the argument in favour of wide-ranging new powers of data control is made, on behalf of MI5, MI6 and the British police.
As with most films from the region, there’s a downright Sirkian melodramatic undercurrent beneath all the hyper-kinetic, ass-kicking action, though it’s not quite up there with the divas-in-love denoument of The Killer.
Singalong to your favourites at the Rock Band sessions, or watch top movies, as the Xbox Live Stage brings digital thrills to this year's Oxegen festival.
REM are urging fans not to purchase tickets for their Dublin Olympia gigs from unofficial outlets after 122 disappeared in transit between the UK and the venue box-office on Friday March 30.
WE need to be very careful. During the 1970s, under the Fine Gael-Labour coalition, a violent and nasty culture developed within sections of the Gardaí Síochana.
Old Rope for new money as Sandra Bullock's tough crime scene investigator finds herself solving the brutal murder of a young woman by two uber-intelligent high school students
IN THE cold light of 1999, it's easy to forget that reggae was once the hip-hop of its time, a well of indigenous black music used by every other mainstream act as a source of rejuvenation and inspiration.
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland has granted a Classic Rock licence to Radio Nova 100, a new station which will be available in Dublin and the commuter belt.
The British police have admitted to adopting a shoot to kill policy in their pursuit of Islamic terrorists. But already, with the brutal slaying of Jean Charles de Manezes, they have claimed the life of one innocent victim. So who will be held accoutable?
When I first started showing a real interest in music, and buying 7'' singles every week in Downpatrick's 'Sounds' for my 99p pocket money, videos weren't as available.
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.
In the week that Green Gartside emerges from semi-retirement with a new single, it's fitting that his band's best record should receive a mid-price reissue 14 years after its initial release. Cupid & Psyche 85 is a lost masterpiece of consummate pop, from a band who never quite got the commercial due that their critical notices suggested.
Just when you think it’s all over bar the lifetime achievement awards (“Congratulations on your continuing existence, old timer”), Martin Scorsese comes along and shoves your face in a grapefruit. The director’s keenly anticipated remake of Infernal Affairs trades post-colonial frisson for dirty Irish gangsters in Boston to splendid effect.
Dublin teen popster Carly Hennessy, whose first major-label album Ultimate High sold fewer than five hundred copies, cited in Wall Street Journal article examining economic practice in the music industry
Mary J. Blige has always commanded the respect of her peers, and as usual the album features an abundance of movers and shakers like Missy Elliot and Dr Dre on production.
Latest in the bewilderingly long line of generally worthless horror movies 2003 has had to offer, The Dead End isn’t nearly as spectacularly bad as most of the others but despite its impressive atmospherics and sense of claustrophobia, it has neither the originality nor the suspense necessary to overcome its obvious limitations.
Latest in the bewilderingly long line of generally worthless horror movies 2003 has had to offer, The Dead End isn’t nearly as spectacularly bad as most of the others but despite its impressive atmospherics and sense of claustrophobia, it has neither the originality nor the suspense necessary to overcome its obvious limitations.
THE first reports were unequivocal. There had been a shoot-out between the Garda Early Response Unit and a gang of armed robbers on the main Dublin- Wexford road, near Ashford. One of the raiders had been killed. There were no garda casualties.
The substance of these reports appeared
Despite being denied a visa to enter the UK this week, Snoop Dogg has promised he’ll be in Dublin on March 31 and April 1 to perform in The Point alongside P. Diddy.
Women aren’t used to rejection – and so they often react badly if a bloke chooses not to do the horizontal mambo with them. In fact they have been known to react violently!
In their prime, a decade or so ago, the Levellers made for an awesome live prospect – all flailing fiddles, flying dreadlocks and impassioned agit-prop lyrics.
Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, served fifteen years for a murder he had nothing to do with and was eventually released after becoming a Stateside cause celebre of Birmingham Six proportions.
If you felt that Phone marked something of a nadir in the increasingly tired Ringu-aping sub-genre, prepare to gasp at the wholly derivative (if occasionally effective) Into The Mirror.
A dreamlike film, it takes the ethereal Robert Drewe novel My Sunshine as its source rather than Peter Carey’s excellent True History Of The Kelly Gang, and truncates or skips many episodes of the Kelly saga.
THE UGLY scenes concerning Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne over the transfer of players and bad vibes all round, are symbolic of a recurring syndrome in League of Ireland football.
At first, the death of Rosemary Toole Gilhooly must have seemed like any other tale of ordinary tragedy - one more sad suicide to add to the statistics, over which sociologists might in time pore and ponder 'why?'
It entered another realm, however, with the revelation that Gardaí were investigating the possibility that this was Ireland's first case of assisted suicide
Michael Haneke’s new film fails to do anything especially compelling or original with its various narrative strands, which results in watchable but inescapably dull film fare
EAMONN McCANN has all the latest news from the wild and wacky worlds of sex, prostitution, death cults and wildest and wackiest by far mainstream religion.
While being as effortlessly abusive as our EU cousins takes years of practice, we've come up with a few starter phrases that’ll have even the locals blushing
I am going to share a really intimate piece of information about my bodily functions. I am cursed with narrow Eustachian tubes. Eustachian tubes, for the uninitiated, are tiny pressure-release tubes that go from somewhere in your nasal cavity to the inside of your ear.
Football fans in North Korea enjoy a good deal more freedom than many might have suspected. Plus: The story behind John Hume and David Trimble’s decision to bring arms manufacturer Raytheon to Derry and why Skruf are one of the bands to look out for in 2005.
A bizarre ad campaign to prevent Jews inter-marrying with people of other religions and none is being used to lure young US Jews to Israel to occupy land stolen from the Palestinians
Add The Revs to the list of comeback kings. They might not have been apart for as long as The Police, or even The Verve, but they too are back with a bang this summer with a new Irish tour.
Utilising the same phantasmagoric computer-rotoscoped animation he once employed for Waking Life, Richard Linklater has achieved something any sane, rational person would have thought impossible – he’s made a coherent film from Philip K. Dick’s labyrinthine A Scanner Darkly.
There’s nothing more pathetic than a rheumy-eyed hack reading over a sentence scribbled half a lifetime ago and drooling, ‘Jeez, that was a good one right enough.’
A fascinating and affecting time capsule, Vera Drake recalls something of Terence Davis’ work with its nostalgic portrayal of a post-war Britain wherein everyone swaps sad tales of the Blitz, Normandy and National Service.
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.
EAMONN McCANN journeys to America s west coast and encounters the same GLOBAL issues of bigotry and prejudice. To compensate, though, he also savours the pleasures, musical, cultural and alcoholic, of San Fran.
Following a decision to cease broadcasting rather than risk being raided, Phantom FM issue a press statement about this week's Dublin pirate radio crackdown
Casting a cold eye on 1986, one must be frank that, although it was a good year, the absolute pinnacles that have marked previous years were absent. Perhaps ‘The Unforgettable Fire’ and ‘Born In The USA’, and their respective tours in 1985, not to mention Live Aid, drained a lot of emotion.
In pre-judging the guilt of those arrested in connection with the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, and fomenting a desire for vengeance, elements of the media have behaved abominably
This forty-two song, two CD compilation follows Costello's career from his 1977 debut album My Aim Is True, to his most recent solo hit, 'She' from the Notting Hill soundtrack.
While the provisional IRA might not have a British licence to murder, they might be allowed a certain leeway when it comes to tackling dissident Republicans.
...But the 50,000 people at the EXIT Festival liked it! Young Serbs, fed up with being blamed for the crimes of their erstwhile leaders, partied the weekend away in a walled fortress next to the Danube.
Having debuted at Number One in the UK album charts last week, it would appear that working-class Coventry trio The Enemy are now officially the next big thing.
Wwhy, despite his best efforts, Bruce Springsteen's take on September 11 is ultimately a let-down; and how the Catholic Church in the US is experiencing simultaneous accountancy problems and sex abuse scandals
He was the underclass delinquent who almost became a chess grandmaster and then stumbled into literary acclaim. John Healy looks back upon a life less ordinary.
Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu has accepted in principle the legitimacy of a Palestinian state, but as Dearbhla Glynn found when she visited Gaza, the reality of life for its inhabitants continues to be horrifying.
A note dropped through the letter-box last week from the British Home Secretary Michael Howard, telling me that I’m not welcome at his place any more, which was a surprise and a sore disappointment, since not only has there been a cease-fire in the meantime but I was welcomed in by kind strangers the last time I called.
How long must we sing this song? We ve known for what seems like aeons that Ireland in the first two thirds of the 20th century was a cesspit, in which children were routinely and systematically abused, physically and sometimes sexually, by people in whose care they were placed in sports clubs, schools, orphanages, reform schools and so on.
Sheep, shite and desolation. It was to get away from all that, that a group of women camped overnight on Sliabh na mBan and had a discussion which resulted in the formation of the Irish Countrywomen's Association.
In one of the most dramatic developments in Irish music in decades, Sinead O'Connor has said that she will retire from the music business in three months time
I think it is the saddest thing that I have ever read. As my old buddy ‘Smokey’ Robinson used to say, it is sadder than sad. But it demands to be investigated, and when it comes to thorough investigations, Sam is your proverbial man.
Croke Park is to open its gates to "foreign" games, despite the intransigence of Ulster delegates. Meanwhile, new Criminal Justice legislation runs counter to Human Rights concerns.
After being viciously attacked by a gang of thugs in our "fair" city, Bootboy wonders what is wrong with a society that engenders such senseless, animalistic aggression
Since its premiere back in 2002, HBO’s The Wire has, over the course of five years, garnered a reputation as the only serious contender for The Sopranos’ title of greatest TV show of all time.
The sense of shock about what happened when football-related violence erupted at Lansdowne Road for the first time during the Ireland v. England game still lingers, almost a week on.
IT is every journalist’s worst nightmare. It doesn’t often happen that a story is either important or sinister enough to lead a writer into direct conflict with dangerous forces.
This year, Lesley Kane, general manager with both Music Maker and MIDI (Musical Instrument Distribution Ireland), chalks up 20 years in the musical instruments industry. Jackie Hayden gatecrashes the celebrations to quiz Kane on her career to date.
What do you feel, what do you say, what do you do, when someone you love – in this case a Loyalist gunman – is accused of deliberate, cold-blooded premeditated multiple murders? The conflict in the North has generated thousands of stories of the brutalisation of innocent victims. This is just one of them.
Too many gardai with guns; the international role of the soldiers of bigotry; and a potentially significant advance in abortion law in Northern Ireland.
DURING THE 70s, Jim Moir comprised 20% of an ensemble known as the Fashionable Five who, for a laugh, once followed a complete stranger through their home town of Darlington, in single file, for half a mile.
In which, after a year spent in the Savoy, our film editor declares her craw full to the brim with CGI animals, gloomy rom-coms and Celtic Tiger thrillers. But there were more than a few pearls in the pig-trough too.
They say that he was among the most powerful – and the most ruthless – Republican activists of them all. Here the legendary Bobby Storey, reputed to have been Director of Intelligence for the IRA, talks for the first time about his role in the struggle, and about some of the critical events that led to the IRA ceasefire and the Peace Process.
On August 22nd the Sunday Independent carried a number of articles attacking Michael D. Higgins for remarks he had made in an interview in Hot Press. One of these articles was by Conor Cruise O'Brien. I want to comment on it.
Here at Hot Press we like to bring you interviews with the most influential figures of our times. And in Ireland 1999 who is more influential than Ballydung bachelors PODGE and RODGE?
STUART CLARK spoke to the zeitgeist-defining duo about the crucial issues: religion, sex, Mary Black and Jean Butler s minge . Also an entirely unfounded revelation about our esteemed editor. Pics: MICK QUINN.
A very eminent British QC was passing through town recently so we finished up in the Dungloe Bar listening to the Jim Armstrong Band singeing the ceiling with John Lee Hooker, Eddie Boyd and Eric Clapton (eh?) numbers, and getting drunk. Us that is, not the band, necessarily.
Hot Press, in association with ritz, presents the definitive guide to the Irish dance scene, incorporating our regular dance column Digital Beat. Your authoritative host: mark kavanagh.
For the average expat Irish criminal living in Spain, life is a blur of booze, prostitutes and drug deals with the threat of violence, and even death, never far away.
Last issue we profiled a selection of Irish acts who released records for the Christmas market. Here JACKIE HAYDEN, GERRY McGOVERN AND COLM O’HARE PROFILE five more who've come up trumps – from Jimmy MacCarthy, one of Ireland's best known songwriters, to young hopefuls, Sunbear.
