The absence of a venerable frontman would render most live performances ineffectual, but this rare outing from legendary Irish punks The Radiators disproved that theory.
Punk pioneers and Irish rock legends, The Radiators are back with a new plan.
Music Review | Live
70% | 5 Jul 2004
Colm O Hare
The 2004 version of The Radiators presented an intriguing prospect to the full-house, which was made up of long-time fans, ex-punks, scene-makers and assorted Horslips, not knowing quite what to expect. But they needn’t have worried. After a wobbly start, the band, which included original members Phil Chevron, Pete Holidai and Steve Rapid, quickly found their feet and proceeded to tear into their hallowed legacy with a renewed vigour.
Continuing on from last years reunion, and having bagged one of U2’s Croke Park slots, The Radiators continue to show that there’s still water left in the creative well.
Hotpress’ more, ahem, mature readers will be delighted to hear that the The Radiators (Plan 9) are playing an intimate Dublin show in Whelan’s on April 3.
Philip Chevron's career has been nothing if not varied. From the early days with the Radiators through his collaborations with people like Agnes Bernelle and right up to his current work with The Pogues, he has proved himself to be a consistently fine songwriter and performer. In the first part of a lengthy and intense interview, he talks to Eamonn McCann about his childhood, his love of Broadway musicals, the Horslips connection, the genesis of the Radiators and his fleeting career as a journalist.
The Radiators From Space delivered a classic debut album more than 20 years ago and then left us hanging. While Trouble Pilgrim, their return effort, has received resounding critical acclaim, ‘Heaven’ won’t be the track that makes a new generation stand up and take notice. This song has nothing wrong with it as such and is, in fact, a very good pop tune. It’s just not the most exciting thing I’ve heard since Ghostown.
The Radiators were the first true Irish punk band, and with most current rock acts unwilling to confront the broad political realities of today, they may well turn out to be our last.
Noise terrorists Paranoid Visions have had their first hit record after 30 years. Is this mere carelessness or part of a cunning plan to subvert the nation?
THE SUBTONICS are young, gifted . . . and angry. Having made a name for themselves through their guerilla promotional tactics, they now tell EAMON SWEENEY that we re coming close to the end of rock n roll in Ireland.
By the time you read this I may be an ex-person, having just received a poison pen letter threatening to do a number of unspeakable, and probably illegal, things to me. It s a good one as these things go, unsigned, of course, written completely in capital letters violently gouged into the page, with a sprinkling of misspellings and words like arsehole , fucker and bastard underlined twice and three lines under bolox and cunt . Can t be a regular reader, then.
Claudia Carroll is a busy actress and author, but she still allows our Jackie Hayden the time of day, gives him a hot scoop and introduces him to her haunted room.
The emergence of The Boomtown Rats inspired a new generation of in-your-face Irish bands who re-energised an Irish music scene that has become moribund and predictable.
The college circuit is an important stepping stone in rock music around the world. While the potential remains unfulfilled in Ireland, there’s a new breed of Ents Officer who are aiming higher.
30th Anniversary Retrospective: In a special interview, The Edge reminisces about the early days of Hotpress, explains Bill Graham’s role in U2’s development, and comes clean about what the band have been up to recently in Morocco.
To mark the occasion of the release of a near definitive punk compilation, GEORGE BYRNE fondly recalls the days when pogo was go-go and gabba gabba was hey.
THE UNDERTONES have played a series of triumphant gigs since reforming. GEORGE BYRNE met the Derry punk legends, now augmented by Today FM producer Paul McLoone on vocals
Or should that be Pub Stars? Either way, their debut album is soaked in the strong spirit - and stronger spirits - of their native city. Nick Kelly meets Dublin's JUBILEE ALLSTARS.
Hot Press celebrates two decades of The Baggot Inn, still Dublin s premier pub venue and home, at various times, to the likes of U2, Thin Lizzy and Something Happens! Here, manager Charlie McGettigan flips through his scrapbook of memories in the company of Conor O Mahony and reveals how the recent appearance of a donkey at a Joshua Trio gig brought things full circle at The Baggot. (Not to mention, Full Circle.)
That was the original headline, back in November 1985, when Tony O'Donoghue - now best known as a presenter on RTE radio - spoke to Joe O'Herlihy (sound engineer with U2, we called him) about the torturous life of the roadie for the following year's Hot Press Yearbook. This is what went down . . .
From small-time ramshackle punk'n'Irish troubadours to 'international touring act' in the space of six incident-packed years, The Pogues have not only produced music to consistently surprise and delight - they've put it in the charts too! With the help of band members Phil Chevron and Jem Finer, Bill Graham examines The Pogues' enigma in advance of the outfit's impending Christmas single 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah' (phew!) and their seasonal show at The Point Depot in Dublin.
DO YOU WANT NAILS OF FEEDBACK DRIVEN THROUGH YOUR BRAIN? DO YOU WANT YOUR EARS TO BLEED? THIS IS HARDCORE AND IT'S THE MOST VITAL ATTITUDE IN ROCK'N'ROLL, FROM LOU REED TO THERAPY? VIA NICK CAVE, FUGAZI AND... CHRISTY MOORE. OR SO SAYS GERRY McGOVERN, WHO ALSO ADVANCES THE THEORY THAT 'HARDCORE IS GENERALLY FOR HARD WHITE MEN'. SHOOTING GALLERY AWAITS YOUR RESPONSE!
In a presidential nomination field virtually devoid of candidates of real calibre and charisma, the name of ex-Boomtown Rat and Live Aid hero BOB GELDOF has cropped up again and again. Despite his outright denial that he will run for office, the rumour refuses to die away. Here, in an interview with LIAM FAY, he gives his assessment of Mary Robinson s seven years in the job, and his hopes for the future occupants of Aras an Uachtarain.
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
After being a magnet for A&R men during the 80s, Dublin has recently developed into something of an underachiever. The city may have the second biggest growth-rate in Europe but there are a hell of a lot of gigs and records that simply aren t selling. peter murphy casts a critical ear over the capital s music scene and decides that what s required is a full-scale artistic enema.
Liam Mackey's 1979
Released when the infant ’79 was still in the grip of winter, Graham Parker’s ‘Squeezing Out Sparks’ stood the test of time and defeated the heaviest competition.
After the rip-roaring success of last year's event, Music Ireland '07 has been extended to a three-day event, incorporating a dedicated student day on Friday October 5. Aimed primarily at second-level schools, the day is set to be one of the most educational and entertaining school tours in the country. For those wishing to follow a career in music, the show is a real treat.
The Aftermath are the first rock band from Longford ever to hit the charts. But right now, they live in Mullingar, the new happening epicentre of rock’n’roll.
ABBA have seldom been acknowledged by those who arbitrate or presume to arbitrate on matters of rock taste. Apart from a brief flirtation about five years ago, rock culture – in as much as the phrase actually signifies anything concrete – has continued to stick them with the legacy of their Eurovision success.
AGNES BERNELLE s death last month brought a truly remarkable
life to a close. SIOBHAN LONG looks back, in the company of
Gavin Friday, Philip Chevron and Alan Amsby.
What’s come over Eamonn Dunphy that he’s writing sensible? A fortnight ago on the back page of the Sunday Indo, he lashed out at Liam Hamilton, the man who wrote the report of the Beef Tribunal and was soon afterwards appointed Chief Justice by Albert Reynolds’ Government.
IT’S BEEN a strange month. Hot Press has been at the centre of controversies before – but never quite like this! Elsewhere in this issue, we cross swords with Eoghan Harris and the Sunday Times regarding an issue of defamation.
Any day now a hombre called Padre Alessio Parente will arrive on these shores to whip up support for the canonisation of an Italian madman who called himself "Padre Pio."
Well, reader, we ve finally reached the end of our journey, after navigating our way across the length and breadth of the 32 counties (and detouring briefly to New York for a tincture of the tastiest in that honorary 33rd county).
