Dublin favourites Turn recently took to the highway for an Irish tour. Tanya Sweeney joined them for a trip to Limerick and an insight into what makes Ollie Cole and company tick.
Helmet are considered by many to be one of the seminal underground rock bands of the ‘90s, with albums such as Meantime offering up fierce reductionist rock and enjoying plenty of critical, if not commercial, success. However, on the evidence of this, their first album in seven years, they would have been better off leaving their legacy alone.
‘They are Yakuza, You are Belfast’ – or something like that anyway. One Nation Under Awed marks the somewhat delayed recording debut from one of the more interesting rock bands to emerge from alternative Ulster in a while, and what they lack in ‘awe’ they certainly make up for in furious intensity.
In a year where Miss Selfridge is flogging Motorhead t-shirts and heavy rock's most talked-about proponents are sportzmetallers with masks and vomiting fetishes, where to next? is an increasingly valid question. Tuneful, opiated and complex, Queens Of The Stone Age are looking increasingly like the answer.
Some of you will doubtless remember Rollerskate Skinny, who released a bone-fide Irish classic in Horsedrawn Wishes all of ten years ago. The band’s vocalist/guitarist Ken Griffin relocated to the US and now fronts this Brooklyn-based quartet who formed in 2004, when he teamed up with Philadelphia psych-poppers, Aspera. With major label backing they’re being tipped for big things across the water.
Takk, their major label debut, comes across almost as conventional. There are proper songs! With names, and lyrics – conveyed in Icelandic yet recognizably of this universe. Have Sigur Ros gone normal on us?
What’s most striking about the show isn’t the huge Angus-style skull caps which are perched on top of the roof of the stage that come complete with wiggling devil horns – it’s the crowd.
It’s refreshingly pleasant to watch sets by bands that seem so thrilled and honoured to be playing on a decent stage in front of a healthy-sized audience.
They came out of Ballyfermot Rock School,now they are capable of rocking the world! Gerry Mc Govern talks to a band who had the good sense to think of a name that was made for headlines.....flexihead!
Intriguing new developments are afoot in the world of Ulster rock ‘n’ roll. Plus tidings of a new Limerick indie compilation and the usual round-up of news from around the country.
Bigwigs from the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army were on hand as stoner-rock favourites Deep Purple took their banana tour to the exotic environs of Beijing.
'Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me' may be their battle cry, but leftist rocker/rappers Rage Against the Machine are new to Dublin and Tom Morello needs to be told how to do everything from crossing streets to putting vinegar on his chips. Here, while strolling through town, the guitarist talks about the band's politics, life in Los Angeles and the camera of the people - the Kodak Electrolux. Tour guide: Tara McCarthy
Albums such as Streetcleaner and Pure have established Brummie noise terrorists godflesh as one of the most exciting alternative bands on the planet. Their latest effort, Love And Hate In Dub, is a radically overhauled remix version of its predecessor, Songs Of Love And Hate. The band s
talkative mainman justin broadrick explains all to jonathan o Brien.
...And the kids just keep on comin’, as Hot Press investigates another assortment of motley crews with songs in their hearts and stars in their eyes, and concludes that the future is indeed so bright, you’ve gotta wear shades.
FLEXIHEAD, MEXICAN PETS, THE GLEE CLUB, IN MOTION
Few bands have managed to divide
critical opinion quite so spectacularly as Kula Shaker. Mystic musical saviours to some, prog rock nightmares to others, the one thing that everybody s agreed on is that mainman Crispian Mills gives exceedingly good quote. Interview and
periodic bewilderment:
Stuart Clark
While the path to rock n roll stardom is never smooth, RICHARD ASHCROFT has experienced more ups and downs than most. In a wide-ranging interview with DAVE FANNING, he talks about drugs, The Verve, his new solo album and why the old hometown doesn t look so bad.
Eleven years on from their debut and New York avant-garde guitar manglers Sonic Youth have reached an ever-growing audience without compromising their ideals of integrity. Here, GERRY McGOVERN offers a personal testimony to their recorded output in anticipation of their appearance at Sunstroke '93.
