Nick Cave has confirmed that he and Warren Ellis will write the soundtrack to John Hillcoats forthcoming film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
While it is grounded in the tradition in style, structure and presentation, no less than eight of the songs on Somewhere Along The Road are of contemporary origin, five of them at least part-written by Cathie herself
Hey, have you seen this new Dreamworks Pictures film, The Road To El Dorado? It’s actually really really fun, even if it is just a cartoon. I had to take my nephews to see it last week, and I think I actually enjoyed it more than they did!
He may possess formidable academic credentials, but Road To Welville author TC Boyle refuses to take an elitist stance on his chosen art-form. “If it’s not entertainment at its root, it sucks!” he tells Peter Murphy
Like the Loch Ness Monster and The Abominable Snowman, doubts have long been cast over the existence of a recording of beat master JACK KEROUAC reading from his classic On The Road. Now, not only have the legendary tapes finally materialised, they also show that the man was no mean crooner and songwriter to boot. PETER MURPHY reports.
Like the Loch Ness Monster and The Abominable Snowman, doubts have long been cast over the existence of a recording of beat master JACK KEROUAC reading from his classic On The Road. Now, not only have the legendary tapes finally materialised, they also show that the man was no mean crooner and songwriter to boot. PETER MURPHY reports.
Danu may just be the hardest working band in trad. With their fourth album The Road Less Travelled only recently released and another promised for the spring, When Jackie Hayden put a number of key issues to the band’s accordionist Benny McCarthy and bodhran player and uilleann piper Donnchadh Hough he found that they don’t just work hard, they talk hard too.
Will Oldham is not a man who believes in making life easy. Since he changes his name the way others change clothes, following his career can be a devilish task.
...a Road Records benefit & celebration: The Large Corporation, Adrian Crowley, Si Schroeder, The Jimmy Cake & Jape live at Andrew’s Lane Theatre, Dublin.
Not content to let other country stars record her songs and keep her in massive cheques for the rest of her life, gretchen peters has decided to do a little performing and touring of her own. Interview: colm o'hare.
SIOBHAN LONG may have reached the end of her nationwide journey, but, as she explains here, there s still plenty of time for others to do their bit for THE GREAT RECORD OF IRISH MUSIC
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.
STEPHEN RYAN has made his songwriting reputation on the byways rather than the highways. Now, with a new REVENANTS album finally on release, he takes NICK KELLY on a trip off the beaten track. Pics: Bernard Walsh.
Mary Coughlan returns to Midnight At The Olympia on February 4th, but this time it's with an unreserved optimistic outlook, and the determination to put all her troubles behind her. Interview Lorraine Freeney
Fifty Nigerians were forcibly deported last month. On their return to west Africa, they will face intimidation and violence. Why is the Government doing nothing?
Hailing from Dublin, making a name for himself in California; Owen Brady seems to take inspiration from both sides of the Atlantic. However, he manages to combine the worst of both worlds, introducing a bland singer-songwriter ethic to an overly familiar, middle-of-the-road sound. Not my cup of meat.
Without wishing to sound damning, Aaron Smyth is a man setting a course firmly down the middle of the road. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as that’s where the huge majority of record buyers like to hang out. White On White deals in nice, well-put-together rock music with an American flourish and nice, well-structured songs. Not the coolest thing in the world, but not the worst either.
The Road Relish singles club has played a central role in the growth of the local independent scene. the main players explain their philosophy to Hannah Hamilton
Having written for Leann Rimes, Frances Black and Richie Havens, renowned Limerick songwriter Don Mescall is gearing up to establish himself in his own right. Following debut single ‘You Don’t Love Me’, ‘Left In L.A’ will doubtless please fans of the aforementioned artists. Country-rock in the vein of Shawn Mullins, this is middle of the road stuff in terms of sound. Within its genre, however, ‘Left In L.A’ is a strong example of why Mescall is so highly regarded amongst his peers.
They’re back! And they’re still harping on about California!
Early fans will be disappointed to learn that in telling the story of Ms California, “a runner, rebel and a stunner”, they’re continuing down the middle of the road that they seem to like so much, leaving their days of edgy funk rock well behind. So much so that poor guitarist John Frusciante is left doing a cover version of ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ in the background while the rest of the band plod along behind Anthony Kiedis’s isolated enthusiasm. A new low for them? Quite possibly.
By threatening to tighten the rules for provisional drivers, the government is implicitly holding young motorists responsible for rising levels of death on the road.
By ommitting references to penalty points, kilometres or stricter enforcement of drink driving laws, the Government’s official Rules of the Road is dangerously behind the times.
He's familiar to Northern listeners as a super-smooth middle of the road DJ. But in his misspent youth as a guitarist, Gerry Anderson lived a life of rock and roll abandon.
After eight recordings and 18 years on the road, it's high time the vocal group Anúna released a 'Best Of' compilation. At 21 tracks, however, the CD is far too long, and the fact that most of these run to less than three minutes (in two cases less than two minutes) gives it a bitty, fragmented feel.
If that figure easing down the road looks strangely familiar then that s because it s WILL OLDHAM under yet another nom de plume. EAMON SWEENEY reports
Colm Gannon’s melodeon-playing father, John Gannon, emigrated in 1959 from Droim in Connemara to Dorchester, near Boston, Massachusetts, where Colm was born and grew up. Now, following four years on the road with Riverdance, Colm is back living in his father’s home place and has just recorded his first solo album. It’s mightily impressive.
For so many bands, touring is a drag: months on the road away from home; living in the back of a van or a bus; surviving on large amounts of fast food and alcohol. Andy, lead singer with Therapy? enjoys it a hell of a lot and gives his advice to young bands going on the road.
For all we might want to harp on about cutting edge this and radical that, the records which have made the big bucks over the past few years have been by nice, slightly middle-of-the-road, predominantly female singer songwriters.
Hey, have you seen this new Dreamworks Pictures film, The Road To El Dorado? It’s actually really really fun, even if it is just a cartoon. I had to take my nephews to see it last week, and I think I actually enjoyed it more than they did!
The Sabbath means no work and all play; The Last Post wrap up number two; Exile Eye find hip-hop equilibrium; and The Road Relish Singles Club says, We are ten
She earned her reputation on the road, supporting the likes of Ani Di Franco and the Be Good Tanyas. However, Erin McKeown has long since won her own audience.
After what seems like (and probably is) half a decade on the road, the much-touted Downpatrick trio finally get to release an album. It's clearly a big budget affair too with no expense spared.
Kicking off on familiar territory with the epic, multi-layered single that is 'Rainbow Zephyr', it continues with the hard driving, generic rock of 'Heart Shaped Box'.
After the commercial disaster that was La Passione (both the film and Rea's over-indulgent soundtrack) and last year's less than spectacular revisit to the Road To Hell (Part Two) the Middelsboro' bottle blonde returns to yet another familiar theme.
But what about the music? If it did feature what was described recently as the “usual suspects” there’s no denying the popularity of the current class of 2003.Short sets from Lisa Bresnan, Bellxi’s Paul Noonan, Leya and Nina Hynes got the show on the road with Bresnan in particular impressing everyone present with her knock-out voice.
Having got themselves back on the road so spectacularly over the past couple of years, noone is going to risk the wheels coming off the RHCP juggernaut just yet. Thus a pre-Christmas release blitz sees a Live At Slane DVD and this greatest hits, also bolstered by a limited edition discs of videos.
As Ocean Colour Scene’s string section take a sabbatical to join Paul Weller on tour, singer Simon Fowler and drummer Oscar Harrison have opted to go back on the road also, with an acoustic show that debuts in Ireland
Despite her vaguely rebellious image P!nk is really a true purveyor of middle-of-the-road pop tunes. But contrary to my rather downbeat expectations, the momentum gathered throughout her 90-minute set.
Sinead’s voice and the band, honed from months on the road, are at the absolute peak of their powers. Lots of fans I spoke to afterwards felt they’d never heard her sound better.
Life on the road isn't always a blur of parties and groupies. Sometimes it's exhausting, and oftn plain boring, as Irish hopefuls Director found out when they went on tour with Hard-Fi.
You have to hand it to Rod. Forty years on the road, and he still draws them in droves – two nights’ open air at the RDS is impressive by any standards.
Laurence Nugent, Chicago-born flute and whistle player is a man not given to stray notes or empty promises. The Windy Gap is the work of a musician who doesn’t need to prove anything, who tracks his route with the confidence of a traveller well used to the road, but still excited by the discoveries around every bend.
Huge cheers erupted when he started into the familiar chorus of ‘On The Road Again’ and another classic, ‘Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys’.
If there were handouts for the shy and retiring, Dervish would be at the back of the queue. Never backward in coming forward, this Sligo/Roscommon ensemble have elevated audience rapport to an art form that's sadly all too rarely practised round these here parts. Lead singer, Cathy Jordan (the sole Roscommon interloper amid a quintet of Sligomen) delights in the more quirky and bizarre backgrounds to the band's songs and tunes. And somehow they all seem to treat a night flight to Kuala Lumpur with the same gravity as they would a skite to Kenmare. Dervish live and breathe on the road. Its interminable miles are the band's sustenance, its cat's eyes their compass to the next town, the next continent, and the next gig.
Dervish have been on the road for ten years now, and theirs is a joyful synthesis that has long since been amply demonstrated on live recordings like Live In Palma
As even novice pinheads will know, the story of The Ramones isn’t all Gabba Gabba Heys and the crazy psychodrama of Johnny and Joey’s relationship - Johnny eloping with the love of Joey’s life, the irreconcilable political differences and their sixteen years not speaking - is handled brilliantly here. The film’s greatest achievement, however, is capturing Johnny’s obnoxious, right-wing charm. His perversely pleasurable presence would alone make End Of The Century a mandatory, must-see, drop-everything jaunt down the Road To Ruin.
From his holiday hideaway in southern France, the hairier half of Mexican-Irish guitar duo Rodrigo Y Gabriela talks about the rigours of life on the road, busking on the mean streets of Dublin and the duo's growing heavy-metal following.
When Alan McLoughlin scored in Belfast on November 17th he not only set the entire country off on an orgiastic rampage but allayed the fears of a pair of filmmakers who’d gambled heavily on Ireland’s qualification of USA ’94. So, it’s happy endings all round as Robert Walpole and Paddy Breathnach of Treasure Films release our official World Cup video The Road To America and detail the trials, tribulations and traumas of the venture to a suitably impressed George Byrne.
Having amicably but firmly put the Cranberries behind her, Dolores O’Riordan found refuge in motherhood, but is now raring to get back on the road with her first solo album.
THE LAST time this listener encountered the Black Crowes, the band were, visually and sonically, stuck in '74. Like, 1874. After a year on the road flogging the Three Snakes And One Charm album, these former Sisters Of Morphine resembled some weird cult that'd crawled out of a peyote-pit on Walton's mountain, all tie-dyed dungarees and sandals, looking as bad as they must've smelled.
A long way from there to here
With 35 years on the road behind them, THE DUBLINERS are the roots of Irish music. Interview: Colm
O'Hare. The Rolling Stones aren't the only ones celebrating 35 years on the road this year.
Going on the road with Chris Rea was a once in a lifetime opportunity for Derry blues virtuoso Paul Casey. Here he opens his tour diary to Hot Press readers.
It’s been 25 years since the legendary Dr. Strangely Strange last toured. Now they’re back on the road, in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Tim Booth kept this diary.
The enigmatic pied-piper of psychedelic rock Donovan is to be honoured with a festival and a new documentary. Long based in Ireland, he talks about working with David Lynch and his plans to bring a new movie project on the road.
Rolling Stone's most promising artist of the year and Dylan/Stones endorsed songstress Kathleen Edwards tells all about her acclaimed new record Back To Me, life on the road in the US and why she just might make the move to those shores in the not-too-distant future.
Morrissey. Avatar of melancholic self-pity, sexual ambiguity, and intense misanthropy. Well, bollocks to that. Somewhere along the road to perdition he has experienced a Damascene conversion. Tonight he stalks the stage like a latter day Errol Flynn, and with his cabal of pink-shirted buccaneers beside him, parades his new, invigorated self.
This Cape Breton quintet have been on the road almost a decade now, and Uprooted finds them asserting their independence and hankering after the traditional Nova Scotian sound at one and the same time.
Tanya Sweeney catches up with Ireland’s hardest partying rockers Snow Patrol to discuss on-the-road hi-jinks, the band’s hallowed status in the Scottish and Irish music scenes, and also bears witness to that long-awaited footie showdown with Thomastown under 15s.
On the eve of the release of their latest album, Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill shoot the breeze about on-the-road partying and incorporating non-folk influences into their songbook
My mother says that she didn t hear a bang. It was a couple of whooshes, she says. I was chatting to her on my mobile. What was that? she asked. I told her it was a bomb, I had just watched a bomb go off across the road from me, and I had to go.
Ireland's The Answer have pulled off a major coup by bagging the support slot on the American leg of AC/DC's Black Ice tour. Cormac Neeson talks us through their first fortnight on the road.
…And head out on the highway. Oh, and take a notebook while you’re at it. Those were Hot Press’ instructions to acclaimed singer/songwriter Mark Geary as he hit the road with The Frames in the good ol’d US of A. And as the following account of spellbinding shows, irate audience members, near-death experiences and suspicious cops shows, it was a hell of a trip. Photography by Shawn Lynch.
They're hardly typical festival fare, but Interpol know how to leave an impression. Sam Fogarino talks drugs, on the road insanity and being huge in Ireland and Mexico.
WITH THEIR LONG AWAITED SECOND ALBUM *JUNK PUPPETS* ABOUT TO HIT THE STREETS AN EMOTIONAL FISH ARE BACK ON THE ROAD AND READY TO TAKE THE WORLD BY STORM. BUT FIRST, THERE'S THE SMALL MATTER OF A TRIP TO THE WILDS OF WEST CORK, DURING WHICH THE BAND CAN RELAX, REFLECT, INGEST LARGE QUANTITIES OF LIQUID REFRESHMENTS-AND PLAY THE ODD STORMING GIG. A TIRED AND VERY EMOTIONAL LORRAINE FREENEY REPORTS.
Rosa Luxemburg once wrote that anyone who steps needlessly on a worm on the road to revolution has committed a crime. But even she might be dismayed by how daft the British media sometimes go about animals.
Forget all the chatter about solo albums and injuries sustained on the road: Snow Patrol are revelling in the end of a triumphant year, one which saw Eyes Open become the biggest selling album in the UK in '06, as well as making serious inroads Stateside.
Five years after the collapse of The Irish Press Group, CON HOULIHAN suffered a fall of his own. Here, he reflects on broken hips, broken dreams and the road to recovery. Interview: SIOBHAN LONG
. . . Or not, as the case may be. In this extremely revealing interview with peter murphy, henry rollins speaks frankly about relationships, violence, depression, squaring up to Al Pacino and the problems that come with a life lived on the road
The outlaw loved by the in-law, Willie Nelson can draw 4,000 people outside Dublin virtually by word of mouth. But it ain't all middle of the road: as befits a veteran of the honky-tonks who had done battle with the IRS and the law, the country music legend can still get in touch with the dark side of Hank
Jape and Lisa Hannigan may inhabit opposite ends of the musical spectrum but their careers have followed remarkably similar paths. On the road together in the UK, he talks about bagging the Choice Music Prize and she discusses her dramatic split from Damien Rice
After more than 15 years in the business, Aslan are still able to command massive, devoted audiences in music venue and record shop alike. John Walshe joins the Lions' club on the road
When it was announced in Hot Press that a new incarnation of De Dannan was about to hit the road, it came as a surprise to one of the group's founders, Alec Finn. Here, he talks about why he objects to the use of the name by his former musical partner, Frankie Gavin.
In 1990, 22 year-old college graduate Christopher McCandless donated his $24,000 in savings to Oxfam and hit the road. Two years later he died in Alaska, after approximately 112 days in the wild. Legendary actor and director Sean Penn tells the story in his fourth film Into The Wild.
Why are the Spice Girls animals ? Why would Crispian Kula Shaker benefit from a hefty spell of National Service? And why should you never trust a hippy? These are just some of the burning issues that Dr. Alex Paterson of The Orb would like to address. Oh yeah, and he also talks about his band s ace new album Orblivion, as well as his exotic, not to say erotic, yesteryear escapades on the road with LL Cool J and Motvrhead. Our man with the shiny black Panasonic tape recorder: jonathan o brien.
Raised on the road by evangelical hippies, Joaquin Phoenix has overcome the tragic death of his brother, River, to become one of Hollywood’s most brooding leading men.
The Heineken Rollercoaster Tour is taking to the road again and this time the capital is nobody’s hometown gig. From Kells come Turn, from Limerick Woodstar and from Cork The Frank and Walters. Next stop: a venue near you.
There are no saints in love. That’s a lesson The Frames’ mainman Glen Hansard learned the hard way – and which he articulates in the bittersweet love songs that make up much of the band’s new album The Cost. Hot Press hits the road with the band for an extended interview, conducted in radio studios, backstage areas, tour buses – and one very dedicated fan’s house.
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.
pat mcCABE is on a roll. Neil Jordan s film adaptation of his acclaimed novel The Butcher Boy has been rapturously received. His latest meisterwerk Breakfast On Pluto about a border county transvestite is about to be published. He s going on the road with Jack L. And what s more he was recently named Monaghan Man of the Year! Interview: liam fay.
Pics: Mick Quinn
He may well be a prime target for the jibes of other Irish comedian-types, but right now brendan o carroll is
riding the crest of a wave of popularity of quite phenomenal proportions. With three best-selling books to his credit, a smash hit play and a movie already in the offing, he s back on the road with his sell-out one-man show The Story So Far. Here, in a startlingly honest interview, he talks about his addiction to gambling, his contempt for the theatrical establishment, the fear and paralysis that is endemic in RTE, Father Ted, the Catholic Church, groupies and (cue fanfare please) his plans to become an M.E.P. Tape recorder: liam fay.
Pix: MICK QUINN
She must have read the book on it - the trigonometry of songwriting for a mass market.
Frank is a twenty-something Dane with a mission to copy and paste, using everyone from Roxette to Natalie Imbruglia as her templates.
Currently in dire financial straights and playing with what is effectively a second string xi, Leeds united have a massive job on their hands if they are to avoid a prolonged residency in the nationwide league.
Currently in dire financial straights and playing with what is effectively a second string xi, Leeds united have a massive job on their hands if they are to avoid a prolonged residency in the nationwide league.
The foot-and-mouth crisis plunged the Irish live music scene into one of its most difficult phases. Now, however, the business is back – and flourishing. Report: COLM O'HARE
Many Irish holiday-makers will be heading for the United States this year. But there’s much more on offer in that vast playground than the dubious prospect of sweltering in the crushing heat of an Orlando football stadium in June. Jackie Hayden travelled with a bunch of media types to the small town of Lynchburg in Tennessee and visited the source of one of the world’s great spirits, Jack Daniels, making some musical connections along the way.
An Uzbek native is reported to be one of the two GUANTANAMO BAY inmates Ireland has agreed to receive. But will the government hold true to its promise to allow him settle here?
Those who missed out on Super Furry Animals' entertaining performance at Lovebox last weekend will have another chance to see the band who put the mental in experimental.
Music to listen to if you want to transport yourself back to post-Nirvana, mid ’90s grungelite-by-numbers hell. If you do find yourself in possession of this single, skip immediately to the b-side, ‘All Purpose Underneath’. This suggests there might be a less overwrought and slightly more interesting side to Pilotlight.
Here’s a cultural oddity that would give Noam Chomsky nightmares – a cover of Canned Heat’s hippie classic by Telex, an ‘80s electro act from Belgium, in turn remixed in throbbing style by a former member of Technotronic! However, the highlight remix is Trevor Jackson’s menacing Chicago house reconstruction.
Best known for her work in the 1970s and ’80s as lead singer with the group Oisín, Germany-based Ballyfermot native Geraldine MacGowan also has three previous solo albums to her credit.
Anybody can do sex, drug's and rock 'n' roll; precious few can capture the experience in prose. With her powerful first-person novel Brass, 26-year-old Helen Walsh has done just that.
As in most branches of the arts and entertainment business there are two types of musicians: actual musicians and would-be musicians. Just like all those would-be writers who could have written Ulysses but went for a drink instead, there are countless Irish bands who could have been as big as U2 but just didn't want to bother with all that business shit. With a reputed #80 million in the bank I bet Bono really regrets having anything to do with all that business shit, poor sucker.
The story of how Paul Brady was transformed from a superlative folk artist into a superlative rock artist in a blinding flash of light (well, fifteen years actually). Today's reading is by Niall Stokes.
Chris Rea's been happier to cruise along the information superhighway than many of his contemporaries. With a definite case of technolust burning up his veins, Rea never made any secret of his love of new technology, particularly automotive technology. Now, 10 years after his first foray down the route of the automotive concept album, he's back on the same road.
EXCLUSIVE!! The Frames have signed a deal for most the world with Anti, the left-field wing of hardcore label Epitaph which is also home to Tricky and Tom Waits.
The world might not have been staying up late waiting for a double-CD of moaning delta blues and stirring gospel tunes from Chris Rea, but then the world has never been too hot at knowing what it needs
‘Boy racer’ has been used as a catch-all term to explain the behaviour of teenage boys involved in a spate of recent road deaths. But that may be a simplistic view of the phenomenon.
Officially the Beatles’ recorded swansong, Abbey Road reflected the growing rift between McCartney and Lennon, proving that the Beatles as a collaborative unit were over. Ironically, it made for some of the most beautiful and harmonically accomplished music of the band’s career.
Melbourne’s favourite experimental, instrumental, indie-folkists The Dirty Three make a welcome return to Dublin for an intimate show in Whelans on Wednesday December 9.
The younger generation of Irish singer-songwriters have tended to obscure Luka Bloom's place in the firmament. But with this more reflective and introspective album (his 10th), he restores himself to his rightful place in the pantheon of intelligent and passionate songsmiths with his uncanny ability to see the power and meaning in the atoms of daily life.
Currently at number 10 in the Irish charts with 'Shake It', Metro Station have announced their first ever Irish show in the Olympia Theatre on June 29.
Dublin’s newly-opened Gallery Number One was the venue last Sunday as The Frames played an acoustic gig to celebrate the publication of Zoran Orlic and Janine Schaults’ photo-book on them, Behind The Glass. View the photo gallery here!
Dresden Dolls singer Amanda Palmer broke her foot yesterday after she was hit by a car; but the determined singer still managed to play a stunner in Auntie Annie's that night.
Following another spate of road deaths, the Government and Road Safety Authority may rush through legislation reducing the legal alcohol limit for drivers. This fails to get to the core of the problem, argues Colm O'Hare.
Dylan would recreate Highway 61 in his own image, a spooky fairground of lost souls, freaks and Americana where Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot rumble and John The Baptist tortures at the behest of the Commander-in-Chief.
Combining pop, folk, haunting harmonies and emotionally intelligent lyrics, their lovingly crafted sound is both completely contemporary and yet somehow timeless.
Sometimes you’ve got to make your own luck. By approaching him at his hotel, unknown Mayo singer songwriter Brian Flanagan convinced legendary gospel and blues artist Eric Bibb to record a duet of Bibb’s ‘Where the Green Grass Grows’ with him.
To mark the release of her new album And Winter Came, Enya talks about quietly becoming a phenomenon and explains why it may at last be time to head out on the road.
Whilst the biker culture has retained it aura of outlaw glamour and leather-clad allure down through the years, it’s nonetheless a mode of transport not without its dangers.
What happens when trip-hop producers stop making credible dance music? On the evidence of James Lavelle’s new Unkle album, they start churning out radio-friendly rock music.
...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.
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.
Metallica provided a crisp evening packed with a vicious, visceral energy and more anthems than you could shake a stick at. But there was also a nagging sense of déjà vu...
Like many others, I must admit to being a tad underwhelmed with Mary Black's last couple of albums, a lack of direction characterising one, an end-of-cycle lassitude the other.
So it was that I approached this, her latest offering, with some trepidation. After just one listen I was convinced that I had heard one of the albums of the year thus far.
Like many others, I must admit to being a tad underwhelmed with Mary Black's last couple of albums, a lack of direction characterising one, an end-of-cycle lassitude the other.
So it was that I approached this, her latest offering, with some trepidation. After just one listen I was convinced that I had heard one of the albums of the year thus far.
A glimpse into Glen Hansard’s tour diary while on the road with The Frames' fourth album For The Birds (2001) - including reflections on their first landmark Olympia show (March 30th, 2001)
A long, meandering road, wending its way round gullies, crevices and drumlins: that's the kind of musical journey Cormac Breatnach has embarked on in this, his debut CD. Pensive and considered, it's a collection of gentle, low key tunes - with a surprising song or two in their midst.
There was a point at the turn of the ‘90s when — much like Something Happens! a year or so before — it seemed to be the law to like The Stunning, and in the summer of 1990 the question was not whether you had the album, but what was your favourite song on the all-conquering Paradise In The Picturehouse: that is, there was Stunning snobbery.
Clearly subscribers to the “strike while the iron is hot” school of album promotion, no sooner has the Patrol’s breakthrough hit ‘Run’ exited the British top ten than the Northern rockers are rush-releasing the follow-up single.
As Neil Young enters his fifth decade of writing and performing music, the world needs to be reminded of his god-like contributions, particularly as recent young disciples such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam have either burnt out or faded away.
Tim Wheeler out of Ash recounts their near-miss in America. Meanwhile, the worst of their injuries - drummer Rick's - may cost them Reading and Leeds slots
The indie band with the questionable name, Ham Sandwich, have revealed their latest tour dates, which see them play smaller venues as well as festival gigs.
Complete workaholics that they've unexpectedly turned into, Snow Patrol have announced yet another al fresco headliner on August 8 in London's Somerset House.
As you might expect, the sound and mixing quality falls down on a track or two, but for the most part it’s of an extremely high standard, and there are some real gems here.
not to mention a thousand and one instruments to flesh out their exhilarating new wave trad. kMla take to the road, with puns, poetry and party atmosphere to spare. Adrienne Murphy accompanies the merry pranksters.
An Irish bouncer at closing time and a plague of frogs in America EAMON SWEENEY hears about the weird and wonderful inspiration for the new album from LOOPER
THE STANDOUT foreign-language flick of the season, sure to scoop awards by the bucketload, Central Station effortlessly avoids any of the snags that almost always seem to attend acclaimed prizewinning foreign movies. Beautifully filmed, it manages to adopt and sustain an epic, melancholic, sweeping majesty from start to finish.
'Spring Themes' sees Lee focus on deeply textured, spacey sounding material, but this time round the low profile producer has gone the extra mile and injected his compositions with a previously lacking dance floor feel.
The soundtrack to this, the latest vehicle for Hugh Grant to bumble his way into our affections, is just what you'd expect. The movie, from the Four Weddings . . . team, may well be funny but the soundtrack is anything but.
A mere decade after his first post-Clash solo effort, Earthquake Weather, Joe Strummer comes bounding back into the ring just as his previous band's legacy is revisited via a superb video documentary Westway To The World, an incendiary live collection From Here To Eternity and the remastered reissue of their entire back catalogue.
MARTIN HAYES fiddles while dennis cahill burns on The Lonesome Touch, an exercise in purity that is not exclusive to the purists. Joining them on the road, siobhan long learns the finer points of a good reel, and discovers that in Irish traditional music there s no place for conflict between continuity and change.
Continuing the theme of cars and road imagery in his music, chris rea has delved into the world of 1960s Italian sportscars for his latest project, La Passione. colm o hare finds out about it.
It may sound alien to ears accustomed to record after record of electronic overload, but there is an inherent power and beauty in the simple human voice.
It may be wet outside and April doesn't bode any better but there's news to brighten your mood: the former recipients of the Hot Press single of the fortnight nod are playing a few dates round our way.
Director, Republic Of Loose and the Sultans Of Ping are set to headline this year's Indie-pendence Festival, which features a host of homegrown talent - for free!
Following a platinum-selling debut that spawned no less than three radio hits, the bizarrely named and meticulously groomed Californian pop-rockers Hoobastank return with their second offering...
Think of all the indie bands that you can remember from the last decade, bad to mediocre to absolute classic, and throw them all together in an indistinguishable aural stew and you're kind of close to High, the debut album from London six-piece, Southern Fly.
It was Wednesday June 14th, 1995, when the terrible news of Rory Gallagher’s death was first phoned through to the Hot Press office. In more ways than one, it was the end of an era. On Wednesday November 8th, a commemoration service was held at Brompton Oratory in London. The ceremony ended with a tribute, which was delivered by Niall Stokes, editor of Hot Press. As a special remembrance of Rory, on the 10th anniversary of his death, we reproduce here the full text of that tribute.
We see the reports on television and hear the voices on the radio but the brutal adrenaline-charged reality of the rioting in North Belfast can only be fully understood if you're in the thick of it. Gerry Ryan Show reporter Brenda O' Donoghue briefly was.
Never mind Damien Rice or Snow Patrol, the biggest Irish deal in America at the moment are Celtic Woman whose A New Journey album has debuted at number four on the Billboard chart.
ALTHOUGH FEATURING a wide-ranging supporting cast that includes pedal steel player about town BJ Cole, Ann Dudley and Rush's Geddy Lee, Euphoria is essentially guitarist Ken Ramm's project.
Their languorous, minor key songs and stripped-to-the-bones arrangements have seen them dubbed the torchbearers of "slo-fi" across the water. But London duo Olly Knight and Gale Paradganian have also won praise for their uncompromising adherence to the dark soul of their material.
The Brisbane band's fourth album has already gone platinum in Australia, and it's not hard to understand Powderfinger's populist appeal - they're rock, but not too hard, alternative, but not inaccessible, intelligent but not too obtuse, melodic but not too twee.
Legislation regarding the Lisdoonvarna Festival - whose license application was rejected this week - may yet provide various options to save it from cancellation
Welcome To Poppy’s has its moments, but now, we’ve seen and heard all their streetwise schtick before, things are starting to seem a little stale and predictable.
Twenty five years after The Jam went their separate ways, bassist Bruce Foxton and drummer Rick Buckler are back playing together under the name From The Jam.
Respect would appear to be due to The Strokes, who play Dublin Easter Sunday and who apparently have developed into an incredible live band - as distinct from an incredibly hyped one - since we've seen them last. Read on for an exclusive gig preview, from Glasgow's Barrowlands
The most unremittingly bleak and depressing indie offering to emerge from the States all year (with the possible exception of Paul Schrader's Affliction), this deeply fucked-up slice of white-trash junkie psychosis is a hard-hitting, supremely affecting journey into the black heart of the American nightmare, with some of its images powerful enough to merit comparison with Badlands, Taxi Driver and other similarly-flavoured excursions to hell.
They may well have danced with the showbizz devil during their Riverdance days, but you can’t deny that few Irish bands are keeping it as real as Anúna. Cynara – their first album in nearly five years – sees them return to their original blueprint in impressive style.
Scottish minimalist maestro Alex Smoke is earning serious kudos for his intriguing LP Incommunicado, an impressively eclectic collection which sounds equally as good on the dancefloor as the headphones.
What are Dublin Corporation up to? I know that not everyone in Ireland cares about the answer to this question: if you live in Cork or Sligo or Derry, why should you? Well, I'll give you one good reason: where public policy is concerned, if something is introduced in Dublin and it sticks, then almost inevitably, it's only a matter of time before the other significant cities and towns around the country at least south of the border follow suit. Think parking fines. Now think clamping. As the old town planner's song goes first we'll take Dublin city, then we'll take Athlone.
From the getgo, The Conway Sisters have been perceived as a poor man’s Corrs (There’s four of them and they’ve even got a Sharon) and little on this long overdue debut album dispels those first suspicions. In fact, if you do the blind date test here with, say, ‘No Surprise’ or ‘Reason’, the phrase “Corrs’ tribute band” springs effortlessly to mind.
The Hives’ irrepressible Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist talks to Tanya Sweeney about the band’s uproarious live shows, their most Spinal Tap moment to date, and how they keep their white suits in pristine shape throughout the rigours of the festival season
You can't keep a good man down, it would seem…having parted company 'by mutual agreement' with Warner Music Ireland earlier this year, Graham Hopkins' outfit Halite released their sophomore album, Courses on October 1st. Although the band have courted major label interest since leaving the Warner fold, their new album will be released on the band's own label, Brassneck Recordings.
Studt has an agreeable voice and a burdgeoning songwriting talent but, as with Lavigne, the problem is that there are so many hands involved with the album’s writing and production that it’s hard to work out where the Studt ends and the corporate machine begins.
A tired and emotional Ed Byrne talks to Hoot Press about partying in Edinburgh, undergoing strenuous discourse with Ricky Gervais and attempting to track down a Czech porn star.
THE CANDLELIGHT SESSIONS at Phil Grimes' pub are the first rung on the ladder for many aspiring musicians. Proprietor Tom Ryan and chief rabble-rouser Johnny Kiely explain why this live gem is an important part of the Irish music scene.
One Man Revolution finds Tom Morello, best known as Rage Against The Machine’s firebrand guitarist, attempt to metamorphose into a latter-day Woody Guthrie.
Though feted by everyone from Metallica to Motorhead, they were the runts of the 80s Metal Litter. But now, unbelievably, vintage headbangers Anvil are back as the stars of their own rockumentary. And guess what? It could be their biggest hit ever. They talk about entertaining Dalymount Park with an outsized vibrator back in the day, explain why life on the road led them to lose all respects for woman and recall the time they parted 'til dawn with Phil Lynott.
Concerto For Constantine, Codes and Grand Pocket Orchestra are among the 46 promising Irish acts who take to the road this weekend as part of the 2008 IMRO Showcase Tour.
Performance artist Mark McGowan has been stopped from pulling 300 kilos of potatoes along the road from Ballymun to Drumcondra dressed as Bertie Ahern as it was seen to be too “politically sensitive”
The Songs Of Praise Karaoke competiton tour is set to hit the road next week, travelling to college campuses and venues all over Ireland in a search for the nation's best karaoke stars.
Playing Live at the Marquee on Sunday June 24: Lock up your housewives. Ireland’s most eligible bachelors, Podge & Rodge, are on the road and looking for love.
To follow up his summer headlining stints at Oxegen last weekend and at the V Festival next month, rock veteran Paul Weller will get back on the road this winter.
With their affirmative vibes and sprawling line-up, indie heroes Broken Social Scene are a sight to behold. But keeping this 40-legged rock machine on the road isn't always exactly a romp in the playground, confesses fromtman keving Drew.
Rodrigo y Gabriela take to the road next month in support of their eponymous new album, which was produced by Radiohead, Stone Roses and Muse man John Leckie.
Katie Melua, who qualifies as Irish by dint of growing-up in Belfast, goes for chart glory again this week with the release of her On The Road Again DVD.
Back on the road again with a famous band name and his classic Forever Changes songs, Arthur Lee of Love recalls the golden psychedelic era of Hendrix, Morrison and Young.
Positivity is their mantra, classy is their byword and their mission is to become the biggest and best pop group on the plant. With their jam in the point date looming SYLVIA PATTERSON goes on the road with DESTINY'S CHILD and hears a tale of self-empowerment, vision and that collision between cleavage and christianity
Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous offers a pleasant and almost innocent view of the life of a rock hack - sort of Little House On The Road. The reality, as PETER MURPHY explains, is rather different. Certain names in this harrowing saga have been changed to protect the guilty - and the author's delicate bone structure
After what seems like (and probably is) half a decade on the road, the much-touted Downpatrick trio finally get to release an album. It's clearly a big budget affair too with no expense spared.
Kicking off on familiar territory with the epic, multi-layered single that is 'Rainbow Zephyr', it continues with the hard driving, generic rock of 'Heart Shaped Box'.
When Pulp released the obsessively carnal This Is Hardcore, it was widely touted that the band's main mover, Jarvis Cocker, had lost the plot entirely. But Pulp are back on the road now and Cocker is in fine form - as eloquent when talking about pornography and sex as he is reflecting on the vagaries of the press and his relationship with his father. Interview: peter Murphy.
When Pulp released the obsessively carnal This Is Hardcore, it was widely touted that the band's main mover, Jarvis Cocker, had lost the plot entirely. But Pulp are back on the road now and Cocker is in fine form - as eloquent when talking about pornography and sex as he is reflecting on the vagaries of the press and his relationship with his father. Interview: peter Murphy.
the jon spencer blues explosion
are the hippest, baddest,
sleaziest, sweatiest, sexiest, sickest, noisiest,
in-your-face-est rock n roll
act to come out of America
for a loooooong time.
colm o hare joined them on the road to Manchester.
Comedian JACK DEE, the supremo of sarcasm, the sultan of sardonicism, is back on the road and he s headed for this green and pleasant land, for a string of dates in April. Interview: Andrew Darlington
If you want to make a demo that won't be used to blackmail you a few years down the road to fame and fortune, there are a few things you should know. Here, the experts tell Niall Crumlish what they are.
Black 47’s Larry Kirwan and Irish Voice columnist Mike Farragher are launching CelticLounge.com a unique international online community for all Celts and those who admire Celtic Culture.
Here’s a bloke playing vinyl and taking dirty soul and blues vocals, ’80s key synths, country riffs and laying them over a structure of electric urban rhythm
Need help, advice or a second opinion? Put your music industry question to theoracle@hotpress.ie. Finan in Cork wonders if record companies are always entitled to deduct tour support from royalties.
That Dave Matthews is still relatively unknown round these parts is not something you feel he’s particularly worried about, given the fact that his band have sold in the region of 25m albums stateside, where they enjoy a revered status amongst more sensitive college rock types.
Kevin Moore changed his name to Keb’ Mo’ as part of a cunning plan to pass himself off as your friendly neighbourhood designer blues legend complete with trademark fedora hat.
Bet you thought we’d gone all literary for a minute there. Not a chance! Europe is about to get a dose of The Cramps – so we decided to get the low-down on what to expect from the band’s prime-mover and trash philosopher extraordinaire Mr Lux Interior. Ear to the phone: Colm O’Hare.
Most of us have, at certain times, been guilty of doing The Saw Doctors a great disservice, airbrushing them out of the Irish musical family portrait. In the meantime they’ve continued to sell more records and play to bigger audiences around the world than most of their cooler countemporaries.
Tough new measures are being promised, to tackle the phenomenon of dangerous driving among young males. But the law is far more likely to work if it seen to be applied intelligently – and if there is a positive side to any new Government campaign.
Their trademark sweeping metallic sounds and airbrushed vocals are present and correct, and set the band apart from the clasps of nu-metal and emo, giving them an epic quality that's quite distinctive
With a name like that, you’d be forgiven for thinking that The West Seventies were an NYW haircut/leather jacket/ garage concoction. In fact, the band hail from the distinctly un-NYC environs of Dublin and Down.
He s the man behind Reservoir Prods , a load of Premiership goals and a woozy Robbie Williams. But most he s behind pop songs with big fuck-off choruses , a passion PHIL WOOLSEY extends with his new band NINEBAR
Since taking a break from his day-job as Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr has surprised and charmed with his plaintive indie-pop. Not that he likes to really compare the two experiences.
AFTER THE town of Goma, in Eastern Zaire, was taken over by rebel Tutsis of Zairean birth, the people went on a looting spree. What else could they do? They no longer had a government of their own: they did not know when next they would have work, or who would pay them.
Having established their cult credentials with Turn On The Bright Lights, Interpol are back with a new album that looks like earning them a place at rock’s top table. New York City fop Sam Fogarino tells Colm O’Hare how they’re sharp-dressed for success.
The tenth anniversary of Rory Gallagher's death will be honoured with a very special event in Ballyshannon, plus a Best Of album and a Gerry McAvoy autobiography
With their album release only days away, U2 have been speaking to Hot Press about their upcoming world tour and the likely candidates for the prestigious support slot
In 1980, with the various Irish bands who have taken the easy road in terms of rock'n'roll fashion, it is easy to overlook the emergence and development of other groups. Scullion are a good example, every bit as committed and interesting as others, yet adopting a form that is at divergence with much of what's going down in pop music at the moment.
Unable to convince as a purveyor of Norah Jones-like smoky jazz (when it’s obvious that Katie Melua doesn’t smoke) or indeed as a jigging teen idol (when it’s obvious she doesn’t dance), tonight the temptation is to dismiss the weird collision of mood-changes on offer here (from anti-war ballads to skat versions of ‘The Love Cats’ to Georgian folk ballads sung in the mother tongue) as a case of talent being spread way, way too thin.
This graphically personal and confessional album is reputed to be about the agonising and acrimonious break-up of Dylan’s marriage to Sara Lowndes, and it sees him alternately at his most vicious and his most vulnerable.
Akron singer-songwriter Tim Easton has just settled in Alaska, a place where people “go mad or die”. Thankfully, he’s still alive and sane enough to tell the tale.
18 months ago Travis weren’t sure if they wanted to be a band anymore. Then their drummer was told he’d never walk again and their whole outlook changed.
Jason Pierce doesn’t do Dogme. For all the talk of a stripped-down, back-to-basics approach on Amazing Grace, his most recent record is as comparable to something like Slanted And Enchanted, as Solaris is to Festen.
I HAVE to say that I have always loved Christie Hennessy’s material. Perhaps more than any songwriter working today, his stuff is the real deal, with no attempt at artifice or concealment. But that is not to say that his songs are not insightful, for he deals with a wide range of issues in his material, from loneliness to mental illness, and always with a sensitive hand.
It’s hard not to be reminded of The Levellers in their crusty, polemic prime, the bombastic 1980’s textures and a lyrical obsession with the elements adding to the overall dated feel.
The actors who became cult heroes for their recreation of the tribunals on Tonight With Vincent Browne are bringing their show to the stage. Interview: STEPHEN ROBINSON
'Tis the season, so it's Christmas gigs a-go-go with Woodstar, Josh'n'James, the Juice Machine and a Very Corpo Christmas Caper to say the least. Ho ho ho
One of Ireland’s outstanding violin players, Steve Wickham is a long-time member of The Waterboys and respected composer in his own right. Born in Dublin, he’s a country boy at heart.
Having befriended Joe Strummer before the Clash man’s untimely death, artists such as Adam Duritz, Ryan Adams and Shane MacGowan are also now lining up to give kudos to New York singer-songwriter Jesse Malin.
Of course any album so named begs a review headlined “This Is Not The Best”. I can’t quite do it.
Still, give me a week – the more I’ve listened, the less I’ve liked This Is Not A Test.
An 83-year-old woman says that she suffered shock and extensive bruising as a result of police action at an anti-war protest outside the Dail last week.
They've sold albums by the truck-load and are about to embark on a sold-out four-night run in Dublin, but Brummy three-piece Ocean Colour Scene have plenty they'd like to complain about, including the press, the music industry, and – especially – ringtone ads appearing on their albums.
Clare County Council announced this afternoon that they've rejected a license application for the Lisdoonvarna festival which was due to take place in the Clare town on Saturday June 28.
There's a strong possibility, though, that the decision will be appealed by Aiken Promotions who tell hotpress.com that they're studying the decision and will be responding tomorrow morning.
A hard-bitten Texas native Billy Joe Shaver is perhaps best known for his songwriting and as a man who has lived most of the songs he has written. Since the beginning of this decade he has worked with his son Eddie, as Shaver, their debut album Tramp On Your Street mating the tough, honest writing of Billy Joe with Eddie's hard rock guitar.
Aslan’s Christy Dignam lives not too far from where he grew up in Dublin. He talks to Hot Press about birdwatching, how he stays away from drugs and his disdain for celebrities who complain about fame.
Here's something that doesn't happen everyday, or even any day, but is a staple of that alternative universe located somewhere between Hollywood and dreamland: a stranger rolls into town and is immediately mistaken for a contract killer.
Spoken-word firebrand and Black Flag legend Henry Rollins is probably better known as an orator, writer, journalist, actor, publisher, philosopher and "aging alternative icon" (his description) these days than as a singer...
Music Review | Live
22% | 21 Jun 2004
Kim Porcelli
Any cynics betting on an evening of flabby nostalgia and/or paycheque-induced dead-but-won’t-lie-downism can pay up now. That’s not to say it’s anything less than heartstoppingly moving to hear the old stuff in the flesh , but it’s more thrilling still to witness a sterling set drawn mostly from brill new LP You Are The Quarry and to see and hear proof in spades that Moz in 2004 isn’t just trading on past glories.
No, they’re not Jack White’s extra-curricular band. Rather, The Racketeers are long time veterans of the Irish scene with shades of Nick Cave and Johnny Cash in their darkly fascinating sound.
Tracks like ‘Nine Million Bicycles’ and ‘Halfway Up The Hindu Kush’ could easily trouble charts the world over; indeed virtually all the tracks are the epitome of radio-friendliness.
Kicking off at The Academy in Dublin on 23 January, the Kerrang! Relentless Energy Tour 2010 will feature headliners including The Blackout, Young Guns and My Passion
Whatever your fancy chances are the capital will be able to oblige. Here, the Hot Press team pound the pavement in selfless pursuit of Dublin's hottest - and coolest - nightspots.
Sliabh Notes are a trio of renowned traditional musicians who play dance music that long preceded the breed that flourishes these days in the club scene. Siobhan Long pays a visit to them in the best place possible to hear the music: a wedding reception in Kerry.
melys are more than just the latest Gorky's soundalikes or Super Furry Animals copyists to emerge from the wilds of Wales, according to an enthusiastic nick kelly.
Along with Dale Watson's recent The Truckin' Sessions, this album represents something of a renaissance for that long-neglected but oft loved country and western offshoot - the trucking song.
The voice of a new generation? A poor man’s Kaiser Chiefs? The band from the Lifestyle Sports ad? However one views the Staines phenomenon that is Hard-Fi, you can’t argue with a performance that sells out months in advance.
Performing their first concerts in a decade, Clannad opened tonight’s celebratory Patrick’s Eve show with the majestic ‘Newgrange’ from the album of the same name.
Saddled with the worst band name since Voice Of Cheese, The Sea And Cake often sound like The Beautiful South after two weeks in Benidorm studying jazz construction. And it works for the American four-piece's first album in three years, with vocalist Sam Prekop's soft voice bringing a wistfulness you hadn't known you missed so much.
Unconfirmed: Springsteen to play Ireland before the end of the year? Totally definite: fantastic new album - and his first with The E Street Band since 1984 - on the way
There are two Ibizas. There is “Eye-beef-a”, the hellhole of Sky TV’s Uncovered. And then there is “Eivissa”, its Catalan equivalent – a serene haven for all types of outcasts.
Seka/Sister is a marathon collection of 22 songs from a plethora of artists (both well known and obscure) in aid of a women and children's refuge in Croatia.
Seka/Sister is a marathon collection of 22 songs from a plethora of artists (both well known and obscure) in aid of a women and children's refuge in Croatia.
This might be his first album but the songs on this debut from Donegal man Sean Needham give the impression that they’ve been collected slowly over the years, as he honed his craft.
With a deft five-piece band in tow, Geldof, nattily dressed in pinstripe suit and red polka-dot shirt, kicked off with his last real hit, ‘The Great Song of Indifference’ – a good start!
Released in May 1987, The Joshua Tree propelled the band out of arenas and into the stadia, topping the Billboard chart and spawning a triptych of monster singles, beginning with the bittersweet slow burner ‘With Or Without You’.
Citing “irresolvable conflict”, grunge legend Chris Cornell has packed in his day job with Audioslave to pursue a solo career. Here, he explains why he’s decided to go it alone.
U2 have won their court battle with former stylist Lola Cashman over tour memorbilia and clothing they claim she stole while employed by the band during their Joshua Tree world tour in 1987. The verdict was announced this morning (Tuesday July 5) to a packed Dublin Circuit Civil Court by Mr Justice Matthew Deery. Neither Ms Cashman nor members of U2 were present to hear the verdict.
Aside from a slew of wasted lives, a sad but inescapable consequence of the staggeringly high mortality rates that accompany most worthwhile rock’n’roll voyages is the fact that wet-eared young whippersnappers in their early twenties feel emboldened to undertake ambitious, epic statements about love and death.
Despite routine speed limit violations, Dublin's Port Tunnel is one of the country's safest stretches of road. So why install cameras to police a speed restriction that is too low?
With the recently released Some Cities completing a trio of gorgeously layered masterpieces, Doves are the band many take for granted. Brilliance is expected, and we have become accustomed to excellence from the Manchester trio. If there was anything unexpected about their set at a sold out Olympia, it was that we may have forgotten beforehand just how special they really are.
If there was anything unexpected about Doves set at a sold out Olympia, it was that we may have forgotten beforehand just how special they really are. It didn’t take long for one's memory to kick into gear.
This Brooklyn-based, Minneapolis-reared quartet, currently the most raved about band in America, are no spring chickens and my goodness, doesn’t it show.
Pop superstar du jour Daniel Bedingfield talks to Shilpa Ganatra about the enthusiasm of Irish audiences, escaping death in New Zealand and why he intends to push the stylistic envelope on his future albums.
Eccentric, humorous and a giddy story-teller, she ensures that tonight we’re guided through love-lorn territories with laughter and warmth. An intimacy is created, luring the audience in and allowing them explore frequently stunning and moving pieces of music, infused with Rusby’s infectious personality
A year after Mic Christopher’s untimely death, his family and friends are celebrating his life and music with the release of his Skylarkin’ album and a star-studded gala live performance
If ever there was a debut album that literally required the listener to investigate further, insofar as it gives nothing away, it is this inscrutable mini-album of idle, sweet abstractions from Capratone.
The opening track of Spirit – their first album of new material in nearly four years – reflects that nothing-to-prove status: no newfangled innovations, no showoff virtuoso displays, just four great reels played solidly and with gusto.
MICHAEL STIPE RECKONS THEY'VE PRODUCED THE ALBUM OF THE YEAR, THEIR SINGER HAS BEEN HAILED AS THE ‘NEW BOB DYLAN’ AND THEY HAVE IMPECCABLE TASTE IN COATS. CAN ANYTHING HALT GRANT LEE BUFFALO'S MAD DASH TO STARDOM? LORRAINE FREENEY INVESTIGATES.
Need help, advice or a second opinion? Put your music industry question to the oracle@hotpress.ie. This fortnight, Scott from Glasgow asks: As the manager of a band I recently booked a gig for them in a pub in Edinburgh. But the confirmation letter I got from the gig promoter said that my band could not do another gig within 50 miles of Edinburgh for a month before and a month after the gig? Surely this is a constraint of trade and stops my band earning their livelihood?
For years now, so his cheerleaders (eg Chris Martin) would have us believe, Ron Sexsmith has been teetering on the precipice of gigantic, head-spinning, success.
Following the unprecedented success of her song ‘Only A Woman’s Heart’ in 1992, Eleanor McEvoy could have taken to her easy chair and basked in the accruing glory and the mounting royalties, stirring only to attempt to rewrite that song every couple of years.
The New Mexico-based Hazeldine are in the vanguard of the American alt (alternative) country movement. In real musical terms, that means they are doing what the country rock bands of the early seventies did, a little louder than Tammy Wynette and a little punkier than The Eagles and that's about all, y'all.
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.
In a ten-years-after-Kurt Cobain piece entitled ‘When The Edge Moved To The Middle’ published in the New York Times recently, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore made a point of dispelling alt-rock nostalgia by declaring: “You wouldn’t know it now by looking at MTV, with its scorn-metal buffoons and Disney-damaged pop idols, but the underground scene Kurt came from is more creative and exciting than it’s ever been.
Terrence Malick (Badlands, Days Of Heaven), one of cinema’s most unique creatures, doesn’t do car-chases. The New World, his reworking of the Pocahontas legend, is less a film, more a sublime visual poem, with the colonisation of America re-envisaged as the expulsion from Eden.
Judged purely on its artistic and dramatic merits, Parting Shots is a work of scarcely-believable awfulness - without doubt one of the truly worst films of the decade, if not all eternity.
Tanya Sweeney meets You’re A Star judge, DIY practitioner and Thai food enthusiast Hazel Kaneswaren in her laidback Co. Cavan abode. Photography by Cathal Dawson.
For ‘With Strings’ (a tour captured truthfully, more or less, on the 20-track sprawl of Live At Town Hall) Everett appeared bent on contradiction, at once stripping down and expanding Eels’ sound.
Bringing a multi-national flavour to the West's music scene are Emmet Scanlan and What the Good Thought- a cosmopolitan group who infuse cello, classical guitar and drums with "chaotic" glee.
The first time I saw Ron Sexsmith live, I was immediately struck by the gentle, almost unobtrusive way in which his songs meandered into my head. I was so impressed that the next day I rushed out and purchased Other Songs, a quite beautiful album in its own, unique, low-key way.
Niall Stokes: As the drummer in a band, you re occupying a seat that s normally occupied by men.
Caroline Corr: It s a natural thing for boys to go for instead of girls. But I think there should be a lot more females playing. I don t know why they don t.
The death of John Entwistle and Pete Townshend’s troubles haven’t stopped The Who reconvening for another tour. Colm O’Hare got to see the warm-up show ..
Black Francis talks to Hot Press about his friendship with U2, his relationship with the rest of the Pixies and why he's reverting back to his original stage-name.
Contrary to what you may have been led to believe it is not against the law to drink and drive. So why is there a concerted attempt to demonise those who do it responsibly? Colm O’Hare who’d had a few drinks before being breathalysed recently asks: what’s it all about?
Consisting of 13 self-penned tracks, ranging in style from jaunty, mid-tempo pop songs, to more reflective ballads, In'shallah more than lives up to the claims being made on their behalf
Pale frontman Matthew Devereux’s Kilmainham pad betrays an '80s fetish, but he once served an Irish stew to Johnny Cash in Bad Bob's, so we’ll forgive him.
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.
Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge are widely credited for making dance music that indie kids can groove to. Their last album Melody AM, and especially the hit singles ‘Poor Leno’ and ‘Eple’, saw the Norwegian duo heralded as the future of ‘intelligent’ dance.
You could set your clock by him. Like some kind of agrarian song tiller, Will Oldham is a seasonal operator whose harvest falls every winter, January being market time. This year he’s gotten a little help on the farm from guitarist Matt Sweeney, and together they’ve come up with a batch of tunes that are by turns courtly, kinky and perverse.
If you’re the sort of person who enjoys reading about Alex Higgins playing ten quid snooker games in the hostel where he currently resides then y ou may well get a kick from watching Mr. Pacino hoo-ha-ing his way through the woeful Two For The Money.
The Ruby Tailights’ main-man Martin Kelly will be familiar to any stalwarts of the mid-90s Irish music scene as the frontman with the brilliant Sunbear, whose distortion-fuelled epics were years ahead of their time. This time around, Kelly has eschewed the effects pedals, however, for some relatively straightforward guitar pop.
Part two of our glance back over the year that was, complete with clickable quotes so you can read each and every article in full, if you like. And you know you like! So don't just sit there. Get reading...
He found fame with his dorky turn in The Office. Now Rainn Wilson is trying to make it on the big screen. And yes, he's aware that it's easier said than done.
If truth be told, Dynamite could have easily lost half of the material on offer and just left us with the 30 or so minutes that actually hit the target
Rossa O Snodaigh is a founder member of the hugely popular and widely acclaimed Irish trad/folk/rock outfit Kila, which he formed with two of his brothers in 1987. The band have released six albums to date, the latest being 2003’s superb Luna Park. They are just about to tour Australia and Japan. Rossa grew up speaking Irish in the family home in Sandymount in Dublin.
