You can bet that Santa is glad that The Strokes are playing Belfast before Christmas. Tickets for this surprise show (announced Tuesday, takes place Sunday) sold – according to promoters – at a quicker rate that even Oasis managed in their Morning Glory prime. The big guy would have some indie kid hearts to break on Christmas morning.
[Photographs: Amberlea Trainor]
You can bet that Santa is glad that The Strokes are playing Belfast before Christmas. Tickets for this surprise show (announced Tuesday, takes place Sunday) sold – according to promoters – at a quicker rate that even Oasis managed in their Morning Glory prime. The big guy would have some indie kid hearts to break on Christmas morning.
[Photographs: Amberlea Trainor]
No, The Strokes aren’t splitting up, insists guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. Still, he’s enjoying a rare taste of artistic freedom with his debut solo album.
So what happens when an indie band goes major league? how can you stay cool when your date’s a Charlie’s Angel? how important is the boy/girl song in a flag-waving time? and like Alexander The Great, do you weep when you have no more worlds to conquer? in addressing these and other pressing questions of the day, The Strokes salute John Lennon, Bob Dylan and their own undying band of brotherliness.
“The world is either in your hand or at your throat” sings Julian Casablancas on ‘Razorblade’, as he casually assaults the microphone on the first night of The Strokes’ UK tour. This from a band who have seen plenty of both extremes. Tonight, half way through their 24 song set, they’ve caught the crowd in their mighty palm and locked their fists tight.
They were the coolest band on the planet – until the backlash started. Now The Strokes have released their most ambitious album yet. Can they leave their past behind?
You can bet that Santa is glad that The Strokes are playing Belfast before Christmas. Tickets for this surprise show (announced Tuesday, takes place Sunday) sold – according to promoters – at a quicker rate that even Oasis managed in their Morning Glory prime. The big guy would have some indie kid hearts to break on Christmas morning.
[Photographs: Amberlea Trainor]
Albert Hammond Jr isn't just a pretty face. As well as his solo career and dayjob with The Strokes, he's also co-written a screenplay adaptation of Charles Bukowski's Pulp
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
Gigs with Mick ’n’ Keef and Angus ’n’ Malcolm, and a potential ding-dong with The Strokes – it’s only rock’n’roll but Jet like it as does Stuart Clark.
An overnight success story that was years in the making, The Strokes have been dismissed as flagrant hype and lauded as the saviours of rock 'n' roll. Eamon Sweeney, a journalist who has spent more time in their company than most, gets the fullest account yet of the rise and rise of New York's band of brothers. "Whatever happens, we'll be there together," they tell him. "we won’t let each other fall."
In pop art, acts of grave-robbing and cradle-snatching go largely unpunished. The Strokes are not what you’d call the most original of bands, but they’ve always excelled at petty larcenies.
Since the release of their sophomore album Antics late last year, New York goth-rock quartet Interpol have risen to the pantheon of great contemporary bands. In a rare in-depth interview, the group’s erudite frontman Paul Banks here discusses the making of Antics, their upcoming support slot with U2, the band’s peers in the NYC indie scene, The Strokes, Nirvana and David Lynch - and where one of the most acclaimed groups of recent years go to from here. Interview by Paul Nolan.
The man who signed The Smiths, Arcade Fire, The Libertines and The Strokes (to name but a few!) to his Rough Trade label, Geoff Travis makes a special appearance at the RDS on October 7.
Strokes guitarist Hammond drops a taster from his much anticipated solo debut Yours To Keep. Predictably, ‘Everyone Gets A Star’ isn’t a million miles away from the retro vibes of The Strokes. Interestingly, his vocals are a great deal more accomplished than those of Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas.
...but you'd better take it, 'cos The Strokes' upcoming Irish-only limited-edition EP (1000 copies, no more, no less) will soon be flying out of the "cooler record shops" near you
Missing out on the acclaim afforded fellow travellers The Strokes and The White Stripes, New Zealand band The Datsuns have decided to give their bluesy sound a indie makeover. ‘System Overload’ is duly loaded with Strokes guitars, topped off with a ridiculously OTT guitar solo. Indie greatness may well be within their sights.
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.
Yet another Dublin act tipped for great things in the UK. The Immediate sound like a hybrid of The Strokes and Cast. That’s not to say that they bear any musical comparison to John Power’s terrible Britpop outfit.
Spare a thought for Julian Casablancas. His bandmates having flown the nest to do their own side-projects, he’s confessed to feeling, well, at a bit of a loss these days. To fill those empty days, the lead singer for The Strokes has embarked on a solo career of his own. Edwin McFee catches up with the frontman on the eve of the release of Phrazes For The Young and finds out all about the record that he never thought he’d make. Plus, Casablancas also reveals why he doesn’t miss his old sparring partners one bit.
It was the hottest ticket in Manhattan – and no wonder. With Goldfrapp, The Strokes, Carl Cox and Kanye West on the bill, this was a gig for people of impeccable taste – all the more so since it was brought together by Hennessy cognac.
The highlight of the year – and probably the decade – was scamming a trip to Havana to see the Manic Street Preachers do their live thing in front of Fidel Castro
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
Pennie Smith, the legendary NME photographer who shot the cover of The Clash’s London Calling is about to have an exhibition in Belfast. Peter Murphy gets her to rewind the film
When not locking themselves away in 18th-century farmhouses and getting freaked out by UFOs, Mani-endorsed English rockers Kasabian are setting ablaze the UK indie scene and claiming, “If you cut our skins, we bleed rock’n’roll.” Danielle Brigham talks to the group’s consummately charming frontman, Tom Meighan
Belfast boys General Fiasco may be one of the standout acts on the Oh Yeah showcase CD, but when HP catches up with the band, they're feeling a little, um, overexposed.
This could develop into the kind of farce that marred their last Olympia show. Another half hour and it probably would have but as it is, the band carry their errant frontman in a sprint to the end that includes a cracking version of The Clash’s ‘Clampdown’ and ensures that, at last, the first day of Oxegen gives us something to talk about aside from the rain.
Fresh from his recent success with the Xpress-2 collaboration 'Lazy', David Byrne reflects on a musical journey that began in 1977 with the legendary Talking Heads
One of the greatest penslingers in rockdom, he’s championed U2, Joy Division and Kylie and taken a critical scalpel to Oasis, The Strokes and their “miserably narrow mates”. he’s also locked horns with Germaine Greer, helped Frankie to relax and let The Frames slip through his fingers.
The star-spangled story of how Richard Melville Hall learned to relax and love sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. "Don't tell anybody but I'm actually the lead guitarist with Slipknot," he informs Stuart Clark.
The Kinetiks are aptly named; the tracks on their new EP are a bundle of raw energy. The EP’s first track, ‘A Smile’d Crack Your Face,’ sets a rapid pace but the band are able to maintain it until the end. The Dublin band cultivate a sound reminiscent of the Strokes circa Is This It?. If their live shows are anything like their recorded tracks, audiences will not be disappointed.
It seemed inconceivable a few years back that a nine-piece orchestral-pop outfit from Canada could become more relevant than The Strokes, but Funeral’s devastating blend of songcraft and sonic ambition made it all possible.
Yours To Keep is a warm, understated record that contrasts with the brashness and immediacy of The Strokes, the album meanders melodically through ten perfectly-formed pop tunes.
Word on the street is that Oasis, The Strokes and The Frames are headlining this year's Witnness main stage. You heard it here first (totally unconfirmed, of course)
Lipfloater head our way for Irish tour. Who they, you wonder? The Boston band, fronted by Dub Barry Kelly, who recently opened for The Strokes, that's who
Michael Eavis and the Mean Fiddler have reached an agreement, and Glastonbury is once again set to proceed. Your Gorillaz, Blur, Coldplay, Pulp, The Strokes, Starsailor, Basement Jaxx and Stereophonics needs will thus be looked after
Given her association with The Strokes (Gordon Raphael sits at the production helm) and history of touring with bands like the Kings Of Leon, one might reasonably approach Regina Spektor’s major label debut with certain expectations – drums, guitars, that sort of thing for a start. Should we be surprised, then, to find that this is a largely solo piano-and-voice kind of record?
The Strokes? Pah! Last night's jammed Billy Bob Thornton gig in Vicar Street (stars on the stage, stars in the audience, queues round the block) is the current front runner for gig of the year. Hot Press, of course, was there (consider us your private radio)
Cajun Dance Party, the band most likely to be sent to the headmaster’s office for being too twee, know all about youthful abandon – they're currently studying for their A-Levels.
With two members of The Kooks having just turned seventeen, it’s no surprise to learn that it was The Strokes ‘Reptilia’ that first inspired them to form a band.
Like many Irish bands before them, it’s taken Red Kid a number of years to reach a financial plateau that has allowed them to release their debut album.
Of all the mooted heirs to the U.S Garage throne of The Strokes, it would have taken a scarily prescient punter (or a fundamentalist goth) to have put money on the accession of Interpol.
After what seemed like an eternity of enduring processed boy/girl band hell, 2003 was the year that pop became exciting again. Finally, we got a long hot summer soundtracked by Beyoncé (song of the year – hands down), 50 Cent’s awesome ‘In Da Club’ and even a band from my own ‘hood whose debut album was the feelgood hit of the season.
Russian born, New York reared, Regina Spektor writes songs that seem to inhabit their own dark little world. No wonder she’s been compared to both Tori Amos and the anti-folk movement.
In the words of visionary film-maker David Cronenberg, "There are records you listen to when you want diversion, and there are records you go to when you're in spiritual trouble." We asked an array of today's brightest stars to tell us about the artists they feel provide the greatest sustenance in time of turmoil and upheaval.
Tabloid fame came knocking for Audio Fiction when their drummer rescued Drew Barrymore from a New York bar brawl. Their smokey indie-dance is worth making fuss over too.
So, how was it for you? On reflection, 2003 was a good year but one that offered little in the way of genuine surprises. Not that we didn’t go looking for them. As always the hunt was on to find the next big thing, the one new act that would define 2003 in years to come.
In a year that saw events which will forever change the world in which we live, selected hotpress contributors offer some personal recollections of the past twelve months. We begin by listing the critics’ choice of 2001’s single and album releases
They may be one of the hottest bands of the year, but Las Vegas synth fiends The Killers are planning to cool off this Christmas with some well-earned down-time and a skiing holiday in Utah. But not before they’ve discussed texting Charlize Theron, hanging with Elton John and that David Bowie tribute with Stuart Clark.
Ireland beating the mighty Dutch on an enchanted evening at Lansdowne Road. The Frames at Vicar St. Liverpool lifting three trophies in one season. BellX1 at the Music Centre
After being dropped by a major label, Detroit rocker Brendan Benson is overjoyed with his current status as the Motor City's hippest performer – just don't mention that Jack White connection.
Annual article: Bright young things like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen captured the HP critics’ hearts this year, though they somehow neglected Johnny Cash and Mark Lanegan...
DIY r’n’b artiste, support act to the new-garage glitterati and unlikely sex-bomb Har Mar gets undressed for success. Superstar skinning up Kim Porcelli
With Pete Doherty, Mani, Noel Gallagher and Alex Kapranos in their fan club, and a debut album that makes the Arctic Monkeys sound like jaded old has-beens, The View have ’07 by the short and curlies. Just don’t let them stay in your hotel.
While some white label mixes are illegal, Belgian outfit Soulwax have gone through an arduous process in order to licence the music featured on their 'legal bootleg' album 2 many DJs, as Eamon Sweeney reports
When Ryan Adams gave his record company an album called 'Love Is Hell', they declined to release this “fucking dark, twisted sad and morose” record. so Adams decided instead to record a loud, punky, uptempo album called 'Rock N Roll'. and guess what? now we get to hear both.
Cornershop have re-opened for business with a little help from Noel Gallagher and none at all from the BBC. Stuart Clark finds Tjinder Singh is less than miffed
For a city so often celebrated in song, it was inevitable that the horrific events in new york would be felt as keenly in the music world as in any other section of society. STUART CLARK reports on the industry response and compiles a broad selection of individual reactions to the attack
The guitar is back – and how! Instrument sales are healthier than they’ve been in years. but that’s not the only good news from Ireland’s music equipment shops.
Dublin anarcho-pop five-piece The Camembert Quartet have just released their debut album Music Is War, but with song titles such as 'Boybands Are C**ts' it's unlikely they'll be joining westlife on tour
Live at the Marquee on Friday June 29: They were the gaudiest of the ‘80s pop sensations. 20 years on, Duran Duran leader Simon Le Bon explains why the good time boys are a band for the long haul.
English singer Pixie Lott looks like being the latest pop sensation on the block. The stage-school trained 18-year-old already enjoyed a number one single earlier this year with ‘Mama Do’, and this month sees the release of her debut album Turn It Up.
So what’s it really like to take your band from Dublin to New York in search of that elusive breakthrough? Little Ghetto Boys present their diary of a Paddy’s week mini-tour of the Big Apple with special guest appearances by La Rocca, Mark Geary and others...
An estimated 100,000 people showed up in the Phoenix Park for the O2 sponsored gig that featured Samantha Mumba, Ronan Keating, Mundy, Six, David Kitt and Kells' rock outfit Turn. Would one of the local scenes hottest contenders shine brightly enough to win the hearts of the nation’s pop kids?
It’s been a hell of a year for The Thrills, propelled from rehearsal rooms in rainy Dublin to a number one album, sell-out shows and limo-driven tours of L.A. at night. Hotpress catches up with the band as they kick off an irish homecoming trek with an exclusive Dublin fan club gig.
With a hit Colin Farrell movie to his name, Martin McDonagh mulls over his early rejections at the hand of the Abbey, his "rivalry" with Conor McPherson and his run-in with Sean Connery.
1 guitar + 1 drum kit + 1 boy + 1 girl = The White Stripes. In other words, sweet, sweet noise meets the best brother and sister penned pop since The Carpenters. Eamon Sweeney meets Detroit's finest, who play Dublin Castle on Saturday, May 4th as part of the Heineken Green Energy Festival
“I hate these questions,” cries David Holmes, DJ, re-mixer, producer, free associate, film-scorer and friend to the stars. Yet he gamely faces the pan-ish inquisition that is the hotpress mixed grill
A hit album, critical acclaim, sell-out shows… everything was going swimmingly for DAVID KITT until a sunday paper made serious allegations about him and his Government Minister Dad. In a gloves-off interview with COLIN CARBERRY, Kittser responds to his detractors and explains why, despite the journalistic flak, 2001 has been a great year
A superb new documentary offers an intriguing portrait of one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. Tara Brady meets the film's director Joe Berlinger (pictured, left with Bruce Sinofsky).
The introduction of Ryan Tubridy's breakfast show and the rescheduling of Dave Fanning's slot have led critics, both inside and outside 2FM, to claim that the station is buckling under the pressure of increased competition and limited financial resources. Jackie Hayden 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.
The best electro-rock outfit since KLF or this year's Sigue Sigue Sputnik? The jury's still out, but Fischerspooner's Casey Spooner tells us he's more than just a cheap stunt
Paul Weller has a reputation as one of the most truculent men in pop, with a deep-seated dislike of the promotional process. But with the release of his latest solo album Illumination, the man who once led The Jam and the Style Council agreed to put himself in the firing line. Looking back over a career that's studded with success, he's reflective and forthright - but the anger that inspired much of The Jam's finest output still burns
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the dissection of the rock ‘n’ roll year that is the Hot Press Summit. Gathering round the table are the good and great of Irish music, but who let Podge & Rodge in?
Tom Baxter's second album, Skybound, has just topped the Irish album chart. But it was a record that only got made after Baxter personally financed the sessions with his other talent of figurative art painting.
How The White Stripes turned the bare essentials into an essential noise, insisted that three is indeed a magic number and wound up becoming one of the most phenomenally successful rock acts in the world
what good was rock’n’roll in 2001? No good at all – and yet we couldn’t have got through without it.
Peter Murphy reflects on a year in which some old codgers stood up to be counted and many of us lived “on songs and hope”
Opening our U2 special, DERMOD MOORE catches up with ADAM CLAYTON during the UK leg of the Elevation tour, and delves deep into the physics of music celebrity, politics and, er, penises
The last 18 months have been a hell of a ride for The Thrills, catapulted from the relative obscurity of the south dublin suburbs to the top of the uk charts, rubbing shoulders with Van Dyke Parks and Peter Buck along the way. But are the band suffering from diver’s bends? is that laid-back california-in-my-mind facade starting to crumble? We put on our therapist’s hats and endeavour to find out, if something’s gotta give, what gives?
How did Brandon Flowers, Ronnie Vannucci, Dave Keuning and Mark Stoermer go from the Las Vegas dive bar circuit to selling four million copies of their debut album, Hot Fuss? On the eve of the band's highly-anticipated Oxegen 2005 appearance, Stuart Clark talks to the people involved in the making of The Killers.
The "youngest old fogey" in the country, at the tender age of 30, Ryan Tubridy has clambered halfway up the greasy pole of rte, having gone from making gerry ryan's coffee to presenting the rose of tralee in record time. as his Full Lounge album, a spin-off from his Full Irish breakfast show hits the stores, he talks personal and professional politics with Olaf Tyaransen.
After years of pushing the self- destruct button, Pete Doherty has proved his detractors wrong with a solo album that's on a par with anything he did with the Libertines.
The "youngest old fogey" in the country, at the tender age of 30, Ryan Tubridy has clambered halfway up the greasy pole of rte, having gone from making gerry ryanÕs coffee to presenting the rose of tralee in record time. as his Full Lounge album, a spin-off from his Full Irish breakfast show hits the stores, he talks personal and professional politics with Olaf Tyaransen.
It’s Christmas time and, as far as the hotpress journalistic elite are concerned, there’s not a turkey in sight. JOHN WALSHE, COLIN CARBERRY, CHRIS DONOVAN, EAMON SWEENEY and BARRY O'DONOGHUE report on the Irish acts who are going to be huuuuuuuuge!
over the next 12 months.
It sounds like the stuff of hype and overnight success – from struggling garage band to next big thing and accolades from noel gallagher, morrissey and bono – but even at an average age of 23 The Thrills have paid their dues. Olaf Tyaransen hears how the summer’s hottest band went from worshipping whipping boy to having beck’s da play on their debut album.
It's been ten years that's shaken a fair bit of the world and now, suddenly, OASIS are back. what better time for a reflective, confessional, candid and scandalous one-on-one with a man who always gives great quote, NOEL GALLAGHER. Interview: STUART CLARK
The Boomtown Rats came burning out of Dublin in the late ‘70s, railing against the Irish establishment to the audible gasps of the nation’s more conservative elements. With their remastered back catalogue having been recently reissued, Bob Geldof here looks back on a period of notoriety, controversy and personal angst, and also reflects on his ongoing efforts to highlight the issue of Fathers’ Rights. Interview by Peter Murphy. Photography by Mark Harrison.
The fascinating story of how four Tallaght schoolfriends – and unofficial fifth member Shuggy – made a new home and a career playing music in the USA. All with a little help from their many friends.
It’s been a long, strange trip for David Grohl, from Nirvana drummer to Foo Fighters frontman, via Queens Of The Stone Age and Tenacious D. Now he’s back with a new Foo album, he’s buried the hatchet with Courtney Love and he’s still as rock’n’roll as ever
Compared to the raucous rock storm of their debut single ‘Feed Your Addiction’, young upstarts Eastern Lane’s second release ‘Saffron’ is a bit of a let down
It’s all about broken down tour buses, Alan Partridge, high speed collisions, Moby, broken ribs, Mina Suvari, MTV stars and David Bowie as Ash launch a sonic assault on America. So riddle me this: can Ireland’s hardest-working rock’n’roll outfit crack the big one?
The HP-7 Summit is back with Michelle Doherty, Rocky O'Reilly, Niall Breslin, Mark Greaney, Niamh Farrell, Messiah J and Danny O'Donoghue sat around the only table that matters this Christmas.
U2 are about to unleash their new album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. The world’s media are descending on Dublin. And Bono is back at the punch-bag, getting into fighting shape before the shit storm really explodes. The gloves are off. He’s got work to do. And he’s going to do it. Words Stuart Clark, additional reporting by Niall Stokes.
2 Many DJ's is the new guise of Belgian band and DJs, Soulwax, who have just released one of the hottest remix albums ever. Here you get the chance to listen to a selection of tracks (and win a free copy of the album)...
As if they didn't have enough achievements under their belt already, U2 are to be the first muscial guests to 'take over' the prestigious Late Show With Conan O'Brien in the US.
The album is heavy on melody and harmony – but they’re in danger of being over formulaic and although their choruses tend to be strong, their lyrics lack originality.
Thankfully for the boys, they’ve another chance to redeem themselves and have learned the error of their ways: instead of repeating old mistakes they’ve gone and made a whole set of new ones.
With the Doors-like ‘White Women’ opening with the line, “You know I want to bone you” followed by “Fuck fuck me baby” it’s obvious that former Moldy Peach Adam Green hasn’t quite abandoned his penchant for puerile adolescent humour.
They are far, far superior to anyone in the current retro brat pack, with songs that remind you of Sonic Youth without the feedback, the Velvets without the drones, Joy Division without the doom laden fatalism and The Fall with lyrics that you can actually decipher.
This particular Northern light has lent his distinctive guitar and vocal style to a host of collectives and collaborators over the years –from Snow Patrol and The Reindeer Section to Juliet Turner and Ursula Burns.
Whereas the likes of Interpol and Franz Ferdinand build on their retro influences, the Australians are so religiously devoted to theirs that they might as well go the whole hog and become a tribute act.
Youthful Dundee rockers The View certainly make a virtue of economy; none of the fourteen tracks on their debut album venture past the four-minute mark, and only one makes it further than three-and-a-half.
Overall, Tyrannosaurus Hives is a fairly perfunctory attempt to merge a few different new-wave guitar styles, with ‘70s punk as the support scaffolding. But, like many of their contemporaries, The Hives don’t seem to have the willingness to progress and experiment that mark out the truly great bands.
The fact that almost the entire American population of Dublin was up the front shaking their stars and stripes notwithstanding, at The Shelter, Yorn and his band had a pretty blank canvas on which to paint their honest and catchy rock and roll
The vital stats: four members, four beautiful though not necessarily new born children between them, nine songs, 23 minutes long – including the seven-minute closer. And 100% garage rock.
This is country blues as played outside Paddington station, plain and unadorned as Woody or Hank or Dylan’s first album. He vocalises like a man singing into his shirt, the murmuring Mississippi John Hurt approach rather than the declamatory braggadocio of the Chicago set.
There is nothing particularly new, different or innovative about the way they grind their axe, but they do it with such old-fashioned gusto and consistency that it's easy to get caught up in the sheer exuberance of it all
It’s not as nebulous as their last album – and it doesn’t deliver the melodic thrills of Last Splash – but Mountain Battles has personality, spirit, warmth and tenderness in abundance.
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
After years of pale imitations and wholesale corporate plagiarism, this is a typically stunning eardrum assault from arguably the greatest rock trio that world has ever known.
Like their incendiary live performances, the pace is nothing short of relentless over the course of the 43 minutes or so it takes Humanzi to slash and scorch their way through this 11-track debut.
New Dublin station Spin FM (103.8) will soon be wrapping up their first day on the air. How did they do? Well, we'll tell ya. Also: "Dublin is a cosmopolitan city," programme director Liam Thompson tells us in this exclusive interview. "We don't need to play it safe. We can afford to take risks."
New Dublin station Spin FM (103.8) will soon be wrapping up its first day on the air. How did they do? Well, we'll tell ya. Also: "Dublin is a cosmopolitan city," programme director Liam Thompson tells us in this exclusive interview. "We don't need to play it safe. We can afford to take risks"
New Dublin station Spin FM (103.8) will soon be wrapping up their first day on the air. How did they do? Well, we'll tell ya. Also: "Dublin is a cosmopolitan city," programme director Liam Thompson tells us in this exclusive interview. "We don't need to play it safe. We can afford to take risks"
The Rednecks deliver a second manifesto; the 'Fuzz request rebels without causes; Woodstar know what time it is; and a new flute'n'turntablism odyssey from Cork display shades of brilliance
It's maybe no real shock that 'Freak Like Me' dominates Angels With Dirty Faces. What is more surprising is that the album falls so far short of matching its undoubted highpoint
The music industry will implode the moment you buy one, but if you don't mind committing grand theft audio www.web.ukonline.co.uk/boomselection will tell you - and the Anti-Piracy Squad - everything you need to know about the current craze for bootlegs
The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival offers a take on modern Belfast that rings true, as well as an eclectic musical line-up and some controversial readings from modern UK writers says Colin Carberry
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.
Music lovers of the world, unite and take over! Whether you play music, work in music, want a career in music or just love to listen, don’t miss Music Ireland ’07 – the country’s biggest music show and exhibition.
Music Review | Live
18% | 7 Sep 2006
They said it couldn’t be done, but this year’s Electric Picnic achieved the impossible by being even more joyous, vibey and action-packed than its predecessors. Hot Press was in the thick of things as 200 acts and 30,000 music lovers descended on one very big house in the country.
