Men out of time, The Verve were a neo-psychedelic jam-rock outfit who got fortuitously swept up in the Britpop boom and stumbled upon a timely form of Big Music.
Richard Ashcroft spent the best part of the ’90s on a quest to make one of the great rock albums with The Verve. Having succeeded with Urban Hymns, he promptly broke up the band. Now, with the imminent release of his second solo album, Human Conditions, an upbeat Ashcroft discusses his excitement about collaborating with Brian Wilson, his youthful adventures in clubland, and why The Verve had to split
While the path to rock n roll stardom is never smooth, RICHARD ASHCROFT has experienced more ups and downs than most. In a wide-ranging interview with DAVE FANNING, he talks about drugs, The Verve, his new solo album and why the old hometown doesn t look so bad.
For someone with Richard Ashcroft’s ego, the public’s general disinterest in his solo career must have been hard to swallow. If it has prompted a rethink however, 'Break The Night Colour' shows that it might be a masterstroke. This has the easy rolling feel that The Verve so revelled in, topped off with a vocal that is the aural equivalent of that mad Manc stare. Good to have him back.
Gusty atmospherics and a driving melody are the order of the day with Dublin’s Ginseng, one of the many bands to grace the Hard Working Class Heroes festival. Sadly, they seem to realise the Verve-esque chorus line is the only part going for the title track and thus repeat it ad infinitum. Like a funny joke told over and over again, it quickly turns from entertaining to tedious.
Once unfairly derided as a second-rate Oasis, it looked for a while as if the McNamara brothers and co might be swept away in the great Britpop clear-out which saw off even more successful outfits like The Verve.
The gig is no mere nostalgia trip though. ‘Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos’, ‘He Got Game’ and ‘Don’t Believe the Hype’ explode out of the speakers, still bristling with the verve and attitude that made Public Enemy one of the pioneers of conscious hip-hop.
The organisers of Oxegen '08 have revealed that the three day festival is now completely sold out. Plus, they've announced the day by day line-up so far...
However hard it might have been for mar dhea credible bands like Nirvana, The Stone Roses, The Verve and Kula Shaker to follow-up successful breakthrough or debut albums, it must be ten times harder for a ‘mere’ Pop act supposedly created out of nothing by a combination of faceless stylists and studio technicians.
The Concert – Running Order:
James 1.00pm
The Seahorses 2.15pm
Finley Quaye 3.30pm
Robbie Williams 5.00pm
Manic Street Preachers 6.30pm
The Verve 8.30pm
Adrienne Murphy speaks to ASLAN, in the midst of recording their live album. Under discussion: the dangers of chasing fame, and the importance of self-belief.
Liverpool's musical exports have included The Beatles, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Teardrop Explodes, Pete Burns, the KLF, the Lightning Seeds, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and many more. Mercury nominees The Coral are the latest scallywags to capture the attention of the music press who have picked up on their blend of classic rock influences and irreverent energy
Having scored huge critical acclaim and won the Mercury Music Prize for his debut album Boy In Da Corner, Dizzee Rascal has pushed urban music another rung up the evolutionary ladder with his stunning new record, Showtime.
If not reinventing the wheel, Arctic Monkeys are certainly giving the spokes a good polish. Stuart Clark takes his place in the moshpit for their recent Dublin show.
THE UNDERTONES have played a series of triumphant gigs since reforming. GEORGE BYRNE met the Derry punk legends, now augmented by Today FM producer Paul McLoone on vocals
Discovered that there is life after Brett-pop, that is. nick kelly gets the lowdown from "the bloke who left Suede", Bernard Butler, whose mightily impressive solo debut People Move On, has just been released.
Known for his hyperactive - even threatening - live performances, Iggy Pop is sure to deliver one of Féile '93's most invigorating performances. Here, with an overview of the ex - Stooge's unconventional career, Hot Press prepares you for what's to come.
WHAT IS the connection between The X Files, massive drinking bouts, Man United fans and top ten hits? CATATONIA, that s what. The Welsh guitar popsters are currently nestling in the upper reaches of the charts with their hit Mulder And Scully , and JOHN WALSHE talks to vocalist CERYS MATTHEWS about their meteoric rise to the top.
Super Furry Animals are yet another Welsh band poised for huge success on the back of their new album. They talk to STUART CLARK about their rejection of Brit Pop, strange Japanese fans and the glory days of The Free Wales Army. Pics of Super Furry Animals with super furry animals: Mick Quinn.
This Wigan four-piece with a tenuous (mainly geographical, it has to be said) Verve connection have accumulated a load of accolades and plaudits on the basis of a handful of singles released over the past year.
Never mind the naysayers, Dublin 2006 is spilling over with white hot talent. Steve Cummins and Shilpa Ganatra run the rule over the capital's new breed.
JASON PIERCE of SPIRITUALIZED comes on down to talk about mythology versus reality, art versus autobiography and the economy inherent in a cast of hundreds.
Interview: PETER MURPHY
The release of Born may confirm that Hothouse Flowers are back to their blooming best, but as John Walsh discovers, Liam, Peter and Fiachna have a few vinyl skeletons in the closet. Readers of a nervous disposition are advised to proceed with care.
Over the hills and far away, Chumbawamba come out to play! They get knocked down. But they get up again. They get dropped by Indie One Little Indian, and then get signed up by Capitalist major EMI. Then the Tub-Thumpers Anonymous go on to score the most unlikely hit single of 1997. So what now for Alice Nutter and her chums? ANDY DARLINGTON reports.
Over the hills and far away, Chumbawamba come out to play! They get knocked down. But they get up again. They get dropped by Indie One Little Indian, and then get signed up by Capitalist major EMI. Then the Tub-Thumpers Anonymous go on to score the most unlikely hit single of 1997. So what now for Alice Nutter and her chums? ANDY DARLINGTON reports.
When blues legend B.B. King came to town for his recent bash at College Green, as part of the Guinness Blues Festival, BILL GRAHAM caught up with the man whose extraordinary career has spanned many decades and which shows no sign of abating.
Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
THE CHARLATANS are back firing on all cylinders, and talking global domination. TIM BURGESS and JON BROOKES talk to STUART CLARK about the joys of L.A., the dangers of Jack Daniel s and falling down Noel Gallagher s
marble staircase. Pics: MICK QUINN
By popular demand, ULRIKA JONSSON is coming back to Belfast to co-host this year's heineken-hot press awards. olaf tyaransen meets up with television's Golden Girl and hears about the world of the small screen, the men in her life, the poet behind the party animal, tabloid intrusion and the importance of Van Morrison in keeping her head straight.
John Walshe travels to Berlin to see Ash in superlative live form on Paddy's night. And no wonder: the band reckon their new album, free all angels could put them in the Michael Jackson league! plus: why they're so down on Louis Walsh, Westlife and Ronan Keating and so up for Bono, John Hume, David Trimble and - wait for it - Darius of Popstars. Flash photography: Mella Travers
brian hayes is a 28-year-old Fine Gael TD who represents the constituency of Dublin South West. At the last general election, he virtually tripled Fine Gael s vote in the Tallaght area. He opposes the legalisation of cannabis, claims that feminists need to have a fundamental re-think on their current position, feels guilty about not attending Mass regularly, and reckons that You need order in society . . . you need people who know what they re about . Is this the face of young, politically aware Ireland? Interview: liam fay.
Pics: colm henry.
Despite being voted Most Promising Irish Band in the Hot Press readers' poll this time last year and tipped for the top by Snow Patrol too, Belfast band Leya have officially disbanded.
The good news is that Holes In The Wall doesn't sound like the product of teen angst, instead coming on like it has been well-drilled in classic British rock, from The Beatles through to Oasis
It’s a minor criticism though, and for the most part One Good Reason is a confident, rounded and absorbing record full of catchy radio singles and comfortable in its skin as an old school rock album.
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova and The Pogues have been officially confirmed for Oxegen, along with the full day-by-day schedule for the July festival.
Although all ten of these tracks come loaded with gorgeous ornamentation – delicate string arrangements, subtle guitar plucks, resonant brass and tablas – they are essentially weak-hearted affairs
On first listen, the debut album from New York-born Anastacia comes across as fairly innocuous stuff. Not That Kind is comprised of twelve ditties ranging across rock, R ‘n’ B and dance styles.
The first batch of acts for Scotland's T In The Park Festival have been announced, giving a strong indication of who'll be coming to Punchestown this year.
Sometime in the past 12 months Razorlight’s Johnny Borrell took a long, unflinching look at himself in a mirror and saw Pete Doherty staring back. From such moments of clarity are great pop makeovers forged. No longer content to hawk pretty-boy Oasis pastiches, the sulky-looking Muswell Hill-ian, who embodies Razorlight even if he doesn’t write all of the music, has junked the bad-boy patois and cultivated his inner Bacharach.
Album number three for the man who would be pop king finds Robbie Williams in increasingly contemplative mood. Which isn’t all that surprising, as anyone who has been observing him of late would agree.
While no end of guitar bands would kill to occupy the same lofty perch as this shower in the pop-rock firmament, you get the impression that Cast's reputation as solid, dependable, on-stage-at-7pm festival fodder is a source of constant frustration for frontman John Power.
The Hours' mainmen may not have the names or, indeed, the faces needed these days to launch a thousand fansites, but they have something much rarer in their lockers – a history.
A few hours after Bono hoisted up Trimble and Hume s arms at the Yes show, I found myself trying to buy drinks at a city centre bar and having a strange conversation with a well known local politician. A prominent face during the pro-Agreement campaign, I d assumed that he d be delighted with the way that the gig had panned out. But no, he shrugged off the entire occasion as a bubbly inconsequence and said that the Yes camp would be lucky to get 68% of the vote. For someone convinced that his cause was on the cusp of a massive historical defeat, he didn t appear to be overly upset. In fact, he seemed happy enough showing off his Larry Mullan Jr autograph and blaming the Unionists.
Stick ‘em up punks, it’s the fun lovin’ criminal! No, your eyes do not deceive you and, before the Daily Mirror asks, no, Niall has not gone mad again.
Like many trades the music industry has its own language unique to itself. To the untrained ear conversations between musicians and industry pros can sound indecipherable, or have a completely different meaning to modern English.
For the uninitiated Demo Dip provides a handy sampler to some of the often used phrases and linguistics devices preferred by the musical fraternity.
From Primal Scream to Patrick Kielty, and everything in between. On our cover in '98 were Smashing Pumpkins, Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, The Verve, R.E.M. and more.
Add The Revs to the list of comeback kings. They might not have been apart for as long as The Police, or even The Verve, but they too are back with a bang this summer with a new Irish tour.
With their self-titled debut album The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have been causing an unexpected sensation by harking back to the dark distorted attitude-laden style of British bands such as The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Verve and Ride.
hotpress.com brings you our exclusive Saturday Roundup from Oxegen '08. Our man Graham Keogh was up front to catch all the action for Amy Winehouse, REM, The Ting Tings and more.
