When Zane Lowe of MTV and BBC1 described The Checks' current single as “the hottest track in the world” we didn’t hold our breath. But he’s got it right. From frontman Ed Knowles' opening wail, you know you’re in for something special. One funky bluesy as fuck riff later and you can’t help your body moving.
While B-Unique just can’t quit the habit of producing shit-hot bands, they had a good stab with the average Altericks, surprisingly touted by Dermot O’Leary and Zane Lowe. Coming dangerously close to sounding like the dreaded few-blokes-in-front-of-their-instruments set up that litters musical landscapes everywhere, ‘Good Luck’ is a run-of-the-mill, inoffiensive rock track that has all the passion of a dead parrot.
The Liverpudlians have the professionalism that you’d want from a rising band, but whoever gave them their personality transplant forgot to put one back in.
Their name is full of Oriental promise but, far from growing up in the land of rice-bowls and speaking toilets, retro techno-heads THE JAPANESE POPSTARS hail from the mysterious land of, er, Derry.
Quantum mechanics is just one of the many subjects occupying the acute mind of Martin Corrigan, the Northern indie guru whose eponymous band is currently earning admiring notices from such luminaries as Zane Lowe, Fergie, Pete Tong and Annie Mac.
Quantum mechanics is just one of the many subjects occupying the acute mind of Martin Corrigan, the Northern indie guru whose eponymous band is currently earning admiring notices from such luminaries as Zane Lowe, Fergie, Pete Tong and Annie Mac.
Three of the North’s most exciting new musical prospects, Fighting With Wire, General Fiasco and Skruff have announced a showcase in The Stiff Kitten in July.
Epic power trio Muse have revealed who's supporting them when they play two ginormous concerts at Wembley Stadium - and a couple of Dublin residents are among the line-up.
So many songs on Breaks Co-Op's second album start off well but wither away quickly. Most tracks are dull and contain cringeful lyrics. There are, however, some glimpses of quality.
Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme on the firing of bandmate Nick Oliveri, the London bombings and his plan to disappear once their current tour is over
Headgear’s debut album proves that the ‘have portastudio, will travel’ theory can yield ace results, especially when mainman Daragh Dukes gets a little help from his friends.
Many Irish radio fans reckon that the 2fm evening schedule is at its most exciting for years – from 6 pm, when a revitalised Dave Fanning comes on, right through to Hotpress columnist Cormac Battle signing off at 2am. One of the linchpins of that stretch is Dubliner Rick O’Shea. To celebrate his tenth year in radio we sent Jackie Hayden to ask O’Shea a few leading questions and to check out the great man’s credentials with his colleagues.
Messiah J and The Expert aim to put Dublin hip-hop on the map. To do so, they must tackle several deep-set prejudices – such as the belief that Irish people can’t rap.
Things are on the up and up for Snow Patrol whose long-overdue commercial success means they’re now getting matey with pop divas, soap stars and footballers. Gary Lightbody tells Stuart Clark how it all went right.
Everyone's favourite punk-pop pranksters Fight Like Apes report exclusively from their recent trips to Canadian Music Week and the South By South West indie festival in Austin, Texas.
Their debut Hot Fuss sold over 4 million copies and in the process set The Killers up as one of the brightest young hopes of the modern era. On the eve of the release of their second album Sam’s Town, the band look like settling for nothing less than U2-sized supremacy. Now, if only Brandon Flowers would shave off that, ahem, controversial face fuzz.
Ten, nine, eight… we count down the contenders for 2003. Words Hannah Hamilton, Colin Carberry, Niall Stokes, Richard Brophy, John Walshe, Eamon Sweeney and Stuart Clark
Armed with a bigger budget, it might’ve been tempting for Snow Patrol to buff up their sound, but thankfully they’ve retained the rawness and fragility of old.
Last night began a momentous chapter for the world’s biggest band. For U2, it was the first live airing and radio/internet broadcast of material from their eleventh studio album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. For those in attendance, it was an opportunity as rare as they come. The location: Dublin, Ireland. More specifically, at the album’s birthplace, in their Hanover Quay studios. Hot Press editor Niall Stokes was in attendance to feel the impact and capture the aftershock. [photos by John Dardis, courtesy of U2]
In the same week that Eyes Open was nominated for the Choice Music Prize, Gary Lightbody debuted his Listen…Tanks side-project on BBC Radio One when he deputised on air for Zane Lowe.
