When Martin Scorsese made Leaving Las Vegas director Mike Figgis an offer he couldn’t refuse, the result was the British component of an unprecedented film history of the blues.
On his last album, 1999's A Different Beat, Belfast born axe-meister Gary Moore successfully updated his trademark hard-rock blues by incorporating techno rhythms and break beats.
A BOLT from the blues alright. On this, their third album, Barefoot Contessa perfect a slow, narcotic and melancholic avant-country/blues out of the sparest, spaciest structures. The effect is Polly Jean Harvey jamming with Mazzy Star (or even David Roback's first band The Rain Parade) under direction from The Walkabouts.
Having built up a solid reputation on the gigging circuit, blues outfit Ali and The DTs have just released their debut album. Harp player Christian Volkmann discusses the details of their unique sound with Colm O’Hare.
MARY STOKES reminisces on her first decade as Ireland s premier blues artist, and looks forward to expanding her horizons in the future. Interview: john walshe.
Ted Hawkins, in Dublin recently to play a never-to-be-forgotten gig in Whelan’s, talks about his journey down the long and winding road which led him from an early, joyless life of petty crime and racial discrimination to his belated fame as one of the most respected of contemporary blues men. Interview: Gerry McGovern.
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.
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
A potent collection that allows Coughlan's seeringly honest voice to straddle the hinterlands of jazz, blues and rock like few other Irish artist would dare
The blues contribution to this release is questionable, but ‘Three’ has an untamed wildness that is achieved through panning acid sequences, dubby grooves and outer space Detroit sounds.
One of the stand-outs on their patchy The Life Pursuit LP, ‘The Blues Are Still Blue’ is classic Belle And Sebastian bolstered by the glistens of a shiny pop melody amid quirky lyrics drawing comparisons between laundry and relationships. Where it receives it’s injection of new blood is in the shades of glam rock guitars, and if that wasn’t enough to entice you, then a wonderful cover of ‘Whiskey in The Jar’ as a b-side should seal the deal.
A split seven-inch, Porn Trauma’s first effort since last year’s ‘Sunrise’ debut, sees the young Dubliners maturing nicely as a songwriting unit. Where their frantic live shows have often been let down by their material bleeding into one, ‘Casanova Blues’ is sufficiently stripped-back to allow fuller appreciation. All Waits-esque lyricism, its drowsy blues and Sunday morning comedown aura bring to mind slices of The Coral’s debut.
Claudio aims squarely for the heart of Ibiza with the summery house jam ‘Blues Brunch’ – complete with painos and prog percussion – that owes a debt to Jelisa’s ‘Freindly Pressure’ (and maybe Janet Jackson). Flip over and you’ve got the entirley different dark drums of ‘Underwear’ that could be a hit.
When Ray Charles passed away last week at the age of 73, music lost a giant whose talent broke the boundaries between blues, soul, country and gospel. Van Morrison pays his respects.
The band formerly known as The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion have the same explosive line-up as on their previous six outings, including their last meisterwork, Plastic Fang.
Enniscorthy-man Clive Barnes is a 24-year-old blues singer-songwriter who, unlike too many of his European blues counterparts, doesn't sing in a fake American accent about going down to Chicago.
Attica Blues have been low profile of late, mainly because they have been huddled in a studio writing and recording their third album, setting up a new label and hosting a new club night in London.
Harmonica virtuoso DON BAKER has been busy recently adding another string to his bow, in the form of an acting career which has so far seen him work with Jim Sheridan and Richard Attenborough. And in between takes he s even managed to put the
finishing touches to his latest album, Just Don Baker. Interview: PETER MURPHY. Pics: cathal dawson
She's never been one to pull her punches but even by her standards, Mary Coughlan's latest album is a rollercoaster. Here, she talks about a life of love, loss, pain and redemption.
Arriving in Dublin in the last sixties as a 16 year old guitar wunderkind, Belfast born Gary Moore embarked on a musical career that has seen him go through several metamorphoses and achieve numerous notable success in the process.
This pair of digitally re-mastered collections are both welcome and timely. Damn fine performers of Texas folk/blues and jazz piano respectively, Hopkins and Morton are time travellers who betray not an ounce of jetlag, despite their millennial's end travels.
Musical trends come and go but the blues continues to thrive. In Ireland, the scene is now stronger than ever. With her reputation growing internationally, Mary Stokes talks about her role as a performer - and her friendships with numerous blues legends. Oh, and Van Morrison's birth sign!
From the check shirts to the bolo ties to the facial hair, Dublin blues quintet HOT SPROCKETS are a band committed to their genre. Granite-voiced lead singer Wayne Soper lets Celina Murphy in on the secret of getting fans to scale your speakers and writing skanky lyrics about hoochies.
COLM O HARE talks to MARY COUGHLAN about her upcoming show, LADY SINGS THE BLUES, a tribute to BILLIE HOLIDAY, and about the parallels between Holiday s life and her own.
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.
Musicologists often find it neater to trace the roots of soul, blues and rap back to their African origins. In the process, they can often avoid exploring the far untidier influence of the African-American entertainment tradition in which Cab Calloway was a pivotal player.
The Price is widely regarded as playwright Arthur Miller’s most personal work. Joe Jackson speaks to actor Lorcan Cranitch about brotherly love and hate and his co-star, ex-Hill Street Blues veteran Robert Prosky
Shot to fame by The White Stripes, the aptly-named Holly Golightly has confirmed her status as the new ace face du jour with a sparkling female take on old male music.
YUP, IT'S Wild Will again, the adopted son of Bob at his most hellfire-spittin', sickly nephew of Neil at his most 'Safeway Cart' Beckett-esque, brother figure to Bill Smog, the Handsome Family and any Gram-my loser who ever chased a ghost in anger.
YUP, IT'S Wild Will again, the adopted son of Bob at his most hellfire-spittin', sickly nephew of Neil at his most 'Safeway Cart' Beckett-esque, brother figure to Bill Smog, the Handsome Family and any Gram-my loser who ever chased a ghost in anger.
Having learned his trade with Muddy Waters and just about any other blues legend you care to mention, BUDDY GUY has long since become one himself. On the eve of his showcase gig in Dublin's Olympia, he tells PETER MURPHY of his struggle to pass the blues torch on to another generation.
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.
Been there, seen that, doin' it tomorrow. Is there no stopping Shay Healy? The most popular songsmith in Europe — and, er, Turkey — has just published a new novel Green Card Blues. Night hawk: SIOBHÁN LONG.
As The White Stripes prepare to unleash another work of scuzz-bucket genius, frontman Jack White talks about his Catholic upbringing and explains why, as a teenager in blue collar Detroit, he fell hopelessly in love with the blues.
Although The Waterboys are too conscious of rock'n'roll tradition to ever be regarded as 'seminal', the diversity that has marked their output thus far draws obvious parallels with the small cadre of artists who set trends rather than following them.
He might have been a young Einsten but instead MARK OLIVER EVERETT ended up as EELS aka a man called E aka the Souljacker. PETER MURPHY discovers how it all went horribly right
Former Gripewater Blues guitarist Mooney is a respected blues/jazz player who has worked with many of the greats, including Louis Stewart, Ritchie Buckley and Georgie Fame. His singing and playing recalls BB King. Here he presents six originals and three standards, including the title track, an adaptation of the old Robert Johnson tune.
NIALL STOKES takes a very personal journey back through the music and memories of a friendship with a man he was proud to have known
THE DRIVE to Cork was a lonely one. Ry Cooder on the deck, that sweet slide guitar shooting off tracers: the memories, stacked up like a vast
rack of on-line CDs, kept slipping in and out of the engagement slot. No need ever to press the play button. Now and then I had to hold back the
tears as the music of past friendship flooded the car and, with it, a terrible awareness of all the things that might have, but hadn't, been done.
The news of Rory Gallagher s tragic death has sent seismic shock waves through the music world. Here was a man who managed to combine the gift of being an authentic creative genius with the even rarer gift of being a genuinely decent, honourable human being. Over the next six pages, Hot Press pays tribute to both the legend and the person, with contributions from the stars, friends, fans and colleagues who were touched by the Gallagher magic, and takes a trip through the backpages of an extraordinary career.
The experimental arrangements can be fascinating, and the songs themselves are strong, but a really monotonous tone and texture really begins to grate after a while.
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.
With his upcoming concert in Poulaphouca marking his solo Irish debut, it's been all too easy in the recent past to overlook Bob Geldof's standing as a musical and lyrical artist. The lines connecting the youthful Dun Laoghaire blues and Dylan aficionado with the creator of The Vegetarians Of Love are rarely traced in media-bytes that prefer to concentrate on Modest Bob, Live Aid Bob and Saint Bob. Here, Bill Graham, who knew the schoolboy, takes musician Bob on a freewheeling trip from then to now.
With his upcoming concert in Poulaphouca marking his solo Irish debut, it's been all too easy in the recent past to overlook Bob Geldof's standing as a musical and lyrical artist. The lines connecting the youthful Dun Laoghaire blues and Dylan aficionado with the creator of The Vegetarians Of Love are rarely traced in media-bytes that prefer to concentrate on Modest Bob, Live Aid Bob and Saint Bob. Here, Bill Graham, who knew the schoolboy, takes musician Bob on a freewheeling trip from then to now.
With his upcoming concert in Poulaphouca marking his solo Irish debut, it s been all too easy in the recent past to overlook Bob Geldof s standing as a musical and lyrical artist. The lines connecting the youthful Dun Laoghaire blues and Dylan aficionado with the creator of The Vegetarians Of Love are rarely traced in media-bytes that prefer to concentrate on Modest Bob, Live Aid Bob and Saint Bob. Here, Bill Graham, who knew the schoolboy, takes musician Bob on a freewheeling trip from then to now.
PAUL RODGERS is real special. You can name the duff albums since Free split up, you can say he's old hat, or a hanger on from the days of Deep Purple, Led Zep, and dinosaur rock.
When three established and quality rock bands play together, the chances of the gig being anything but a wild time becomes, statistically speaking, insignificant. But - but - how so? This is the quandary that faced the university students who ventured out from the depths of murky libraries to witness this geetarfest. For everyone else there was beer.
Covers albums have traditionally ranked among pop’s most pointless pursuits. Frequently, they are flippant and lacklustre, offered up in fulfillment of contractual obligation or as a reminder to wavering fans that a band still exists.
Martin Hutchinson is a native of Athy, now resident in Holland. Now Tell Me is his second album, a cool handed take on the blues with a distinctly Irish feel. The influence of Rory Gallagher is never far from the front line of Now Tell Me, especially on two tracks: the instrumental ‘Rory’ and the lament ‘So Rory’s Gone’ – unashamed homages to the great man.
Schooled in proper rock star etiquette, Primal Scream behave precisely as gentlemen drawn to their profession ought to with a big young-dumb-and-full-of-cum sound to match.
The Magnetic Fields' Stephin (sic) Merritt was of course simply havin' a larf when he wrote those lines but he put his finger on something here all the same.
THIS WHOLE "Can Caucasians Rap?" claptrap is getting very tired. The US press might be having a field day over the fact that a new wave of white devils (Dr. Dre's boy Eminem, Remedy of the extended Wu-Tang Clan, Non Phixion) are moving in on the 'hood, but the race issue is as after-the-fact now as it was when The Stones and Led Zeppelin were committing grand larceny against Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon.
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
Thickfreakness is all about paying homage and not at all about offering a new vision of how blues can be the backbone of music that is unapologetically modern.
Weird Canadians rule the indie clubs and nervy Brooklyn David Byrneophiles are keeping t-shirts stripy and hair boot-polish black, and meanwhile here reappears a band with a Stones fetish and a predisposition to grindy, sawdust-floored, sub-Dirtbombs bar-fight blues.
The seventh album in just over a decade from one of this country’s most gifted blues practitioners, Miss You finds Don Baker in an introspective mode as he turns fifty. Apart from a handful of tracks, including the up-tempo opener, ‘Chains’ and the straight rock and roll of ‘Mama’, the bulk of the material here is laidback, late night blues fare.
It’s the title of his new album, his first on the legendary jazz label, Blue Note. it’s also an apt introduction to an interview in which Van Morrison talks freely about his work, his background in Belfast, his brushes with the music industry – and about what made him what he is.
Though Rory Gallagher has rightly earned his place in music history as a consummate blues player, by comparison his companions in Taste have been somewhat overlooked.
A shoo-in for indie dancefloor anthem of the month, Kubb’s lazy piano blues riffs and enigmatic lyrics will sound brilliant after a feed of pints. A promising taster of the upcoming debut album, guaranteed to stimulate the adrenal glands.
This is the respected folk-blues singer’s second live album and it’s a back-to-basics affair showing him in the way most people encounter his music live – with just voice and guitar. Yet these two simple instruments can convey a range of emotion that is quite remarkable.
A highly regarded American roots guitarist and singer who is influenced by blues and country in equal measure, Whitley’s albums have been consistently good.
Elvis fetishist and blues wrangler Jon Spencer brings the Blues Explosion - not to mention astounding support band The Kills - to the Tivoli in January
This bluesman might hail from Enniscorthy but he sounds like he would be more at home sitting on the porch of some ramshackle shack in the Mississpi blues delta, trading moonshine and tales of heartache.
On 1998's Electro Shock Blues, Eels frontman E drew on the suicide of his sister and imminent death of his mother to produce a bleak masterpiece worthy of being filed alongside Lou Reed's Berlin and Magic & Loss.
The Black Keys, two gawky indie archetypes from rust belt Ohio, have been investigating gutbucket blues to mostly memorable effect for the best part of five years now.
Who knew that a rain stick and a didgeridoo had a place on a punk and blues record? Limerick’s Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters aren’t afraid to sprinkle their jagged sound with uncommon instruments. While the tracks themselves aren’t anything revolutionary, it’s fun to listen for the eclectic elements hidden here and there.
Described as a one man sonic assault from Detroit, Jawbone lives up to his hype on this fearsome two-pronged attack on the blues. Roger Miller and Johnny Cash respectively get a good going over but you expect that both would have approved, as did John Peel who once spent the majority of a Jack White interview telling him how great this guy was. Download it from www.loosemusic.com.
Specialising in a howling brand of blues-rock not a million miles from Led Zeppelin, Dublin quintet Sato provide a very enjoyable hour of entertainment in the tiny South William Street venue
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.
Less overtly blues-flavoured than previous efforts, this is an intriguing taster for Boss Volenti’s forthcoming debut album. Tipping its hat to, among others, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Dublin band’s third single packs a classic pop punch and features enough bass noodling to turn Flea mildly green with envy.
Well-meant and delicately-treated charidee single ahoy. ‘Sea Of Heartbreak’ is Don Baker’s contribution to the tsunami appeal. All proceeds from the sale of the single will go towards raising more funds, so if you fancy some atmospheric and moving blues, sung by a man who really means it, and want to feel righteous in the process, then you could do a lot worse that parting with a couple of quid.
Is it disco? Is it rock? Funk? Soul? Techno? No! It’s all of the above! Hooray! Snax and Khan’s second LP is an album of glorious contrasts – Prince-esque shoutalongs (‘Up In Flames’), perv-funk (‘Na Na Now’), drug-addled blues (‘Poppertalk Blues’) or rigid synth-pop (‘Night To Begin’). Brilliant.
David Johansen on the other hand, one-time front man with the New York Dolls (a moment's silence please), stays perfectly still and croaks his blues truths with all the grizzled gravitas of a fellow who has seen the three days.
Word is spreading. Following a run of successful support slots with The Chalets, Turn and Kerbdog, Boss Volenti are creeping into the nation’s heart. Their debut as a four piece is all Southern State blues and straight laced rock ‘n roll, combined with an irresistible dark dirty guitar riff. Not as hard hitting as devotes of their live show might expect. But hip-shakingly good nonetheless.
The world of Gillian Welch is a far cry from all the cheap glitz and ego-maniacal power mongering of the U.S.A. of Bill Clinton's impeachment, Hollywood and rockets to space. It's the other side of those who coin.
Welch explores the grey, rural underbelly and she lives and breathes the country blues music she uses to tell her stories.
Another Antipodeon rock band attempting to simultaneously reference the soul of AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and the blues-era musicians those artists were cribbing from in the first place. It rocks, of course, but torn between the impulse to descend into post-prog psychedelia and straightforward meathead metal, Wolfmother are the sound of compromise, albeit compromise writ in large capitals with a string of exclamation points at the end.
Available to download freely on his website, Lynch’s follow up to his decent debut ‘The Storm’ shows an altogether different side to his normally restrained musical palate. Gone is the traditional singer-songwriter fare – in its place stands a raucous, blues-driven back-bar stomp much in the vein of the Killiney man’s heroes Paul Brady, Springsteen and Dylan. A taster, perhaps, for what gems may lie ahead on his forthcoming A Whisper In The Riot LP.
Boasting a prowess and confidence that belies their young age, The Marshal Stars certainly live up to expectation following their high-profile recording/publishing deals.
Michael John’s rock-blues vocals offset the weighty force of the song’s grunge-rock leanings, and while the tune bounces with ambition and virility, the overall effect is nicely grounding and uncomplicated.
Maybe it was a combination of the post-Christmas blues, the freezing weather outside and the fact that the gig fell on a mid-week night. Or perhaps it was the unveiling of that magnificent statue of Philo late last year that dissipated the celebrations somewhat. Whatever the reason, this year’s 20th anniversary vibe lacked the atmosphere of previous years’ events.
Seems we forgot to flip the record over. Pinky's 'Jack The Lad' features on a vinyl-only double A-side single with Porn Trauma's 'Cassanova Blues', which we've already reviewed. Well now it's Pinky's turn, and it was worth the wait. 'Jack The Lad' is an uptempo track with funky verses and an irresistable chorus. Pinky's distinctive voice really makes this track memorable, varying between deep and soulful and bright and soaring. Definitely one to watch in coming months.
Buck 65’s last album, Talkin’ Honky Blues, was something approaching a revelation, proof that hip-hop could still be a potent, astonishing force. It was never going to top the charts or thrust its author onto MTV but it did promise much for the future, a promise that Secret House Against The World resolutely fails to deliver on.
Ghostly and remorseful, Cat Power seems to sigh rather than sing through the title track of her seventh album. Cautious piano chords and funereal strings reluctantly offer comfort to Power’s whispered hush as she lets the words “Once I wanted to be the greatest” slip from her tongue. Such regret is soulful in an early hours sort of way but, though Cat Power should be praised for pushing her anxiety under the listeners skin, ‘The Greatest’ is an uneasy listen and unlikely to wash away the January blues.
Martyn, a Scottish-born folk singer-songwriter, had been absorbing more and more disparate influences as his career had progressed. A lot of blues, rock and jazz touches had begun to appear in his sound, and this sense of musical adventure reached its peak on Solid Air.
The diet coke ad would love this: “Let’s hear it for the band member who starts a solo project!” That said, we’ve heard Geraghty’s sweet voice occasionally take centre stage in his day job as Bell X1 guitarist (most notably ‘Trampoline’), but this is 100% his own thang: he’s written, performed and produced it, and his mother should shed a tear of pride. Coming across like a blues/country version of Jack Johnson, it’s brimful of ideas which are combined seamlessly. Bodes well for the album.
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.
Having promised so much for so long, The Things have finally delivered. While previous efforts like 'Demon Stomp' and 'Psycho Lover' brought fine doses of schizophrenic blues and garage punk to the party, the Dubliners' recorded efforts always seemed disappointing when compared to their furiously frantic and fabulously ludicrous live shows. All that has changed. 'Some Kind Of Kick' is a near perfect slice of punk rock. So feverishly does vocalist Neilo howl out his sleazoid predatory lyrics, it's as if his larynx is about to explode at any minute. The type of rock tune any band would kill to have written.
Something of a minor classic, the debut EP from Kilkenny's Blue Ghost is almost unclassifiable. Equal parts Gorillaz and Republic of Loose, Collapse Or Keep Going floats between jazz, electronica, funk, rock, hip-hop and blues. 'The Altitude' builds with a frantic funky bass line pumping through a punk infused jazz odyssey, 'Float Feet First' is a poignant fusion of summery funk and soul, and the frequently brilliant 'Why Good Guys Die' investigates darker, more Blur-y territory. Only the lack of real vocal power dulls an otherwise fine introduction.
I have to confess to being suspicious of charity albums, which are normally brimful of filler tracks from acts you’ve never heard of. When you’re one of the most respected writers on folk and blues though, and you decide to do something to help the Ulster Wildlife Trust you do have the advantage of being able to open a few more high class doors. Many of the tracks here are written or co-written by Harper and there are a couple George Harrison covers so there’s more of a coherence than you would ordinarily find on an album of this nature.
While the first Meeting was inspired by Nick Cave’s songcraft and The Pixies’ guitar duels, the second outing sees Andrew Weatherall blatantly wear his blues, rockabilly and garage punk influences.
THE HEIR TO Dr. John’s voodoo blues throne, John Hammond, pays an April 21st visit to HQ.
He comes armed with a new album, Wicked Grin, that was written and produced by his old mucker, Tom Waits.
Jack wailing like a preacher, each phrase getting its own gasp of breath, Meg's familiar pound-and-smash speeding and slowing as his fervent blues-gospel erupts and subsides
New York blues prodigy JOE BONAMASSA is making a name as one of the hottest young guitar-slingers in the West. With a Dublin visit on the way, he's foaming at the mouth at the prospect of visiting Rory Gallagher's home country.
The Man From God Knows Where is a folk opera. American country legend Tom Russell and friends each play a role, as Russell attempts to chronicle his Irish/Norwegian family's history in America, from the 1820s to the present day, through a mix of country, blues and traditional Irish and Norwegian folk music.
Beck's The Information veers between two distinct styles – the kind of blues/folk/hip-hop mash-ups that Beck has made his own, and a more melancholy, plaintive type of tune that he has increasingly favoured in recent years.
Bristol duo Apache Dropout's self-titled debut offering, although encompassing some rather diverse influences (drum'n'bass to jazz blues), is a rather meek, acoustic guitar-dominated collection.
Ever since 'Trigger Hippie' hit the sophisto pop spot, Morcheeba's one girl-two boy chilled contemporary blues have slinkily found their place in the muso-sun.
Apart from the whacked-out glory of The Beta Band, few can match Scott 4's disregard for convention. This is the kind of thing terms like 'eclectic' stop well short of summing up.
It starts with the pulsating, warped, Neil Young-gone-bonkers country psycho-blues of 'Catastrophe', and from there on the London trio take as many sonic prisoners as is humanly possible.
This Is The Tomb of The Juice is Michael Pyro & co.’s first album, and it’s a ballsy, gritty collection of songs, the kind of record that announces the summer, oscillating between aggressive Alabama 3 rantings and über-cool James Brown blues funk.
The suspicion that The White Stripes are a conceptual prank masquerading as a rock group intensifies with each outing.
For their fifth dispatch, Jack and Meg contort their beaten up, gut-bucket blues into wrenching, subversive shapes. A feral heckle as much as a pop record, it flaunts its weirdness gleefully and capriciously.
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
Gilpin has a natural feel for folk, rock, blues, bluegrass and country and on this album he makes a true marriage out of what can often be a shotgun wedding
GROOVIN' IS the final chapter in the Rhythm Kings' trilogy, which began a couple of years back with the rootsy R&B of Struttin' Our Stuff and its follow-up, Anyway The Wind Blows, a collection of mainly '30s and '40s blues/jazz standards.
While in college studying film, Grant Lee Philips helped form a moderately successful act called Shiva Burlesque, whose 1990 album Mercury Blues opens with ‘Who is the Mona Lisa?’. After many big releases as Grant Lee Buffalo (most notably 1993’s Fuzzy), and two offerings under this moniker, Philips is back with Virginia Creeper.
Sons & Daughters have been accused of being more American than the Americans, and certainly a first listen to their debut album brings to mind any combination of words like blues, funk, country, rock, hyphenated with “melee”, but they lend their own distinctive flavor to the obvious musical influences.
We all know what to expect of the bittersweet folksy blues pursuit; love, like anything else subject to our cruel whim, is to be drawn out and rewrought in a mimetic frenzy of acoustic guitar, plaintive vocals and tear-jerking harmonies. In a Fiona Apple kind of way, the dulcet Buckley is another lady who’s mistaken a paper bag for a dove.
After defining the currency and potency of much contemporary instrumental guitar music, Pajo acquaints himself with the role of a skewered folk and blues artist astonishingly well
He may have been overtaken in the trendy stakes by the likes of Fatboy Slim and David Holmes - mainly due to a disastrous second album where he attempted to become a "serious" musician, man - but with Play, Moby is back to his best. In fact, it's as good as anything in the genre I've heard all year, including You've Come A Long Way Baby.
Moby's third album is part original compositions and part reworkings of old forgotten soul, swing, blues and gospel classics.
Ultra-modern twists on the singing styles of jazz, soul and blues are Topley Bird’s trademark, but her understated ease and sultry innocence are very much her own.
Christy Moore headlines a benefit concert for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. At short notice, Moore recruited artists such as Damien Rice, Lisa Hannigan, Mary Coughlan and Declan Sinnott. Together they served up a feast of folk and blues.
It is Tom Vek’s curse that his music evokes nostalgia for our favourite trailblazers. The ramshackle indie-blues he peddles reminds you of a younger, more daring Beck. Those funeral-bell rhythms and caffeinated vocals offer traces of Talking Heads and Franz Ferdinand. His penchant for the odd mouth organ solo, meanwhile, has seen him tagged as “the new Dylan”.
The speakers in Whelan’s may need replacement. So loud were the 22-20’s, their rock and blues infused numbers were still ringing in my ears two days after they’d left the stage. At times the Wexford street venue must have shook with the noise.
Given that many of rock’s most universally revered icons could at least partially be filed under ‘folk music’ – Dylan, Cohen, Nick Drake - it’s striking how rarely the genre attains genuine crossover appeal among those who’d gleefully hunt down reggae or blues obscurities.
"Power certainly has an incredibly beautiful and expressive voice, it’s just that covering big band classics isn’t necessarily putting it to its best use."
Personal catastrophe invites two possible responses – surrender or quiet, dignified resistance. Eels, the American indie-pop band who flaunt their private traumas like couture fashion, have stumbled upon a third way. They’ve learned to laugh at the grisly comedy that is life.
Not that you’d know it from their records, which are awash with avant-garde moroseness. Their most celebrated, 1998’s Electro Shock Blues, recalled the protracted death from cancer of the mother of singer and group leader, Mark Everett.
Quite how Texas found themselves transformed from worthy but dull, blues-obsessed write-offs to fashionable multi-platinum pop merchants is one of the more remarkable career spins of recent years.
UBIQUITOUS ISN’T the word for it: Kim Fowley has placed himself just left of the epicentre of almost every major noisequake to strike Los Angeles since rock ‘n’ roll first kicked its way out of the belly of the blues.
Th’ Legendary Shack * Shakers' blend of blues, R‘n’B, hillbilly, rockabilly and countless other strands is an intoxicating mix that makes the heart beat faster and the blood pump quicker.
Odelay! The undisputed master of rock/funk/hip-hop/blues has come to spellbind us with his magical sonic sound-dust. And – to quote well-known indie authority, John Motson – my word, he doesn’t half deliver the goods.
It’s unmistakably The Rolling Stones as we know and love them, down to the last chopped rhythm of Keith Richards’ telecaster, Charlie Watts’ snare crack and the mannered tics of Sir Mick’s white boy blues croak. Like The Ruttles’ clever pastiches of Beatles classics, the Stones appear to have perfected the art of parodying themselves to a point where you wonder if they might be having a laugh.
The collective object of their allegiance have put on a few pounds, but remain lean and hungry, perhaps mindful that previous shots at bulking up with unnecessary extras like horn sections and blues harpists resulted in the bloat of Be Here Now.
It gives your reviewer great pleasure to report that on this album the singer has quite literally cut the crap and created a vibrant and inventive urban variation on an old school R&B set (that’s R&B as in rhythm in the beats and blues in the voice rather than rhinestones and baubles).
Clive Barnes has been trekking across the US for most of January, playing at some pretty tasty venues and bringing his wistful desert-hearted acoustic blues to its spiritual home.
81,394 punters, the majority decked in the blue and navy of Dublin, made the pilgrimage to the GAA Mecca of Croke Park for the Leinster Senior Football Final. Lifelong Blues supporter John Walshe was one of them.
According to Eric Clapton's sleeve notes, 'Reptile' is a term of endearment "used much in the same way as 'toe rag'". Lucky then that the title track is instrumental, I suppose: otherwise we might have had a love sonnet dedicated to a scumbag, snot-rag or fag-hag.
This may be a debut album, but there's nothing new on display here. From Elvis to Eminem, there stretches a long line of white musicians who have made marketable a sound that African-Americans have already polished to the sheen of high art.
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.
Having been returned triumphantly to office in 2002, Bertie Ahern might have expected things to rock gently along this year. But instead, he’s been through a mincer and it’s not over yet.
AIDAN KELLY’S latest stage role in blasted, as a psychotic soldier, is a far cry from his last TV role in the RTE sitcom 'TheCassidys'. Interview: JOE JACKSON
IARLA O LIONAIRD has a new star-studded solo album out but the Afro Celt Sound System continue to teach him that music can be enjoyable and not just sublime . Interview: Colm O'Hare
They may have been overshadowed by the activities of their musical mastermind The Rza with his day job in the Wu-Tang Clan, but GRAVEDIGGAZ prime exponents of New York horrorcore hip-hop still produced one of 1997 s best albums, The Pick, The Sickle And The Shovel. Interview: PETER MURPHY.
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.
Liam Fay teams up with the IMRO hit squad as they venture north to Monaghan in search of bars, discos and other such venues that do not have a licence to thrill, or at least a licence for the public performing of music.
Note, if you will, the billing. This is Page's baby, and the Crowes are acting as a superior pick-up band, a role for which, the more bellicose might suggest, they've been preparing for years.
In addition to being an internationally renowned centre of artistic activity, Ireland is also famed for its party-friendly atmosphere. So, what better way to spend the summer than combining both equally noble pursuits – below is a comprehensive guide to the arts events on offer throughout the country over the next few months, and the sheer level of diversity on show offers further proof of our enduring love affair with the festival experience.
EVA CASSIDY was an Irish American singer who died at the age of thirty-three in 1996. This year sees the release of her back catalogue on Dara records, including the posthumous Songbird album, which is generating belated interest in the artist's career. STEPHEN ROBINSON reports.
He may be a man of few words, but alvin youngblood harT's artistic lineage is not to be sneezed at: this is one bluesman whose experiences include a spell in the US Coastguard and a stint in Switzerland. Tape: siobhÁn Long.
PAUL BRADY’s long association with US legend BONNIE RAITT has been one of his most successful, particularly in terms of enhancing his reputation as a world ranking songwriter
No disco, no party, no foolin’ around – here we find Van Morrison by turns enraptured and embittered, on an album that is never less than engrossing and which is occasionally sublime.
Colm O'Hare talks to boy-girl sensation The Kills about their adoration of the US underground, touring with Franz Ferdinand and Primal Scream, and why those White Stripes comparisons are totally wide of the mark.
The High Priest of Soul, AL GREEN is one of the greatest singers this century has known. Coinciding with his recent trail of magnificent shows in Dublin, the mercurial Rev granted this exclusive interview to KARL TSIGDINOS.
Pics: Bernard Walsh.
In the last issue of Hot Press, NIALL STANAGE wrote about his experiences as a busker-for-a-day. This time around he meets the real thing those who try to make their living on the streets of Dublin. PICS: CATHAL DAWSON
For the painfully shy and private Ray LaMontagne, life in the spotlight is one of almost unremitting discomfort, and yet he hopes to last as long as Willie Nelson.
He may be unhappy about once again being forced to climb the interview treadmill, but Eels frontman E soon relaxes sufficiently to discuss swimming with sharks in the American music industry and why turning into Beck isn’t on the agenda just yet
The Monaghan-Cavan area has been a bit of a desert in quality rock terms in recent years, but the new Monaghan-based Venue Promotions is set on changing all that.
EAMON SWEENEY meets RELISH, a northern band just signed to EMI. Up for discussion: Ash, landing a deal, Van Morrison and ghosts in the (studio) machines.
Are they Madchester tribute band charlatans, an even more half-baked Kula Shaker, or swaggering rock monsters from Leicester? The jury is still out in the case of The People vs Kasabian.
They're the hottest thing to come out of the Midlands since, well, ever. Slinker rockers Zing talk about growing up hooked on Michael Jackson and give us the lowdown on the Portlaoise scene.
Celebrating its 21st anniversary this summer, 1998's Galway Arts Festival promises to be the best ever. Hot Press' honorary Tribes-man, COLM O'HARE, previews the main attractions and offers a comprehensive guide
to the best places to eat, drink and make merry.
Country, folk and roots fans are in for a treat on the May Bank Holiday weekend when a veritable who's who of the best bands and solo performers of the genre head to Kilkenny for the second annual Kilkenny Country Roots Weekend.
AHEAD OF THEIR COIS FHARRAIGE APPEARANCE, Born-again indie rockers Doves talk about the changing of the seasons, escaping the country and getting past those fourth album blues
Rory Gallagher’s posthumous Wheels Within Wheels is a remarkable collection of previously unreleased acoustic material by Ireland’s guitar legend. It comes complete with a cover by the celebrated painter, David Oxtoby, that is certain to make a lasting impression.
It ought to be one of the happiest moments of a woman's life – and for many it is. But for some women the birth of a child can be a traumatic, invasive and distressing event. Author Naomi Wolf tells Fiona Reid about the blues of the birth
The man behind the Mystery Train is a bit of a mystery himself but, at Peter Murphy's request, writer and broadcaster JOHN KELLY steps forward to talk about Enniskillen, friends in high places, the fall and rise of his broadcasting career, his lack of intercourse with Dave Trimble, "taking the soup", desert island music and Uaneen.
Broadcast Views: Cathal Dawson
Olaf Tyaransen sings the reunion city blues as an unhappy DEBBIE HARRY forces him to take the scenic route through the rise, fall and rise of BLONDIE. But, hey, it all ends happily ever after...
Increasingly popular, critically acclaimed, a Grammy Award Winner - and yet, Shawn Colvin still sings those 'ol record company blues. Colm O'Hare lends a sympathetic ear.
Gideon Seifert of Joe Gideon and the Shark talks about touring with Nick Cave and Seasick Steve, and recalls his musical partner’s previous life as an Olympic athlete.
History – and a succession of box sets – has taught us to be wary of the ‘unreleased’ session. Some things are just best left on the cutting room floor.
When Tommy McManus of mama s boys died of leukaemia, his brothers Pat and John hadn t the heart to keep the band going. Now, however, they re back, having found a new spiritual and musical home in celtuS.
Interview:
john walshe.
Still making great music after all these years, Van Morrison is an Irish genius worthy of comparison with the most enduring ’60s legends such as Bob Dylan and Neil Young
Seasick Steve is a former hobo who once called Kurt Cobain a neighbour and, in his 60s, now finds himself acclaimed as one of folk's hottest 'new' acts.
When not touring with Republic Of Loose, Mick pyro is free to kick back in his basement pad in a 1960s Swedish-style Terenure house, where he indulges his love of CDs, books and movies – and ponders the aesthetic similarities between Shakespeare and hip hop.
The most famous beards in rock 'n' roll are back with a new album that's guaranteed synthesiser-free and hotter than a Tex-Mex jalapeno pepper. As ZZ Top do a John Major and return to basics, DUSTY HILL tells STUART CLARK about the danger of eating chili-dogs, what he used to get up to under the bed-clothes as a kid and the nature of his relationship with long-horned steers.
When indie godhead Frank Black hooked up with several veterans of the Nashville session scene the results were thrillingly different to his work with The Pixies
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.
Jeff Martin rose to fame as singer and guitarist with Canadian rock band Tea Party. Now trading as a solo artist, he is currently holed up in a remote part of County Cork where Jackie Hayden tracked him down.
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.
Exhausted following her prolonged spell on tour, Bic Runga is keen to make it back home to New Zealand for some well-earned r’n’r. but not before she discusses the vagaries of life, love and pop stardom.
Horslips axeman Johnny Fean is honouring us with a masterclass at the upcoming Music Show in the RDS. Here, he talks about his formative influences and Horslips’ upcoming reunion
With titles like ‘Cum When You Cum’, ‘Cafe Necrofilia’ and ‘Wasted So Ferociously Stoned’, The Unsuspecting Public will probably not be playing at a folk mass anywhere near you in the forseeable future
The indelible images of September 11th tragedy will be for many, the key memory of these past 12 months. Music may seem lightweight in comparison, yet its healing powers were probably more needed than ever
With over twenty-one years experience in pro audio, Richard Dowling is the man responsible for making Interpol, Foo Fighters, The Undertones and countless others sound good!
Or perhaps we might have reached for another old familiar headline - Fears and Loathing in RTE - as the bosses at Radio 1 announce the chopping of virtually all specialist music programmes from the schedule. It is, writes Bill Graham, an act of cultural criminal negligence.
When not sleeping late or trying to score free beer, students like nothing better than to kick back and watch a movie. In fact, it is thanks to students that many films have gained a permanent place in the pantheon. Here are some stude faves from the annals.
Peter Murphy meets Sweden's Soundtrack Of Our Lives frontman Ebbot Lundberg and discovers that Scandinavia has more to offer music than Roxette and their ilk
The Beach Boys, Beatles and – whisper it – Fleetwood Mac are all on the menu as Sunderland’s Field Music give emo, New Rave and whatever else is 'in' this week the cold shoulder.
Craig Fitzsimons meets Jimmie Dale Gilmore, possessor of a unique high ’n’ lonesome voice and yet another great product of the Lone Star State who, belatedly, is
experiencing a modicum of stardom himself.
A the Zutons prepare another visit to these shores, saxophonist Abi Harding talks to Ed Power about their hugely successful debut album, the not very difficult follow up and how she can spot a creep at a distance.
He’s played with The Corrs and was a member of the real-life Commitments. CONOR BRADY talks about life as one of the great unsung mainstays of Irish rock and roll. photos Ruth Medjber
It?s real, it?s now and it goes all the way back to the source ? roots music is taking the world by storm and Ireland is very definitely on the map.
By siobhan long.
She's the hard-rocking- and by all accounts, hard-drinking- Norwegian indie-babe sensation. Ida Maria tells us about the rare condition that lets her see music as colour and more.
The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet consists of four virtuoso players acclaimed across the world for their unique blend of classical and flamenco styles. As they prepare for their Irish debut, Jackie Hayden asks key member Bill Kanengiser how it all works.
Before he was the face of televised pop Jools Holland played empty pubs alongside U2, mentored a skinny kid called Mark Knopfler and rode to school in Daniel Day-Lewis's dad's Mercedes.
From 15-28 July 2002 Galway city hosts one of the most comprehensive of this year's arts festivals with esoteric offerings from the genres of visual art, music, theatre, comedy and lots, lots more
Despite having Kevin Shields stolen away from them by Gemma Hayes, Primal Scream are in the best shape of their careers. So says Bobby Gillespie in a no punches pulled interview.
You don’t associate Cavan with a cutting edge music scene – but Michael O'Brien aims to change that with his Origins club night. Who knows? One day Neil Young might even decide to pay a visit.
He's reputed to be one of the toughest interviewees in music. But RAY LAMONTAGNE is slowly learning to chill out and, if not embrace the limelight, then at least live with it...
There’s no argument. The Rolling Stones new record Voodoo Lounge finds the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world of yore back in fighting trim, stomping out that distinctive blend of musical mayhem we know and love in positively swaggering style – good enough, some would say, to see off any contenders to their coveted throne. At the centre of this triumphant return to form is one Michael Philip Jagger, who sounds lean, mean, hungry and ready for the fray. Here he raps with Don Was – producer of Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Was Not Was, Bonnie Raitt and of course The Rolling Stones – about the primeval power of music and how to keep on doing it even at the grand old age of twenty (Sorry! I’ll read that again) . . .
If you’re looking for modesty, you’ve come to the wrong place. Colin Carberry meets Dirty Stevie, the balls to the wall rockers who are determined to become Belfast’s biggest band ever!
With cork set to become european capital of culture just over a year from now, Colm O’Hare reports on the cultural attractions punters will be treated to by the lee in 2005
Taking time out from his stag weekend, baroque retro-rocker The Mighty Stef talks about the influence of film on his writing, his enduring love for Nick Cave and his friendship with Shane MacGowan
Primal Scream bandmate Kevin Shields may be complaining about the neighbours, but Mani hasn’t thrown the towel in yet. He tells us why things are looking up for the Scream.
Getting funky reggae grooves heard over the din of the capital’s rock bands is no easy task, but Dublin ska kingpins King Sativa are continuing to fight the good fight.
UFOs, sunken Civil War forts and songs about Van Gogh’s severed ear are all subjects liable to come up when in conversation with WARREN DEFEVER from Michigan-based eclecticists his naME IS ALIVE. Interview: Nick Kelly.
Having already triumphed at this year's National Student Music Awards, ambitious Waterford quartet Floyd Soul & The Wolf are determined to go on to even greater success.
She was toiling in obscurity until she caught the ear of British TV host Jools Holland. Now Dublin rockabilly siren Imelda May is on the fast-track to the big time.
Carl Perkins, the rock pioneer who wrote Blue Suede Shoes and no less than four songs for the Beatles, is dead. ANDY DARLINGTON remembers his career from Sun Records and the legendary Million Dollar Quartet , through to Johnny Cash s Live At San Quentin . . . and a movie knife-fight with David Bowie
“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
With the final countdown to Christmas already well underway, what’s on offer by way of music-related presents is on every rock’n’roll fan’s mind. We took Jerry Fish into HMV in Grafton St. and asked him to pick out the most desirable items on offer – including, of course, his own wonderful new record Live At The Spiegeltent.
With the final countdown to Christmas already well underway, what’s on offer by way of music-related presents is on every rock’n’roll fan’s mind. We took Jerry Fish into HMV in Grafton St. and asked him to pick out the most desirable items on offer – including, of course, his own wonderful new record Live At The Spiegeltent.
He said it, we didn't. Henry Rollins may not be the most obvious embodiment of the American Dream but nowadays everything he touches seems to turn to dollars. Dan Oggly discovers the alternative approach to commerce.
Spiritualized are back with a new album which confirms Jason Pierce’s theory that “the best music is made by people who are out of control.” Loving the alien:
He used to be an actor but there's nothing showbizzy about Johnny Flynn's baroque folk-pop. He tells us what it's like to grow up in a thespian household and of his friendship with Kevin Spacey.
When Rory Gallagher hits the stage at this year's Macroom festival gig, it'll be his last appearance in Ireland, a year that has seen him forgo some of the spotlight he's enjoyed over the previous ten years in Britain and Ireland in particular.
Tower's Wicklow Street store manager Clive Branagan reflects on how the shop's independent stance enabled them to get progressively stronger, while others floundered.
After years as son of Charles , ERIC MINGUS is forging his own musical identity. He talks to PETER MURPHY about jazz purists, hip-hop and playing bass with Nick Cave.
Domino Records – home of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Max Tundra, Franz Ferdinand and Four Tet – turns ten. Kim Porcelli talks pop culture with label boss Laurence Bell.
Having first envisaged the film in the late ’80s, director Taylor Hackford has finally realised his long-cherished biopic of legendary soul performer, Ray Charles. Here, he talks to Moviehouse about the challenges of putting the singer’s tumultuous life onscreen.
An Irish artist destined to make a big breakthrough this year is Dublin singer IMELDA MAY, whose debut album, Love Tattoo, mixes rockabilly and pop influences to superb effect.
He pioneered the art of glam-punk excess with the New York Dolls and now he's learned to grow old gracefully. Peter Murphy meets the boy from New York City, the ever cool David Johansen. Photos: MYLES CLAFFEY
Irish guitarist bernie torme no relation to Mel has played with Ian Gillan, Atomic Rooster and Ozzy Osbourne, and lived to tell the tale. Interview: colm o hare.
White-boy soulsters daryl hall and john oates have returned to keep America safe for accomplished, slick R n B and they re still packing in the punters after all these years. Interview: colm o hare.
From Chet Baker through Joe Cocker to The Cranberries, the world of music owes the late Denny Cordell an enormous debt. Bill Graham pays tribute to an inspirational craftsman who made Ireland his final home and resting place.
Cork is happening enough at the best of times, but when the annual Guinness Jazz Weekend comes around, it's all too much. Where to go? What to do? What hangover cure to concoct? Let KEVIN BARRY show the way.
His admirers have included Kurt Cobain, Beck and Jack White. But Billy Childish is far from your average cult musician. He’s dabbled in conceptual art, is equally influenced by The Kinks and Joe Strummer and doesn’t listen to music – especially if it has anything to do with Leonard Cohen.
30th Anniversary Retrospective: In a special interview, The Edge reminisces about the early days of Hotpress, explains Bill Graham’s role in U2’s development, and comes clean about what the band have been up to recently in Morocco.
JENNIFER BATTEN, as well as being a solo artist in her own right, has spent 10 years slinging six strings for michael jackson. Amazingly, she has survived to tell her story to peter murphy.
Pix: Cathal Dawson.
BONNIE PRINCE BILLY is the new moniker of cult hero WILL OLDHAM. NICK KELLY spoke to him about his album I See A Darkness. And received a lot of curt replies.
Michelle Phelan and Pete McGrane of folk-pop duo Carosel have cracked the secret to balancing love with the art of making music. And it’s not as complicated as you’d think.
photos Emily Quinn
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.
You wanted the best, you got GENE SIMMONS. Here, the motormouth frontman of KISS, the world s greatest showband, talks about sex and women at length (quelle surprise), discusses his Jewish heritage, explains why Kierkegaard and Nietzsche obviously never got laid, and announces to an increasingly bemused JOE JACKSON that he Gene, that is possesses the world s smallest penis.
Doctor John may be renowned as a laid-back Big Easy legend, but get him started on the Federal Government's treatment of his beloved New Orleans and he spits nails.
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
They say he s a Man Of The World it s just that for two decades the world in question happened to be Saturn. andy darlington meets peter green, the man who created fleetwood mac, then wrote the longest suicide note in rock n roll history.
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.
By the time you read this I may be an ex-person, having just received a poison pen letter threatening to do a number of unspeakable, and probably illegal, things to me. It s a good one as these things go, unsigned, of course, written completely in capital letters violently gouged into the page, with a sprinkling of misspellings and words like arsehole , fucker and bastard underlined twice and three lines under bolox and cunt . Can t be a regular reader, then.
DAVID HOLMES new album is likely to
elevate him to the world s DJ-ing A-list.
STUART CLARK visited him in Belfast to hear tales of voodoo, punk, Primal Scream and, er, Gilbert O Sullivan.
Pictures: MYLES CLAFFEY
Greetings From LA
beck and tom petty get together in Los Angeles for an impassioned rap on songs, songwriting, showbiz, the Unplugged phenomenon and how too much music can boggle the mind. mark rowland listens in.
The Von Bondies were finally vindicated when Jack White pleaded guilty to assaulting their lead singer last month. Oh, and they’ve just released one of the albums of the year.
MAZZY STAR are still going strong, but HOPE SANDOVAL has also got a side project up and running. She tells NICK KELLY all about
HOPE SANDOVAL AND THE WARM INVENTIONS and her collaborations with everyone from The Chemical Brothers to Bert Jansch
DUBLIN'S OLYMPIA is one of the city's great venues for late night rock gigs that roll the music right back to its base on the streets, and among the community.
She's the red-haired electro-pop debutante of the year. La Roux frontwoman Elly Jackson talks about her love of the 80s and tells us why Blur were the only decent rock band of the past 20 years.
JOAN ARMATRADING has been making impassioned, poetic music for two decades. She is also a political activist, having recently attended the 1999 Vienna Peace Summit. Adrienne Murphy met her.
JOAN ARMATRADING has been making impassioned, poetic music for two decades. She is also a political activist, having recently attended the 1999 Vienna Peace Summit. Adrienne Murphy met her.
Roo are confident, savvy and unflinching in their aim to make remarkable music. There s something about their looks and attitude that remind you of George Best in 68: blessed with handy skills and unfazed by older, less talented rivals. Roo are the best new prospect from these parts. They can be funny, too.
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.
Brendan Kennelly s Book Of Judas is soon to hit the stage. Peter Murphy reports on a work which had Bono enthralled, and predicted many of the more unappealing features of contemporary Ireland
Two big name managers have just been given the chop but in truth neither the sacking of Tony Adams from Portsmouth or Phil Scolari from Chelsea was a surprise. Now, of course, the question is: who will replace them long term?
Karl MacDermott used to be the next-big thing in comedy until his stand-up career didn’t pan out as expected. Now he’s back in the public eye with a semi-autobiographical first novel.
From somewhere outside Dublin, come the small army who make up the Mad Shadows. Reaching almost football team proportions, the MSs feature trombone, saxophone, trumpet and keyboards as well as the usual suspect devices.
Steve Cummins meets Philip King, the man behind Other Voices: Songs From A Room, the acclaimed music show which has provided an invaluable platform for Irish musicians – and which has now expanded its remit to include international artists as well.
Steve Cummins meets Philip King, the man behind Other Voices: Songs From A Room, the acclaimed music show which has provided an invaluable platform for Irish musicians – and which has now expanded its remit to include international artists as well.
In one of Irish music’s worst kept secrets, The Frames played Whelan’s recently, road testing some new songs and being joined on stage by a number of special guests. John Walshe reports from ringside.
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.
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”
Peter Sheridan, whose book 44: A Dublin Memoir has just been published to rave reviews, on Archbishop Desmond Connell, brother Jim, Samuel Beckett and Sean O Casey, and on the two key events one, an incident of sexual abuse, the other the death of a family member around which the whole book spins . Interview: joe jackson. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
30 years after the music was originally recorded, Led Zeppelin topped the record and DVD charts in 2003 with the sound and vision of the band in all their pomp and glory. The guitar hero’s guitar hero, Jimmy Page reflects on the passion for music which inspired him then – and now.
Such is the close proximity of most of the well-known pubs to each other and to other central locations that Galway could quite conceivably have been designed with the pub crawler in mind. The sheer abundance and variety of pubs that Galway has to offer the thirsty reveller is one of the big attractions of the City of The Tribes. Galway pubs are renowned for their unique and friendly atmosphere, mighty craic and impromptu traditional music sessions.
Ross Fitzsimons goes to Portugal’s Euro 04 in search of the beautiful game and the perfect bowl of cataplana, and discovers more than he bargained for – including the ribbon of death.
Having a right royal laugh at monarchies is all very well in what we loosley describe as the free west, but Olaf Tyransen is alarmed to find it's no laughing matter in Thailand
...IS COMING TO TAKE YOU AWAY! WHEN JOE JACKSON WENT TO INTERVIEW BONO AT U2'S SECRET DUBLIN RECORDING BASE, HE HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO EXPECT. WHAT HE GOT WAS A CRAZY ROLLERCOASTER RIDE THROUGH THE EXTRAORDINARY WORK-IN-PROGRESS WHICH WILL BECOME U2'S FOLLOW-UP TO THE ACCLAIMED "ACHTUNG BABY!", WITH BONO AT THE WHEEL AND AN UNSEEN PRESENCE WORKING THE ACCELERATOR LIKE A DEMON. "RECORDS SHOULD BE MORE OF A TRIP," SAYS THE MAN IN THE WRAPAROUND SHADES. FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS THEN. THIS WILL BE NO ORDINARY RECORD. AND THIS IS NO ORDINARY INTERVIEW.
He scored his first hit single as lead singer with Them in 1965, with Baby Please Don t Go . In 1968, he released his debut solo album Astral Weeks, which is widely regarded among critics as one of the most important and complete records of the past 50 years. But these are just two early landmarks in a remarkable career which finds Van Morrison still on top of his game 40 years since he made his debut with his own skiffle group, The Sputkniks, at a school concert in Orangefield in Belfast. In an exclusive interview, carried out for the RTE television series From A Whisper To A Scream, and published in the run-up to Van s latest Irish dates, he talks to Niall Stokes.
From A to Z, Paul Nolan and Ronan Fitzgerald introduce all the runners and riders for Punchestown – throwing in a baker’s dozen of acts who are not to be missed* along the way
In the second and final part of an extensive interview, MIKE SCOTT discusses inspiration and influences, recalls his difficult solo years and explains the death and resurrection of THE WATERBOYS. Interview: PETER MURPHY
IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN WHEN THOUSANDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE TAKE THAT OFTEN DAUNTING LEAP FROM SCHOOL TO COLLEGE. HERE, THE HOT PRESS STUDENT SPECIAL OFFERS ITS OWN INIMITABLE SAFETY NET.
EVERY YEAR, AND FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS, HUNDREDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE FROM THE SOUTH DECIDE TO GO ON TO THIRD LEVEL EDUCATION IN NORTHERN IRELAND. EMMA FLYNN REPORTS ON THE REALITIES OF ACADEMIC LIFE OVER THE BORDER.
Jackie Hayden makes a courtesy call on Eleanor McEvoy and interrupts her putting the finishing touches to her new album. Instead of showing him the door, she shows him around!
Well, a little about it, at least. JONATHAN O'BRIEN discovers that jim REID
doesn't have too much to say about The Jesus And Mary Chain's seventh album, Munki.
As Beck contemplates a belated sequel to Odelay, feel free to ask him any old question you like – just as long as it isn’t about that recent break-up with his long-time girlfriend. Oh, and make sure you don’t have the sniffles. Nadine O’Regan packs a hankie
Jeremy Hickey, aka Rarely Seen Above Ground, has become one of the most acclaimed artists in the Irish indie scene. He talks about the intriguing origins of his unique musical style.
The Edge talks to Bill Graham about his soundtrack album "Captive" - and about the hidden reservoirs the band are charting in their search for the follow-up to "The Unforgettable Fire"
With preparations well underway for Cork city’s hosting of the European City Of Culture festivities in 2005, the indigenous music scene is already rising to the challenge
At the end of a year which saw (most of) Fleetwood Mac reunited, on CD and stage, drummer Mick Fleetwood recounts the story of a legendary band and the making of a classic album – Rumours.
He’s the joker in the Irish music pack, a working class hero who has at once conquered and subverted the mainstream. For his first album in six years JERRY FISH and his MUDBUG CLUB have also roped in some top-tier collaborators including rockabilly queen Imelda May and Carol Keogh.
Compositional genius, musical visionary, tormented genius – Brian Wilson is many things, but a garrulous interviewee is not one of them. Peter Murphy undergoes strenuous discourse with one of the true icons of ‘60s culture.
• If the number of albums being released at a given time is any indication, then Gaelic culture is in its healthiest state for years. It is particularly encouraging that real roots music is still being recorded, and indeed that the Irish language is still finding its place in this context.
Bill Wyman apparently retired from rock n roll five years ago so what s he doing releasing the first in a trilogy of new albums? colm o hare talks to a Stone alone.
In the second and final part of the ultimate interview, elvis talks about colonel Tom Parker, marriage to priscilla, his '68 comeback, his quest for enlightenment and the truth about his drug intake. but as he dreams of an exciting future, at 42 he doesn’t realise that the end is close at hand
*The quotes in this recreated interview are drawn from a wealth of reliable sources and involved extensive research into many rare articles and books
The songs of Laura Cantrell are steeped in the timeless values of American country rock. But Cantrell, a former Wall Street banker, is a thoroughly modern artist.
An icy welcome is swiftly thawed by laughter and vodka as the legendary Townes Van Zandt briefly retreats from the endless tyranny of road and stage to discuss his life and times in a darkened Dublin hotel room with Patrick Brennan.
Discussing her private life has become a national pastime, but it hasn’t stopped Charlotte Church from developing some very commendable rock’n’roll habits. Ed Power forgives the 19-year-old for standing him up, and discovers a young woman very much in control of her own destiny.
Although arguably the outstanding female country artist of her generation, Emmylou Harris has always distanced herself from the Nashville
mainstream. From early recordings with Gram Parsons and Bob Dylan through to her most recent Daniel Lanois-produced album Wrecking Ball, her work has been characterised by a maverick spirit and real fire in the belly.
PETER MURPHY caught up with her in Dublin.
Robyn Hitchcock – wayward musical genius or fruitcake, depending on your point of view – is on the brink of even greater notoriety with the patronage of REM and the release of his strongest album to date. Andy Darlington does his best to uncover the man behind the mayhem.
MIKE SCOTT once fronted the greatest rock n roll band in the world, but before the world got a chance to wake up to the fact he had gone west and invented raggle taggle. Now with a new Waterboys album, A Rock In The Weary Place, just released, Scott takes time out to reflect on his strange but true adventure. By PETER MURPHY
The Eskimos have a hundred names for snow, the Irish a thousand ways to describe the weather, and Dermond Moore has at his disposal innumerable methods of evoking the many qualities of loneliness. In his first book Diary of a Man, is culled from a decade of Hot Press Bootboy columns, but it also hangs together as a string of depositions filed from the heart of exile and - that great literary theme so beloved of everyone Shakespeare to Dostoevsky- isolation.
On the eve of his unprecedented 23-night run at Vicar St., PAUL BRADY reflects on a dazzling career and describes the long and sometimes difficult process which has led to a new and resounding declaration of independence.
Interview: JACKIE HAYDEN
You’ve never seen them like this before. Now available on DVD with extra features and footage, the new edition of The Beatles Anthology is as close to a definitive visual tale of the band as we’re ever likely to get. Producer Chips Chipperfield tells Colm O’Hare how it came together
Peter Murphy meets former Led Zeppelin bassist JOHN PAUL JONES as he releases his first solo album. On the agenda pacts with the Devil, Jones musical education, and thoughts on Eno, Nico and Charles Mingus.
In a rare interview, Simpsons writer Mike Scully talks about the show’s A-list musical guests, his love for Ned Flanders and upsetting the entire population of Brazil. He also tells us what to expect from The Simpsons Movie, which blockbusters its way onto the big screen in the summer.
She’s New Zealand’s biggest musical star. For her new album, Bic Runga retreats from sunny pop songs in favour of an introspective sound inspired by the death of her father.
One of the most iconic Irish musicians ever, Rory Gallagher died ten years ago, on June 14 1995. This month, he is commemorated with a comprehensive retrospective, Big Guns – The Very Best Of Rory Gallagher. His brother, Donal Gallagher, who was both manager and mentor to Rory, talks to Colm O’Hare about the work involved in compiling the album, the guitarist’s legacy – and the fascinating story of how he nearly joined the Rolling Stones.
With their Harmony Hill album establishing them as one of the Trad world’s brightest hopes, Dervish are now busy taking their music to anyone who wants to listen. Colm O’Hare meets the Sligo six-piece who are being favourably compared to and discovers a band determined to breathe new life into old traditions.
Bono, Adam and Larry. Not to mention the self-styled King Boogaloo himself, Mr B. P. Fallon, whose new book U2: Faraway So Close offers an intimate visual and verbal diary of the band’s world-record shattering ZOO TV tour. For good measure the, um, also self-styled Mr Ramalama talks about Jimi Hendrix and the Mafia connection, toting guns with Tone Loc, giving Little Richard a hard-on, and other little, um, side voyages into other territories, man. Er, tape recorder thingy: Joe Jackson.
Bono:
I can't imagine how the people in Hot Press are feeling right now. From the beginning there were four or five in there who were like a band - losing Bill, for them, must be like how I'd feel if something happened to Edge or Adam or Larry. He was like a brother to his colleagues and a cousin to us.
An Irish band who don’t entirely fit in at home, Relish can console themslves with a great new album Karma Calling, and an international fanbase that stretches from the U.S. to Japan.
Imagine the scene. It is August 15th, 1977. Joe Jackson of Hot Press arrives at Graceland, to do the ultimate interview with Elvis Presley. Elvis is in the music room,seated at the piano and singing 'Blue
Eyes Cryin In The Rain'. They sit down across the table, Jackson pushes the record button - and so begins the final interview with the greatest rock'n'roll star of them all
At the ripe old age of 50, when most of his peers are floundering in the doldrums, Nick Cave has hit a purple patch with Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, his most commercially successful and critically acclaimed album to date.
Confronted by an autobiography with a dual narrator, Joe Jackson asks the real Ray Davies to stand up and testify on homosexuality, marriage, groupies, the essence of Kinkdom – and the true story of Lola.
An Irish band who don’t entirely fit in at home, Relish can console themslves with a great new album Karma Calling, and an international fanbase that stretches from the U.S. to Japan.
CHRIS DONOVAN looks at the incremental progress of the would-be King of Slane, who tells him about life, love, Christianity, veganism and scoring for films Plus: Profiles of Slane s other attractions, MACY GRAY, MEL C, BRYAN ADAMS, THE SCREAMING ORPHANS and DARA. Also: A Quickie with LORD HENRY MOUNTCHARLES
They named themselves after a Japanese biker gang, they won t give details of their line-up to the music press, and their first ever recorded release was limited to 33 copies. GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR also happen to be one of the most exciting new bands to emerge in years. PETER MURPHY investigates.
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.
The sheer quality, not to mention quantity, of the GALWAY ARTS FESTIVAL once more triumphed over inadequate facilities.
OLAF TYARANSEN reflects on a cultural banquet.
With the launch of a commemorative series of Irish postage stamps celebrating four of the nation's most important rock legends, we revisit some of the seminal moments in the careers of Phil Lynott, Rory Gallagher, Van Morrison and - first - U2
Raised in the Bible belt, Kings Of Leon have fallen in love with the devil’s music. In an exclusive interview, they explain why rock ‘n roll is just like preaching and reveal what’s in store on their next album.
There’s more to our national holiday than drowning the shamrock you know. In fact, no matter what your interest, St Paddy’s Day has something to offer.
WITH THE RELEASE OF HER FIRST LIVE ALBUM *LOVE FOR SALE* MARY COUGHLAN HAS PUT THE PERSONAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAUMAS OF THE PAST THREE YEARS BEHIND HER. IN A FRANK INTERVIEW SHE OUTLINES HER DARK DAYS TO SIOBHAN LONG AND INDICATES THAT PERHAPS A FUTURE COVER VERSION OF *WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN* MIGHT JUST BE IN ORDER.
Its action all areas as a musically beefed- up David Gray leaps back into the fray. Inviting Hot Press to an exclusive tour of his London studio, he talks about early success in Ireland, his break with loyal drummer Clune and a recent get-together with uber-diva Annie Lennox
Music | Interview
28% | 27 Jul 2005
Colm O Hare
She’s been a rock icon, a tabloid sensation and a muse to Mick Jagger. But you won’t find Marianne Faithfull mooning over past glories.
This fortnight, Olaf Tyaransen bravely overcomes his homesickness and takes a trip to the mainland – only to have two Thai hoodlums break into this hotel room and a tatooed Welshman offer him some opium. Oh dear…
In a rare interview, US alt culture icon Tom Waits talks to Dave Fanning about touring with Zappa, getting the nod of approval from Dylan, his fastidious approach to songwriting and why Bill Hicks remains America’s foremost political commentator
Moby Comes Out To Play
IT S NOT often a Grammy nominee saunters into the Hot Press offices in the midst of the controlled explosion that is production weekend. But then, Moby s one of those freaks of nature a pop star who seems interested in what goes on around him rather than employing people to block it out.
If a city can be defined by a catchphrase, then Let the good times roll epitomises new orleans. Landing in The Big Easy slap-bang in the middle of Mardi Gras, siobhan long gets a crash course in gumbo, voodoo, hot music, chilling crime and, believe it or not, legal Ecstasy. But, most of all, she gets a masterclass in how to party. Pix: steve lasky and cathy anderson
Are you ready for hip hop, be-bop trad? Then EILEEN IVERS is ready to take you to the bridge. SIOBHAN LONG meets the fiddle player with the world at her fingertips.
Since 1996 the Heineken Green Energy Festival has lit up the capital city with some of the brightest stars of modern rock. Patrick Hedlund and hotpress assistant editor, Stuart Clark, report
BIG IN BRITAIN! BIG ON THE CONTINENT! BIG IN THE STATES! YET IRELAND STILL HAS TO FULLY SUCCUMB TO THE DELIGHTS OF FOUR MEN AND A DOG. HERE, THE TRAD SUPERGROUP EXPLAIN THEIR CURRENT SITUATION TO COLM O'HARE AS THEIR SECOND ALBUM *SHIFTING GRAVEL* HITS THE SHOPS.
For the launch of his second album, UNDER THE MOON, MARTIN HAYES returned from his new home in Seattle to his native town of Feakle, deep in the heart of Clare. BILL GRAHAM travelled west to meet one of the musicians responsible for the resurgence in Irish music and discuss his roots in the local tradition, and speculate on the possibilities and conflicts opening up within the genre.
The fourth series of RTÉ Two's highly-acclaimed Other Voices, presented by John Kelly, was recorded over an extraordinary eight days during the madcap run-up to Christmas, in the thoroughly invigorating coastal environs of Dingle. Hot Press reporter Craig Fitzsimons was there to soak up the phantasmagoria, as some of the hottest talent from Ireland and abroad descended on the tranquil Kerry town to make heavenly music.
In the magical, wind-swept landscape of Ireland's remote north-west the cameras roll as U2's Bono and Maire of Clannad make the video for their collaborative single "In A Lifetime". Bill Graham joins the entourage at work and at play and talks to the main protagonists.
Jerry Fish – or if you prefer, Gerry Whelan – is what you might call a happy man right now. In fact, if the guy were any higher, the boys in blue would probably stop him on the street and ask him to piss into a cup. Not only is he preparing to close on his most successful professional year in a decade, he’s also received a rather momentous early Christmas present. Some 28 hours before our meeting, the singer’s partner Niki had given birth to a baby boy, their second child. Mr Fish, as you can imagine, is coasting on cigars and brandy and goodwill to all men.
At 81 years of age, folk pioneer PETE SEEGER is still active in the politics of song. SIOBHAN LONG meets a man fully deserving of the title 'living legend'
Going back to the deep-seated roots of music is the route taken by THE PALACE BROTHERS on their stunning debut album. GERRY McGOVERN goes to meet them at the crossroads where cultures collide . . . well, The Baggot Inn actually.
One of the finest white soul voices Britain ever produced, Rod Stewart reminisces about the sozzled Faces days, discusses Bob Dylan, his penchant for blondes, and recalls the thyroid cancer that almost robbed him of his voice seven years ago.
[oops this was mis prompted as oxegen video interviews in our e-zine - they're here ]
Why are four Birmingham lads skulking through Barna Woods in Galway, and why is there a camera crew following them around? john walshe met up with ocean colour scene on the set of their new video, Traveller s Tune . Pix: AENGUS McMAHON.
The author of the influential *AwopBopAlooBopAlopBamBoom*, Derryman NIK COHN has helped lay the foundations of serious rock criticism. Here, the author of the short story on which "Saturday Night Fever" was based talks about his latest book, "The Heart of The World". and tells JOE JACKSON why Elvis is King and Dylan is crap.
Which is a rather cryptic way of introducing an interview by Joe Jackson with Brian Kennedy on his distaste for the macho ethos of rock and his admiration for fellow Belfast troubadour Mr. Morrison.
Occasionally, music from Derry effects the wider scheme of things with spectacular results. This year, the fun centred on the use of D:Ream?s ?Things Can Only Get Better? as a Labour Party anthem. The touchy-feely, get-off-your-arse-and-participate message of the song was just what Tony Blair wanted for his born-again campaign theme.
At a time when public disillusionment with politicians is arguably at an all-time high, Cork Fianna Fail MEP BRIAN CROWLEY continues to buck the national trend by commanding a huge personal vote. But then, this is not a man who fits easily into any obvious political mould. A former rock singer and still a passionate music fan, he has survived a near-fatal car crash and learned to live with a permanent disability resulting from an earlier life-changing accident in his teens. Here, the man many tip to be a future President of Ireland, talks candidly to JOE JACKSON about matters personal and political. Pics: COLM HENRY.
His decision to take care of business may have been a turning point but, at heart, Kieran Goss remains primarily preoccupied with his guitar and his pen.
On the eve of the release of Martin McDonagh's In Bruges, A-list actors Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson give Hot Press the idiot's guide to making it in the movie business.
Spike Lee is a firebrand film-maker and not one to mince his words. So what is the spiritual father of African-American cinema doing making an old fashioned heist flick?
Rock bands, a brain haemorrhage, surviving cancer, and now a successful career as both a
novelist and TV producer.
FERDIA MacANNA s life has been nothing if not eventful. He talks to Peter Murphy.
ANI Di FRANCO has confirmed her position as one of the 90s most compelling performers with her new album Up, Up, Up, Up, Up Up. But there has always been more to Di Franco than her music. Here she talks to SIOBHAN LONG about her hard-won independence, corporate America and the stupidity of conservativism.
He's still wild at heart, but somewhat less weird on top now that he's found his very own version of domestic bliss. James Jewel Osterberg, alias Iggy Pop, talks to Liam Fay, who predicts that the Igster's performance will be the highpoint of Feile '93.
The Kooks' first album was a million-selling sensation. As they unleash the long-awaited sequel, frontman Luke Pritchard talks about the death of his father, his feud with television presenter Simon Amstell and much more...
30 years after the savage Tate/LaBianca murders that epitomised the dark side of the American hippy dream, CHARLES MANSON aka God aka The Devil, continues to exert a potent influence on popular culture. In part one of a two-part feature, PETER MURPHY recalls the twisted vision of a charismatic man whose personal interpretation of The Beatles Helter Skelter helped give rise to one of the crimes of the century.
Having crammed more into their first four years than some acts do in a decade, Gomez took a much-needed break. But now they’re back with a new album in our gun. "We just got pissed, played a few tunes and started recording," they tell John Walshe
From A to Z, Paul Nolan and Ronan Fitzgerald introduce all the runners and riders for Punchestown – throwing in a baker’s dozen of acts who are not to be missed * along the way
Californian-born JIM PAGE is no ordinary protest singer. Best known on this side of the Atlantic as the writer of such classics as 'Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Russian Roulette', his music has continued to move hearts and minds well into the corporate nineties. Here, he traces his roots from Bob Dylan to Public Enemy, and explains why he wrote a special song in tribute to Sinead O'Connor. Interview: GERRY McGOVERN
We asked the fans to vote for U2's Greatest Hits and they did - in their thousands. The result is a selection of 20 tracks which, without doubt, would combine to produce a record to rank among the weightiest and most powerful anthologies in the history of rock. The full track listing is not without its controversial selections and omissions, however. Bill Graham and Niall Stokes take us through the fans' vision of the fab four's dream album.
After two years of being that bloke who used to be in the Stone Roses, John Squire is back in the saddle with The Seahorses. On the eve of their Heineken Green Energy appearance at Dublin Castle, Madchester s answer to Jimmy Page talks to Stuart Clark about old friends, new challenges and his penchant for obscure Belfast punk bands.
Deco Cuffe me bollix. With the release of his debut album Andrew Strong has finally left behind his Commitments' character and launched his solo career in earnest. Interview: Colm O'Hare
As the station nears the end of its first year on the air and celebrates the two-year extension to its licence, any appraisal of Anna Livia Radio has to be made in the context of the current debate on the ethnic music cleansing at RTE Radio 1, Minister Higgins' plans for the revamping of the Broadcasting Act, and the general despair at the failure of the current Irish radio network to deliver on the promises made to sell us the deal in the first place. Report: JACKIE HAYDEN.
In Auckland, it was punk rock, gang wars, heroin and prostitution. In Cavan, it s rolling countryside, a recording studio in a church and more dogs than you could throw a stick for. It s been a long way from there to here for BRENDAN PERRY, the former partner in Dead Can Dance who now has a solo album on release.
Interview: NICK KELLY. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
With a career-best new album under their belts, Razorlight's Johnny Borrell talks about bling, mid-career reinvention and Britain's battle with metrosexuality.
Sex? Yep. Drugs? Uh-huh. Rock 'n' Roll? Yesireebob! Aerosmith were no strangers to the unholy trinity of debauchery during the '70's and early '80's but find that having cleaned up ten years ago they're now cleaning up with the punters. Not that they're beyond having fun, fun and, er, more fun as our resident boogiemeister Stuart Clark finds out.
What better way for an indie musician to spend an evening than checking out the wares in one of Europe’s biggest and best stoked music stores? Welcome to XMusic, guys!
Beginning 1989 as complete unknowns and ending it with a major international recording deal, two well-received singles and acres of press coverage, the scale of An Emotional Fish s progress has been the envy of their contemporaries. But how did the band go from being minnows to the catch of the year? Paddy Kehoe dons his waders to find out.
The spectacle of U2 playing to 50,000 admirers with OASIS as their support band would seem to suggest that reports of PopMart's demise have been greatly exagerrated. And, behind the scenes, the mood is even more upbeat as the two bands revel in a mutual appreciation society.
Neil "Access All Areas" McCormick was with them in the dressing room, the mini-bus and the after-hours bar.
And why is young America going overboard about over-weight, over-30 jazzers? john walshe forgoes the pleasures of Dublin versus Kildare to pop across the Atlantic and investigate one of the most unlikely success stories of recent years.
When the offer came to produce the new Rolling Stones album in Dublin what answer could Don Was give but a resounding ‘Yes’. Mick, Keef & Co. are the latest in a long and impressive list of the man’s studio credits which includes Bob Dylan, The B-52’s, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt and Paula Abdu. But throw in the small matter of the career of Was (Not Was) and the musical rehabilitation of errant Beach Boys’ genius Brian Wilson and we’re talking major industry player here. Bill Graham takes up the story . . .
…for a while anyway. In a few short weeks Belfast's GHOST OF AN AMERICAN AIRMAN will leave home once again to tour distant lands. That's the bad news. The good news is that while they're here, Ghost... take time out to tell TARA McCARTHY what the hell they've been up to for the past two years.
Japanese tin whistlers, Harlem Gospel singers, Indian mandolin players . . . De Dannan have traded scales and tales with them all. Dermot Stokes catches up with Frankie Gavin and Alec Finn and is entranced as the Michael Palins of pan-cultural playing share excerpts from their ongoing odyssey.
"I compressed the vox, EQ'd the drums and turned down the reverb on the guitar channel but it still sounds like it was recorded through an analogue four track"
Confused?
After a career barely spanning five years, there is a definite feeling amongst those who know about such things that POLLY
JEAN HARVEY is destined to be one of the true rock music greats. Her darkly visceral, sexual and lacerating work has struck a
raw chord, and made her the object of passionate adoration. But it has also cast her in the eyes of some as an
"axe-wielding bitch cow from Hell."
LIAM FAY travels to meet ze monsta, but instead finds a home-loving Yeovil lass who likes nothing better than gardening and whipping
up pots of rhubarb marmalade.
While the entity that is U2 continues to be the dominant focus in the creative lives of its four members, away from the band, Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry have all indulged in extra-curricular activities, bringing them – and their music - into contact with such legends as Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Keith Richards, and Roy Orbison, By Dermot Stokes
30th Anniversary retrospective: From the murders of Tupac and Biggie to the bizarre implication of Marilyn Manson in the Columbine massacre; from Courtney, Axl and Spector’s falls from grace to the canonisation and demonisation of Peter Doherty... here’s a potted history of the most controversial events in the last 30 years of rock ‘n’ roll.
He’s jammed with Bob Dylan, partied with Keith Moon, sued The Byrds, traded spiky tops with Rod Stewart, had close encounters with Presleys Reg and Elvis and played "name that key" with John Lee Hooker, but arguably the best moment in his life was when he was named small breeder of the year. RON WOOD, the man who would be the queen mum of rock 'n' roll, tells a mean tale.
Words: STUART CLARK. Pictures ROGER WOOLMAN
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.
He’s a legend, an icon and a farmer. His hit singles tally in this country is surpassed only by Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard. He is, above all else, the man who brought... ...us ‘Do You Want Your Old Lobby Washed Down’ and ‘Carrots From Clonoun’. Behold the unexpurgated brendan shIne on sex, drugs, drink, the accordion, grunge, GATT and Donie Cassidy’s wig. Interview: Liam Fay. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
The Stunning's new EP, Deja Voodoo, features cover versions of Beatles, Byrds, Dylan and Captain Beefheart tracks. But what about the more intriguing and embarrassing records that lurk within Steve Wall's collection? Olaf Tyaransen investigates and unearths a few surprises like The Goons, BBC sound effects albums, and ...Barry White?!
Surviving the exit of Darren Emerson, as well as various personal traumas and professional challenges, Underworld have re-emerged with their most positive album yet in 100 Days Off
From that piano-ballad cover of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ to her new-found fascination with Gnostic texts, Tori Amos has remained one of the most compelling and enigmatic solo artists of the past ten years. Here, she fills Peter Murphy in on the intriguing background to her latest album, The Beekeeper, her reasons for relocating to the bucolic splendor of Cornwall, and the difficulties of maintaining artistic integrity in the face of corporate profiteering. Oh, and beekeeping, of course.
A breathtaking variety of acts have come together - as Lennon might have put it - to focus attention on the ongoing genocide in Darfur, under the auspices of Amnesty International.
Fermanagh is a county that s accommodated a rake of musical traditions both past and present. Split by the sibling lakes of Upper and Lower Lough Erin, Fermanagh s musical identity is as diverse as her geography, to the extent that at times there s little or no crossover in musical style from north to south of the county and vice versa.
From Big Tom and the Mainliners to The Cranberries and, indeed, back again, Alan Corcoran, one of the lower-profile 2FM DJ’s, has been there, seen that, played that. An uncommonly committed supporter of Irish music in Irish airwaves, here Jackie Hayden watches him at work and finds out more.
DAVID HOLMES is about to leave his native Belfast for New York City, where he will record his third album. STUART BAILIE took a final opportunity to speak to the artist also known as Homer. On the agenda: Hollywood soundtracks, rumours of brawling, past glories and future plans.
Pics: MICHAEL TAYLOR.
“It’s the toughest thing we’ve ever had to do, it’s broken our fucking hearts.” While the recent sacking of founder member Mark McClelland has taken its toll on Gary Lightbody, the Snow Patrol mainman remains upbeat about their not-at-all-difficult fourth album, supporting U2 and their own stadium headliner in Killarney. Interview by Colin Carberry. Photography by Bradley Quinn
The Waterboys are back, with arguably their most complete record yet, Book Of Lightning. In this remarkably open and honest interview, Mike Scott talks about his songwriting genius, about relationships, his family, his boozy years in Galway - and turning U2 onto Greenpeace.
With the death of Johnny Cash two weeks ago, music’s Mount Rushmore finally crumbled. From the hell-raising country outlaw of the ’60s to his final incarnation as a patriarchal figure intoning songs of guilt and redemption, Cash’s voice resonated down through the years with undimmed intensity. In this special Hot Press tribute to the Man In Black, Peter Murphy talks to Cash collaborators Sandy Kelly and U2, and recounts the turbulent life and times of one of the most iconic figures in 20th century music
He may have two Oscars, two Golden Globes and a string of hit movies to his name, but Denzel Washington remains as down to earth as it’s possible for a member of Hollywood royalty to be.
He has warts on his face, chemical paste in his blood, viagra in his dick and a heart full of rock 'n' roll. "There are occasions when I do preach temperance," Lemmy tells a startled STUART CLARK Woooooargh! Photography: SIMON ROCHE
What on earth is milky-white, squeaky-clean, God-fearin PAT BOONE doing,
wearing leather
and studs and singing heavy metal anthems? JOE JACKSON delves behind the year s most bizarre comeback to extract a rare and fascinating interview with a man who once alienated rockers and now finds himself ostracised by Christians.
RICHARD THOMPSON s new album Mock Tudor consolidates his position as one
of the most articulate and influential songwriters around. GEORGE BYRNE met him.
Having survived the Stone Roses and a spell in jail, IAN BROWN briefly toyed with the idea of a career in gardening before re-inventing himself as the man most likely to bridge the gap between rock and dance. Ahead of his appearance at Homelands, he talks to RICHARD BROPHY.
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
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.
It's been a long strange trip and no mistake, one that describes a discernible line from
Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music through to the Handsome Family.
But there's even more going on beneath the surface. GREIL MARCUS, the music critic's music critic,
is PETER MURPHY's guide on a mystery train whose other passengers include Elvis Presley, Robert Johnson, Mark Twain, Nick Cave, The Blair Witch, Bill Clinton, The Band, Siniad O'Connor, Beck, William Burroughs, William Faulkner and Bob Dylan. And that's just the first class carriage. All aboard
