Danielle Brigham catches up with new Britrock darlings The Futureheads to discuss their recent gigs in, respectively, a ski resort and the biggest shopping mall in the world, touring with Franz Ferdinand, appearing on The OC soundtrack and their collaboration with Bloc Party.
Seven Irish newcomers – including Halves, Grand Pocket Orchestra, Heathers and The Minutes – gathered for a showcase gig at historic Toronto venue The Hideout.
In a heartfelt interview, Dolores O’Riordan talks to Hot Press about her new solo record, her decision to move to Canada and the debilitating effects of fame. Plus, why a Cranberries reunion may be a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’.
Freeland shows his eclectic side on this enjoyable compilation with assured (and very subtly tweaked selections) from Jape, M83, Interpol, TV On The Radio, PJ Harvey, Funkadelic and Boards Of Canada. And scarcely a breakbeat in sight.
It seemed inconceivable a few years back that a nine-piece orchestral-pop outfit from Canada could become more relevant than The Strokes, but Funeral’s devastating blend of songcraft and sonic ambition made it all possible.
Once in a while, a great album by an unknown producer appears and this year, the great discovery is Milosh. Hailing from Canada, he makes plaintive, reflective electronic music, but what sets him apart from all the other laptop producers is his ability to approach his craft from a pop sensibility. Layered electronic tracks like 'The City' and 'My Life' ooze seductive melodies, while the bittersweet break up narrative of 'It's Over' is a crossover hit in the making. Check out Milosh now before he starts soundtracking teen love scenes on The OC.
According to many, the best thing to come out of Canada since Neil Young, Edwards is the complete artist – a great songwriter with a distinctive, slightly ragged voice, a damn good guitar-player and she looks very cool onstage. One thing is certain – she’s unlikely to be appearing at venues this intimate for much longer.
Canada has already given us Celine Dion, but as an apology, they also gave us k.d.lang.
Music Review | Album
56% | 20 Apr 2007
Jackie Hayden
Dry County's unique brand of electro-rock mixes conventional instruments, drum loops, synths, buckets, boxes and a nutritious diet of influences, from the Boards Of Canada to Kraftwerk, The Propellerheads and Radiohead.
The former Bowie backing singer and occasional member of The Cardigans is an award-winning solo star in her native Canada, but given her frequent visits here she seems doggedly determined to break out on this side of the pond. Following her eclectic take on a bunch of Irish classics on last year’s Songs Of Love And Death, she wastes little time in returning with this album of her own material recorded on and off over the past three years.
Singer-songwriter Emm Gryner hails from Canada, but she looks to the Emerald Isle for inspiration on Songs Of Love And Death, interpreting material from an eclectic mix of Irish acts.
With band currently involved in rehearsals in Canada, U2 manager Paul McGuinness (and an eavesdropping fan with super hearing) has revealed some details of what's in store...
Question: Who are God Speed You Black Emperor!? Answer: They're a nine-piece ensemble from Montreal, Canada who refuse to be interviewed, issue press releases or publicity shots, remain wilfully non-specific about who plays what on their records, and are singularly wary of allowing outside forces to interfere with their music. So put that in your pipe and toke it.
SAME LABEL, same country of origin, same release date, different acts, same effect. On the evidence of the treasures currently being produced by the Constellation label, Canada looks like becoming the post post-rock capital of the globe.
SAME LABEL, same country of origin, same release date, different acts, same effect. On the evidence of the treasures currently being produced by the Constellation label, Canada looks like becoming the post post-rock capital of the globe.
SIOBHAN LONG meets RON HYNES, writer of Sonny and hears him talk about Paul Simon, Donegal and the lack of support for artists in his native Newfoundland.
Having admitted that he really doesn’t know what he’s talking about, Brendan Dempsey briefs Paul Nolan on the upcoming Montreal Comedy Festival. and other stuff
Following his arrest on drug smuggling charges, Canadian cannabis seed vendor Marc Emery was intent on a showdown with the US legal system. However, he now faces a lengthy jail sentence.
Canadian songwriter Emm Gryner has released a covers album of Irish rock classics. But what inspired her to tackle Horslips, The Undertones and Gilbeert O'Sullivan? And why didn't The Pogues make the cut?
Having done serious box-office damage in the States, Our Lady Peace are now looking to conquer Europe. Mainman Raine Maida tells Patrick Hedlund why failure is not an option
Patrick Freyne meets synth-rock extroverts Holy Fuck who explain why DIY is the future of music and hold forth on their love for 'stubborn prick' Neil Young.
Traffickers in happy/sad alt.pop, Guillemots are one of the year’s hottest contenders. But don’t believe all that nonsense about them performing with vacuum cleaners.
You can count on it happening at least once a year – an album so singular it cuts through arbitrary notions of taste and unites disparate audiences in a brief consensus.
Canadian songstress Emm Gryner has toured with David Bowie and released a collection of Irish rock covers. Her new album might just be her most ambitious, and mysterious, yet.
So, how was it for you? On reflection, 2003 was a good year but one that offered little in the way of genuine surprises. Not that we didn’t go looking for them. As always the hunt was on to find the next big thing, the one new act that would define 2003 in years to come.
From Sheffield via New York to Montreal, Stars vocalist Tarquill Campbell is happy to fetch up in a place where “loving The Smiths is not against the law, yet”.
Mary Coughlan returns to Midnight At The Olympia on February 4th, but this time it's with an unreserved optimistic outlook, and the determination to put all her troubles behind her. Interview Lorraine Freeney
Seth Rogen is one of the team of stoners behind a string of comedies that have generated a billion dollars at the box office. Pineapple Express is the latest.
‘THE CASE in Ireland of the 14-year-old girl who got pregnant as a result of rape was a key issue in our formation,” said Jessica Neuwirth, President of the New York based organisation of Equality Now.
Torquil Campbell, singer with Canadian indie achievers Stars, is a thoroughly nice guy – when he’s not plotting to put photographs of his naked, crucified, Spiddal-born wife on his album covers.
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.
New York, London, Paris, Munich, everybody’s talking about Mylo’s music. The 25-year-old dancefloor maestro here sounds off to Steve Cummins about touring the globe, the challenges of following up his acclaimed debut album, and why maruading chavs won’t be enough to dissuade him from moving to Essex.
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.
IT MAY be hard to explain, but we’ve all witnessed great acting – in our favourite movie, play or television programme (or simply when your lover claims that she, or he didn’t betray you, despite the fact that you caught them in the act).
It’s a rags to riches fairytale of Disney proportions, but winning the overall prize in the Global Battle of the Bands contest, a world tour and E85,000 is just part of Kopek’s story.
COLM O'HARE meets SCOTT YOUNG, father of Neil, and a renowned journalist, author and broadcaster in his own right. In this rare interview he talks about his best-known subject - his famous son.
As world leaders gather for crucial trade talks in Hong Kong, it is essential that the voices of the poor are heard. words Niamh Garvey, Policy and Advocacy Officer, Christian Aid Ireland.
Tom Foote came to writing late in life but in Undertow he s produced a fast-moving maritime thriller which reflects his own personal obsessions.
Interview:
Olaf Tyaransen.
PIX:
AONGUS McMAHON
Tom Foote came to writing late in life but in Undertow he s produced a fast-moving maritime thriller which reflects his own personal obsessions.
Interview:
Olaf Tyaransen.
PIX:
AONGUS McMAHON
The Irish club scene has been plunged into controversy with the decision to force a number of clubs to close earlier. Meanwhile the threat of a 1.30am curfew has not gone away.
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.
…And head out on the highway. Oh, and take a notebook while you’re at it. Those were Hot Press’ instructions to acclaimed singer/songwriter Mark Geary as he hit the road with The Frames in the good ol’d US of A. And as the following account of spellbinding shows, irate audience members, near-death experiences and suspicious cops shows, it was a hell of a trip. Photography by Shawn Lynch.
You might think that the Crash Test Dummies are a strange bunch now but you should have seen them four years ago! Dan Roberts and Mitch Dorge tell Stuart Clark how a big-haired Winnipeg bar band with a penchant for the Clancy Brothers have managed to hit the big time. Pix: Cathal Dawson
You can tell how highly regarded she is by the number of top stars who want her to sing with them. But for Emmylou Harris such collaborations are a two-way street.
Hot Press readers worldwide want to know about Bono for president, Larry for lead singer, that mysterious tattoo, the greatest book, and more. Bono and Larry smoulder on the coals of the hp mixed grill
TV coverage of Ireland's ethnic minorities has, until now, been restricted to news stories about immigration and racism. MONO, a new ten-part series from RTE, aims to change all that. NIALL STANAGE met the show's presenters, BISI ADIGUN and SHALINI SINHA. Photo: CATHAL DAWSON
Domestic metal bands may find it difficult to make themselves heard over their hipper contemporaries, but Dublin rockers Mike Got Spiked look set to add to their growing army of devotees courtesy of their scorching debut album, Caveat Emptor.
The Centre for Public Inquiry is a new Dublin-based and privately-funded organisation recently established in Ireland to monitor aspects of public importance in our political, public and corporate spheres. Frank Connolly, the investigative journalist given the role of the Centre’s executive director, helps Jackie Hayden with some inquiries of his own. Photography by Cathal Dawson.
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.
The bright lights of Toronto beckoned for Leeside electro-poppers Fred as they kicked off their North American tour with a turn at the prestigious North by Northeast festival.
Everyone's favourite punk-pop pranksters Fight Like Apes report exclusively from their recent trips to Canadian Music Week and the South By South West indie festival in Austin, Texas.
He’s been the artist to watch for years in Belfast, with a critically acclaimed David Holmes collaboration one of his many achievements. Now Phil Kieran is finally getting around to releasing an album. He talks to Colin Carberry about the long journey from drawing board to completion.
Sigur Rss are the latest highly-rated Icelandic export. They talk to PETER MURPHY about ambition, inventing their own language and the showband circuit
Madness, madness, war. Spin that globe and wonder. We live in murderous and turbulent times. The most awful century known to history is drawing to a close in much the same way as it dawned.
In the instant world of pop music, it would be fair to say that life can be a bit of a rollercoaster – as some of our homegrown teenybop maestros discovered in 2001. But WESTLIFE and SAMANTHA MUMBA are still riding high.
BY STEPHEN ROBINSON
You know them as heartfelt songwriters. But when they’re not mucking about in the studio, Neil Hannon and Thomas Walsh enjoy nothing more than a game of cricket. And they’re not just in it for the cucumber sandwiches, either.
With the release of their debut album, My German Lover, Hada to Hada's tenure as one of Ireland's best-kept musical secrets may well be over. Siobhán Long talks to Keiran Duddy and Belinda Morris about the craft of song-writing and the dedication
that made the album possible.
tomais o saoire is an Irish immigrant living in New York. He is also HIV positive. This is his heartrending story a tragic tale which includes brushes with alcoholism and depression. Tape: DYLAN FOLEY.
So what’s it really like to take your band from Dublin to New York in search of that elusive breakthrough? Little Ghetto Boys present their diary of a Paddy’s week mini-tour of the Big Apple with special guest appearances by La Rocca, Mark Geary and others...
From hayseed starlet to rookie director, Sarah Polley has certainly travelled a great distance, as demonstrated by her wrenching directorial debut Away From Her.
Driven out of India while filming her latest film. Water, Deepa Mehta talks about protests, effigies and the controversy that follows her wherever she goes.
Cecilia Peck, director of music documentary-political travelogue Dixie Chicks: Shut Up And Sing reminisces about her Dingle childhood and explains what it’s like being part of a great Hollywood dynasty.
Ed Byrne has just finished a smash-hit series of concerts at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre as part of his hundred-date tour but those who are missing him already can tune into the new Network 2 show Just For Laughs which finds him wearing his TV presenters’ hat. and shades.
Donegal three-piece The Revs have in two short years become one of the country's most successful independent outfits, but, as Nadine O'Regan discovers, the majors are beckoning
The current moral panic over binge-drinking is borne out of a 19th century Protestant ethic. Plus, The Hog’s Six Golden Rules for having a good Christmas.
‘Looking after number one’ was the record that kick started Ireland’s passage toward punk, and the man who penned it is still vitriolic about the time and place that inspired the song.
He was a life-long professional fraudster with a criminal record traversing several timezones. Now Elliot Castro has penned a gripping memoir about his, er, exploits.
In the middle of the present rather straitened times, it may seem a bit previous, as they say in Cavan, to be talking about the recession bottoming out. well, actually, in its own rather weary wary piddly way, it is.
The Boomtown Rats are undoubtedly the most important band ever to emerge from - or get out of - Ireland. They've had more front covers, appeared on more radio and TV shows and most importantly sold more records than any Irish group or artist has ever done.
They were the great new hopes of Irish rock. Until, with their second album in the can, they decided to, er, call it a day. Thankfully, Delorentos have changed their mind and are about to step back into the fray with new LP You Can Make Sound. Hot Press joins them for a contemplative walk by the sea.
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.
DESMOND HOGAN'S fight against both indifference and hostility towards his homosexuality has led him to Dublin, London, Berlin, North Yemen and the USA. Along the way he's produced *The Edge of the City* a collage of his observations on different cities, which is how he finds himself in the company of Joe Jackson.
Poetry slam takes poetry out of the hands of academics and puts it on stage in front of an audience. But not everyone thinks this is a good idea, as a recent spat in Galway underlines.
The books of author PATRICK McGRATH depict insanity and psychological breakdown with a detail and accuracy that are second to none. LIAM FAY meets the mental hospital worker-turned-writer to discuss the very particular nature(s) of madness. Pic: CATHAL DAWSON.
By now one of the most esteemed events on the Irish cultural calendar, the Galway Arts Festival 2003 will once again bring you the best in contemporary theatre, literature, comedy and music
Moving Hearts were of the most provocative trad groups to emerge from Ireland, with songs that touched on fraught issues such as the northern troubles. Now they’re back for a much-anticipated reunion show. But will the band stay together in the long term?
Since 1914, the PRS has administered the rights accruing to Irish songwriters, composers and publishers from the use of their music in public places throughout the world. However, the campaign to establish Ireland as a separate territory, with its own independent music rights organisation, has been gathering momentum. Now in a controversial move the PRS have declared that this change can only take place with the approval of two-thirds of the Society’s members in Ireland. Niall Stokes – himself a member of the PRS – examines the issues and concludes that subsidiary status is no longer enough for IMRO.
The books of author PATRICK McGRATH depict insanity and psychological breakdown with a detail and accuracy that are second to none. LIAM FAY meets the mental hospital worker-turned-writer to discuss the very particular nature(s) of madness. Pic: CATHAL DAWSON.
from reagan to bush; from radio free europe to clear channel; from green to reveal; from the sfx to marlay park. REM call time out and Peter Buck fills in the gaps from 1983 to 2003. interview Peter Murphy
Annual article: Phil Kieran and DJ Papillion were two of the outstanding names in a fantastic year for dance music, says Mark Kavanagh. Plus the dance charts of 2005.
Enya's album And Winter Came has taken the charts by storm all over the world, going Top 20 in no less than 21 countries, in its first three weeks on release.
Despite predictable criticism from certain quarters, Sarah McLachlan’s vision of “a celebration of women in music” has made the touring Lilith Fair one of the hottest tickets in rock in 1998. Tim Perry reports.
The Tarzan’s Ambition Best Of album commemorates the achievements of one of this country’s finest songwriters, Doctor Sean Millar. Here, peers & contemporaries pay tribute to the great man.
Over the past decade, Irish society has been transformed, with so called 'foreign nationals' now comprising 10% of the population. So what do they-and the women among them in particular- think of life in Ireland? Is there a risk that the explosion of anger among second-generation immigrant communties in France in recent weeks might be repeated here?
Christmas is the time of the year when thousands of Irish emigrants return home to link up again with families and friends. All over the country, for a brief interlude, towns and villages will come alive with stories, songs, drink and craic. And then all will be quiet again. Gerry McGovern examines the impact of emigration on Irish society – and the sense of alienation which many emigrants feel about their treatment by the authorities here.
How do you follow an album that sells 26 million copies? Since Jagged Little Pill, this is the dilemma that has haunted Alanis Morissette. A decade on, she feels able to come to terms with her whirlwind success.
They're fronted by a dead ringer for Xena, Warrior Princess; they've just won the Heineken Hot Press Best New Band Award; and, like inbreeding, they're big in Alabama. They're junkster, and here, deirdre o'neill and graham darcy tell jackie hayden exactly what they've been up to since they first "trespassed" on the American Dance Charts.
They're hardly typical festival fare, but Interpol know how to leave an impression. Sam Fogarino talks drugs, on the road insanity and being huge in Ireland and Mexico.
Many inadequacies and injustices are coming to light in the practice of birth in Ireland. In the first of a two-part investigation, Adrienne Murphy explores the issues surrounding human reproduction, and the growing desire among women for the right to have natural births. Pix: CAthal dawsoN.
Long before boomtime Ireland there was boomtown Ireland, a country where the national symbol was not a tiger but a rat. to coincide with the release of the best of the boomtown rats, Bob Geldof looks back to the tepid Irish scene of the mid-’70s from which the rats emerged, biting, snarling and laughing, to take on the establishment, Britain and, almost, the world.
Being assaulted by irate audience members at Donnington, working with Iggy Pop, asked to write songs for Britney – and shocking Marilyn Manson’s crowd. It’s all in a year’s work for electro-punk princess and ‘Erotic Performer Of The Year’ Peaches.
Harder, faster, louder... Motorhead have been rocking the planet for the past 26 years. As they prepare to do battle again at the Xtreme festival, Lemmy answers your questions. Warts and all
Irish director Terry George has made one of the most powerful movies of the year in Hotel Rwanda, the Oscar-nominated film that tells the harrowing story of the genocide of the Tutsi tribe by Hutu extremists. Here, the ex-Republican activist – and former hotpress contributor – talks to Tara Brady about collaborating with Nick Nolte, Don Cheadle and Joaquin Phoenix, the challenges of bringing such provocative material to the screen, and why the West's failure to intervene contributed to the scale of the atrocity.
Arguably, the most contentious and controversial Irish political commentator of the last 25 years, Conor Cruise O’Brien’s analysis of Anglo-Irish affairs has always followed its own unique path. However, the scepticism with which he greeted the paramilitary ceasefires as well as his hardline stand on censorship, have led some to question the relevance of this most conservative of political observers. Interview: JOE JACKSON.
Pix: COLM HENRY.
He plays guitar for Springsteen, plays The Clash on his radio show and plays it fast and loose as Silvio Dante in The Sopranos. Colm O’Hare meets the three-in-one Steven Van Zandt
While commercial success hasn't exactly come a-knockin' on his door, Pierce Turner, in stoical mood, tells Liam Fay why he's not all that bothered at the relative lack of lolly rolling in but how with his new live album Manana In Manhattan just released, the wily Wexford wizard believes his time will come.
WILLIAM GIBSON is no ordinary science-fiction writer. Aside from coining such essential nineties' terms as Cyberspace and Cyberpunk, his work has also influenced everyone from computer hackers to scientists developing virtual reality technology. In the rock world, he's regarded as a visionary and artists as diverse as U2, Billy Idol and The Rolling Stones have all claimed inspiration from his novels. Interview: Liam Fay. Cyberpics: Cathal Dawson.
After an initial reluctance to tell the outside world about his predicament, author and poet PAT TIERNEY this year went public about his HIV-positive status, and encountered a far more compassionate response than he had anticipated. Interview: LORRAINE FREENEY
From schlock kingpin to master of understated horror, auteur David Cronenberg has travelled a long way. His latest movie probes the underbelly of Russian criminals in London.
While commercial success hasn’t exactly come a-knockin’ on his door, Pierce Turner, in stoical mood, tells Liam Fay why he’s not all that bothered at the relative lack of lolly rolling in but how with his new live album Manaña In Manhattan just released, the wily Wexford wizard believes his time will come . . . Pic: Cathal Dawson.
The creator of Bowling For Columbine, this year’s most devastating big screen documentary, shoots from the hip on violence, gun control, Charlton Heston, George Bush, satire and the Canadian solution to an American problem
Apathy as much as manipulation has allowed the globalisation myth to flourish. Michael D. Higgins explains the urgent need for economic alternatives and stresses the importance of political activism
RICHARD D. JAMES brings his Rephlex Disco Assault system to Ireland for shows at the Half Moon Theatre, Cork (August 23rd) and the Temple Bar Music Centre, Dublin (24th).
Her split with Damien Rice caused headlines around the music world. Now Lisa Hannigan is taking her first steps as a solo artist with a wonderfully ethereal debut album, Sea Sew. She talks to hot press about the end of her partnership with Rice, her hopes for the future and the influence of romantic entanglements on her powerfully feminine songwriting.
They blasted into the public consciousness at the end of 2005, when 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' became the year's biggest breakthrough No.1. Since then it's been an extraordinary rollercoaster ride for the Arctic Monkeys, with bass player trouble, celebrity fans, EastEnders appearances and a row with fellow newcomers The Feeling to show for their efforts. Oh, and then there's the small matter of shifting nearly two million copies of their debut album...
In the second and final part of our exclusive interview, JONI MITCHELL tells her story from the ground-breaking Blue to the present day.
Having grown increasingly disenchanted with a music biz providing junk food for juveniles it took the classic songs of Billie Holiday and Etta James to restore her faith and give her own career a new lease of old life. Once a romantic always a romantic, she tells JOE JACKSON
In the second and final part of our exclusive interview, JONI MITCHELL tells her story from the ground-breaking Blue to the present day.
Having grown increasingly disenchanted with a music biz providing junk food for juveniles it took the classic songs of Billie Holiday and Etta James to restore her faith and give her own career a new lease of old life. Once a romantic always a romantic, she tells JOE JACKSON
In the second and final part of our exclusive interview, JONI MITCHELL tells her story from the ground-breaking Blue to the present day.
Having grown increasingly disenchanted with a music biz providing junk food for juveniles it took the classic songs of Billie Holiday and Etta James to restore her faith and give her own career a new lease of old life. Once a romantic always a romantic, she tells JOE JACKSON
In the second and final part of our exclusive interview, JONI MITCHELL tells her story from the ground-breaking Blue to the present day.
Having grown increasingly disenchanted with a music biz providing junk food for juveniles it took the classic songs of Billie Holiday and Etta James to restore her faith and give her own career a new lease of old life. Once a romantic always a romantic, she tells JOE JACKSON
KEN RUSSELL is one of the most
controversial film directors of our time. Now, he s published his first novel. OLAF TYARANSEN met him. Pics: CATHAL DAWSON.
GREEN DAY have had a meteoric rise over the last 18 years, from poky Dublin dives to colossal international stadia. But despite their maturing worldview and increasing political articulacy, they’re still as exciting a kick-ass punk rock group as ever.
From her humble origins in Corofin, Co. Clare to The White House, Sharon Shannon has blazed her own unique trail across the landscape of Irish music. Her extraordinary success notwithstanding, she has remained an enigmatic and elusive presence, renowned for the child-like sense of wonder she radiates. Here, for the first time, she opens up, telling her own remarkable story to Hot Press. Interview: Gerry McGovern.
From her humble origins in Corofin, Co. Clare to The White House, SHARON SHANNON has blazed her own unique trail across the landscape of Irish music. Her extraordinary success notwithstanding, she has remained an enigmatic and elusive presence, renowned for the child-like sense of wonder she radiates. Here, for the first time, she opens up, telling her own remarkable story to Hot Press. Interview: GERRY McGOVERN.
Pioneering ambient artist, film-scorer, and producer of choice for everyone from Willie Nelson to U2, Daniel Lanois has assembled one of the most impressive CVs in modern rock. And with his new album, Shine, having just hit the racks, he’s far from done yet, as he tells Peter Murphy
Andy Williams may have a reputation as a bland M.OR. crooner but beneath the squeaky clean showbiz facade lurks an interesting man indeed, who reveals a knowledge of modern art, a past laced with drug use and an unhealthy interest in Shirley Temple. Joe Jackson travels to Branson, Missouri to hear his confessions.
JOHNNY ROGAN didn't write just any old biography - he wrote a book about MORRISSEY which brought down a virtual pop fatwah on his head, with his subject declaring in public that he hoped the author would die a grisly death. Now, with the paperback version just published, the 'controversy' seems to have been given a new lease of life. It's not by any chance a publicity scam, is it? CATHY DILLON puts Johnny Rogan on the spot.
The procedures and policies of the judicial system in Northern Ireland has come, once again, under close scrutiny with the case of the Ballymurphy Seven. Stuart Carolan travels to Long Kesh to hear the stories of Hughie McLoughlin and Mickey Beck, who along with Tony Garland, are the longest-ever remand prisoners in the province.
He began working in music as a drummer, but Dave Pennefather's greatest success has been as MD of Universal Music. Hot Press looks back over the life and times of a man with a larger than life reputation.
Trailing a new album and a new contentment, Dolores O Riordan tells Stuart Clark about how she got rid of her hang-ups and learned to love being a pop star.
Annual article: The Electric Picnic wasn’t just one of the musical events of the year; it also let us chow down and have a natter with some of the top pop combos of the day, including Bloc Party, Gang Of Four and New Order.
Mooks, homies, rat bastards and why Quentin Tarantino is in danger of catching a slap
nope, it s definitely not the Phish interview. jonathan o brien raps with
HUEY MORGAN of the FUN LOVIN CRIMINALS.
Abortion hasn t gone away, you know; rather it s Irish women,
some 6,500 a year, who have to do the travelling while, back home,
the pro-life movement continues to insist that It Can Never Happen Here. TONY O BRIEN of the Irish Family Planning Association believes it s
well past time tht we got to grips with a problem whch, time and again, has dominated public debate while leaving women in the
throes of crisis pregnancy to fend for themselves.
Interview: Siobhan Long. Photography: CATHAL DAWSON
The Christy Moore Interview by Bill Graham
Christy Moore is out on his own. He can't be limited as just a folk singer or a popular artist. Rather he's increasingly an Irish national fixture with an influence far beyond the mere entertainer's reach.
Time magazine dubbed him The Renaissance Man Of Rock . With and without Talking Heads, he s made some of the most innovative music of the last two decades, as well as being an author, photographer, director, sound-track scorer, Academy Award winner, and all-round friendly neighbourhood psycho-killer. David Byrne allowed Hot Press to put him on the couch for thirty minutes when he arrived in Dublin for his recent Olympia Theatre show.
Peter Murphy was there to hear the Head man
talking.
Robert Fisk is one of the most insightful war correspondents on the planet, his reports from Iraq and elsewhere the scourge of spindoctors, warmongers and tin-pot dictators alike. Craig Fitzsimons finds him on the frontline.
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.
Will genetic engineering be a force for good or for evil? And since the genie is already out of the bottle, is even that profound question becoming redundant? GERRY McGOVERN delves into the worrying, wonderful and definitely weird world of genetics. The future starts here.
Credited with being a pioneer in the field of confessional singer-songwriting, it is only now, at the age of 55, that JONI MITCHELL is able to talk openly about the private trauma behind the songs on such classic albums as Blue. On the occasion of the release of a new album Both Sides Now, that sees her revisit some former glories, the legendary Mitchell takes JOE JACKSON on a journey through her personal, and professional history.
This is part one of an exclusive two-part interview
They ve been gigging for 27 years and they were doing Words when Boyzone were still in the balls zone. They are Big Chief Flaming Star, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Little Thunder, Wild Hawk and Dull Knife (not their real names). They are
THE INDIANS
and they hope to still be on the warpath in the next millennium.
LIAM FAY
pow-wows with an authentic showband phenomenon.
The old fashioned virtues of talent and charisma, combined with the latest innovations in media technology, look set to make JACK L Ireland's first superstar of the new millennium. JOHN WALSHE has the inside story on a man who is about to get to The Point.
The old fashioned virtues of talent and charisma, combined with the latest innovations in media technology, look set to make JACK L Ireland s first superstar of the new millennium. JOHN WALSHE has the inside story on a man who is about to get to The Point.
As the Bush-Gore election night morphed into pure strung-out political farce, a footloose hotpress writer found himself hunkered down in Amherst, Massachusetts, the place Emily Dickinson and Dinosaur Jnr have both called home. With smalltown American as his window on the world, this is the view that Peter Murphy got
MORE PEOPLE SMOKE IT IN THE UK THAN GO TO CHURCH, THE AMERICAN LAW JUDGES ADMIT THAT IT'S THE SAFEST THERAPEUTICALLY ACTIVE SUBSTANCE KNOWN TO MAN BUT STILL THE WAR AGAINST CANNABIS RAGES ON. OLAF TYARANSEN EXAMINES THE VESTED INTERESTS WHICH STAND IN THE WAY OF ITS LEGALISATION.
When someone dies in a car crash, alcohol is routinely blamed. But a close look at the figures shows that, beyond the tabloid hysteria, the truth is sometimes very different.
DOLORES O'RIORDAN may have the highest profile but the others are also here to remind you that THE CRANBERRIES are a group. and with the release of their new album wake up and smell the coffee, a happier, wiser, less embattled group than ever before. “all you need is love,” they assure JOE JACKSON
His father, the Rev. Ian Paisley, has been one of the dominant figures in Irish politics over the past 40 years. Now Ian Paisley Jnr is a Junior Minister in the new Northern Ireland administration. So how different is he from his father? And how does he feel about cross border co-operation, education, abortion and homosexuality?
From circus dwarves, incest and lesbian love affairs to severed organs and transvestite Indian brothels, John Irving’s novels are awash with enough tales of screwball sex and lurid violence to make even Quentin Tarantino blush. With his mammoth new 633-page novel A Son Of The Circus just published, the multi-million selling New Hampshire author indulges in a spot of verbal wrestling with liam fay, who discovers why he should keep this particular tête-à-tête purely literary. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
The wild rise and fall of the coke-snorting, heavy boozing, rampantly horny music biz mogul who knew Dylan, Jagger, Jackson, Springsteen and Streisand better than most. And now he’s ready to tell all.
When writer and documentary film-maker Jon Ronson set out to discover the truth about the secret group which conspiracy theorists believe rules the world, he expected an interesting trip. What he didn’t anticipate was a brain-rattling, five year-long odyssey, by turns wacky and scary, that would bring him into contact with neo-nazis, religious fundamentalists, twelve-foot lizards, Mr burns from The Simpsons, David icke, peter mandelson and, ahem, Ian Paisley. Olaf Tyaransen hears the story that’s coming to a bookshelf and television screen near you. undercover pictorIal evidence: Cathal Dawson
Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden? It doesn t get much
better than this. JOE JACKSON goes
backstage for a brief but revealing encounter with Joni and, from a vantage point to die for, finds two 60s legends who can still send shivers up the spine at the end of the millennium.
With the general election approaching, the leader of the Labour Party offers his views on Bob Dylan, Bono, Ali Hewson, Sile De Valera, RTE, Sellafield, The Abbey Theatre, marital breakdown, the decline in power of the Catholic Church, the rise of Sinn Fein, the irrelevance of the PDs, his ambitions for Labour, and the perception of him as a smoked salmon socialist. All this, and the enduring appeal of a certain song
Sci-fi revolutionary and reluctant cyberpunk, William Gibson marks the publication of his new novel pattern recognition by offering Peter Murphy a peek into the present and a brief history of the future.
Brushing shoulders with the likes of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Bertie Ahern is currently all in a day’s work for hugely acclaimed singer-songwriter, Juliet Turner. But, as she tells Hot Press, the singer’s Northern Methodist upbringing has left her with a distaste for the spotlight and an overwhelming desire for creative and personal independence.
In the second part of a major interview concerning his brief as Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht - and his vision for the future of the Arts in Ireland - MICHAEL D. HIGGINS talks about the enormous potential for job creation in the related areas of film, music and heritage, the changes he would like to see in the tax-free status afforded to artists and answers his critics in relation to Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act. Interview: JOE JACKSON
Anti-capitalism, political fundamentalism, life after September 11 and what to tell the kid who has only two stripes on his tracksuit - the celebrated no logo author tells Hotpress about how best to beat the brand.
Widely recognised as the best sports writer in Ireland, Tom Humphries became a key player himself, this time last year, when his interview with Roy Keane led to the departure of the Corkman from Ireland’s World Cup squad. Here, Humphries discusses sports journalism, club versus country, soccer in Croker, the Michelle Smith scandal and, of course, Roy Keane, his part in his downfall. [Pics Mick Quinn]
With the focus of world attention increasingly on Unionism and its capacity to respond positively to the IRA ceasefire, IAN PAISLEY JNR. – the son of Dr Ian Paisley – talks about culture and the Protestant identity, about his father’s emotive brand of politics, about secret deals and about ‘that petty little Fuehrer’ Albert Reynolds. Interview: Joe Jackson. Pix: COLM HENRY
The HP-7 Summit is back with Michelle Doherty, Rocky O'Reilly, Niall Breslin, Mark Greaney, Niamh Farrell, Messiah J and Danny O'Donoghue sat around the only table that matters this Christmas.
U2, Elvis Costello, The Pogues, The Waterboys, Emmylou Harris, Hothouse Flowers, The Everly Brothers, Christy Moore just some of the dozens of artists who contribute to an adventurous new five part TV series which traces the extraordinary return journey that Irish traditional music has made to America and beyond. Here, Liam Fay previews the programmes, talks to Philip King who originated and nurtured the project and hears many of the participants explain how they discovered the importance and influence of Irish music.
OUT FROM BEHIND THE GREASE-PAINT THAT ADORNS HIS FACE ON THE COVER OF ‘SPIKE’, ELVIS COSTELLO EMERGES TO TALK ABOUT THE MUSIC THAT RUNS IN HIS FAMILY FROM BIG-BAND TO SPEED-METAL, HIS MUCH-TOUTED IRISH CONNECTION, WORKING WITH PAUL McCARTNEY, HIS CONTEMPT FOR MUCH OF TODAY’S POP MUSIC AND THE FEELINGS THAT INSPIRED HIS DEATH-WISH FOR MARGARET THATCHER.
They love Ireland and Ireland loves them. As the Arcade Fire ramp up for world domination, the band talk about love, death, war and making music in churches.
The drink, the drugs, the fights, the sex, the loves, the hates, the hits and the Taoiseach's daughter - here are Ireland's most successful boy band as you've never heard them before.
Hearing their confessions: Joe Jackson
Tim Easton is currently delighting audiences around the country as part of Easton, Stagger, Phillips, with dates in Waterford, Dublin and Derry still to take place
Underwater Cinematographer takes a few listens for the material to take hold, but the moments where The Republic bring it all together are worth waiting for.
As you might expect, the sound and mixing quality falls down on a track or two, but for the most part it’s of an extremely high standard, and there are some real gems here.
It's kind of hard to get over-excited about this relatively faceless kind of electronica as so much of it is often hit and miss - with a thin line between one and the other. Happily, the majority of the 11 tracks here remain on the right side of the line
Reluctant to follow in the tradition of 'toilet tour' promotion, Autamata will be selling his music - and a few cars - when his track 'Fragments' features in an American TV ad for Mitsubishi
A pivotal figure within Dublin’s psycho-rock scene, he’s been threatening something special for some time, and praise be, The Sins of Sainte Catherine is a fine representation of his considerable talent.
The Dears seem set to storm Europe with their second offering, the literary and apocalyptic No Cities Left, a cinematic symphony about the death of one world and the birth of another.
Apparently the quartet used to rely a lot more on synths than guitars, but the recruitment of the wonderfully named Dante DeCaro on six-string evens up the balance somewhat, with keyboardist Steve Bays taking up the mic for these short, sharp stabs of infectious and off-kilter post-punk pop, with barely time to draw breath.
As a documentary following the American quadriplegic rugby team, there’s obviously plenty of inspirational punch-the-air moments on offer, but directors Shapiro and Rubin wisely ignore opportunities for sentiment.
Undoubtedly the most accomplished film-maker in Quebec – not that there’s vast competition for that accolade – Denys Arcand’s output is always worth a look, though you need to go back to 1990’s gob-smackingly pretentious but hugely entertaining Jesus Of Montreal to find the last time one of Arcand’s films commanded significant international attention.
Tributes have been pouring in, following the death yesterday of the remarkable Irish musician Tommy Makem. Aged 75, he died after a lengthy battle with lung cancer.
Super Extra Bonus Party may yet be diagnosed with a severe case of musical ADHD, but isn’t it better to deliver sporadic, scattershot brilliance, than to remain consistently ordinary?
Following on from the orgy of excess that was the Christmas and New Year period, we’re sure that you’re all trying to undo the damage by cutting down on calories and making regular trips to the gym. Us? Well, we’re planning to spend even more time in 2004 sitting on our big fat wobbly arses.
Paul O'Reilly brings us Songs; Luc and the Platelets and The Warlords Of Pez say Let's Battle in the Storehouse; and Leagues and Robert Stephenson get famous
With the Cranberries no more (or at least on an extended sabbatical) it was only a matter of time before their crystal-voiced singer struck out on her own.
Newly crowned Rose of Tralee, Aoife Kelly, tells Amanda Allen her style secrets as well as a few style disasters – whatever you do don't call her ‘Socks’!
Maps are hardly promising material for movie adaptations, representing only the surface of things with no attempt to reveal their character or real flavour. You read the lines of a map, not between them.
On the back of five years’ worth of movies that either overtly or covertly address Iraq and the War On Terror, Rendition feels a little late coming out of the starting gates.
Never mind the Oscars or the grammys, the award that all mantelpieces are desperate to have plonked on them is a Cassa. Tux and dickie-bow on, Tony Cascarino chooses his favourite footballing moments, games and players of the year.
A new initiative from Musicbase could help to win more airspace for Irish music here. It's just one of a range of ideas floated by industry leaders. Report: NIALL CRUMLISH.
A new Dublin-based operation claims to be about to revolutionise the music business by adopting a non-contractual, non-A&R approach to releasing records via key internet music stores. Jackie Hayden talks to the company’s mainman Denver Thomas.
t's difficult to conceive of a more suitable environment for Decal's moody electronica or Coil's foreboding ambient compositions than the baroque surroundings of City Hall
The decision by the DEAF organisers to take electronic music out of the clubs and into more unorthodox venues is increasingly looking like a masterstroke. It's difficult to conceive of a more suitable environment for Decal's moody electronica or Coil's foreboding ambient compositions than the baroque surroundings of City Hall.
Hungry Hill (Canada), The Jeff and Vida Band (USA), Sunnyside (Czech Republic) and Buffalo Gals (UK) are among the highlights of this year's Guinness International Blue Grass Festival.
Blame Canada. And a bit of Portugal, apparently. Nelly Furtado is a twenty-three year old singer-songwriter who's 'I'm Like A Bird' single has proved a hit in the US, and if I'm not very much mistaken it's not going to be her last.
Jim Sheridan’s wonderful In America forces us to think seriously about many things: family, children, immigration and the importance of making movies in Ireland.
Some people reckon that Bob Dylan has sold out by flogging his music on a lingerie commercial. but our consumer affairs correspondent disagrees and has some even better ideas for Irish rockers
JOAN OF ARSE, with their fierece independence and desire to make lasting music, could become one of Dublin s most important bands. Interview: EAMON SWEENEY.
Dublin singer-songwriter MICHELE ANN KELLY has been nominated as “Advocate of the Month” by the Marriage Equality campaign, having declared her support for the concept of Marriage Equality by dedicating a share of proceeds from the sale of her current single ‘Time’ to the campaign.
It’s been a long, hot, muggy day, but Galway’s weather still won’t piss or get off the pot. A short, sharp shower would actually be extremely welcome, but the heavily pregnant clouds just tease with the prospect of rain. On the plus side, the evening skies over the Fisheries Field are appropriately shaded for the musical night ahead (sorry, but it’s an unbreakable rule of music journalism that every David Gray live review must contain at least one pun on his surname).
Morty McCarthy, drummer with the Sultans of Ping and unreconstructed Corkman, is teaching English in Stockholm University. He gives us the lowdown on local attractions.
Following in the footsteps of such luminaries as W.B. Yeats, Ray McSharry and Tommie Gorman, western folk heroes Dervish have recently been honoured as Free Men of Sligo.
In the aftermath of the horrific report into institutional child abuse, let us not forget that the higher echelons of the Catholic Church was perfectly aware of the evil being perpetrated in its name – and refused to do anything.
Opinions are somewhat divided on the future of trad – some feel the music should retain its explicit links with the past, while others contend that the only way for the genre to survive and flourish is through stylistic diversification. Plus the usual round-up of news from around the country.
Ireland has long been acknowledged as one of the richest and most exciting sources of musical talent in the world. Against that background, Hot Press has consistently argued that the Music Industry here is potentially a major source of wealth and jobs. As well as creative fulfilment and spiritual sustenance. To realise this potential fully, however, will involve imaginative policy-making by the government, as well as a commitment to creating the kind of climate in which indigenous Irish music, and musicians, can flourish.
Controversy rages about whether the papers should have published the story about Michael Cleary being a da. What fun. Some say The Phoenix was way out of line printing the yarn when his corpse wasn’t cold in the grave. Others engage in earnest disputation as to whether the story is actually true.
It sounds like a conspiracy theory. But fresh documentary evidence suggests that the US covertly orchestrated the establishment of the EU – and that a prime mover was an Irish-American secret agent who had had dinner with Hitler.
In today's music industry, it s vital that artists know as much as possible about the key business decisions they will be called upon to make. JACKIE HAYDEN talks to some of the organisations which are there to help.
America may be a conservative place in many respects – but in fact we owe our modern sense of sexual freedom to great American pioneers, from Alfred Kinsey to Annie Sprinkle…
It reads like a scene from Twin Peaks but turns out to be far stranger than any fiction. Bill Graham dons his best John Travolta strides and eavesdrops on the American slants being given to Irish traditions at the Green Linnet Folk Weekender.
Pix: DAVID NEWTON.
Twelve months ago The Cranberries were unknown outside of the hippest rock circles, now with the platinum success of Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? they stand as the first Irish band to genuinely crack America since U2.-Much of the media attention given to them has focussed on Dolores O’Riordan, a singer whose unique approach to her craft underlines the defiantly independent path the group has trodden all the way to the top of the Billboard charts. Here she talks to JOE JACKSON about what by any standards has been a perfect year. Pix: Michael Quinn.
Colm O'Hare turns over a new leaf or two from the huge variety of publications on the shelves this Christmas, from rock biographies to more general Irish published works. So, for those of you who like your entertainment between the covers, read on . . .
Having reported in Hot Press ten years ago on a riotous week at the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, the time seemed ripe for Olaf Tyaransen to make a return trip.
