Niall Stokes: As the drummer in a band, you re occupying a seat that s normally occupied by men.
Caroline Corr: It s a natural thing for boys to go for instead of girls. But I think there should be a lot more females playing. I don t know why they don t.
At the end of another eventful year, Andrea Corr takes time out to reflect on life, death, love, health, music and her role, off-stage and on, in the family that plays together. Interview: Niall Stokes
Niall Stokes: With this record you took on responsibilities as a group which were significantly greater than had been the case before, in terms of shaping the record, being involved in production. How did that affect the process?
Making her solo debut, Andrea Corr has set about re-casting herself as a vampish singer with a taste for dark beats and sultry wordplay. In a forthright interview, she talks about her unexpected re-invention.
Niall Stokes: People would make an assumption that since The Corrs have sold millions of records, you ve already got it made. Does it feel like that to you?
Niall Stokes: As a band you took more responsibility with In Blue you have a greater level of input into the production and so on. Was that a strain when you were doing it?
When Sharon Corr visited the townships in South Africa, she vowed to contribute to the drive, spearheaded by Irishman Niall Mellon, to build real houses for the underpriveleged citizens of Cape Town.
Not content with dueting with Bono at the Live 8 finale in Edinburgh, Andrea Corr hits the big screen again this month in a 25-minute thriller called The Bridge.
She mightn’t be 13, but that hasn’t stopped Andrea Corr having her own Bebo page, which includes 30 second previews of three songs from her upcoming Ten Feet High album.
Ten Feet High is surprisingly playful, but in a serious way. For the most part, Corr and producer Nellee Hooper have fashioned a hybrid of high street pulses, airy melodies and acoustic chamber pop.
Jim Corr-endorsed four-piece Karrier have wowed the Dublin indie circuit and supported Pink at Malahide Castle. Now, the band are looking to make a big impact with their debut album.
U2, Andrea Corr, The Dubliners, Sinead O'Connor and Kila are among the acts who will appear on tonight's Late Late Show to perform their tribute to Ronnie Drew.
If you’ve been aching for a twee diddle-de-di confection set in the depressingly prehistoric Ireland of the '60s, then The Boys And Girl From County Clare is guaranteed to float your boat like no flick since Waking Ned.
Andrea Corr as the "local girl" who falls for a fiddle player from Liverpool? Yep, when she reignites her acting career to star in romantic musical-comedy the Great Ceili War
THE CORRS' public image is one of unblemished beauty and soaraway success. But beneath the pop sheen lurk the darker lyrical themes of Andrea
Corr.
JOE JACKSON talks to her about the inspiration behind some of the Corrs' biggest hits, hears her anger at recent critical reaction and finds out what "Ireland's sexiest woman" really thinks about love, sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll and the whole damn thing.
The idea for Home, an album of Irish songs, has been on the agenda for The Corrs for a number of years. But its release marks an important stage in the evolution not just of the band, but of lead singer Andrea Corr – who has been exploring new ways of expressing herself as an artist with increasing poise and confidence.
By any standards, The Corrs are an extraordinary phenomenon. It won't be long before the combined global sales of their albums to date top the 20 million mark. In Ireland alone, by the end of the year, they will have sold over a million records - at which point they may well have established themselves as the biggest-selling Irish act of all time on home turf.
The second day of the Music Show brought together James Bond composer David Arnold, Enya producer Nicky Ryan, Christy Moore, Sharon Corr and... The Blizzards
The Corrs hit paydirt with In Blue, an album of memorable pop songs that topped the charts in over twenty countries around the world. It gave them the breathing space they needed to re-establish their roots, to live a little and to reassess their purpose as a band. Now, with the release of Borrowed Heaven, they’re back in the music biz frontline – slightly older, considerably wiser, but still with the same hunger to make great and honest records.
As revealed earlier in the year, Bono, Andrea Corr and Gavin Friday are among the artists contributing to the CD Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys.
U2, Simon Carmody and Kila have led a collaboration on a special tribute to Ronnie Drew, which was recorded in Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, over the past few days.
The name is unfamiliar (and let's face it, absolutely ridiculous) but in the States they have notched up Grammy nominations and hit singles to beat the band. Of course, the fact that they have received such plaudits is no indication of quality. In fact, Sixpence None The Richer come across as an indie version of The Corrs, complete with titles like 'We Have Forgotten' and Andrea Corr-style vocals from Leigh Nash.
Gavin Friday has been talking about his involvement in a Johnny Depp-inspired project that also involves Bono, Andrea Corr, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Bryan Ferry, Antony & The Johnsons, Richard & Linda Thompson, Loudon Wainwright and some of his former Virgin Prunes bandmates.
With Bono and Simon Carmody orchestrating it, and Kila minding the gap, the recording of a tribute to one of the most important and widely loved figures in the history of Irish music turned into a very special occasion indeed.
Lunar Records supremo Brian Molloy has enlisted the help of such luminaries as Bertie Ahern, Eamon Dunphy and Bono in the making of voices and poetry of Ireland, a one-off CD being released to benefit the homeless this Christmas.
GEORGE MARTIN was intrinsic to much of The Beatles brilliance. Now he s coming to Dublin for a series of special concerts. GEORGE BYRNE sets the scene.
The Corrs Talk On Corners was the biggest-selling album of 1998 in the UK. So far it s shifted 6 million copies worldwide and rising. And now the band are set to embark on their American campaign, with who knows what ultimate destination at journey s end. So they ve had it easy, eh? It s all a big marketing scam, masterminded by the moguls in the American record company that signed them? We thought you d like to know so we put these and other accusations to someone who should know, their manager of nine years, john hughes. And got some interesting answers too. Interview: niall stokes.
The mother of Philip Lynott has seen her home in Dublin double as a place of pilgrimage for fans of the Irish rock legend – and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
He may be better known as manager of The Corrs – but John Hughes has been a musician for well over 30 years. Besides, with a US top 50 album to his credit in the 1980s, his new record – the remarkable Wild Ocean – is just the latest instalment in an extraordinary journey that has taken him close to the edge and back. interview: Niall Stokes
The glitz and glamour is but the tip of the iceberg a lot of blood, sweat and tears has also gone into making THE CORRS the huge success they are. And it s not just about the music either the tricky business they call show has to be negotiated too. NIALL STOKES gets the inside story from the captain of the ship, manager JOHN HUGHES, with supporting testimony from some of the crew.
His good humour apparently unblunted by years of drug addiction, Aslan’s Christy Dignam talks about heroin, sexual abuse and his belief in the redemptive power of music.
He is one of our highest profile broadcasters and journalists. Now in his new book, Last Word host MATT COOPER looks at the rot and corruption that festered beneath the surface of the Celtic Tiger. He talks about the sense of anger he feels over the mismanagement of the economy, the damage wrought by the Bertie Ahern years and the apparent unwillingness of RTE to give him any publicity
the biggest grossing tour of the year or just the grossest tour of the year? Jackie Hayden encounters tales of everyday madness and sadness in the trail of St Therese
John Walshe had a ringside seat for all the music, speeches, laughs and tears that made the 2002 hotpress Irish Music Awards in Belfast a night to remember.
Back in the '60s the MC5 made it on to the CIA's 'Most Wanted' list. Now, they're a chi-chi fashion accessory beloved of Jennifer Aniston and her Hollywood pals. Guitarist Wayne Kramer explains it all to Stuart Clark.
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
From the profound and the insightful to the weird, funny and just plain daft, Paul Nolan rounds up what the famous and infamous had to say for themselves in 2004...
They re calling it Little Africa, this area close to Dublin s city centre where the country s first real ethnic quarter is slowly taking shape. Peter Murphy reports on the birth pangs of a new kind of Irish nation. Photography: Peter Mathews
It's head-scratching, nail-biting, on-the-tip-of-your-tongue time again, as GEORGE BYRNE presides over our renowned annual music quiz [this is for the year 2000]
The Dublin-born editor of Marie Claire, one of the world's most successful magazines, answers to charges that her title promotes hypocrisy, air-headedness, sexism and sycophancy. remarkably, she doesn't throw troublesome Hotpress out of her office
The new Hot Press follows hot on the heels the biggest weekend in Irish rock 'n' roll history, with The Ultimate Oxegen report, plus a world exclusive REM interview.
It’s the guide Ladbrokes, the Central Bank, Mystic Meg and Mark Lawrenson turn to at the start of each year – Jackie Hayden’s cultural, sporting and political forecasts for the forthcoming twelve months.
Ahead of their return to Ireland, Muse reveal they’re about to go through their U2 phase, talk about magic mushrooms and explain why, when it comes to conspiracy, they’re on Jim Corr's side.
It's all changed for DAVID GRAY. Within the past month he has played a series of sell-out gigs across the US, gone top ten in the UK, and returned to this country to celebrate the release of Lost Songs. In a hotpress exclusive, NIALL STANAGE reports from New York, Boston, London and Dublin on the globalisation of Ireland's favourite Welshman. Hotshot hitman: STEVEN FISHER
The CDs and DVD from the Nelson Mandela AIDS awareness show will be heavily Irish in their content; Plus more news from the U2 camp with a photo retrospective tipped for publication
He’s an odd fish is Todd Solondz, and Palindromes – his most politically charged and controversially comic horror to date – will surely and calculatedly polarize folks even more than the cruel soap-opera of Happiness and Storytelling. Some punters will undoubtedly find Palindromes’ brilliantly caustic treatment of abortion and paedophilia to be funny ha-ha, while more sensitive (and possibly humourless) others will deem Mr. Solondz’s efforts as funny-get-the-mace-spray-out-peculiar.
Phantom 105.2's arts show The Kiosk is coming over all Vinyl Curtain-like this weekend with a special summer pop-culture quiz designed to test the brains of some of Dublin's hardiest hacks.
...here's the Hot Press Irish Music Awards, and a massive bash avec much live music is pencilled in for Belfast in April. Read on for the categories and nominees in full
Here Dillon brings her warm, natural style to standards like ‘Black Is The Colour’, ‘Lark In The Clear Air’ and ‘I Am A Youth That’s Inclined To Ramble’.
It’s certainly plain to see how their teaming of sentimental, wide-eyed AOR and neo-trad power choruses is a hit with the audience, and they are indisputably talented, yet there is still something about the Corrs that strikes me as somewhat bloodless. Perhaps it’s me, for I haven’t seen an audience in the Point so animated and enthusiastic in ages.
As U2 get ready to launch their Vertigo World Tour in San Diego, a whole gaggle – or should that be whoop? – of Irish artists have covered their songs on the Today FM supported Even Better Than The Real Thing.
The Hot Press Irish Music Awards proved to be as keenly contested as ever with U2, Ash and The Corrs emerging as big winners. But the number of awards acknowledging nascent talent prove there’s more heavy-hitters waiting in the wings
The Corrs sign up with the planet's leading "sports, entertainment and lifestyle" marketing agency (other clients: the Williams sisters, Man United) - and, in other news, get barked at by Iggy Pop
Awards by the dozen, celebrities wall-to-wall, gobsmacking world exclusives and of course, great music: it can only be the Hot Press Irish Music Awards. Only 24 hours to go - here's how it's all shaping up
hotpress.com can reveal the line up for the 2004 Heineken Green Energy Festival, which returns to Dublin on the June Bank Holiday weekend - June 4th through 7th - in the courtyard of Dublin Castle.
With any collection of this sort, some tracks don’t work as well as others. However, there are so many highlights here that it seems churlish to focus on the few that don’t work.
This Cape Breton quintet have been on the road almost a decade now, and Uprooted finds them asserting their independence and hankering after the traditional Nova Scotian sound at one and the same time.
The sun slicing through the Dublin evening skyline makes the after-work traffic bearable on the hike out to furthest Rathfarnham. Indeed, the gridlock is so bad that we miss the start of Interpol and have to be content to hear the masterful ‘NYC’ and the driving ‘Obstacle One’ while walking down the leafy path that leads to the venue.
Four years is a hell of a long time in pop music – the fact that The Corrs could afford to lay low for such an extended period is a testament to the band’s confidence in their audience...
hotpress.com can exclusively reveal the hundred or so acts that are getting offered a slot at the prestigious Hard Working Class Heroes Festival 2005. Selected by over 25 judges including the likes of Thrills & Humanzi manager Allan Cullivan
The illustration by David Rooney in the last issue of Hot Press, depicting a priest marturbating, was offensive not just to the clergy but also to women. At least that's what one caller to Joe Duffy claimed. It got us thinking as we prepared the Hot Press Women's Issue (though not, we have to say, for very long....)
Rogues Gallery, can be roughly – if fancifully – described as a Hallowe’en masqued ball staged on a decrepit ghost galleon. Featuring a cast of hundreds arrayed over two albums and 43 tunes, it’s an unruly assembly whose various belchings, bilgings and bemoanings lurch in tone and timbre from the bawdy to the doleful.
With RTE’s new eight part mockumentary television series The Unbelievable Truth rustling feathers of the fans of our most high-profile celebrities in music and sport, Jackie Hayden spoke to its presenter Colin Murphy about celebrity, envy and er, beetroot.
Hot Press gets saucy with a steamy Samantha Mumba shoot. Also, Sinead O'Connor goes wild in Jamaica, Damien Dempsey takes on the world and Andrea Corr fronts our women's issue.
You may love them or loathe them but we'll bet you never thought THE CORRS played "British regional music". Peter Murphy observes The Observer getting its nationalities in a twist
The Electric Picnic couldn’t have been any more inspiring (weather excepted). Now, roll on the Music Show....
Electric Picnic. It marks the end of the summer, and the beginning of the academic year when people start to trudge back to schools and college. It is a moment when you start to anticipate the darkness falling down around us, the days getting shorter and then shorter again, till the watershed weekend arrives when the clocks go back, and the winter comes stealing in.
