Imaginative variations on the theme *The Pure Thrill of Living* were the focus of attention at the 9th Smirnoff Young Designer Awards which took place in Trinity College, Dublin recently.
Released in 1999 Paddy Casey’s debut album went double-platinum, establishing him as one of Ireland’s brightest prospects. but the intervening four years have seen that crown slip, as a succession of homegrown singer songwriters battled their way into contention, outstripping him in terms of record sales – and hard graft. now casey is back in the frame, with his long-waited follow-up, the cheekily titled Living – an album that sees him gloriously back on top of his game. why did it take four years to make? the answer to that burning question may go back even further. because Paddy Casey’s life story is truly a remarkable one.
Having scored critical and commercial success – not to mention putting Irish cinema on the map with the likes of My Left Foot and In The Name Of The Father – Jim Sheridan has now mined his own past for in America, a haunting remembrance of the film-maker’s time as a struggling immigrant on the streets of New York.
PETER MURPHY reports on the bureaucratic traps and social hysteria confronting Ireland s tiny immigrant refugee population of 4,000. And he interviews the founder of Immigration Control Platform, Aine Nm Chsnaill.
Stripped of their dignity and forced to endure cramped conditions in lousy holding centres, asylum seekers are the victims of sub-human treatment at the hand of the Irish state.
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.
A Tinsel Town director of the old school, Michael Mann goes back to his ‘80s roots in his new movie, Miami Vice. In a forthright interview he talks about working with Colin Farrell, why he insisted on shooting in Paraguay and explains he’s not as tough as Hollywood gossip would have you believe.
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.
Film types living in Cork will undoubtedly be flocking to Set For Action – The Cork Film Forum, which will be held on Wedneday August 26th in the Firkin Crane Centre beside Shandon.
IT IS no secret that homeless figures in the capital soared with the Goverment's brilliant 'care in the community' initiative. Supposedly intended to reintegrate long-term psychiatric patients back into society, all that seems to have been achieved is the closing down of hospitals and an increase in the numbers of bewildered people living rough, denied the only security they have ever known.
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
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.
Nordic indie sensation LYKKE LI on charming Conan O'Brien, living it up Amy Winehouse-style (well, sort of) and why it's important to keep the odd thing secret from the media...
He used to be a music journalist but now rapper Cadence Weapon is lighting up the hip-hop scene. The Canadian tells us he's not quite as clean living as he's made out to be.
For so many bands, touring is a drag: months on the road away from home; living in the back of a van or a bus; surviving on large amounts of fast food and alcohol. Andy, lead singer with Therapy? enjoys it a hell of a lot and gives his advice to young bands going on the road.
To mark World AIDS Day, JOHN M. FARRELL reports on the continuing socio-political discrimination against those living their lives under the shadow of the deadly virus, and talks to a number of people – mostly teenagers – who fall into the high risk category. This is their story . . .
After a gap of half a lifetime, Steve Wall is back living in the house he grew up in and learning to love DIY. He also recalls his days as a greyhound. Photography by Cathal Dawson
I was living fast, planning to die young and I was probably gonna take a few people with me, says Fatima Mansions firebrand Cathal Coughlan of his descent into a personal and creative nightmare. Now back stronger, healthier and with an acclaimed new album, Lost In The Former West, under his belt, he retraces the highs, lows and kicks in the teeth of the last few years with Liam Fay.
Recorded in the bucolic splendour of County Westmeath, Bloc Party's second album is a labyrinthine concept album about urban living. Better to take a risk, says frontman Kelé Okereke, than to repeat yourself .
Aslan's Billy McGuinness grew up on Dublin's northside. Now, he's living in the sticks loving every minute of it – especially when friends call around for karaoke.
He's famous for asking the questions and sometimes getting unexpected answers. Like when one woman confessed to a distressing three in a bed romp. These days the RTE reporter is a little more circumsect about his own personal life but still outspoken and controversial on the subject of aids.
“I was living fast, planning to die young and I was probably gonna take a few people with me,” says Fatima Mansions firebrand Cathal Coughlan of his descent into a personal and creative nightmare. Now back stronger, healthier and with an acclaimed new album, Lost In The Former West, under his belt, he retraces the highs, lows and kicks in the teeth of the last few years with Liam Fay.
She started as a model, carving out a successful career and living the celebrity lifestyle in the full glare of the cameras. With a well publicised stint on reality TV in LA behind her, she is now one of the hottest properties in British television.
The last word on accommodation, socialising, study tips and living on a basic budget – Hotpress proudly presents your all-purpose student survival guide.
Drunk teenage girls aside, is there anything quite more unappealing than a whinging pop star? Their logic is unfathomable - they make a record, we buy it and make them famous and wealthy, then they make another record telling us how crap their lives are now and try and sell it to us all over again so they can make more money and wallow in more misery.
In another case of “Bono made me do it”, former hotpress-er and U2 biographer Neil McCormick explains to Jackie Hayden how he ended up living near Bob The Builder and about the travails of interviewing all four U2 men on four different continents in the same evening. Photos by Mark Harrison.
25 years into his
career and with a
new album set to be
followed by a video
documentary of his life
and times, liam o'flynn
is the acknowledged living
master of the uileann pipes.
Interview: Sarah McQUAID.
Pics: Colm Henry
As World AIDS day approaches, Stuart Clark travels to Swaziland to witness the devastating impact the virus is having on the country, and discovers how overseas organisations like Skillshare International Ireland are helping Swazis to help themselves.
What the record lacks in lyrical insight, it more than makes up for in charm, so settle back, open a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and make a toast to the good times.
With his first two albums, Streets mastermind Mike Skinner established himself as one of the most eloquent, idiosyncratic and gifted vocalists and worsdsmiths of his generation. But the 27 year old came close to blowing it all on spread-betting and crack, not to mention engaging in an XXX-rated tryst with an unnamed pop starlet. Thankfully, he’s bounced back with the tell-all confessional of The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living.
Recorded in six days and rushed out – first on the ‘net and now as an album release proper – Neil Young’s 32nd album is without a doubt his most controversial. It certainly doesn’t get any more direct than ‘Let’s Impeach The President’ (“for lyin’ and misleading his country to war”), the key track here and the one that’s drawn him the most flak from predictable quarters in the US.
Fiona H. Stevenson aka Fay Wolftree Webb was the gifted Hot Press writer once dubbed the ‘High Priestess of Punk’ in Ireland in the mid-’80s. in later life, having moved to England, she had to cope with the complex and difficult reality of living with manic depression. on December 18, 2003, aged just 39, Fiona died, apparently of a prescription drug overdose. in a personal tribute to Fiona, and as a means of highlighting a major mental health concern, former Hot Press writer Paul O’Mahony here recalls his first love and enduring friend.
He may unashamedly refer to himself as an artist and others may caricature him as a cold fish, but even if he suspects he has spent too much time writing and not enough living, john banville bears scant resemblance to the pompous boffin of popular prejudice. With the publication of his latest novel, The Untouchable, the acclaimed author gets his round in with liam fay. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
It is every boy's wildest fantasy (bar, perhaps, Brett from Suede) to make a living playing with a fantastically successful football side. Craig Johnston was there, saw that and quit while he was ahead. But he has continued to make his dreams real. Gerry McGovern meets the kangaroo who won't be tied down, sport.
Ireland’s biggest transatlantic TV star, Graham Norton has come a long way from his humble beginnings in Bandon. In his new tell-all autobiography, So Me, Norton writes about his tumultuous rise to the top, living in the media spotlight, keeping A-list company and coping with emotional upheaval. “It’s an uncertain time in my life,” he tells Olaf Tyaransen.
Still on a high after his hobnob in the last issue with the Greatest Living Film Director, NEIL McCORMICK nears apoplexy as he gets to extract the closely-guarded secrets of being the Finest Actor in the World Today from DANIEL DAY-LEWIS.
From stardom with Westlife to the breakup of his marriage, and a subsequent attempt to kickstart his solo career, Brian McFadden had an extraordinarily eventful year. With his private life routinely splashed all over the tabloids and controversy currently raging over everything from his latest video to his admiration for Nirvana, he remains in the eye of the storm. In a candid interview with hotpress, he discusses living his life in the media spotlight, his decision to leave Westlife, drink, drugs, sex and the continuing fallout from his break-up with his wife Kerry.
You may not be aware of this – but you, dear reader, are living in one of the most romantic places on earth. That’s according to countless writers and readers of romantic fiction, for whom Ireland and the Irish are bywords for commercial success. On St. Patrick’s Day, a US publishing company will publish Emerald Enchantment, an anthology of all things green, red-haired and romantic. New York-based tara mccarthy, seeking insight into the tragic history of her own romps in the hay with Irishmen, assesses its contents – and has little difficulty separating fact from fiction.
Illustration: MIKEY CROTTY
At last, now it can be told, is that First Cut really the deepest? Andy Darlington explores the phenomenon of skin versus skinless when it comes to living with genital mutilation.
At last, now it can be told, is that First Cut really the deepest? Andy Darlington explores the phenomenon of skin versus skinless when it comes to living with genital mutilation.
The ace bass in the STONE ROSES and PRIMAL SCREAM, MANI is the living embodiment of the concept of largin it . In Ireland to dee-jay and hang out, he sinks a few beers and offers his uniquely colourful thoughts on music, Man U, drugs, Thatcher, Reagan, Blair and Bill Clinton s blow-jobs. Interview: EAMON SWEENEY.
From Oasis to The Ping Pong Bitches, ALAN McGEE is living proof that there s life after
success, excess, Labour, near-death and, oh yes, Creation Records. Even if you re a Rangers
supporter. Interview: STUART CLARK
He may well be RTE s only living intellectual but ANDY O MAHONY, host of The Sunday Show, will long be remembered by many as the man who asked Deirdre Purcell if she ever did the bold thing with Gay Byrne. JOE JACKSON gets the self-styled closet determinist to come out of the closet. Pix: Colm Henry
Live In Your Living Room featuring Eyeslave, Travega, Karrier, Colm Heaney And The Bad DJs, Corsairs + Dali. Six relatively-unknown Irish groups playing half-hour sets, and tonight, the lower-ranked artists are the ones who shine.
Here at Hot Press we like to bring you interviews with the most influential figures of our times. And in Ireland 1999 who is more influential than Ballydung bachelors PODGE and RODGE?
STUART CLARK spoke to the zeitgeist-defining duo about the crucial issues: religion, sex, Mary Black and Jean Butler s minge . Also an entirely unfounded revelation about our esteemed editor. Pics: MICK QUINN.
SUPERMARKETS are currently cutting the price of milk in hopes of enticing business away from the milkman (speaking of which, I have yet to see a milkwoman on the home delivery route.)
This follow-up to his 2005 debut Wax & Seal was recorded on his ingenious Living Room Tour, during which he played at private homes throughout Ireland.
‘Save Myself’ is an unassuming offering that criticiques our modern way of living in much the same way that ‘Oxygen’ did two years ago. If it were by any other artist it would get passed round friends under the radar of most radio stations and possibly disappear into oblivion, but in the hands of Mason, it politely demands attention. Bring on album No. 2, I say.
Another bunch to emerge from some unknown place, Subzero offer much to impress, especially on the glam-rock-pop stomp of ‘Wrecked’ and ‘Watch The Freaks’. The songs are good but suffer from a recording approach that is a little too precise, whereas a bit more grit wouldn’t have gone amiss. At the moment this sounds like a polished studio project rather than a living, breathing band, but there is more than enough here to tempt us back for more.
Don’t you hate it when you become famous and pulling girls just doesn’t hold that challenge anymore? So you go for celebrity girls and find yourself quaking like an acne ridden fool again? Mike Skinner does. The first offering from the similarly-themed LP The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living, ‘When You Wasn’t Famous’ (for that’s the title what it were given), is as packed to the rafters with Skinner’s witty couplets as we’ve come to expect. What’s progressed is the breadth of his musical scope, with some calypso action giving the track a Lilt-friendly feel. A welcome return.
Kind Of Blue was the sound of an album whose time had come, an expression of musical genius that has influenced subsequent generations since it was recorded in 1959, but which could have been made yesterday.
From the opening bars of ‘So What’, Miles Davis takes the listener on a complete musical journey, through a series of improvisations based around simple melody lines, that is as accessible for the novice as for the professional.
Its strength lies in its serenity and its simplicity. Kind Of Blue is the definitive jazz album. It is living musical history and a true American masterpiece.
Uilleann pipers Billy McCormick and Adrian Jefferies grew up together in Carrickfergus, County Antrim. Now they're living on two different continents – McCormick in Killnaboy, Co. Clare and Jefferies in Brisbane, Australia – but they've teamed up to record this unusual album featuring alternating tracks recorded by each player on his respective home turf.
It only took Jay Haze and Samim, aka Fuckpony, a few months to write and record 'Children', but its underlying themes are the result of two lives spent on the edge. Haze and Samim's troubled experiences - including stints living homeless in San Francisco and selling LSD while touring with the Grateful Dead - are not obvious from the predominant musical soundtrack, an unusual mixture of deep old school house and wiry minimalism. However, scratch beneath the surface and cautionary tales like 'Cell Phone Hit' and 'Make Money Hoe' reveal the darker side of life. Their story probably warrants a good book or film, but until Sodebergh comes calling, we'll make do with 'Children'.
Colm Gannon’s melodeon-playing father, John Gannon, emigrated in 1959 from Droim in Connemara to Dorchester, near Boston, Massachusetts, where Colm was born and grew up. Now, following four years on the road with Riverdance, Colm is back living in his father’s home place and has just recorded his first solo album. It’s mightily impressive.
Of the many affecting moments in the recent Arena Pete Doherty documentary, one that sticks out was the final, lengthy shot of Doherty travelling home after a gig, singing along dreamily to Radiohead’s ‘High And Dry’.
After seeing him lost in so many ways, it was rewarding to see him simply lost in music. And rewarding it is, too, to be able to write about Doherty as a musician rather than a red-top hellraiser. I’ve never really bought into all the artist of his generation stuff (The Libertines had a handful of admittedly memorable moments; Babyshambles have been pretty ropey across the board) but this might just be the turning point. For a start, it sounds like a proper record, well produced and actually featuring fully formed songs as opposed to the half-baked ideas of before. Good songs they are too, with three of the five tracks (‘The Blinding’, ‘Beg Steal Or Borrow’, ‘Sedative’] easily up there with his best work. Whether this creative upswing can continue will depend on a lot of obvious factors – this is a reminder of the living, breathing talent behind the tabloid titillation.
Music Ireland ’07 has scored a major coup by getting Prince drummer John Blackwell to grace the Sennheiser Live Stage at the October 5 to 7 event in the Dublin RDS.
(RED), a charity started by U2 frontman Bono, has announced a new initiative to help to raise money for people living with AIDS in Africa, through the medium of music.
Not Loach’s greatest film – arguably, not even one of his better ones – Bread And Roses still beats the living shit out of almost anything else to gain release this year
Music is not an exact science. It’s a living, breathing thing and that’s why we remember great gigs probably more than great records. It’s also why Giveamanakick’s second album bucks the trend and gives you that much sought after visceral thrill.
No, not Jim Morrison who died taking a bath. This Morrison is from England, and his vocal style owes more to Paul Young, although there is a soulfulness that suggests he might have heard that other living Morrison.
WE WERE at a dinner party the other night, meeting some cousins of mine, and our host, hearing Him Beside talking about our going home together, enquired whether or not we were living together.
Like his compadres Dylan, Cohen, Nelson and Prine, Kris Kristofferson’s voice is showing the results of too much living, but it still can convey more passion and commitment than a chartful of boy bands.
Sure, this is Roesy live and dangerous on stage at The Spirit Store in Dundalk, but he might as well have been beamed up into your living room, such is the intimacy and immediacy the album creates, despite its miserly 32 minutes.
If you break film down into the smallest possible grammatical units, then there’s a very good argument for saying that French director Claire Denis (with considerable assistance from DoP Agnes Godard) is the planet’s greatest living filmmaker.
On this evidence, anyone could blag their way through a ‘music’ career. Once again, brother and sister duo Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger have succeeded in committing some of the most frustratingly fragmented, downright odd and abstract sounds in living memory to record.
Anyone who’s been living in Dublin for the last decade may recall the moment of shock when they heard that the scruffy kids who used to sing tunelessly outside HMV on Grafton Street now had a record deal. The 747s should inspire similar thoughts, as lead-men Ned Crowther and Oisin Leech used to hawk their wares to drunken punters under the Bewley’s clock at one in the morning every weekend.
That seems to be the official attitude to the homeless in Ireland. And the stark truth, as the winter cold bites, is that some of those living on the margins almost ceretainly will. How have we let it come to this, when homelessness is a problem that could be solved?
As he left the stage to rapturous applause and chants of ‘Paddy, Paddy’ it seemed somewhat odd that Paddy Casey would later reflect on this, his first London gig since the release of Living, as the worst of his current tour.
Having previously confined his activities to the studio – there’s an 8-track jobbie in his living room – Dukes is now setting his sights on making Headgear work as a live entity.
Imagine growing up in Falkirk, a very small and very rainy village in Scotland, and living a youth of unrequited love, forbidden desires, drinking cans of cider in fields, awkward sexual encounters with female friends and dirty bed sheets. This might help you to understand Moffat’s background and lyrical content, but nothing can prepare you for the brutal honesty and frankness with which he sings.
Thankfully, despite this sickening sobriquet and a fair smattering of Inside-I’m-Cringing moments, you’d have to be one seriously hard-nosed bitch to completely dislike Damien O’Donnell’s third feature. After all, a mainstream comedy dealing with independent living for the disabled is to be broadly welcomed, particularly when it has been given the seal of approval by the Irish Disability Rights Movement.
THE WEIRDEST, most bizarrely-conceived movie in living memory – bar none – Being John Malkovich is practically impossible to get your head around on one viewing, and even harder to coherently explain.
It’s back, it’s better and it’s packing a cucumber. Surely even Johnny Cash’s 1967 conversion to Jesus and clean-living pales beside the current rehabilitation of the documentary...
It’s back, it’s better and it’s packing a cucumber. Surely even Johnny Cash’s 1967 conversion to Jesus and clean-living pales beside the current rehabilitation of the documentary.
Even ordinary life is pretty complex stuff, or so says American Splendor. Morrissey, pop’s foremost oddball-in-exile, has put a lot of living into this, his rebirth after seven years, and such a stretch in such an extraordinary life should provide rich, plentiful pickings. It does, in part.
DON'T LET the trailer put you off - David O.Russell's third feature is by some distance the most deceptively radical "war movie" to emerge from Hollywood in my living memory,
WHAT KIND of a fucking country are we living in when a publican will offer up to £600 to babes who dance topless on the premises, only to be assailed by a cacophony of dog's abuse?
There are fewer refugees living in Ireland than there are Irish emigrants in Munich, but that hasn’t stopped Justice Minister John O’Donoghue, however inadvertently, whipping up race hate on the refugee issue.
For the average expat Irish criminal living in Spain, life is a blur of booze, prostitutes and drug deals with the threat of violence, and even death, never far away.
Britrock icon Paul Weller speaks about his new album 22 Dreams and why his influence on acts like Arctic Monkeys and The Enemy has proved a source of gratification and inspiration.
They may have hit a few bumps earlier in the year, but Northern indie-rock whippersnappers The Embers have regrouped and are now back on the agenda with an excellent new EP, Vice And Virtue.
Hannah Hamilton reports on the recent Nokia Totally Board event in Seville – a heavy three-day carnival of extreme sports and down’n’dirty hard rock action
This is not a bad album, and if it was released three years ago it would have come across better, but now there is a lot of music like this around and it takes really good songs, and something very original, to make a band shine.
George are enjoying considerable success in their native Australia and are shortly to bring their angelic pop rock to Ireland. For co-vocalist/guitarist Tyrone Noonan however, it won’t be his first visit to the land of his ancestors
Kenny Rogers has been having hits since high school back in his native Houston. Ahead of his appearance at Ballinlough Castle, he looks back at his early inspirations and reflects on a long procession of hit records that have endeared him to rock, pop, soul and country audiences.
On the eve of the release of "new" Nirvana single 'You Know You're Right' and a just-in-time-for-Christmas box set to follow, we revisit the fruits of earlier legal battles involving the 1990s' great lost band
Being evicted by Take That and hanging out with notorious Hollywood hellraisers like Matthew McConaughey are all in a day's work for keg-party rockers Iglu & Hartly.
With the second part of The Gallery Of Photography s Robert Mapplethorpe Exhibition running until January 31 in Temple Bar, paul o mahony takes a look at the photographer s raison d jtre and talks to the Gallery s Director, christine Redmond.
"Sinéad was pretty relaxed. She didn’t tap into the ‘making a record for the label’ thing. She made music for her own reasons, which were deeper than that. That’s why the songs ring so true..."
What with her choice Donnybrook location, regular Withnail & I themed evenings and marauding three year old cocker spaniel, comedian Tara Flynn could scarcely have a more ideal home. "I'm almost a little jealous of myself" she tells Tanya Sweeney. Photography by Cathal Dawson.
As New Queer Cinema pioneer TOM KALIN returns with his long awaited second film Savage Grace, starring Julianne Moore, he reflects on the mainstreaming of the marginal.
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
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.
Growing up in Sheffield, The Long Blondes’ Kate Jackson was sick of boring indie bands. So she decided to put together a group with a little more glamour about it.
BP Fallon, who toured with The Ramones in 1977 and 1978 - including their epochal gig in Dublin at The State Cinema in Phibsboro that forever changed the face of Irish rock'n'roll - dips into the archives of oblivion to remember Dee Dee Ramone
21 Grams’ director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and writer Guilermo Arriaga’s follow up to the acclaimed Amores Perros contains career-high performances from Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro and Naomi Watts. Moviehouse talks to both men about the “anatomy of pain”.
It s a bit of a mouthful but it s actually the multi-talented Parisian musician, photographer, sometime pop producer and film maker Jay Alanski in an ongoing process of aural and spiritual development.
PROFESSOR POE lay in his bed recovering from the worst flu he had ever experienced. He was sure that the germs that had invaded his body had been working out full-time in some biological gym for the last six months before they decided to hitch a lift to Ireland.
If you’re going to follow up a hit like East Is East, best to do it in style – by turning to Blackpool, darts and morris dancing. Damien O’Donnell tells Craig Fitzsimons about his “uncool” new movie
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.
Get your dancing shoes on. Electro newcomers Magistrates are here to rock your blocks off. They talk about hanging out with Damon Albarn, worshipping Michael Jackson and living up to the legacy of heroes like Bowie and Talking Heads
Comedy genius Will Ferrell turns out to be just as funny in the flesh as he is on screen, albeit far droller. Let's hear it for the world's greatest living Longford man.
While U.S. voters went to the polls in key states like California, Arizona, New York and New Jersey on "Super Tuesday" to decide on party nominations for President, expatriate Democrats living in Ireland also got their chance to vote.
Before head-butt infamy finished off his career, the world’s greatest living midfielder served as an unlikely muse to the documentary maker Philippe Parreno. Ahead of the film’s Irish premier, the director talks about the making of Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.
This month, the 2006 RTÉ Living Music Festival, sponsored by IMRO, celebrates Steve Reich, arguably America’s greatest living composer. Jackie Hayden meets the 70-year-old whose influences stretch beyond the contemporary classical world to rock and rap music.
With the increasingly multi-cultural aspect of Irish life, how does Christmas – in either its religious or its commercial manifestation – impact on Muslim, Jewish and immigrant communities living here?
Civil liberties in Ireland are being gradually eroded. But, then, it’s just part of an international trend. If we’re not careful, we will we soon be living in a Big Brother nation.
So famous in Chicago that they've named a day after him, Frankie Knuckles has used his position as the world's top house DJ to highlight the cause of people living with HIV.
Blame the evil warts-and-all image on the Christian churches – but even after years of persecution, witches haven’t gone away, you know. in fact, they’re alive and well and living in Ireland!
The proceeds from a new CD featuring the cream of Ireland’s musical talent including U2, Sinéad O’Connor and Ash will benefit people living with mental illness
If there was a competition to replace St. Patrick with someone else worth honouring on a national day, who would you choose - and why? Jackie Hayden consults a living Irish legend and canvasses celebrity opinion
William St Leger, A freelance graphic designer from Clonmel now living in London, locked himself to the roof of an American military base during a recent high profile Greenpeace action in England. Here is his account of the day, as told to Adrienne Murphy
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'
If the media are to be believed, we’re living in a hotbed of crime which is one of the most dangerous places in Europe. But, as SIMON BASKETTER discovers, the latest official figures simply don’t add up.
colin murphy is living proof that there is such a thing as a comedic afterlife. The Downpatrick funny man, who once "died every week for six months", tells barry glendenning all about heaven down here.
Until recently, Scottish jazz/folk legend john martyn was almost as renowned for his hard-living consumption of booze as he was for his marvellous records. But, he tells colm o hare, these days he s on the wagon, and operating on full horsepower for the first time in years.
An ex-con, a foe of The Krays and a man capable of such acts of violence that he once sliced off a prison guard s ear, Mad Frankie Fraser now makes quite a nice living for himself spinning yarns about his gangster years. Stuart Clark interrogates him about prison, drugs, the IRA, Arsenal and a novel theory on Veronica Guerin s murder which, Fraser insists, the Irish media haven t had the bottle to print. Mugshots: Cathal Dawson
Or perhaps that's 27 under the present squad numbering system. JEFF KENNA may be living in Garry Kelly's international shadow but that doesn't mean the former Palmerstown Rangers full-back isn't one of the Premiereship's brightest prospects and a genuine contender for the Ireland team as the Green Army advances towards the European Championships. Interview and bollocking from Jack Charlton: STUART CLARK
Pix: COLM HENRY
They may be novices in the beer-swilling, coke-snorting and babe-pulling stakes but if it's killer tunes you're after, THE JAYHAWKS leave the competition standing.
STUART CLARK gets a crash-course in country living from MARK OLSON.
Cocooned in the twilight zone of superstardom since he was a child, and living with a father who sexually abused and terrorised his own children, it was no wonder that MICHAEL JACKSON developed some strange tendencies. Why was a thirty-five-year-old man so intent on befriending pre-teenage kids, and whisking them around the world with him? Given Jackson's own transparent childishness, it all seemed so innocent - until accusations of sexually using the children he befriended exploded last month. Reflections: OLAF TYARANSEN
Having lived a peripatetic existence for several years, Katell Keineg has now settled in Dublin and is earning deserved kudos for her moody brand of arty acoustica.
They can rock with the best of them but beneath the guitars-to-eleven mania, Belfast noise-poppers Therapy? have a lot of smart things to say. Their new album was even inspired by an famous playwright
It used to be a dentist’s surgery and the interior décor might generously be described as “quixotic”, but The Chalets’ Paula Cullen wouldn’t dream of departing her well-populated Walkinstown residence.
Need help, advice or a second opinion? Put your music industry question to the oracle@hotpress.ie. This fortnight, Brian Johnston from Bray asks: I’m thinking of putting a drawing I’ve done of John Lennon on the cover of a single I’m planning to release. Are there any copyright issues involved in doing this?
Tom McShane's not sure if he wants you to hear his music, but a recent cover of one of his songs might prove just the thing to coax him out of his bedroom.
Commuting to Dublin makes life a pain for Geoff McArdle of The Gorgeous Colours. Still, it will take more than a few late buses to ruin his dreams of pop stardom
"Anywhere from Dunnes to designer stuff. Mark O’Neill made me some stuff, Antonia Campbell Hughes gave me a suit. And I’ve always been a hand-me-down person because I’m the youngest of ten kids"
Sunshine, killer skunk, low riders and being cool in the barbershop – even allowing for all the “shooting people and shit”, it’s easy to see why Tricky is happy with life in Los Angeles. And he’s also just made his best album since Maxinquaye.
Minimalist practitioner, aficionado of asceticism and producer of note – Germanic groove technician Steve Bug is shaking up the continental dance scene in idiosyncratic and dynamic fashion.
Personally speaking, the death of the wonderful Elliott Smith was a major blow his year. I found out about his suicide through Ollie Cole, who had e-mailed me with a very succinct, “Elliott Smith is dead. He was my king”, on the day of his death.
Áine Tubridy and Michael Corry are medical doctors, writers and healers, known for their holistic approach to mental health. Here are their thoughts on personal change in 2008.
Will Leahy is a busy man. He works full-time as a solicitor. In his spare time, meanwhile, he moves to RTE’s Limerick studios to broadcast his daily programme to the nation.
How Katie Jane Garside left Daisy Chainsaw, got lost in nature and found her way back to music with a new attitude and a new name queen adrenna. By Colm O'Hare
Steve-O, the man best known for stapling his penis to his scrotum, on the scariest stunts, life after Jackass, and being empowered by going backstage with Mötley Crue.
Given the chilly atmospheres which adorn his songwriting, it comes as no surprise to learn that Adrian Crowley composes it in his sleep. Thankfully, though, Niall Crumlish found him to be a thoroughly lucid and compelling interviewee.
For fourteen years, Sean Ronan has lived with his son’s heroin addiction. Here, he describes the enormous strain of coping with this harrowing reality.
You may not have been able to see the banned movie Showgirls in an Irish cinema or take it home from your local video store but that doesn t mean Irish viewers were prevented from catching it on the small screen. peter murphy reports on how satellite television avails of EU regulations to exploit a loophole in the Irish censorship laws.
You may not have been able to see the banned movie Showgirls in an Irish cinema or take it home from your local video store but that doesn t mean Irish viewers were prevented from catching it on the small screen. peter murphy reports on how satellite television avails of EU regulations to exploit a loophole in the Irish censorship laws.
With non-Irish nationals making up almost 12% of the country’s population, The Africa Centre and New Community Partnership are on a quest to make the immigrant voice heard in the upcoming local elections.
Currently on sabbatical from The Cranberries, Noel Hogan has recently been spending time working on a new project, Mono Band , in his large period house in Limerick. Though not without keeping abreast of developments in The Sopranos and 24, of course. Photography Liam Burke
"I used to always take clothes off people as well, like little kids after gigs who would go 'You were brilliant' and I’d go, 'Can I have your jacket?'”
Motherhood means that television presenter Sheana Keane does not exactly enjoy a whirlwind social life anymore – but she’s mastering the art of the quiet night in.
GREAT WESTERN SQUARES frontman gary fitzpatrick has built a career out of crafting beautifully heartfelt C'n'W vignettes, prowling around ancient pubs and being "a sad bastard who drinks too much". nick kelly says: "Cheers!"
Oisín Coghlan, Director of Friends of the Earth (Ireland) insists that the developed countries have to make space for the industrialisation of the developing world.
Together for only a year, MR NORTH are causing more polarisation on the Dublin rock circuit of than any band since the legendary Muff Divers.
Within the past six months they've been tipped for world domination by some and written off by others as nothing but ground up Chili Peppers. Which side will you be on when lines are drawn? Interview: TARA MC CARTHY
“The stakes go up every season,” she reflects. “When I first sold to a Japanese store I was over the moon. I would have taken off my socks and shoes and sold them"
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.
Folk doyen Richard Thompson remains a singular presence in the roots music scene after four decades. Here he talks about “exile” on the US West Coast and his recent return to his electric rock roots.
The devil may have all the best tunes but, as readers of The Irish Times and Hot Press can tell you, Tom Mathews has all the funniest cartoons. Liam Fay meets the man behind the flash moustache and finds him making an exhibition of himself . . . but at least he’ll be able to pay for his charcoal!
After an early string of synth-pop classics (‘Are Friends Electric’, ‘Cars’, ‘She’s Got Claws’) Gary Numan survived a two-decade slump and became a cult icon. Now he’s back in road-warrior mode.
A new book gives vivid voice to Irish women's experience of abortion. Here we publish Michele s story a harrowing account of the circumstances in which termination became one woman s choice.
Claudia Carroll is a busy actress and author, but she still allows our Jackie Hayden the time of day, gives him a hot scoop and introduces him to her haunted room.
Après Match member Gary Cooke on Joe Duffy, body piercings, and the perils of impersonating Ireland’s most belligerent broadcaster. Playing intermediary Paul Nolan
Cormac Battle has escaped the clutches of Dublin’s vilest landlords, and now spends his days watching 24-hour news channels and enjoying his luxury mattress. He can explain the Sandy Thom CD, really.
An Uzbek native is reported to be one of the two GUANTANAMO BAY inmates Ireland has agreed to receive. But will the government hold true to its promise to allow him settle here?
A New Jersey-ite Eurocentric who mixes the buttoned-up gravitas of Dusty Springfield and Karen Carpenter with the lush orchestral tapestries of Bacharach and Spector. A Girl Called Eddy’s bohemian rhapsody is well worth acquainting yourself with.
Folk legend and son of Woody, ARLO GUTHRIE is feeling a conspiracy of hope take shape as the inauguration approaches and he gears up for his Irish tour.
Ahead of his Dublin gig, Motown legend Smokey Robinson tells Hot Press what it was like running one of the greatest music labels in the history of pop music.
She may be one of the biggest r&b stars on the planet, but that doesn’t mean MARY J/ BLIGE is happy with her lot. in one of her frankest
intervews yet, she tells HELEN TOLAND why she’s been given a bad rap
They sometimes dance in the streetlight, thrown across the centre of the yard in the shape of a triangle. Sometimes they stop to snuggle up to each other. They don’t know that we’re watching them.
Once an unwitting part of the punk movement, Squeeze have survived the vagries of fashion to become pop elder statesmen, Stuart Clark takes a trip down south London way and swaps a few yarns - but not spit - with Glenn Tilbrook.
“Come up and see my snails sometime,” is hardly the best chat-up line ever coined, but an undaunted Jackie Hayden decides to brave all and call on Today FM jockette Ann-Marie Kelly.
He’s the DIY pop genius who, in the space of a year, has gone from stacking the fruit shelves at Marks & Sparks to masterminding Kylie’s next record. Meet Calvin Harris the bedsit wunder-kind.
Trip-hop legend Tricky on how he's falling in love with Europe, why he's dying to work with Kylie and why if you live in a rough part of the UK, it's best to carry a knife.
A visit from Larry Harvey, creator of Nevada’s legendary Burning Man festival, looks set to be one of the highlights of Dublin’s forthcoming convergence weekend.
Jesse Hughes of Eagles Of Death Metal takes time out from showering with nubile fans to explain why the Republican party is too left-wing for him, sings the praises of George W Bush and tells us what it’s like to have a former Sex Pistol as a post-rehab sponsor.
A Private Members' Bill which aims to put ticket touts out of business will come before the Dail in September. Here we talk to some of the scalpers themselves, to get their reaction. By Peter Murphy.
Tom Vek's eponymous debut album was an electro-rock gem with echoes of Beck and Talking Heads, partly recorded in a flat on Exchequer St. He returns to the scene of the crime for the upcoming BudRising festival.
Despite the sell-out success of the Monster tour and a shelf-load of awards for Black Books, Dylan Moran remains as steadfastly gloomy as ever about the art of stand-up comedy. “You’re standing there pandering to a couple of hundred swivel-eyed, maroon-faced, braying fucks,” he groans to Barry Glendenning.
JOHN WALSHE talks to fresh-faced Euro-pop outfit NV about their quest for pop superstardom, the new Coke ad, and the pros and cons of being a Friends lookalike!
Undead, shape-shifting ghouls who can only be killed by fire may be the stuff of lore. But Dublin resident and ‘sanguinarian’ Lily will happily feed on the intoxicating lifeblood of her fellow mortals. Here it is folks: an honest-to-god interview with the vampire
There is nothing wrong with a holiday fling – and it doesn’t have to be about romance. Especially if one of your idols starts chatting you up over cocktails…
They began as an acid house act doing a disco cover of Neil Young's 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart'. Then they took a break, discovered big beat and became wine waiters for cult author Douglas Coupland. There's never a dull moment with Saint Etienne
Pete Cummins, has just released his first album as a solo performer, from which the single ‘Flowers In Baghdad’ was picked up by Neil Young’s website chart
He predicts rocky times ahead for the economy and says the housing boom is unsustainable. But what’s really troubling David McWilliams is all the flak his latest book has attracted.
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!
To coincide with her first solo album, Imeall, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh talks to Jackie Hayden about the pleasures and pressures of inter-band relationships, motherhood, the Irish language and her solo adventure.
From sharing cheeseburgers to sharing a bill with Korn and Puddle Of Mudd, it’s been a big year for Geffen signingsTrust Company, and they’re loving every minute of it
Laughing in the face of a global music meltdown, Colin Devlin has temporarily exited The Devlins to release a solo album Democracy Of One and strike out on a world tour.
Incendiary Irish-American rabble rousers black 47 are coming to town for a couple of Irish shows later this month. liam fay talks to band mainman larry kirwan about those two eagerly-awaited dates, as well as their new album, Green Suede Shoes.
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
For the final installment of London Calling, Barry Glendenning felt it would be appropriate to compose an emotional, heartfelt farewell to his legions of loyal readers. Sadly, he never got around to it and sent us the following copy instead.
Intrepid explorer Olaf Tyaransen stops scratching his arse long enough to detail his ongoing struggle with mosquito bites, view a DVD package of Tsunami footage and inadvertently attend a Thai funeral.
When former IRA prisoner Marion Price decided to go public about the intimidation she claims to have suffered,
she did so on Radio Free Iireann. STUART CLARK reports on the New York station that s providing a focal point for dissident Republican opinion.
Others may seek to inspire shock and awe – but Ireland’s leading designer John Rocha sees things differently. His thing is to make clothes that people really want to wear.
Not content with having established one of the most successful comedy venues in Dublin already this year, comic strip impresario Paddy Kelly sent us this trailer for a planned expansion of his burgeoning humour empire. now read on…
The 20th anniversary of the death of Luke Kelly is being marked by a double CD The Best Of Luke Kelly, and a week-long tribute Remembering Luke at the Gaiety. The Dubliners are, not surprisingly, deeply involved in both projects, and bandmember John Sheahan here explains all.
World AIDS Day will take place on December 1st. In an effort to raise awareness of issues surrounding the virus, Stephen Robinson offers personal reminiscences
Rob B of the Stereo MC's is angry. At rock stars who take drugs and at governments who ban marijuana. At media people who support the status quo and at religious leaders who distort the message. His antidote? "You've got to feel the music," he says. "It's got to be an inspiration." Interview: Tara McCarthy.
Devendra Banhart tells Colin Carberry that wearing a turban and having a beard can get you into all sorts of trouble these days. Lucky for us, he's still looking forward to the Electric Picnic.
Back in his native Fife, Scottish folk sensation James Yorkston chats about his childhood sojourns in West Cork and the debt his music owes to a sense of time and place.
Closer, with its explicit language and nudity is one of the most controversial plays to grace the stage of Dublin's Peacock Theatre. Here one of its stars, ALI WHITE talks about her role
Trad quartet Lunasa, named to honour the Irish harvest god Lugh, who also gave his name to the month of August, have become something of gods themselves within the Irish trad scene. Jackie Hayden talks to them in the wake of the release of their new album Se.
Rolling Stone's most promising artist of the year and Dylan/Stones endorsed songstress Kathleen Edwards tells all about her acclaimed new record Back To Me, life on the road in the US and why she just might make the move to those shores in the not-too-distant future.
As Stereophonics release their sixth abum, frontman Kelly Jones talks about his friendship with Oasis and reveals that he’s buried the hatchet with Muse.
Author and environmentalist JUDITH HOAD has stood fast against the modern gods of progress and profit. But, as concerns about GM technology grow, it becomes ever-more important that voices like hers are heard. By ADRIENNE MURPHY. Pic: Cathal Dawson
EDITORS’ new album finds them re-booting their sound with the help of super-producer Flood and the Prussian soldier’s helmet gifted to him by Bono. Also on the agenda when the band meet Stuart Clark are fatherhood, baby poo, Brooklyn block parties and stealing Michael Stipe’s megaphone.
Having amicably but firmly put the Cranberries behind her, Dolores O’Riordan found refuge in motherhood, but is now raring to get back on the road with her first solo album.
Having undergone a punishing regime of drink, drugs and debauchery during Guns N’ Roses’ heyday, few thought that iconic guitar-slinger Slash would ever again venture out into the mainstream rock arena. But having put together a motley crew of collaborators in Velvet Revolver, he’s now back at No. 1 in the album charts and rocking harder than ever.
24-year-old reggae star Natty takes time off from touring Dublin in a horse-drawn carriage to discuss Bob Marley's legacy, and the 'institutionalised racism' inherent in British society.
The angry young(ish) man of Irish preacher-punk is back, bleeding righteous indignation from every pore. Jinx Lennon tells us why it's time for a revolution.
As frontman of Galway’s Toasted Heretic Julian Gough was an enfant terrible of Irish rock. Then he jacked in music to become a best-selling writer. With his old band preparing to reform, Gough reveals his loathing of television and explains why his home town is the cosmopolitan capital of Ireland.
This year’s Convergence Festival in the heart of Dublin promises a scintillating feast of events celebrating sustainability and cultural transformation. Adrienne Murphy takes a bite
In August of this year, Hot Press photographer Emily Quinn undertook a unique journey to Uganda to document the lives of people touched by the efforts of the A-Z Children’s Charity.
The Hives’ irrepressible Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist talks to Tanya Sweeney about the band’s uproarious live shows, their most Spinal Tap moment to date, and how they keep their white suits in pristine shape throughout the rigours of the festival season
Former Prayer Boat frontman Emmet Tinley on the break-up of his old band, the challenges of forging his own solo career and the joys of artistic independence.
Adam & Paul is not your everyday heroin-is-evil social tract masquerading as entertainment. as screenwriter and co-star Mark O’Halloran attests, it’s halfway between Laurel & Hardy and Mike Leigh. Photography Liam Sweeney
Every now and then a record emerges that announces the arrival of a major new talent. So it is with Anjani and her remarkable collaboration with Leonard Cohen, Blue Alert.
The recent incredible scenes from the United States, where the Mississippi river and its tributaries ran amok, may have seemed a peculiar but just recompense to a vast area which only a couple of years ago suffered a disastrous drought. Water was all they asked for then. Now they have it, but in quantities so enormous that it all seems like some huge global joke.
Western spin depicts it as a blow for democracy, but for Raied Al-Wazzan, an Iraqi doctor based here for 15 years, the occupation of his country is illegal and must be resisted.
John Walshe meets Paul and Ashley from The Frank & Walters and hears all about their latest album, Beauty Becomes More Than Life, why they don t want to go to posh parties and how major labels take all the fun out of being in a band.
Enjoying parallels with works as diverse as Chekov’s Three Sisters and About Adam, Very Heaven looks set to be another success for dublin’s focus theatre. Joe Jackson talks to the show’s director, Bairbre Ni Chaoimh
The Department Of Justice has denied asylum to Elizabeth Onasanwo and her four children, who are due to be deported back to Nigeria, where the two girls - Bolu aged 6 and Christina aged 18 - will face female genital mutilation, a traditional practice frequently resulting in death
Animal Collective regale us with tales of Conan O'Brien, tour-bus illnesses and explain why the life of the footloose musician isn't always a romp through the daisies.
He's gone from bashing out Brel covers in pokey Dublin clubs to crooning 'New York, New York' while gazing at the Manhattan skyline.For his latest project, the wonderful story so far. Jack L has pushed the boundaries yet again by collaborating with up and coming Irish Novelist Anna McPartlin. Here they talk to Hot Press about their intriguing hook-up and explain how your career can lead you to some very strange places...
James Zabiela was spinning tunes in his bedroom when he won a Djing competition. Before he knew it, he was opening for Sasha and helping to save dance music.
Welsh noiseniks
STEREOPHONICS who've just come up with the song title of the year in the shape of "More Life In A Tramp's Vest" have recently been the subject of a frenzied A&R bidding war. Sarah McQuaid finds out more.
Positivity, great music and animal suits – why wouldn’t you vote for the Flaming Lips frontman as leader of the world. Campaign managers Eamon Sweeney & John Walshe
He may not always be the critics darling, but BERNARD FARRELL remains one of Ireland s most popular and successful playwrights. Here he talks to JOE JACKSON about his regard for theatre and everyday heroes, and his contempt for snobs, suits and Celtic Tiger Ireland. Pics: Cathal Dawson
He may not always be the critics darling, but BERNARD FARRELL remains one of Ireland s most popular and successful playwrights. Here he talks to JOE JACKSON about his regard for theatre and everyday heroes, and his contempt for snobs, suits and Celtic Tiger Ireland. Pics: Cathal Dawson
He may not always be the critics darling, but BERNARD FARRELL remains one of Ireland s most popular and successful playwrights. Here he talks to JOE JACKSON about his regard for theatre and everyday heroes, and his contempt for snobs, suits and Celtic Tiger Ireland. Pics: Cathal Dawson
He may not always be the critics darling, but BERNARD FARRELL remains one of Ireland s most popular and successful playwrights. Here he talks to JOE JACKSON about his regard for theatre and everyday heroes, and his contempt for snobs, suits and Celtic Tiger Ireland. Pics: Cathal Dawson
He may not always be the critics darling, but BERNARD FARRELL remains one of Ireland s most popular and successful playwrights. Here he talks to JOE JACKSON about his regard for theatre and everyday heroes, and his contempt for snobs, suits and Celtic Tiger Ireland. Pics: Cathal Dawson
The master of the historical psychological thriller,
CALEB CARR's own life has not been short of drama.
Here, he talks to OLAF TYARANSEN about growing up with the Beats and the shock of discovering that his father was a convicted murderer. Pics: Mick Quinn
The master of the historical psychological thriller,
CALEB CARR's own life has not been short of drama.
Here, he talks to OLAF TYARANSEN about growing up with the Beats and the shock of discovering that his father was a convicted murderer. Pics: Mick Quinn
The master of the historical psychological thriller,
CALEB CARR's own life has not been short of drama.
Here, he talks to OLAF TYARANSEN about growing up with the Beats and the shock of discovering that his father was a convicted murderer. Pics: Mick Quinn
A white man inducted into aboriginal culture, 29-year old Australian singer-songwriter Xavier Rudd eschews western-obsessed pop for more indigenous spirits.
Last month the eternally under-rated indie outfit The Cribs released Ignore The Ignorant, easily their most ambitious and critically acclaimed record to date. Catching up with the band in Belfast Edwin McFee talks to Gary Jarman and new recruit Johnny Marr about press attention and expectations as well as hearing about how the former Smiths guitarist has found a new home with the brothers from Wakefield.
Music | Interview
29% | 22 Oct 2003
Phil Udell
Had enough of “PMS, Screaming, ‘Fuck Men!’” bands? well, let us introduce you to Fair Verona, the all-girl Tipperary trio who are flying the flag for melodic alt. rock.
The good and beneficial use of music and the hard and brutal treatment of junkies next big thing finley quaye delivers the sublime and the ridiculous in equal measure to jonathan o brien.
Fire In A Dream Cage, the second album from Dublin chanteuse l, is a melting pot of vocals, loops and fx from a woman obviously at home in the studio. Interview: john walshe.
IT HAS been suggested that Graham Reid’s plays are pungent with “the thick and acrid air” of Belfast. Any actor performing one of these production in The Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast at this point in time would certainly know if that statement is true.
Her novels have charmed millions of readers around the world, but in Ireland she remains best known as the Taoseach's daughter. As her third book is published, Cecelia Ahern talks about success, politics and how her parents' separation coloured her thoughts on love and marriage.
They say they’ve come from hell to bring us foot and mouth. But in reality they come from a small village outside Ipswich. STUART CLARK meets CRADLE OF FILTH, metal maniacs and purveyors of blasphemy, horror and gore – and, as you might expect, ends up talking about mums, kiddies, Winnie the Pooh and moisturiser
Ghost Of Mae Nak is a love story with a difference. For one thing, it’s set largely in the afterlife. It’s also the latest piece of Thai cinema to catch the attention of international audiences, says English-born, Bangkok-based director Mark Duffield.
Folk institution Kila met a dream collaborator in the shape of traditional Japanese musician Oki. Working together they’ve produced one of the most remarkable roots records of recent years.
STEPHEN ROBINSON meets author JAMIE O’NEILL, who’s acclaimed first novel At Swim Two Boys, which concerns a sexual relationship between two Irish boys and an older Englishman set against the background of the 1916 rising
Morrissey of The Smiths has taken the place of both Duran Duran and the Thompson Twins, single-handedly wiping them out, at least on my one increasingly [used] cassette. When I told him whose conversations we were taping over he said, "Good. I'll talk louder then." Not a man to be taken lightly.
Ahead of the release of his new movie, Irish boxing melodrama Strength And Honour, Michael Madsen reflects on a career that been sometimes troubled but never boring.
They’ve played with Bloc Party and Muse and shared a studio with Fionn Regan. Now, London garage rockers The Noisettes are set to make a splash of their own.
Ahead of their much anticipated Electric Picnic spot, Bloc Party talk about going mad in Westmeath and explain why it’s time for a post-punk concept record.
In the first of a new Hot Press series, in which we ll be asking well-known Irish people to step onto a national podium, author and
publisher dermot bolger delivers his state of the nation address.
Our correspondent road-tests a rare but legal herb which might offer him an epic, life-affirming religious moment or make him feel like a mere atom in a speck of dirt up some earthworm's arse. How did he fare? Read on...
His dreamy electro-pop is winning Ulrich Schnauss an international fanbase. In his native Germany however, they’re still not convinced. Maybe it’s something to do with all those guitars.
That’s the routine for the incredibly busy Galway Bay Fm DJ Jon Richards, who also handles on the spot traffic reports from his spanking new Honda. And he’s up for a Meteor Award this year too!
Tapping the spirit of the shoegaze era Giant Drag have released one of the year’s most beguiling debuts. And in frontman Annie Hardy they have a rock icon in the making.
Donal Convery, lead vocalist of Co. Derry band Asterix talks to ADRIENNE MURPHY about the link between pain and creativity, and why he hopes to give up his day job.
For all Ireland s loudly-proclaimed economic success, there has been little progress made in alleviating homelessness. In fact, the problem may be getting worse, particularly among the young. NIALL STANAGE listens to two homeless Dubliners, KEITH and ANTO, tell their story, while the experts from FOCUS IRELAND also have their say. PICS: CATHAL DAWSON
Busy gigging comedian Karl Spain has left behind a comfortable suburban family home for a city centre apartment in his native Limerick. He talks to Stephen Errity about work, pleasure and how, in one way, he's a lot like Woody Allen.
From sweeping the steps of lauren hill’s manager’s house to teetering on the brink of a massive hit – native american Jason Downs tells his story to John Walshe
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
Gaspard Augé of acclaimed electro duo Justice on the group’s stunning live performances, upstaging Kanye West and putting the humour back into dance music.
Travellers have been barred from the town of Larne in Northern Ireland, in what amounts to one of the most extreme uses of an ASBO yet under UK law. Report by Eamonn McCann.
Fifteen years on and still in a league of his own, Dan Oggly talks to Mark E. Smith about fame, footie and the truth behind his 'difficult' reputation.
It's not just bands that make a scene. Ken Maguire talks about setting up kilkennymusic.com, and the impact it's had on the local rock 'n' roll fraternity.
In fiercely conservative Jerusalem, few crimes are more unforgivable than a homosexual relationship between a Palestinian and an Israeli – as Ezra Yitzhak discovered.
From indie shy-boys to multi-platinum chart toppers, it’s certainly been a long, strange journey for The Shins. By now, we all know that Natalie Portman played a part in their success – but what’s Elliot Smith go to do with it?
As the supposed redevelopment of the Dublin Inner City area fails to halt its seemingly terminal decline, Gerry McGovern discusses the problems facing these forgotten areas and talks to community worker Paddy Malone.
As the body double for Saddam Hussein's son, Latif Yahia suffered several assassination attempts. Having escaped to Offaly, the controversial figure is now seriously at odds with his adopted country.
How did a non sci-fi fan end up producing the most famous interplanetary blockbuster of all time? Red FM’s Victor Barry talks to Rick McCallum about his relationship with George Lucas, the logistics of shooting in 17 different countries – and the health of his liver.
No longer content to be an indie under-achiever, Joe Chester has produced a solo album that owes as much to Fleetwood Mac as it does My Bloody Valentine. Interview by Maurice O'Brien.
With the countdown to the general election now officially under way, the most important aspect to remember amid all the hype is that the right to vote is both a privilege and a responsibility.
Love, relationships, dating – and the first Diana song since the reworked ‘Candle In The Wind’. Sarah Nixey takes Paul Nolan on a guided tour of Black Box Recorder’s new album Passionoia.
Peter Murphy discusses the finer points of prophecy with US writer T.C. Boyle whose latest short story collection includes tales of plague, air rage and terrorism
Adrienne Murphy speaks to ASLAN, in the midst of recording their live album. Under discussion: the dangers of chasing fame, and the importance of self-belief.
Albums such as Streetcleaner and Pure have established Brummie noise terrorists godflesh as one of the most exciting alternative bands on the planet. Their latest effort, Love And Hate In Dub, is a radically overhauled remix version of its predecessor, Songs Of Love And Hate. The band s
talkative mainman justin broadrick explains all to jonathan o Brien.
Lyrical virtuoso or whingeing prat? The jury is, as ever, still out on the merits of Californian troubadour mark eitzel. Case for the defence: lorraine freeney.
Geoff Topley just can’t help writing songs and releasing records. And going entirely solo hasn’t stemmed the flow. “it’s an addiction,” he tells Colin Carberry
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.
For the Chinese community in Northern Ireland, life can at times be difficult in the face of racism and violent attacks. But they can also spare a little time to party, as our very own Chinese checker Colin Carberry discovered on a visit to the hectic offices of the Chinese Welfare Association. Photos: Amberlea Trainor.
Veteran 2FM DJ Larry Gogan was honoured by IRMA earlier this month, in recognition of the forty years he has spent at the top of his profession. To mark the occasion, Hot Press catches up with the presenter to discuss the beginnings of his career during the showband era, how Irish music has changed down through the years – and the time he earned Larry Mullen's thanks for playing U2 records despite the protestations of station chiefs.
IT’S PROBABLY a little too blatant to run a line of comparison between the newer, younger breed of comedians, like Sean Hughes, and comic-actors like Eamon Morrissey. However, one distinct difference is that Sean has a TV series and Eamon hasn’t.
Zoo TV takes on an entirely new dimension as U2 introduce a nightly satellite link-up with the distressful city of Sarajevo. Bill Graham talks to Bono about the idea's conception, downfalls, and ultimate importance.
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.
Joe Jackson talks to Susan FitzGerald, star of Landmark Productions’ Irish premiere of Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, the controversial play which explores a range of taboo topics.
Hotly tipped Britrockers Los Campesinos talk about the influence of the '90s riot grrrl scene on their music and explain why the prospect of arena rock success doesn't rev their motors.
The biggest obstacle to Belfast becoming the European City Of Culture may be the reluctance of its own people to accept that it deserves the title. Colin Carberry reports
American singer-songwriter SHAWN COLVIN explains that her fourth and latest album A Few Small Repairs is about more than just her recent marital breakdown. Interview: JOE JACKSON
From his early punkish, defiantly anti-establishment indie flicks like The Doom Generation and Nowhere to his latest effort, the child sex-abuse drama Mysterious Skin, Gregg Araki has remained the most uncompromising alumnus of the early ‘90s new wave of queer cinema.
headswim have left behind the "English Pearl Jam" tag that dogged them and are about to release their second album, the tortured pop of Despite Yourself, on an unsuspecting public. Interview: john walshe.
headswim have left behind the "English Pearl Jam" tag that dogged them and are about to release their second album, the tortured pop of Despite Yourself, on an unsuspecting public. Interview: john walshe.
The twisted dance-punk of Hard-Fi is inspired by the angst of suburbia. But that hasn’t stopped them reaching for the stars – or breaking into an airport.
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.
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.
Born to a teenage mother, brought up in a succession of trailer parks and working in bars age 14, Nashville-based country-rocker Gretchen Wilson has had to earn her fame and success the hard way. And with even the great Tony Bennett high-tailing it from his own shows to catch her performances, it looks like the singer’s popularity is set to grow and grow.
The pen behind "My Beautiful Launderette" and "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid", HANIF KUREISHI has been treated as an outsider in his home, Britain, and as a traitor by some elements within his own race. But, he maintains, it's the job of the writer to "stir the shit" - and now he's got the fundamentalists in his sights. Interview: OLAF TYARANSEN
In between starting a family and touring the globe with Bell X1, David Geraghty has managed to find the time to squeeze out a second solo record, The Victory Dance. He talks about dealing with bat infestations, bestriding U2’s ‘Claw’ stage and tackling the fraught subject of 9/11 in song.
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.
Currently touring their fifth record Saturday Nights And Sunday Mornings, COUNTING CROWS singer Adam Duritz speaks to Edwin McFee about Teenage Kicks, porno flicks and his love for Ireland.
‘Boy racer’ has been used as a catch-all term to explain the behaviour of teenage boys involved in a spate of recent road deaths. But that may be a simplistic view of the phenomenon.
No, they’re not Jack White’s extra-curricular band. Rather, The Racketeers are long time veterans of the Irish scene with shades of Nick Cave and Johnny Cash in their darkly fascinating sound.
He may have his critics among the academic literati, but Belfast singer/songwriter Brian Kennedy insists that his move into the realm of fiction is a natural artistic progression.
With Pete Doherty, Mani, Noel Gallagher and Alex Kapranos in their fan club, and a debut album that makes the Arctic Monkeys sound like jaded old has-beens, The View have ’07 by the short and curlies. Just don’t let them stay in your hotel.
Belfast-based novelist Jo Baker has once again become the subject of much attention in literary circles with the publication of her powerful and compelling second novel The Mermaid’s Child.
Lisa Dorrian was popular and fun loving. Then she fell foul of the North’s paramilitary underworld. A year since she vanished, her family is still trying to uncover the truth about her disappearance.
Under the direction of Joe Devlin, the Focus Theatre has taken on an impressive range of projects – not least two plays that tackle burning contemporary issues. Devlin tells us how he’s been carrying on the Focus tradition.
Quite what the establishment will make of mark begley s photographic work remains to be seen, but it s sure to raise a few eyebrows. paul o mahony talks to a man intent on kicking down the walls.
She’s an acclaimed novelist – but Emar Martin is fast earning a reputation as a visual artist also. As her latest exhibit opens, she talks about moving between the two media
THE UNDERTONES have played a series of triumphant gigs since reforming. GEORGE BYRNE met the Derry punk legends, now augmented by Today FM producer Paul McLoone on vocals
Kildare’s favourite son and godfather of the singer-songwriter scene, Luka Bloom, talks to Jackie Hayden about his most intimate album to date, Innocence, gigging with The Frames in Australia and hanging backstage with Gabriel Byrne.
No, The Strokes aren’t splitting up, insists guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. Still, he’s enjoying a rare taste of artistic freedom with his debut solo album.
After a long hiatus in the studio, London-based psychedelists saint etienne are back with an acclaimed new album, Good Humour. adrienne murphy finds out what they've been doing in their spare time.
No, the name doesn’t refer to a local Corkonian wino legend; it derives from founder members Joe and Aoibheann Carey’s first names. Since forming the band just under 12 months ago Jodavino have gone from playing to just a dozen punters to feeding the 4000 at the Marquee.
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.
As Ireland’s Latin American solidarity committee prepares to mark the 30th anniversary of the coup which overthrew Chilean President Salvador Allende, Michael D. Higgins TD remembers the inspirational life, poetry and music of the great folk singer Victor Jara who was brutally murdered in 1973.
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.
Sliabh Notes are a trio of renowned traditional musicians who play dance music that long preceded the breed that flourishes these days in the club scene. Siobhan Long pays a visit to them in the best place possible to hear the music: a wedding reception in Kerry.
Phil Udell talks to blink frontman Dermot Lambert about how he pulled through the dark times to re-establish his band as one of the leading lights of the Irish indie scene.
Reformed baa-aaa-aad boys pet lamb are back with a new album that's going to make Roadrunner sorry they ever dropped them. Getting the wool pulled over her eyes: Adrienne Murphy.
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.
When your personal background includes dusting down knives for sex and walking up the aisle wearing a white shirt with your husband’s name written in blood on it, then playing all-action heroine Lara Croft on the big screen probably seems like the very essence of normality. Angelina Jolie describes the joy of death-defying work, explains why England is more attractive to live in than the US, underscores the importance of her UN role and, finally, talks about life and love post-Billy Bob. interview Tara Brady and Craig Fitzsimons
After what was at times a stressful year, Damien Rice is on the verge of a major international breakthrough. Fiona Reid gets the inside story from the hungover but happy singer
englebert humperdinck s legendary career stretches over the past 30 years. Now, however, it s reinvention ahoy! as he releases . . . a dance album. adrienne murphy meets The King Of Romance and is told she has a beautiful handshake .
Irony-deficient Nordic rockers Turbonegro are one of the world’s most credible hardcore acts, with a fanlist that includes Queens Of The Stone Age and Therapy?
He's familiar to Northern listeners as a super-smooth middle of the road DJ. But in his misspent youth as a guitarist, Gerry Anderson lived a life of rock and roll abandon.
The taut, stripped-down techno of Berlin's Get Physical is at the bleeding edge of contemporary dance music. Now the label has released its first mix album.
He can't sing, he can't play but Jim Rose can sure wail on a pile of glass! STUART CLARK meets the man behind the travelling freak show that took Féile by storm and Ray Darcy by surprise. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON
They’ve sold millions of records but don’t expect to find Beautiful South frontman Paul Heaton breaking out in a grin. Unless England have been stuffed at football.
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
Michael Moore, Billy Joel, Rupert Murdoch and “pussy vegan” Chrissie Hynde are all on the menu as gonzo New York chef Anthony Bourdain gets lightly grilled by Stuart Clark
Exiled in America when war erupted in his hometown of Sarajevo, author Aleksandar Hemon taught himself to speak and write english – with stunningly powerful results. Portrait Mick Quinn
In a recent issue of Hot Press, John Farrell wrote critically of the Irish Museum of Modern Art exhibition, ‘Beyond The Pale’. Here, artist Nigel Rolfe answers back.
You know her as the songstress from Stars and Broken Social Scene. Doing her own thing AMY MILLAN reveals herself to be, of all things, a country chanteuse, her heart heavy with woe.
Philip Cawley is one of the mainstays of Today FM's daytime schedule. Recently he invited Jackie Hayden into his country home for a chat and a drop of Jameson.
Venturing across the pond for his first London headline show since his days with A House Dave Couse was delighted, and not a little surprised, to play to a packed house. Might his stop-start solo career finally be gathering momentum?
Frazer Guided Melodies
TARNATION may make soundtracks to cinematic desert scenes but there s more to Paula Frazer s beautiful songs than a fistful of spaghetti western themes. Interview: Nick Kelly.
It may be the time of year for staying indoors, but there are plenty of comic treats around to keep you entertained, including a brace of top class new TV shows and the return of one Christopher Morris.
