In the first part of a two part special on the vital areas of songwriting, publishing and copyright, Jackie Hayden talks to Irish singer-songwriter Kieran Goss about his craft, on the eve of the release of the Northerner's new album Red Letter Day, his follow-up to the multi-platinum Worse Than Pride.
The deadline is approaching for entries to the 2008 International Songwriting Competition, with the full list of judges just announced, including Tom Waits and Black Francis.
Ahead of their Slane appearance, Adam Duritz of The Counting Crows spills the beans on everything from the inspiration behind his songwriting to Gemma Hayes
Credited with being a pioneer in the field of confessional singer-songwriting, it is only now, at the age of 55, that JONI MITCHELL is able to talk openly about the private trauma behind the songs on such classic albums as Blue. On the occasion of the release of a new album Both Sides Now, that sees her revisit some former glories, the legendary Mitchell takes JOE JACKSON on a journey through her personal, and professional history.
This is part one of an exclusive two-part interview
EAMON SWEENEY meets LLOYD COLE to talk about his forthcoming Dublin gigs, the changing face of music, and why he doesn t want to write songs for a while.
JULIET TURNER seems to have turned an emotional corner with her more effervescent new album Burn The Black Suit. Here she talks to COLM O'HARE about faith, hope and songwriting
For a man who was working in Galway nightclubs and renting damp rooms in dilapidated hotels at the turn of the decade, PERRY BLAKE hasn t done too badly since. After releasing two acclaimed singles for Polydor, he s now set fair to emerge as one of Ireland s brightest new
songwriting talents.
OLAF TYARANSEN hears his intriguing story.
For a man who was working in Galway nightclubs and renting damp rooms in dilapidated hotels at the turn of the decade, PERRY BLAKE hasn t done too badly since. After releasing two acclaimed singles for Polydor, he s now set fair to emerge as one of Ireland s brightest new
songwriting talents.
OLAF TYARANSEN hears his intriguing story.
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.
He may have a wicked sense of humour but, ultimately, it's the way he sings 'em that has seen Kieran Goss lay to rest his partnership with Frances Black and produce one of the finest albums of the year. Siobhan Long has her ears caressed and her funnybone tickled by the newest member of Ireland's songwriting elite.
Danish This is Your Life specials; Bob Monkhouse game shows and seling petrol to Bobby Robson . . . Nick Kelly hears the untold story of Prefab Sprout from Martin McAloon bassist, founder member and sibling of songwriting genius, Paddy.
Greetings From LA
beck and tom petty get together in Los Angeles for an impassioned rap on songs, songwriting, showbiz, the Unplugged phenomenon and how too much music can boggle the mind. mark rowland listens in.
Having crammed more into their first four years than some acts do in a decade, Gomez took a much-needed break. But now they’re back with a new album in our gun. "We just got pissed, played a few tunes and started recording," they tell John Walshe
Ahead of his 50th birthday, Morrissey talks exclusively to Hot Press about the sexual nature of singing, letting go in the studio, being blacklisted by the UK's Radio One and how he approaches songwriting.
STEPHEN RYAN has made his songwriting reputation on the byways rather than the highways. Now, with a new REVENANTS album finally on release, he takes NICK KELLY on a trip off the beaten track. Pics: Bernard Walsh.
1998 Bloom With A View
John Walshe talks to Luka Bloom on the eve of the release of his fourth studio album, Salty Heaven, about his return to Ireland, the inspiration behind the songs, older brother Christy Moore and the latest generations of the Moore dynasty.
Luka Bloom doesn't look 43, when I walk into the room in the Berkeley Court Hotel where our interview is to take place, he's standing in front of the window, guitar strap around his neck and an acoustic six-string in his hand - he strums it and I'd swear that he's 12 years of age. Every time he plays on stage the look is the same, one of wonder and even serenity.
Who better to launch this year’s Music Show than Irish band of the moment The Script? In a taster of what to expect from October’s RDS weekender, Danny, Glen and Mark treated a roomful of fans, music students and industry professionals to their thoughts on illegal downloading, songwriting, the dreaded Auto-tune and touring with Macca and U2.
With a new ‘Best Of’ bringing the band’s story up to date, U2’s guitar man steps forward to riff on good times and bad, the private life of a public figure, discovering the secrets of the universe on mushrooms, and why, after all these years, few things match the high of being a member of U2
Winning an oscar was a culmination of a life-time's struggle for GLEN HANSARD. But success extracted a heavy toll on the singer, plunging him into self doubt and leaving him feeling confused and adrift. As The Swell Season prepare to release their second album, he talks about the long road back to sanity, his romantic break-up with songwriting partner MARKETA IRGLOVA and why, having derided Ireland in the press, he’s now proud of his home country
again. Plus Irglova talks about the end of their love affair and the challenges that fame and Fortune bring.
Her split with Damien Rice caused headlines around the music world. Now Lisa Hannigan is taking her first steps as a solo artist with a wonderfully ethereal debut album, Sea Sew. She talks to hot press about the end of her partnership with Rice, her hopes for the future and the influence of romantic entanglements on her powerfully feminine songwriting.
DAVE FANNING meets the inimitable ROBBIE WILLIAMS to talk about his latest album, his battles with the booze, the Take That legacy, his desire to play a politically incorrect James Bond, a vaguely remembered visit to Bono s loo and why he loves and hates The Beatles
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.
PHIL COULTER is far from the muzak-producing bore of caricature. Here, he talks to JOE JACKSON about family tragedy, northern politics, drink binges, having songs covered by Elvis and his experiences working with stars like Van Morrison, Siniad O Connor and Luke Kelly. Portraits: MYLES CLAFFEY
Glasgow on the morning of the release of Deacon Blue's second album, "When The World Knows Your Name", is bathed in sunshine boasting a skyline view of the drive from the airport that is in sharp contrast to the image entrenched on the cover of the band's debut album "Raintown". Bright and sharp, the morning reflects the initial impressions of the new record, the bustle of the first rush-hour of the day reflecting the urgency of the opening tracks, "Queen Of The New Year'', "Wages Day" and "Real Gone Kid".
The Waterboys are back, with arguably their most complete record yet, Book Of Lightning. In this remarkably open and honest interview, Mike Scott talks about his songwriting genius, about relationships, his family, his boozy years in Galway - and turning U2 onto Greenpeace.
Josh Ritter talks to hotpress.com about the craft of songwriting, his love of Mark Twain, and how society always influences the song – even Britney's 'Toxic'.
Fresh from getting dickie-bowed up for the Irish premiere of Once, Glen Hansard has announced that he’ll be hosting the Songwriting Course at this year’s Listowel Writers Festival.
Damo wants to be held in the third single from his number one Shots album. I say do what the man says; he’s massive. Certainly worth a listen for evidence of Dempsey’s more pared-down songwriting skills which strike an appropriately romantic chord.
If the Single Of The Fortnight accolade were all about promise, St Julien would have been up there. Because, while the Dublin foursome’s debt to the Beach Boys’ is a little too obvious, their debut single shows that they’ve got proper songwriting chops. And boy, can they sing.
If Leya have one thing in their favour, it’s the self belief to make grandiose, epic music at a time when the emphasis has been on keeping things tight and structured.
That alone might be enough to carry them through, although ‘On All My Sundays’ suggests that their songwriting is beginning to match their ambition. A good way to end a good year.
An old acoustic release from the legendary West African singer and kora player who topped the charts back in ’88 with ‘Yeke Yeke’. On Sabou (The Cause) he goes back to his Guinean roots combining ethnic harmonies, melodies and instruments with his own inimitable songwriting style.
Kraven are a Limerick four-piece who specialise in adrenalin-fuelled rock ‘n roll. Having served their stint playing covers to pub audiences, the band decided it was time to pour their efforts into original songwriting in 2002.
Thomas “Pugwash” Walsh has put together a supergroup of sorts (Neil Hannon, someone from XTC). Writing a decent Christmas single isn’t the easiest of tasks and, while this probably won’t end up as one of the standards, the cheeriness behind it all shines through. A suitably uplifting ditty that showcases the breezy approach to songwriting that Walsh makes his own all year round.
The power of his songwriting often plays second fiddle to his extremely inoffensive voice and the fact that he has a maddening tendency to couch stunning songs in arrangements that can only be described as bland
The thing that stands out most – apart from the confessional quality of the songwriting – is Antony's remarkable voice, which is a masculine growl one moment, and shrill opera singer the next.
We didn't see that one coming dept: Irish songwriting legend Nick Kelly and LA-Irish girlbeat combo Saucy Monky team up for double-header nationwide tour
Like much of Haye’s second album, The Roads Don’t Love You, ‘Undercover’ is bland and distinctly average. The sense of intimacy, and indeed the delicate nature of Haye’s songwriting, which made Night On My Side so special is lost amid the bigger production. Often ‘Undercover’ sounds dead and lifeless; Hayes’ vocals, less subtle than before, lack honesty, with the previous sexiness to her phrasing now sounding forced. Dull.
A split seven-inch, Porn Trauma’s first effort since last year’s ‘Sunrise’ debut, sees the young Dubliners maturing nicely as a songwriting unit. Where their frantic live shows have often been let down by their material bleeding into one, ‘Casanova Blues’ is sufficiently stripped-back to allow fuller appreciation. All Waits-esque lyricism, its drowsy blues and Sunday morning comedown aura bring to mind slices of The Coral’s debut.
In a near-surreal recent development, Ronan Keating is looking like cracking the American market via, wait for it, country music songwriting. Yee-ha, etc
Tales of Thomas Walsh’s exquisite, Beatles-esque songwriting bent have already been well-documented on these pages, and this latest single comes up trumps. Walsh is about two degrees of separation (literally) from the likes of Air, Beck, Paul McCartney and Aimee Mann, and boy does it show. Laden with summery strings and plodding with an endearing strain of psychedelia, this single brings to mind the cheerful, sanguine likes of the Beach Boys. It’s nice to be nice alright, but it’s even better to be brilliant.
Killarney-born Brendan O’Shea, like his good friend Mark Geary, has spent the majority of his songwriting life in New York, and the sounds of the Big Apple ooze through on his second album, albeit with a slightly Irish flavour.
Most attempts to fuse folky singer-songwriting and electronic music end in disaster (anyone remember the laughable 'folktronica' scene from a few years back?) but Jenny Wilson's new album strikes a chord, literally. Her ability to create bittersweet melodies and tales of woe and combine them with floaty electronic hooks sounds like a simplistic approach on paper, but check her quirky, high pitched vocals and warbling synths on the future classic 'Summertime: The Roughest Time' or the tongue in cheek lyrics and seductive arrangement of 'Bitter? No, I Just Love To Complain' for proof that Ms Wilson is operating at a higher level to her laptop loving, acoustic strumming peers.
The Canadian duo have apparently been in “hibernation” since their 2004 debut left many a jaw dropped. And while the basic elements remain the same – pristine synths, melancholic melodies and that distinctive vocal – there is more meat on their bones now, a new focus on choruses and even more heart-rending moments of icy perfection. The glitch-hop references have faded, the ten songs on offer augmented instead by nods to pure house music, outstanding songwriting, Frank Sinatra (there’s a cover of his ‘When No One Cares’), The Blue Nile… and pop, pop, pop. So maybe this is new ‘new pop’ – a very modern music, adroitly aware electronica with soul, underground music with the controls set for the heart of the charts. Album of the year.
For many the greatest Irish band never to have made an international breakthrough, A House boasted an ace card in the quirky, uncompromising songwriting brilliance of Dave Couse.
... And it's not called Vertigo! The man otherwise known as "Bono's doppelganger", Neil McCormick, talks sounds, songwriting and stadium-sized pressure in the most revealing U2 album preview yet.
Studt has an agreeable voice and a burdgeoning songwriting talent but, as with Lavigne, the problem is that there are so many hands involved with the album’s writing and production that it’s hard to work out where the Studt ends and the corporate machine begins.
Alex Lloyd is a bit of a songwriting hero in his native Australia. Apparently, people choose to get married to his massive hit single ‘Amazing’ and flock to his gigs in their thousands. Knowing this, the album comes as a bit of a surprise, and not in a good way.
She must have read the book on it - the trigonometry of songwriting for a mass market.
Frank is a twenty-something Dane with a mission to copy and paste, using everyone from Roxette to Natalie Imbruglia as her templates.
Wainwright reels the audience in with his vulnerable, tragic songwriting, then makes his moist-eyed audience howl when he exclaims that he never much fancied the bloke for whom his songs were written anyway (“he wasn’t much into boys…but he did like singers,” he muses slyly).
On Look Into The Eyeball, his seventh solo album, Byrne again uses his most stringent songwriting instincts to put manners on an unruly disparity of styles
Duhan’s pedigree stretches back to his founding membership of '60s act Granny’s Intentions and encompasses a later songwriting career that has seen his generally dark and introspective songs covered by Christy Moore (as in the title track here), Mary Black, Francie Conway and Dolores Keane.
SEPIA-TONED and timeless, Sonny Condell's velvet-tinged voice and mystically-inspired songwriting have long been such an integral part of the Irish musical landscape that he's lately been overlooked in favour of some of his more commercially-inclined peers such as Kieran Goss and Brian Kennedy.
Kicking things off, Donegal outfit Berkley displayed a neat line in edgy, guitar-driven pop, which was tight and well rehearsed. They also demonstrated solid songwriting skills which, combined with an obvious live ability marked them out as definite future contenders.
Even with the explosion of F.G.T.H. 1984 saw the rebirth of ‘the song’ (and songwriting) and the return of rock’s most rudimentary and potent instrument, the guitar.
The true mark of quality songwriting comes through when songs are at their most naked, stripped of all studio trickery and jiggery-pokery - just the basic accompaniment and vocal
He may be destined to remain the quietly-sung, lesser-known anti-hero of contemporary American songwriting, but Cass McCombs is now accustomed, if not suited to the role.
A hard-bitten Texas native Billy Joe Shaver is perhaps best known for his songwriting and as a man who has lived most of the songs he has written. Since the beginning of this decade he has worked with his son Eddie, as Shaver, their debut album Tramp On Your Street mating the tough, honest writing of Billy Joe with Eddie's hard rock guitar.
Pina Kollars is an Austrian native, who re-located to West Cork seven years ago. Her music reflects this transition: one can detect the thawing of Alpine cool in her resolutely cheery songwriting, giving way to the blissful security of the Irish countryside.
The musician crippled by pathological introversion is a familiar trope of indie-pop, a hackneyed pose long since drained of artistic potential. Yet the Amazing Pilots, a Coleraine act built around the songwriting partnership of brothers Paul and Phil Wilkinson, eke fresh possibilities from the stereotype of tortured shyness.
The two producers seem determined to load the kitchen sink onto every track. It's a pity, because Spillane's lovely gentle voice and real songwriting talent would hold up just fine on their own, given half a chance
Sometimes it feels as though Ireland is suffering an overdose of bed-sit earnestness. For a generation of songwriters, elegant mooching has acquired the character of a national pastime.
Amidst the apparently bottomless onslaught of weepy self-consciousness, Paddy Casey cuts a solitary figure. Although no less gushing than his peers, the Dublin singer boasts songwriting chops to match.
It's clear that Switch have a strong belief in what they're doing, and they've got more than enough vocal and songwriting talent to justify their existence
Songs like ‘Sentimental Heart’, a concerto for piano, strings and Pet Sounds haberdashery, suggest this pair are as natural a songwriting team as Karen and Richard.
Their transition from traditional ‘indie’ beginnings to a more lavish, gothic sound suggests a development that, for my money, has never been backed up by a commensurate break-through in terms of songwriting. Or maybe I’ve been missing something...
Believers view Hansard & Co’s brew of emotive folk-tinged rock as a shining example of durability and authenticity in image-obsessed days. Atheists see it as the grim apotheosis of the strain of phoney singer-songwriting that was especially virulent in Dublin at the latter part of the last decade. Agnostics remain largely unmoved. The Cost, it has to be said, is not a record that will inspire many cross-camp defections.
EXTREMELY COOL is right. Not every Charlie-come-lately touting his second album can boast an endorsement from Willie Dixon on the cover, credit executive production duties to Johnny Depp, and feature major contributions in the songwriting, production and vocal departments from none other than Tom Waits. Mr. Weiss is connected.
With 'Green' and its attendant world tour finally thrusting R.E.M. into the mainstream after seven years as the worst-kept secret in the Western hemisphere, it was odds-on that, given the band's predilection for avoiding the obvious, the follow-up would bear little relation to its illustrious predecessor, bar the songwriting credits.
ANY ALBUM that devotes its opening track to the cross-dressing antics of cartoon character Mr. Benn must have something going for it and as 'Festive Road' takes you strolling through the leafy streets of sixties' London suburbia, it soon becomes apparent that what we're dealing with here is songwriting of a vastly superior quality.
While the arrangements, production and execution of ideas are as excellent as you’d expect the songwriting is surprisingly lightweight and indistinctive.
From the germ of a melodic idea through to the record that's played on the radio - Hot Press presents all you need to know about the art of songwriting. By journalist and musician PETER MURPHY. Part One of a three-part industry special.
Till now, Pogues' compliments have invariably centred on Shane MacGowan's singular songwriting. The group's erratic performances which could descend into some ramshackle acoustic heart of darkness meant the praise wasn't always extended to his fellows.
On Tuesday 23rd November, at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, the Church & General Insurance Company present The Celebration Concert, featuring an extraordinary array of Ireland's finest contemporary songwriting and composing talents. In this four-page special, Jackie Hayden explores the background to the event and we profile the leading players.
The hype parade doesn't interest Carlow's finest, 79 Cortinaz. Whether it's cold-calling record stores or hand delivering CDs, they'd rather take a grassroots journey to the top.
Not content to let other country stars record her songs and keep her in massive cheques for the rest of her life, gretchen peters has decided to do a little performing and touring of her own. Interview: colm o'hare.
Cork singer-songwriter NICOLE MAGUIRE is rapidly making a name for herself with her full-on pop-rock songs, swoonful voice and dogged determination. On the release of her debut album Fight The Score she talks to Jackie Hayden.
As girl band the saturdays prepare to play this year’s Oxegen, Edwin McFee gets a frosty reception when he talks to Irish member Una Healy. Undeterred, he manages to find out about their bust up with Basshunter, their admiration for Girls Aloud and more.
With their debut album about to hit the streets on a hip French label and some prestige support slots in the offing, 202s are one of Ireland’s hottest properties.
Far from it in fact with even the world of advertising now bestowing its blessings, things seem to have come full cycle for one of
Ireland s most original and enduring songwriters. SIOBHAN LONG meets SONNY CONDELL.
She first caught our ears as the breathy vocalist covering ‘Let’s Dance’ on the Ballygowan ad, but Miss Paula Flynn now has her own album of original songs on release.
Having watched Shay Healy hold tightly onto his little camera as he, and the Music City USA crew, travelled thousands of miles across the United States this summer, believe me, I know he is driven by a sometimes infuriating "fundamental impulse" to capture beauty. Plus ugliness, pain, poverty, poetry in static form or in motion and humour - in one word: America, in all its twisted glory.
Albert Hammond Jr isn't just a pretty face. As well as his solo career and dayjob with The Strokes, he's also co-written a screenplay adaptation of Charles Bukowski's Pulp
Behold, a video interview with KURT WAGNER, gentle leader of the baseball cap wearin', crescent-wrench-playin', songs-about-dogs-and-squirrels-writin', luscious soul-country revue that is LAMBCHOP. Plus, some tunes from their newest long player, 'Is A Woman'
She’s gotten hitched and given up the navel-gazing, and suddenly the world can’t get enough of her. As mainstream success looms, MARTHA WAINWRIGHT talks about marriage, familial rivalry and being asked out on a date - well, sort of - by Bob Dylan.
In 2007, Hot Press will celebrate its 30th anniversary. By way of a prelude to the up-coming festivities, at Music Ireland ‘06, we will be unveiling the Hot Press Covers Exhibition featuring a selection of the great, and historic images that have adorned the front page of the magazine, from June 1977 onwards...
Shakespear s Sister siobhAN FAHEY makes her acting debut in a powerful new short movie that goes to the heart of the Dublin heroin epidemic. Here, she tells craig fitzsimons about the legitimate highs of working in both music and film.
He's long been one of the North's most singular songwriting talents. Now ANDY WHITE is returning to Belfast to perform a show that sees him bringing together some of his earliest and most current compositions.
In a rare interview, US alt culture icon Tom Waits talks to Dave Fanning about touring with Zappa, getting the nod of approval from Dylan, his fastidious approach to songwriting and why Bill Hicks remains America’s foremost political commentator
Growing up alongside the nascent U2 in the ’70s, Neil McCormick dreamt that one day he too would rank among the rock’n’roll greats. having quit songwriting to focus on journalism, his musical ambitions were ironically realised when he found himself included among such heavyweight talents as leonard cohen, bob dylan and elvis presley on The Passion Of The Christ soundtrack.
For the person in the eye of the storm, massive success can involve a titanic struggle. Especially when, as you’re trying to keep your bearings, ordinary life jumps up to punch you in the teeth. Now, after death, birth, fatigue, grief, joy and the "mindfuck" that is "the tidal wave of success," it is time, says David Gray, to get back to the music. and – whisper it – maybe even have a little holiday.
First there was the bad shit then the mad shit – the biggest-selling album in Irish history, an international hit and a record you hear “in every shoe shop”. So, having climbed the white ladder to phenomenal success, how does David Gray follow that?
Tori Amos’ new album, the acclaimed Scarlet’s Walk, was inspired equally by her joyous pregnancy with daughter Natashya and the tragedy of September 11, which led the singer-songwriter on a musical quest to discover the true soul of America
It’s been a long, strange trip for David Grohl, from Nirvana drummer to Foo Fighters frontman, via Queens Of The Stone Age and Tenacious D. Now he’s back with a new Foo album, he’s buried the hatchet with Courtney Love and he’s still as rock’n’roll as ever
One of Ireland’s premier singer/songwriters whose work has been covered by Christy Moore and the Corrs, Jimmy MacCarthy’s latest album The Moment illustrates a lighter side to his character. Below Jimmy gives us the inside track on the songs, the singers and the craft of writing
Richard Ashcroft spent the best part of the ’90s on a quest to make one of the great rock albums with The Verve. Having succeeded with Urban Hymns, he promptly broke up the band. Now, with the imminent release of his second solo album, Human Conditions, an upbeat Ashcroft discusses his excitement about collaborating with Brian Wilson, his youthful adventures in clubland, and why The Verve had to split
JJ 72 have been hailed by some critics as the finest thing to come out of Ireland since U2 - and no wonder. With a hugely impressive debut album under their collective belt, the expectations are even higher for the follow-up, I To Sky. They share with their illustrious predecessors a predilection for intense songs of spiritual yearning - and a desire to make music that truly stands the test of time. But is it rock'n'roll?
The rise and rise of the female singer/songwriter is fast achieving phenomenon status in Ireland - here,
Peter Murphy profiles an eclectic mix of new and distinctive talent
No mere actor boy moonlighting as a rock star, Billy Bob Thornton is steeped in music and also in the kind of brooding Southern gothic aesthetic which informs his compelling album of song and story, Private Radio. Peter Murphy meets a singular man of stage and screen
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: 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?
Ian Hunter, the former voice of MOTT THE HOOPLE, is back with a 38-track Greatest Hits & Rarities double-CD, plus an all-new album, From The Knees Of My Heart, to follow later this year. Now, from where past and present collide, he explains how he once broke into Elvis Presley s Gracelands, how he produced hits for Billy Idol and what it was like to tour with Queen as your support act. He even finds time to tell tales about Marc Bolan, Mick Ronson, and, incidentally, Mott The Hoople too Andy Darlington listens in.
John Walshe talks to Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz about love, fame, journalism, nervous breakdowns, dating the cast of Friends and the band s special relationship with their Irish fans. Birdwatcher: Declan English
Adam Duritz of Counting Crows and Kieran Kennedy a mutual appreciation society that went public during the Heineken Green Energy Festival get together to discuss songwriting, critics, genius, mediocrity and what it takes to be a rock n roll outlaw. Referee: PETER MURPHY.
Though he was busking in Grafton Street at 14, it s taken Glen Hansard more than a few shakes of the lamb s tail to reach the plateau of success which his songwriting talents have, for so long, threatened to take him but after the colossal success of Revelate , The Frames are, finally, set fair to enjoy their day in the sun. Here, Glen and guitarist, Dave Odlum, put Niall Crumlish in the picture.
Though he was busking in Grafton Street at 14, it s taken Glen Hansard more than a few shakes of the lamb s tail to reach the plateau of success which his songwriting talents have, for so long, threatened to take him but after the colossal success of Revelate , The Frames are, finally, set fair to enjoy their day in the sun. Here, Glen and guitarist, Dave Odlum, put Niall Crumlish in the picture.
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.
Queen of catharsis as the leader of Throwing Muses, Kristin Hersh raised a few eyebrows with her debut solo album Hips And Makers, a sublimely private collection which made it all the way to the Top 10. Here she explains her approach to songwriting, the emotional extremes she suffers and what it’s like working with The Sexiest Man Alive to NIALL CRUMLISH.
Though Beth Nielsen Chapman's latest album deeper still was created when she was mourning the death of her husband and battling breast cancer, the result is an uplifting collection of life-affirming songs
After two years of constant touring, Welsh songstress Jem is fed up with hotels and soundchecks and can’t wait to get back to writing new songs. Now wonder she’s in little humour for small talk.
It's one of the most heartwarming and deserved success stories in music - how Beth Orton learned to cope with illness, rebuilt her career and found herself sharing studios and stages with artists as diverse as Emmylou Harris, Ryan Adams, The Chemical Brothers and David Kitt
Twelve months ago, Declan O'Rourke was almost unheard of. Since then, his record has acheived platinum status. On the eve of his biggest tour ever, O'Rourke talks about a year in the maelstrom.
Peter Murphy catches up with former Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherley to talk about 'crazy woman's music', writing songs and collaborating with XTC's Andy Partridge.
Shop-assistant by day, budding songwriter by night, Funzo's Liam McDermott has finally gotten around to unleashing his debut album. He talks about forging his own path and his love for musical cross-pollination.
Having conquered Africa, Youssou N’Dour is now turning his attentions to the rest of the world. With Eno, Peter Gabriel and Wyclef Jean all singing his praises, Sam Healy reckons it’s only a matter of time before he has his evil way with us
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.
Playing Live at the Marquee on Thursday 28 June: Having caused something of a sensation on the back of their smash hit single ‘Everytime We Touch’, the German-based Cascada are now bringing their infectious brand of dance-pop to Cork.
STEPHEN ROBINSON talks to former CROWDED HOUSE bassist NICK SEYMOUR about the band s break-up, their rarieties collection and his nascent career as a producer.
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.
The Divine Comedy return to the live arena in September and have recorded several tracks for a new album 'that's going to be fab', according to the ever-immodest Neil Hannon
As her first ever solo greatest hits is released, Annie Lennox contemplates the ways in which parenthood has shaped her work – and explains why the past 15 years have passed in a flash.
After splitting on the verge of a major breakthrough in the eighties, Aslan are back and determined to learn from past mistakes. Interview: Stuart Clark.
At just 23, Siniad Lohan is one of the brightest prospects to have appeared on the Irish music scene for some time, with the Woman s Heart stars taking her to their collective bosom not to mention her acclaimed debut album which is nestling comfortably in the Top 10. Siniad an scial: Siobhan Long.
With Hello Starling Josh Ritter has emerged as one of the finest songwriters who's operating today. John Walshe meets the reluctant hero who's storming the Irish charts.
From Stone Roses' stringsman to stand alone soloist, John Squire's musical journey has had both highs and lows, yet he's returned with a new album and this time he's getting vocal
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.
Five years after the death of singer Michael Hutchence and with the release of the greatest hits compilation Definitive INXS, the biggest Australian rock outfit of the ’80s and ’90s are about to re-enter the live arena
JOHN WALSHE catches up with K S CHOICE, the Belgian guitarslingers whose third album looks set to finally bring their perfectly crafted melodies to the world s attention.
Kirsty MacColl has added another string to her bow with a new album heavily influenced by Cuban and Brazilian music. She told Niall Stanage about the album s genesis, the break-up of her marriage to Steve Lillywhite and why there s no Left in Britain anymore .
Their music might be chilled-out psychedelia, but, in person, The Coral are capable of Gallagher-level rowdiness. Not that they harbour dreams of being the next Oasis. The Liverpool outfit are happy being a cult act...
Almost unheralded, in "Raintown" Scotland's Deacon Blue have made one of the year's outstanding albums. Despite extensive critical kudos, however, the first two singles from the album - "Dignity" and "Loaded" - failed to make any inroads into the charts. A third single, the excellent "When Will You (Make My Telephone Ring)" looks as if it might enable Deacon Blue to prise open the door. Nevertheless the band must be perturbed at their relative lack of success to date.
Having departed from Suede in acrimonious circumstances a decade ago, Bernard Butler is now back working with his artistic soul mate, Brett Anderson, this time in The Tears. And as Anderson tells Ed Power, the duo feel their best work is still ahead of them.
He’s one of Ireland's most promising songwriters-for-hire, but now Limerick native Don Mescall hopes to establish himself as a solo artist in his own right.
Rollerskate Skinny frontman Ken Griffin is back with an ace new band, Favourite Sons. And, would you believe it, they’re the toast of New York’s rock scene. Even Jack White’s a convert.
Snowman FC from Cork won the Irish heat of the JD Sets, played live in the legendary Jack Daniel's Distillery in Tennessee and recorded with REM man David Barbe in Nashville.
18 months ago Travis weren’t sure if they wanted to be a band anymore. Then their drummer was told he’d never walk again and their whole outlook changed.
Songwriter to the stars Gretchen Peters on record company inertia, the need for revolutionary new artists, and what it means to be an American musician in these highly fraught times. words Jackie Hayden
Ex-Picturehouse front man Dave Browne talks about differentiating his USB, pushing the envelope, and disambiguating his product with a blue-sky opportunity.
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.
Taking time out from his stag weekend, baroque retro-rocker The Mighty Stef talks about the influence of film on his writing, his enduring love for Nick Cave and his friendship with Shane MacGowan
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.
A recent postbag brought a cry of despair and bewilderment from a band who had been offered a management contract. An accompanying letter gave them about a week to sign it, otherwise they would forfeit a gig which the management had lined up for them. The band wanted my thoughts on the matter.
John Walshe catches up with James McColl, singer with The Supernaturals, one of the most underrated bands in Britain, ahead of their forthcoming Irish gigs.
Uber-hip electro-rock merchants The Bravery are brewing up a storm on the UK indie scene thanks to their blindingly inventive records and raw and energetic live shows. Interview by Hannah Hamilton.
You can tell how highly regarded she is by the number of top stars who want her to sing with them. But for Emmylou Harris such collaborations are a two-way street.
Pop star, movie star, UNICEF youth ambassador – Samantha Mumba has already packed a lot into her young life (including a secret boyfriend!) and the stakes are constantly being raised
No, she doesn’t hate Tim Wheeler but yes, she does look up her own chart position first. A solo Charlotte Hatherly on Bowie, Star Wars and life with and without Ash.
He used to be an actor but there's nothing showbizzy about Johnny Flynn's baroque folk-pop. He tells us what it's like to grow up in a thespian household and of his friendship with Kevin Spacey.
He's come a long way, baby - once a poster-boy for rampant hedonistic excess, Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan has since settled down and learned to channel his energies into the area in which he excels, haunting, dream-like though reliably attitudinal - rock n roll.
English folk singer KATE RUSBY has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. She tells Colm O'Hare about sad songs, her Bon Jovi phase, and attracting praise from Blur s Graham Coxon
Neil Young, the Pixies and the Beach Boys are just some of the influences that Californian quintet grandaddy include in their own particular brew. Tape: nick kelly.
John Walshe previews the new Foo Fighters double-album, In Your Honor, which Dave Grohl describes as "by far the most ambitious project I have ever had anything to do with in my entire life."
From a commercial point of view it hasn't exactly been all sweetness and light for SONNY CONDELL but his new album Someone To Dance With should bring a smile to his face. Interview: Siobhán Long
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?
Scenesters have been hip to widescreen New Jersey-ites THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM for several years. Now the rest of the world is starting to pay attention, too.
Domestic metal bands may find it difficult to make themselves heard over their hipper contemporaries, but Dublin rockers Mike Got Spiked look set to add to their growing army of devotees courtesy of their scorching debut album, Caveat Emptor.
Backstage craziness with Bell X1. Gratuitous (prescription) drug-taking. Cucumbers down the pants (sort of). It’s all in a day’s work for über-buzzy indie rock newcomers Villagers.
MICHAEL STIPE RECKONS THEY'VE PRODUCED THE ALBUM OF THE YEAR, THEIR SINGER HAS BEEN HAILED AS THE ‘NEW BOB DYLAN’ AND THEY HAVE IMPECCABLE TASTE IN COATS. CAN ANYTHING HALT GRANT LEE BUFFALO'S MAD DASH TO STARDOM? LORRAINE FREENEY INVESTIGATES.
John Walshe talks to World Party mainman Karl Wallinger about his quest for independence, his growing profile as a songwriter and his plans for a new online news channel
Fresh from a starring role in the Readers Poll, Josh Ritter has even more reasons to be cheerful – like touring with Joan Baez and getting to know Damien Rice.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it s not a new game we ve invented to pass slow days at HP Central, just a reflection on the confusion you can face when a CD or tape arrives which is recorded and packaged so well that you don t know whether it s a demo or an actual release that should be re-directed to the Album Dissection and Resuscitation Department.
Cellos, harps and horns collide with magical results on the album of the summer, if not the year, from cult \bermensch BADLY DRAWN BOY. KIM PORCELLI reads between the lines
For most bands, a gritty rehearsal room or their parents’ garage must suffice. But Belfast indie popsters Heliopause have opted for a rather more individualistic practice space – their drummer’s kitchen.
They’re the unsung heroes of plaintive Irish pop. Ahead of a new run of live shows, Saville talk guitars, pedals and Wurlitzers – and explain why musicians should be prepared for the worst whenever they go on stage.
If there s one cast-iron prediction
to be made for 1997, it s that
THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH will carry on carrying on up the charts.
JOHN WALSHE meets
Dave Hemingway and Jacqui Abbot to learn
more about life inside the mega
band with the low profile.
FIONA REID meets SEAN MILLAR, the acclaimed singer/songwriter who’s currently overseeing a music workshop for inner-city youths and talks to one young participant, IAN FAGAN
They’ve been heralded as the biggest thing in Irish rock since U2 – a prediction that proved prescient when The Script romped to the top of the charts with their debut album.
He wasn’t going to sing and then he sang. He wasn’t going to talk to the press and then he talked. And, finally, when he was good and ready, Paul McCartney wowed an audience with his greatest hits. Stuart Clark sees Macca in Manchester warming up for Dublin
A North Carolinian who speaks Irish and a country performer who only occasionally performs country,
jim lauderdale has a way that makes the seemingly contradictory work well. Interview: siobhan long.
Although john squire and his new band The seahorses have taken something of a critical mauling following the release of their album Do It Yourself and some less-than-sparkling live shows, the former Stone Roses axeman is surprisingly unperturbed as peter murphy finds out.
He may be unhappy about once again being forced to climb the interview treadmill, but Eels frontman E soon relaxes sufficiently to discuss swimming with sharks in the American music industry and why turning into Beck isn’t on the agenda just yet
Tasmanian native Matt Lunson has overcome the challenges of establishing himself in a new country (not to mention his past in an Australian punk band called Hasselhoff!) to become one of the Irish music scene’s most accomplished solo artists.
North-of-the-border scenester Paul Archer is back with a thrilling new project, Burning Codes. He talks about moving to Britain, becoming a father, and when Snow Patrol supported one of his gigs.
A brief encounter with Dido – author of multi-million-selling debut album No Angel and brand-newie Life For Rent – not to mention one of the nicest popstars you’re ever likely to meet.
Having made the headlines recently with their attention-grabbing impromptu gig at the You’re A Star auditions in Portlaoise, Longford rockers The Rubens are now out to put the life and soul back into Irish pop.
How the mafia did Noel a favour by twatting Liam; the U2 song Oasis might cover; the most he’s spent on cocaine; a great night out in Ireland’ and what it will say on his tombstone. Noel Gallagher answers the reader’s questions. Turning up the heat Stuart Clark.
East Glasgow quartet Glasvegas have nothing to do with the TG4 show. They're the anthemic band discovered by Alan McGee in the same venue he found Oasis.
Difficult second album syndrome has no place in the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah vocabulary. Not that the blogger faves are exactly busting a gut to have a hit.
The big time looms for Ed Zealous, but they're not fazed by the prospect of playing one of the world's most prestigious rock festivals. In fact, they can't wait to crash the mainstream.
Visionary singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright has built up a loyal cult following for his epic tales of love, lost and unrequited. But as he admits himself, that’s only half the story. “Usually interviewers are obsessed with one thing or the other – whether it’s the gay thing or the drugs or the politics,” he tells an intrigued Phil Udell.
On top of scoring a Top 5 hit with Elbow's latest album, singer Guy Garvey recently absconded to Nashville to record with Richard Hawley and Frank Black.
Having broken up Pavement, STEPHEN MALKMUS has had plenty of time to devote to making his eponymous solo album and indulging his obsession with all things Irish from U2 to Thin Lizzy to Planxty. NIALL CRUMLISH cocks an ear and raises an eyebrow
Well then you better be prepared to hang upside down naked once in a while! Colm O'Hare meets Dublin's Ride Or Die Gang, the band behind this year's ballsiest publicity campaign
Stepping out with Katie Melua has provided ample inspiration for Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard, who isn’t above sending himself up in song or indeed chronicling embarrassments in the bedroom. words Ed Power
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.
Now a provocative solo artist following a spell with the Subtonics, The Mighty Stef (alias Stefan Murphy) invites Jackie Hayden round for some pasta a la Murphy.
At 53, EMMYLOU HARRIS has finally taken up the pen and the result is one of her finest albums yet. SIOBHAN LONG journeys to New York to meet the reluctant songwriter.
With the departure of Shane McGowan a couple of years ago, it was fashionable to write off The Pogues as mere also rans. But the band have proven to be one of the success stories of 1993, with the release of their superb Waiting For Herb album putting them right back on course. Now they can afford to tell their detractors: kiss my ass (under the mistletoe of course). Interview: Siobhán Long.
When indie godhead Frank Black hooked up with several veterans of the Nashville session scene the results were thrillingly different to his work with The Pixies
The dark, romantic Raining Down Arrows is the latest milestone in the creative
liberation of Mundy, a man whose thoughts on love, friendship and connecting with the audience are at the core of his music.
To celebrate hotpress’s thirtieth anniversary issue, we thought we’d break out the bubbly (and the tea!) and invite round a collection of Ireland’s biggest stars.
After five years of hard graft and dedicated shoegazing, The Boo Radleys came up with Giant Steps, an album so ambitious in scope that it’s been perched at the top spot of many end-of-year polls and has seen them heralded as the new Best Band In Britain.
Interview: LORRAINE FREENEY
Welsh pop extroverts Super Furry Animals have delivered their most cohesive and rewarding record yet. Frontman Gruf Rhys explains why Wu Tang Clan as the band's new role model.
Three-minute love songs simply can't cope with all the intricacies of a complex relationship, and inevitably veer off into angst-ridden cliché or syrupy feelgood banality. Dr. Millar, however, attempts to tell it like it is, and explains how and why to John Farrell.
They were one of the great hopes of the early '90s Northern scene. Now The Minnows have patched up their differences and started making music together again.
On the release of a double CD retrospective of his forty years as a performer-songwriter, Johnny McEvoy talks to Jackie Hayden about his early days as Ireland’s answer to Bob Dylan, meeting the great man himself, supporting and introducing The Rolling Stones, defending The Wolfe Tones, not apologising for the troubles in the North, U2 and the key albums that have inspired him.
Two girls, two countries, two very different perspectives: put them together and they make Saucy Monky – originators of some of the sexiest and most addictive guitar driven pop music we’ve heard in years.
Running a marathon, writing the folk-pop equivalent of Dante’s Divine Comedy, buying a house, releasing the finest record of his career. All in a year’s work for Josh Ritter. John Walshe travelled to Boston to meet the young songwriter.
P.J. HARVEY's latest album, Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea will surprise listeners with its positive spirit and sheer lust for life. Hell, she even manages to get Thom Yorke to sound like Tom Jones! KIM PORCELLI meets an artist who has come in from the cold
After making their name with the glacial atmospherics of Felt Mountain, Goldfrapp work up a sweat on their new album Black Cherry. John Walshe hear how they “defrosted” their sound
During their 11-year lifespan, New Zealand popsters Crowded House racked up four hugely successful albums and umpteen hit singles.
It was, therefore, all the more of a shock to their legions of fans when they called it a day in 1996. Here, erstwhile mainman NEIL FINN explains the reasons for the split in typically candid fashion to NEIL McCORMICK, as well as discussing the anticipated reaction to his new solo album, Try Whistling This.
Just about every artist will tell you they never pay attention to reviews. Those same acts can most likely recite word for word those very same reviews. Sound bites, artistic temperament and tight deadlines are not the makings of a quiet life.
LIAM FAY celebrates the re-release of Gram Parsons’ two solo albums, G.P. and GRIEVOUS ANGEL on mid-price CD with an appraisal of the life and work of the man dubbed The Father of Country Rock.
Razorlight are one of the best bands in the world, or so reckons their dapper frontman Johnny Borrell. In an exclusive interview, he talks about heroin addiction, his troubled friendship with Pete Doherty and explains why Arctic Monkeys are also-rans.
‘Looking after number one’ was the record that kick started Ireland’s passage toward punk, and the man who penned it is still vitriolic about the time and place that inspired the song.
AHEAD OF THEIR COIS FHARRAIGE APPEARANCE, Born-again indie rockers Doves talk about the changing of the seasons, escaping the country and getting past those fourth album blues
Spare a thought for Julian Casablancas. His bandmates having flown the nest to do their own side-projects, he’s confessed to feeling, well, at a bit of a loss these days. To fill those empty days, the lead singer for The Strokes has embarked on a solo career of his own. Edwin McFee catches up with the frontman on the eve of the release of Phrazes For The Young and finds out all about the record that he never thought he’d make. Plus, Casablancas also reveals why he doesn’t miss his old sparring partners one bit.
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.
Out goes Bernard Butler, in comes Richard Oakes and Suede seem to go from strength to strength. LORRAINE FREENEY discovers that Brett Anderson and co. are shiny, happy people again.
Whether it's a four-minute love song about a caress that lasts ten seconds, a journey through the universe in a silver plane or a simple escape form war, Air promise that you'll never have a bad trip with their music. Danielle Brigham talks to Jean-Benoit Dunckel, one half of the enigmatic French duo.
Discussing her private life has become a national pastime, but it hasn’t stopped Charlotte Church from developing some very commendable rock’n’roll habits. Ed Power forgives the 19-year-old for standing him up, and discovers a young woman very much in control of her own destiny.
PIGEON-HOLE THEM AS BELFAST HARDCORE MERCHANTS AT YOUR PERIL - IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS THERAPY? HAVE RELEASED TWO CLASSIC PUNK-POP EP'S THAT SHOOK THE BRITISH CHARTS, AND EVEN GOT THEM INTO THE PAGES OF TEEN-BIBLE SMASH HITS. AS THEY BEGIN RECORDING THEIR NEW LP, THEY TAKE TIME OUT TO GET NERVOUS ABOUT FEILE, GET ANGRY ABOUT THE BEATLES, AND EXPLAIN WHY THE DAYS OF THE NINE-MINUTE INSTRUMENTAL EPIC ARE OVER. INTERVIEW: LORRAINE FREENEY
He’s played with The Corrs and was a member of the real-life Commitments. CONOR BRADY talks about life as one of the great unsung mainstays of Irish rock and roll. photos Ruth Medjber
Pigeon-hole them as Belfast hardcore merchants at your peril in the past few months Therapy? have released two classic punk-pop EPs that shook the British charts, and even got them into the pages of teen-bible Smash Hits. As they begin recording their new LP, they take time out to get nervous about Fiile, get angry about the Beatles, and explain why the days of the nine-minute instrumental epic are over. Interview: Lorraine Freeney.
He's not a Christmassy guy, he says, but perhaps the season has made Jape's Richie Egan reflective. Patrick Freyne talks to him about the past, present and future.
COLM O HARE speaks to Fran Healy and Dougie Payne of TRAVIS about ongoing success, irritating Radiohead comparisons and avoiding the nightmare of 9-5 existence.
On the face of it, the Fleadh Mor in Tramore had it all: blistering sunshine, hairy hippies, a stall selling glow in the dark condoms and a line up of rock 'n' roll legends that would be hard to match.
One by one, the members of CHILL Ireland s answer to the Spice Girls occupy the Hot Press hot seat. Popping the questions: JOE JACKSON. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
They may have started out as avant garde indie noisemongers, but The Flaming Lips have matured into one of the greatest and most musical bands on Planet Earth. Plus, they do an utterly magnificent live show!
Philip Chevron's career has been nothing if not varied. From the early days with the Radiators through his collaborations with people like Agnes Bernelle and right up to his current work with The Pogues, he has proved himself to be a consistently fine songwriter and performer. In the first part of a lengthy and intense interview, he talks to Eamonn McCann about his childhood, his love of Broadway musicals, the Horslips connection, the genesis of the Radiators and his fleeting career as a journalist.
If not reinventing the wheel, Arctic Monkeys are certainly giving the spokes a good polish. Stuart Clark takes his place in the moshpit for their recent Dublin show.
Citing “irresolvable conflict”, grunge legend Chris Cornell has packed in his day job with Audioslave to pursue a solo career. Here, he explains why he’s decided to go it alone.
In a Hot Press exclusive brian kennedy is interviewed by his friend Pat McCABE. On the agenda: Belfast, religion, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles and the current state of popular music. Pics: Cathal Dawson
30th Anniversary Retrospective: In a special interview, The Edge reminisces about the early days of Hotpress, explains Bill Graham’s role in U2’s development, and comes clean about what the band have been up to recently in Morocco.
She's swapped her Cardigans for a blanket of mid-life melancholia. From her new home in Harlem, Swedish indie-babe Nina Persson talks about her downbeat new album as A Camp,
hooking up with a former Smashing Pumpkin and why life in a band can be like a prison sentence.
With Paul McGuinness now taking care of business, The Rapture can’t be entirely kidding when they tell Stuart Clark that they have no problem with becoming the biggest band in the world.
Steve Lillywhite, who produced U2's first three albums – and has featured on the production team of almost all of their records – looks back over the band's career and recalls the highs... and the lows
Ex-Split Enz member Tim Finn left Crowded House in 1991 with a new-found clarity of purpose and is now making inroads to a successful solo career with 'Persuasion', the first single off his new album. Here, he reflects on his split with Crowded House and discusses why Ireland feels like home. LORRAINE FREENEY lends an ear.
They may have been dismissed as your typical goofy American oddballs, but as Craig Fitzsimons discovers when he meets THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS co-conspirator JOHN LINNELL, there’s definitely some sort of method to their madness.
Increasingly popular, critically acclaimed, a Grammy Award Winner - and yet, Shawn Colvin still sings those 'ol record company blues. Colm O'Hare lends a sympathetic ear.
For the second year running, Hot Press and Heineken have despatched music business professionals to the far corners of the country for one-to-one meetings with local bands. The mission? To help Ireland's new talent make progress in the music business. IAN CAMPBELL reports.
AIR's latest outing is the kind of thing that gives the soundtrack a good name. JONATHAN O'BRIEN talks to the finest French musical outfit since LITTLE BOB STOREY!
He’s been The Jam Man, The Cappuccino Kid and The Modfather. Now the proud father of a 17-year-old goth daughter, Paul Weller has taken a break from compositional chores to recharge his batteries with a new covers album, Studio 150.
Happy in both her personal and professional life, DOLORES KEANE has learnt the wisdom of doing things for herself. Following the release of her latest album, Solid Ground, SIOBHAN LONG gets to meet her - at the second attempt.
John Spillane has remained a stalwart of the traditional scene for close to two decades. With his excellent new album Hey Dreamer having just hit the shops, Spillane sounds off to hotpress about his long and eventful career, his enthusiasm for younger artists such as Damien Dempsey and Juliet Turner, and why the organisers of the European Capital of Culture events in his native Cork have gotten things spectacularly wrong. words Colm O’Hare photos Mick Quinn
Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme on the firing of bandmate Nick Oliveri, the London bombings and his plan to disappear once their current tour is over
The books of author PATRICK McGRATH depict insanity and psychological breakdown with a detail and accuracy that are second to none. LIAM FAY meets the mental hospital worker-turned-writer to discuss the very particular nature(s) of madness. Pic: CATHAL DAWSON.
The folk and traditional community has been agog with rumours of a row between Facé and Imro. But the signs are that the organisations will be working together now.
“I write a lot on the hoof when i’m walking,” reveals Carol Keogh, which may explain why The Tycho Brahe’s love life is one of the more satisfying sonic and emotional journeys of the year.
placebo have probably garnered more column inches in the British press for frontman
brian molko s effeminate appearance than for their music.
colm o hare meets the men who want to be a band that parents hate .
CATHAL COUGHLAN has long been among the most articulate and angry of Irish songwriters. Here, he talks to JONATHAN O BRIEN about his new album, money problems and adapting to middle-age
Far from the miserable pessimist of lore, eels frontman Mark Everett, aka E, is in fact an upbeat, sanguine character with an engagingly wry sense of humour. He here talks to Paul Nolan about The Eels’ extraordinary new double album, Blinking Lights And Other Revelations, being inspired by Stanley Kubrick, collaborating with Tom Waits, why his dog couldn’t make it out on tour, and slapping Steve Jones’ backside.
Formerly, by his own admission, a perfectionist, an arch-worrier and an all-round uptight individual, Paul Brady is slowly but surely learning how to relax. As his Full Moon album rises, John Waters takes a long, close look at Paul Brady in a new light.
The books of author PATRICK McGRATH depict insanity and psychological breakdown with a detail and accuracy that are second to none. LIAM FAY meets the mental hospital worker-turned-writer to discuss the very particular nature(s) of madness. Pic: CATHAL DAWSON.
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.
NO LONGER ANGRY YOUNG MEN, BUT STILL PRETTY PISSED OFF THIRTY SOMETHINGS, JAKE BURNS AND BRUCE FOXTON TELL STUART CLARK WHY STIFF LITTLE FINGERS REFUSE TO LAY DOWN AND DIE. PIX.: CATHAL DAWSON.
. . . and talks and talks. But when it's NICK KELLY doing the talking, he's always worth listening to, whether what's under discussion is Leonard Cohen, french polishing amid plastic furniture, the brain-numbing efficiency of the music industry or the long-term future of the FAT LADY SINGS. LIAM FAY has plenty of time for him but barely enough tape.
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'
1 guitar + 1 drum kit + 1 boy + 1 girl = The White Stripes. In other words, sweet, sweet noise meets the best brother and sister penned pop since The Carpenters. Eamon Sweeney meets Detroit's finest, who play Dublin Castle on Saturday, May 4th as part of the Heineken Green Energy Festival
The Flaming Lips, whose new record is a 'concept album about death' are possibly the most life-affirming band you’ll hear this year. Frontman Wayne Coyne explains why
The story of how Paul Brady was transformed from a superlative folk artist into a superlative rock artist in a blinding flash of light (well, fifteen years actually). Today's reading is by Niall Stokes.
Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo is one of rock’s great eccentrics. In an exclusive interview he talks about meditation, chastity and why ego is the enemy of art.
Craig Fitzsimons meets Jimmie Dale Gilmore, possessor of a unique high ’n’ lonesome voice and yet another great product of the Lone Star State who, belatedly, is
experiencing a modicum of stardom himself.
They came out of Ballyfermot Rock School,now they are capable of rocking the world! Gerry Mc Govern talks to a band who had the good sense to think of a name that was made for headlines.....flexihead!
Sarah McLachlan has been invited to the Vatican to perform in a huge Christmas gala. But His Holiness may get more than he bargained for. Patrick Brennan meets the Canadian songstress whose new album, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, encompasses themes as diverse as a troubled mother-daughter relationship and eye-opening travels in Cambodia and Thailand. We recommend that the Pontiff pay careful attention to the final paragraphs.
They may sport one of the most original sounds in rock’n’roll – but along the way they’ve been influenced by some of the greats.
STUART BAILIE identifies the ten (plus!) key influences on the music of U2
The Smiths: the band who helped re-write the book of guitar rock, the indie darlings who became mainstream legends, the dream of a group which gave the world the unique reality of Morrissey. guitarist Johnny Marr recalls the thrilling heyday of Manchester’s finest.
With Lights Of The City, underground faves JUBILEE ALLSTARS have finally made the album they ve always talked about. And they re still talking about disappearing Dublin, real Irish pop, love songs, dinner parties and much more. words: EAMON SWEENEY. Star Charts: Declan English
When the Be Here Now tour fell apart at the seams in 1997, the end seemed nigh for Britain’s biggest rock’n’roll band. Then Noel Gallagher gave up drugs and moved to the country. With a stunning new album on the way, the Oasis mainman tells Stuart Clark where it all went right.
There's another Belfast, an alternate dimension populated by C.S. Lewis, Van and your host and spirit guide, Duke Special, who's just released his latest album.
Well it’s one for the money Two for the show
US3 GET READY . . .
. . . Now go cats go! When a critic talks about awarding his favourite gig, album and band of the year accolades to the same outfit then we gotta be talking about something special. In this case it’s transatlantic Jazz Rappers US3. And the, er, critic in question: MR. STUART CLARK
How do you follow an album that sells 26 million copies? Since Jagged Little Pill, this is the dilemma that has haunted Alanis Morissette. A decade on, she feels able to come to terms with her whirlwind success.
With the release of their fourth and finest album "For The Birds", THE FRAMES have zoomed straight into the Irish top ten for the first time. Now, with critical acclaim ringing in their ears, and their glowing fanbase sensing that something special may be about to take place, they prepare to take the Green Energy Weekend by storm. could it be their time has finally come? Interview: KIM PORCELLI. plus mainman GLEN HANSARD gives us a glimpse inside his private diary. out of frame: MICK QUINN
While the path to rock n roll stardom is never smooth, RICHARD ASHCROFT has experienced more ups and downs than most. In a wide-ranging interview with DAVE FANNING, he talks about drugs, The Verve, his new solo album and why the old hometown doesn t look so bad.
Kieran Kennedy has just released a solo album – the Donal Lunny-produced Pagan Irish – but, he tells Colm O’Hare, The Black Velvet Band are still alive and well.
Or perhaps we might have reached for another old familiar headline - Fears and Loathing in RTE - as the bosses at Radio 1 announce the chopping of virtually all specialist music programmes from the schedule. It is, writes Bill Graham, an act of cultural criminal negligence.
Brendan Tallon, guitarist and singer with No Disco darlings Revelino, talks to Patrick Brennan about his early struggle with the music biz that stopped his previous incarnation, The Coletranes, dead in its tracks, and the creative process behind the craft of song-writing that makes his new album, Revelino, one of the year s essential purchases.
Origin of Symmetry? Freak of Evolution more like. The common response to Muse’s Showbiz debut in 1999 was akin to a primitive people’s first glimpse of a spacecraft over the prehistorical landscape. Here was an unlikely but hugely accomplished hybrid of prog-rock flash, quasi-symphonic attack and ferocious virtuosity, spearheaded by Matt Bellamy’s soaring tenor and Dick-ian lyrics. An impressive sound, even if you didn’t know what the hell it was.
John Walshe talks to Luka Bloom on the eve of the release of his fourth studio album, Salty Heaven, about his return to Ireland, the inspiration behind the songs, older brother Christy and the latest generations of the Moore dynasty.
Pics: Colm Henry
The big time came knocking but Jack L said, "No thanks, I’d rather do my own thing." In a revealing interview, he explains why he’d rather be an underground star and tells of how melancholy gets him out of bed every morning.
Creativity for depression? It s an exchange he can live with, says PAUL WESTERBERG, whose days of excess with The Replacements continue to haunt his latest acclaimed solo album Suicaine Gratification. Interview: JOE JACKSON.
The initial rumours were that it was going to be a rock n roll record . Then subsequent whispers hinted at everything from trip-hop to techno to ambient. But U2 s eighth studio album, Pop, is all of these things and more. It s the first album since 1983 that they ve made without the assistance of Brian Eno, it s been a long time in the making roughly a full year, all told and it s selling like the proverbial warm buns. Here, NIALL STOKES talks to BONO and ADAM CLAYTON, as well as co-producers FLOOD, HOWIE B and THE EDGE, about its lengthy genesis and what the band hoped to accomplish in creating it.
Pix: STEPHANE SEDNAOUI .
Stuart Clark joins Bon Jovi for one wild night in Mexico city and hears how the band survived drink, drugs, dodgy haircuts and, ah, parasitical infections to hobnob with a beatle and stake their claim as “one of the best rock ’n’ roll bands on the planet”
Brendan Tallon, guitarist and singer with No Disco darlings Revelino, talks to Patrick Brennan about his early struggle with the music biz that stopped his previous incarnation, The Coletranes, dead in its tracks, and the creative process behind the craft of song-writing that makes his new album, Revelino, one of the year’s essential purchases.
The Walls are about to embark on their most extensive Irish tour yet, including their biggest Dublin gig to date at the Ambassador and may be about to finally break the bank
The first time The Killers played Oxegen they fretted whether anyone would turn up to see them. Now they’re sweeping in to headline the main stage. They talk to us about being chased by papparazi, growing up in Middle America and sharing a bill with Bono and, er, Gary Barlow
The Walls are about to embark on their most extensive Irish tour yet, including their biggest Dublin gig to date at the ambassador and may be about to finally break the bank
It sounds like the stuff of hype and overnight success – from struggling garage band to next big thing and accolades from noel gallagher, morrissey and bono – but even at an average age of 23 The Thrills have paid their dues. Olaf Tyaransen hears how the summer’s hottest band went from worshipping whipping boy to having beck’s da play on their debut album.
No-one has ever asked suzanne vega before if Luka the story about child sexual abuse which made her famous was based on personal experience. Here for the first time ever the singer reveals that indeed it is and that she is still dealing with the after-effects of that traumatic experience. Interview: SIOBHAN LONG. Pix: COLM HENRY.
From hip replacement to hip and onto hip-hop, the second coming of texas has been one of the most unlikely artistic and commercial triumphs of recent years.
But as olaf Tyaransen discovers, the new-look
sharleen spiteri remains very much her old self.
With his new album The Mountain, STEVE EARLE has turned his hand to bluegrass. He talks to SIOBHAN LONG about the record, his colourful past and his love of Irish music.
Well when you've conquered the world, what else can the biggest band on the planet do except go into space? BONO and LARRY discuss matters cosmic and personal with Olaf Tyaransen
As a long time acquaintance of Pete Doherty, Steve Cummins was looking forward to a fly-on-the-wall seat on the Babyshambles tour bus for the band’s five day jaunt around Ireland. But no-shows, court appearances and the attentions of one Johnny Headlock gave him a rather different perspective on the Doherty circus.
The most momentous journalistic event of the decade nay, the millennium has come to pass. They said it could never happen, but after months of careful pre-planning and tense negotiation, nick kelly has finally interviewed NICK KELLY. Here, the Stars Of Heaven fan remorselessly grills the former Fat Lady Sings mainman about his long sabbatical from the music industry, his perception of modern culture, and his cracking new album Between Trapezes. Pix, gimmicky t-shirts and
unfeasibly large trousers: mick RAGING PUFF QUInn.
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?
Been there, seen that, doin' it tomorrow. Is there no stopping Shay Healy? The most popular songsmith in Europe — and, er, Turkey — has just published a new novel Green Card Blues. Night hawk: SIOBHÁN LONG.
Until recently one of the ultimate indie cult bands, The Flaming Lips have survived the ravages of heroin, acid and a hunting trip with William Burroughs. Now, their new album At War With The Mystics finds them taking their funky psychedelia to strange new places – including the upper reaches of the charts for the first time. Could it be that their moment has finally come? Interviews: Craig Fitzsimons (now) and Peter Murphy (then). additional reporting: Stuart Clark, Ed Power and Jackie Hayden
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.
A new album, an exclusive gig and opinions on Velvet Goldmine, the Internet and life, love and happiness. STUART CLARK meets the legendary DAVID BOWIE.
Dance is dead, says Roisin Murphy, but if any act is going to raise it from the grave it’s Moloko, proud authors of the over the top and utterly sincere Statues, an album of tremendous pop songs that recapture the glory of classic disco.
Lyle Lovett, the crown jewel of Texas and everybody’s favourite alternative country celebrity, was in Dublin again recently to play a one-off, sell-out show in the Gaiety. Here he talks about his new album, I Love Everybody; his foray into Hollywood and, of course, Julia what’s-her-name. Siobhan Long found a very clear and pleasant ranger who knows the right way to order a pear tart!
She’s shaping up to be one of the break-out stars of 2009, with a number one album and a Mercury Prize nomination to her name. We catch up with Florence And The Machine’s Florence Welch, who talks about becoming an overnight sensation, reflects on her bizarre childhood and explains why her most controversial song really isn’t as contentious as it’s made out to be.
With a herd of their fellow Bostonians stampeding the charts and a fine new album Big Red Letter Day to their credit, BUFFALO TOM seem especially primed to cash in on the commercial success that has been dangled teasingly in front of their faces for years. But are they too normal to be
rock 'n' roll stars? LORRAINE FREENEY tracked the band in London with that very question in mind.
Is she a manufactured pop act made to look like a rock chick? is she a rock chick who sells records like a manufactured pop act? or is she something else entirely? Why’d Avril Lavigne have to go and make things so complicated?
When a gang of Ireland’s finest musicians, media stars and political types gathered in the Central Hotel for pre-Christmas drinks, there were fun and games aplenty. reporting: Stephen Bailey, Stuart Clark and Roisin Dwyer. Photos: Mick Quinn and Graham Keogh. Costumes: courtesy of The Dublin Costume Company.
What links Richard Harris with Linda Ronstadt, Art Garfunkel with The Supremes, and Frank Sinatra with er, Ghost Of An American Airman? Why, the music of Jimmy Webb, of course, one of the most widely-respected songwriters of all-time. Here he talks to JOE JACKSON about his friendship with Richard Harris, his encounters with Elvis and his deep-rooted love of Irish music.
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
KIM PORCELLI sees DAVID KITT in Brussels on the eve of the release of his new album The Big Romance. Back in Dublin, the pair settle in at the Long Hall for the long haul…
Photography: MYLES CLAFFEY
Things are on the up and up for Snow Patrol whose long-overdue commercial success means they’re now getting matey with pop divas, soap stars and footballers. Gary Lightbody tells Stuart Clark how it all went right.
Triumph Of The Will meets Spinal Tap and Bach meets Sabbath as METALLICA join
forces with 101 dinner jackets. Peter Murphy travels to Berlin to sample the results.
Bum, bottom and crevice may be dirty words but pop certainly isn't as Stuart Clark discovers when he enters the fluffy pink bunny rabbit world of the Lightning Seeds.
CAST mainman JOHN POWER is on top of the world, with a string of hit singles behind him, a brand new album and impending fatherhood on the way. He talks to JOHN WALSHE about life, love, the joys of smoking weed and the meaning of sheerability .
COLM O HARE catches up with MARY BLACK, as the singer helicopters her way around the country and talks about her new album, the song writing of Ron Sexsmith and unfair criticism. Pics: PETER MATHEWS.
Belfast, then Glasgow and NEXT STOP – the cover of the Radio Times?
Stuart Clark joins fast-rising Snow Patrol on Scottish manoeuvres. PICS: IAN McMURRAY
Mark McClelland was a feature and music writer for Cork's Evening Echo for four years. Here, he presents his top ten most significant musical acts to emerge from Cork.
It’s been quite a year for PETE DOHERTY, the former Libertines frontman, and now leader of Babyshambles. 2005 featured a series of drug busts, failed rehab attempts, the tabloid witch hunt of his girlfriend Kate Moss, several non-appearances and live shows that fluctuated between agonising and ecstatic... oh, and the small matter of a debut album. As hotpress went to press, the news broke that Doherty had been busted yet again, barely two days out of an Arizona clinic. hotpress talks to Doherty’s label boss, Rough Trade founder Geoff Travis, tour photographer Danny Clifford, and former Babyshambles drummer Gemma Clarke, for the insiders' view on what’s becoming an increasingly sad and fearful saga.
They may not be that just yet but if current plans for global domination go according to the script Linkin Park will be very soon. Stuart Clark travels to London to hear the band’s new album Meteora and finds that American rock’s hottest property are surrounded by the kind of security normally reserved for Michael Jackson
The trauma of his mother's death; the joy of his marriage to Yvonne; the truth about his sex life; the pressures of growing up in public; the importance of peer respect; the offers of a solo career; and how America might hold the key to keeping boyzone together. In his most personal and revealing interview to date, ronan keating talks to joe jackson
The trauma of his mother's death; the joy of his marriage to Yvonne; the truth about his sex life; the pressures of growing up in public; the importance of peer respect; the offers of a solo career; and how America might hold the key to keeping boyzone together. In his most personal and revealing interview to date, ronan keating talks to joe jackson
The trauma of his mother's death; the joy of his marriage to Yvonne; the truth about his sex life; the pressures of growing up in public; the importance of peer respect; the offers of a solo career; and how America might hold the key to keeping boyzone together. In his most personal and revealing interview to date, ronan keating talks to joe jackson
UNLESS YOU’VE BEEN FREQUENTING THE LATE-NIGHT HOSTELRIES OF DUBLIN, YOU’RE UNLIKELY TO HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO ENGAGE IN A BATTLE OF WITS, ER, MANO A MANO, WITH ACE QUIZ MASTER GEORGE “I KNOW A LOT MORE THAN YOU DO” BYRNE. WORRY NOT. THAT’S WHAT THE HOT PRESS QUIZ OF THE YEAR IS FOR. NOW GO FOR IT. SECONDS OUT!
From the backstreets of Waterford to a place on the podium next to the Beatles, Gilbert O'Sullivan lived an extraordinary life. Now 60, he looks back on his rollercoaster career.
After his celebrated band the blades failed to make a breakthrough in the 1980s, PAUL CLEARY more or less turned his back on music for 15 years. But now unexpectedly, he’s back with a terrific solo album crooked town and more than a few tales to tell.
Interview: LIAM MACKEY
STEREOPHONICS are on the up-and-up, their popularity growing without the band making concessions to the London-based music media. GEORGE BYRNE met them to talk about drink, drugs, writer s block and their upcoming Slane support slot.
Mini Pics: MICK QUINN.
In the past, many Irish people suffered from an inferiority complex about their own culture – about the language, music, film and literature of this island. But music is one arena where things have changed dramatically. Report: Jackie Hayden
They blasted into the public consciousness at the end of 2005, when 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' became the year's biggest breakthrough No.1. Since then it's been an extraordinary rollercoaster ride for the Arctic Monkeys, with bass player trouble, celebrity fans, EastEnders appearances and a row with fellow newcomers The Feeling to show for their efforts. Oh, and then there's the small matter of shifting nearly two million copies of their debut album...
They’ll never win any prizes for speaking the Queen’s English but, with a number one album under their belts, mop-topped Dundee rockers The View aren’t too bothered.
The Sultans of Ping may have a penchant still for fetishwear and dirty three-minute pop songs but they’re definitely mellowing as Stuart Clark discovers when he meets Niall O’Flaherty and Pat O’Connell for
afternoon tea. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON
Cakes: Mr. Kipling
Although the acclaimed C Mon Kids was conspicuous by its absence from the
Best-Of-96 polls, The Boo Radleys sice and martin carr aren t bitter. As they prepare for an assault on the States, peter murphy gets the lowdown on their hatred of videos, their contempt for producers and their disapproval of outfits such as Dodgy, The Lightning Seeds and Everything But The Girl.
An extraordinary letter, written by Bob Dylan, offers a remarkable insight into the greatest songwriter of his generation. It also offers a hugely challenging perspective on the role of the artist.
Mark Eitzel and American Music Club have had all the critical plaudits and cult status that they ever could've wished for. What they really want now is fame and megabuck success! Patrick Brennan met the Wet Wet Wet wannabees.
CHRONICALLY SHY, NERVOUS AND INTROVERTED, DONALD FAGEN IS NOT AT ALL WHAT YOU WOULD EXPECT OF THE MAN, WHO ALONG WITH WALTER BECKER, MADE UP THE NOW LEGENDARY STEELY DAN, ONE OF THE SEVENTIES' MOST SOPHISTICATED AND CYNICAL ROCK BANDS. HAVING SURVIVED OVER A DECADE OF "PSYCHOLOGICAL CRISES" AND INACTIVITY, HOWEVER, HE HAS NOW RE-EMERGED WITH A BRAND NEW ALBUM. INTERVIEW: LIAM FAY.
It's hard-hats and flak-jackets all round as the new improved Carter usm launch a full frontal attack against John Major, Third World repression and Pizza Hut. Frontline correspondent: Stuart Clark. War photographer Cathal Dawson
JASON PIERCE of SPIRITUALIZED comes on down to talk about mythology versus reality, art versus autobiography and the economy inherent in a cast of hundreds.
Interview: PETER MURPHY
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]
From dark age to middle age, Nick Cave is such a far cry from the blood-spilling junkie of rock legend that these days you’re likely to encounter him commuting to his 9 to 5. Except of course that his job is writing and making music, his new album is called Nocturama and there are, he admits, some sizeable blow-outs in the memory banks.
IN THE FIRST PART OF A WORLD EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW IN THE LAST ISSUE OF HOT PRESS, BONO UNVEILED THE NEW U2 ALBUM, SPOKE ABOUT ITS GENESIS IN CYBERPUNK LITERATURE AND THE BAND'S HUNGER TO PUSH ROCK'N'ROLL TO ITS LIMITS. HERE HE ELABORATES ON HOW U2 GO ABOUT WRITING THEIR SONGS AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF GLOBAL CHAOS, HIS ARTISTIC REFERENCE POINTS OUTSIDE MUSIC, THE SUBVERSIVE POWER OF HUMOUR, AND HOW HE ADMIRES THOSE WHO 'PARTICULARLY AGGRESSIVELY' DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD. AND THEN THERE'S THE STORY ABOUT JOHNNY CASH AND THE EMU. CAN THIS MAN BE FOR SURREAL? INTERVIEW:JOE JACKSON.
Pioneering ambient artist, film-scorer, and producer of choice for everyone from Willie Nelson to U2, Daniel Lanois has assembled one of the most impressive CVs in modern rock. And with his new album, Shine, having just hit the racks, he’s far from done yet, as he tells Peter Murphy
Having already achieved a degree of acclaim with her soundtracks for The Frog Prince and The Celts -- with the release of her first fully-fledged solo album, Watermark , Enya seems set for the type of accolades reserved for major-league artists. Niall Stokes unveils the creative trinity behind the finished meisterwerk, talks to Enya and her collaborators Roma and Nicky Ryan, and ponders the question:what will commerce do to this thing of beauty?
Having steamrolled its way across America, and through most of Europe, it seemed as if U2 s PopMart extravaganza might come to grief in the most unlikely of places their homeland of Ireland. Now however, one Supreme Court case on, U2 are scheduled to play not just two Dublin dates but a newly-added Belfast homecoming as well. Interview: MIKE EDGAR
After 12 months which saw the group go from the indie B-division to rock’s premier league, Snow Patrol have had a more dramatic 2004 than most. In an in-depth interview, Gary Lightbody discusses a life-changing year, the Irish and British music scenes, friendships, relationships and where the band go to next.
Fame has come remarkably quickly for Lily Allen, with her sensational debut album Alright, Still hitting the No.1 spot in the week of its release. But, with babysitting for Bez on her CV, anything is a breeze – and the bolshie young singer is taking it all in her stride. Plus, having lived in Ireland for a number of years, she has more than a few interesting tales to tell. Just don’t ask her about Bob Geldof...
In the second and final part of an extensive interview, MIKE SCOTT discusses inspiration and influences, recalls his difficult solo years and explains the death and resurrection of THE WATERBOYS. Interview: PETER MURPHY
U2 are about to unleash their new album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. The world’s media are descending on Dublin. And Bono is back at the punch-bag, getting into fighting shape before the shit storm really explodes. The gloves are off. He’s got work to do. And he’s going to do it. Words Stuart Clark, additional reporting by Niall Stokes.
Trailing a new album and a new contentment, Dolores O Riordan tells Stuart Clark about how she got rid of her hang-ups and learned to love being a pop star.
With a new 'best of' bringing the band's story up to date U2's guitar man steps forward to riff on good times and bad, the private life of a public figure, discovering the secrets of the universe on mushrooms and why, after all these years, few things match the high of being a member of U2.
Special hotpress.com members edition: "director's cut" featuring interview sections unavailable anywhere else.
RADIOHEAD are just about to release one of the most uncompromising and controversial records of the year in Kid A. As the band prepare for their upcoming Irish dates, mainman THOM YORKE talks about the genesis of a record that seems destined to divide rock fans for years. Not to mention Bono, Britney and Alicia Silverstone! Interview: DAVE FANNING
Annual article: The Electric Picnic wasn’t just one of the musical events of the year; it also let us chow down and have a natter with some of the top pop combos of the day, including Bloc Party, Gang Of Four and New Order.
After enjoying spectacular success in the early 1970’s, Gilbert O’Sullivan suddenly found his career brought to an involuntary halt by legal red tape that took five years to unravel. The Waterford singer–songwriter managed to survive those dark days, though, and is now back doing what he loves best – playing live and making records.
By rights that should make him a happy man, but, as Joe Jackson discovers when he locks horns with the former ‘Bisto Kid’, there are certain aspects of the past that are hard to reconcile.
Cum On Feel The Noize of turning pages as Slade s NODDY HOLDER does a literary tour to promote his autobiography, telling tales of
Phil Lynott, Oasis, Gary Glitter, Glam-Rock Excess, MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY and Suicidal Groupies. ANDY DARLINGTON tags along.
It’s been an unusually tough year at IMRO, with the organisation being involved in a number of controversies. with elections to the board looming, however, chairman Mike Hanrahan and chief executive Adrian Gaffney believe that it’s time to look to the future.
On a fleeting visit to Dublin the legendary Jack White sat down with Hot Press' Stuart Clark to discuss his past life as an upholsterer, jamming with Bob Dylan. Jimmy Page and The Edge and going for dinner with Loretta Lynne.
Although arguably the outstanding female country artist of her generation, Emmylou Harris has always distanced herself from the Nashville
mainstream. From early recordings with Gram Parsons and Bob Dylan through to her most recent Daniel Lanois-produced album Wrecking Ball, her work has been characterised by a maverick spirit and real fire in the belly.
PETER MURPHY caught up with her in Dublin.
We are going to spare you all the obvious puns about going back to basics, catching this particular fish in the raw or even the irrefutable truism that fins ain’t what they used to be. But as you can see from the accompanying pictures, there is something particularly vulnerable about people when they're naked. Dropped by Atlantic Records, stripped of all the corporate support, funding, and of course bullshit, – this is how An Emotional Fish stand before the public, on the launch of their independently-produced Sloper album. Not that either the band or lead singer are without the support of people who matter. Ger is photographed with his wife Lorraine . . . Interview: COLM O’HARE. Pix: MICK QUINN.
Beaten down by the acrimonious collapse of In Tua Nua and lifted up by a hard-fought victory over cancer, leslie dowdall is back with a new album and new outlook on life. I m just delighted to have been given a second chance, she tells joe jackson. Pix: COLM HENRY.
With a self-recorded and self-released album – called simply O – Damien Rice has emerged as a major force in Irish music. But that’s just the start of it: the record is now in the charts in both the U.S. and the U.K., and with the kind of momentum he has generated, the feeling is that it might just go all the way.
In 1991, five years after the death of Phil Lynott, the late Bill Graham wrote in Hot Press of Philo's enduring legacy. Over ten years later his words are as relevant as ever
We asked the fans to vote for U2's Greatest Hits and they did - in their thousands. The result is a selection of 20 tracks which, without doubt, would combine to produce a record to rank among the weightiest and most powerful anthologies in the history of rock. The full track listing is not without its controversial selections and omissions, however. Bill Graham and Niall Stokes take us through the fans' vision of the fab four's dream album.
They were the coolest band on the planet – until the backlash started. Now The Strokes have released their most ambitious album yet. Can they leave their past behind?
Responsible dad or not, Liam Gallagher is still capable of some serious rock’n’roll hellraising and giving good quote. Roy Keane, Patsy Kensit, Nicole Appleton, Yoko Ono, Bono and magic mushrooms are all on the agenda as the Oasis singer shoots from the hip. Getting the beers in: Olaf Tyaransen
They ve been gigging for 27 years and they were doing Words when Boyzone were still in the balls zone. They are Big Chief Flaming Star, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Little Thunder, Wild Hawk and Dull Knife (not their real names). They are
THE INDIANS
and they hope to still be on the warpath in the next millennium.
LIAM FAY
pow-wows with an authentic showband phenomenon.
Beaten down by the acrimonious collapse of In Tua Nua and lifted up by a hard-fought victory over cancer, Leslie Dowdall is back with a new album and new outlook on life. “I’m just delighted to have been given a second chance,” she tells Joe Jackson. Pix: COLM HENRY.
Johnny Ray invented rock ’n’ roll. Elvis Presley marked the beginning of the downfall of popular music. The Beatles only ever wrote one great song. Cranky stuff maybe, but when the speaker is Tony Bennett – the man Sinatra called “The best singer in the business” – you have to listen. Joe Jackson does and, in this exclusive interview, hears how a Jewish-Italian New York kid grew up to be a musical legend, a respected painter and a man who, at 67, can still kick ’90s rock off MTV.
Inevitably, The Best Of Nick Cave ... The Bad Seeds can only hint at the scope of the band's back catalogue. But if one listens to the group's ten studio albums chronologically, there are no gear-grinding changes of direction or radical overhaulings of the sound, all the more remarkable considering the amount of personnel that passed through the line-up.
It's probably the last headline you'd expect on a Portishead interview but, then again, you haven't heard Beth Gibbons using her favourite expletive. Very few people have - the singer with Bristol's latest and potentially greatest musical export up 'til now refusing to talk to the press because she reckoned she had nothing to say. But even the most reluctant of tongues can be loosened as Stuart Clark and his cattle prod discover when they go Avon calling.
The old fashioned virtues of talent and charisma, combined with the latest innovations in media technology, look set to make JACK L Ireland's first superstar of the new millennium. JOHN WALSHE has the inside story on a man who is about to get to The Point.
The old fashioned virtues of talent and charisma, combined with the latest innovations in media technology, look set to make JACK L Ireland s first superstar of the new millennium. JOHN WALSHE has the inside story on a man who is about to get to The Point.
From strange days coming second in a yoghurt-sponsored competition and playing awful gigs sandwiched between boy bands, Damien Dempsey, with a little help from Shane, Sinéad and Christy, has survived and thrived. Eamon Sweeney meets a rap balladeer with a hit album, a social conscience and more than a few stories to tell.
His career was almost over before it began. But hard work - and a surprise hit - have turned Edmund 'Mundy' Enright into one of Ireland's most widely adored stars. Here he reflects on some of the high points of what has been an amazing journey, during the course of which he has rubbed shoulders with some of the greats.
It’s Christmas time and, as far as the hotpress journalistic elite are concerned, there’s not a turkey in sight. JOHN WALSHE, COLIN CARBERRY, CHRIS DONOVAN, EAMON SWEENEY and BARRY O'DONOGHUE report on the Irish acts who are going to be huuuuuuuuge!
over the next 12 months.
Helena Mulkerns catches up with the charming Dublin-based chanteuse on a tour of East Coast college campuses, and finds a wilfully free spirit at ease with her sexuality – if not with the industry’s categorisation of such guitar-wielding women.
The success of The Frames, Juliet Turner and Damien Rice, amongst others, has inspired a new do-it-yourself attitude among Irish musicians and bands, who are no longer prepared to wait for the imprimatur of a major label to get their records made. Here, Hot Press presents a step by step guide to becoming a DIY record magnate
The success of The Frames, Juliet Turner and Damien Rice – amongst others has inspired a new do it yourself attitude among Irish musicians and bands, who are no longer prepared to wait for the imprimatur of a major label to get their records made. Here Hot Press presents a step by step guide to becoming a DIY record magnate. Words: Tanya Sweeney. Additional reporting: Jackie Hayden
The success of The Frames, Juliet Turner and Damien Rice – amongst others has inspired a new do it yourself attitude among Irish musicians and bands, who are no longer prepared to wait for the imprimatur of a major label to get their records made. Here Hot Press presents a step by step guide to becoming a DIY record magnate. Words: Tanya Sweeney. Additional reporting: Jackie Hayden
Arriving in Dublin in the last sixties as a 16 year old guitar wunderkind, Belfast born Gary Moore embarked on a musical career that has seen him go through several metamorphoses and achieve numerous notable success in the process.
Our annual HP-7 summit brings together some of the pre-eminent movers and shakers in irish music to reflect on everything from backstage catering to the end of war, pestilence and famine. Your host: Stuart Clark.
In a world exclusive interview, Morrissey sets the record straight on sex, religion, politics, David Bowie and his Irish heritage, and casts a Trinny & Susannah-esque eye over Brian Cowen
Think about direction, wonder why . . . It’s eleven years since Stano released his debut album Content To Write In I Dine Weathercraft. Despite his genuine originality and dedication to his art over the intervening years, he remains one of Ireland’s most enigmatic performers, more appreciated on the continent than in his homeland. Interview: Joe Jackson
He was a midwife to grunge and has worked with artists as diverse as Marilyn Manson, Hole and Ozzy Osbourne. Far from being a studio boffin, though, Michael Beinhorn believes modern music is too often reliant on technology.
There s very little torture involved in making a record until it s released and then the audience gets to suffer. PETER MURPHY meets the one and only LYDIA LUNCH.
An overnight success story that was years in the making, The Strokes have been dismissed as flagrant hype and lauded as the saviours of rock 'n' roll. Eamon Sweeney, a journalist who has spent more time in their company than most, gets the fullest account yet of the rise and rise of New York's band of brothers. "Whatever happens, we'll be there together," they tell him. "we won’t let each other fall."
Underdogs who've clawed their way into the top flight, Setanta Records, like Wimbledon, are a premiership act - with attitude. stuart clark gets the rags to (comparative) riches story from label boss, Dubliner Keith Cullen and also seeks the considered opinions of boys-done-well, Neil Hannon and Edwyn Collins.
Never mind figgy puddings and partridges in pear trees, there’s some serious seasonal business to be done as the annual HP-7 summit gathers in the crucible of cultural discourse that is The Central Hotel’s Library Bar.
New album, new look, new attitude: having turned the big three-oh, DIVINE COMEDY's Neil Hannon says he's much more sure of his place in the world. "Basically, the one thing I have to offer humanity is a good time with interesting words," he tells Olaf Tyaransen. Divine camera intervention: MICK QUINN
It was inflight double entendres all round as Bell X1 donned cabin crew attire for a special Hot Press photoshoot. When not showing an unhealthy interest in women’s clothes and fancy Raybans, they talked about their chart-topping new album Blue Lights On The Runway, their imminent breakthrough in the US and freezing their arses off on The Late Show with Dave Letterman
At the ripe old age of 50, when most of his peers are floundering in the doldrums, Nick Cave has hit a purple patch with Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, his most commercially successful and critically acclaimed album to date.
Or should that be The Clash? Well no, actually, cos there's no Clash, Damned or Pistols in 1999. But there s still joe strummer, who was there when Shane got his ear bitten off and, 22 years later is back for his own second bite with THE MESCALEROS. I ve seen everything that it s possible to see go down and I ve survived it, he tells STUART CLARK who finds himself shanghaied on a ferry to Stranraer.
Main pix: MICHAEL QUINN.
It's Christmas, 1997 is drawing to a close and Noel Gallagher is in suitably reflective mood. "I can't be bothered writing music anymore", says the Oasis mainman before telling Stuart Clark precisely what he thinks of Liam, Meg, Sinéad O'Connor, that cunt Mick Jagger and England's chances of lifting the World Cup.
Nearly a decade after the release of their debut single, U2 are widely regarded as the No. 1 rock band in the world. But the album and the film "Rattle And Hum" depict another kind of reality entirely. Larry, Adam and The Edge talk to Niall Stokes.
Don’t let her steal your heart away!
sheryl crow: Hot Press Readers’ Love Of The Year and Bob Dylan’s favourite singer-songwriter is the hottest new star in rock'n'roll. Helena Mulkerns charts the singular rise of Kennet, Missouri’s most celebrated slacker country queen.
A new album, a new producer, a new sound and a new lease of life so where better to launch mary black s Shine than in New Orleans? Report and
interview: siobhAN LONG
A new album, a new producer, a new sound and a new lease of life so where better to launch mary black s Shine than in New Orleans? Report and
interview: siobhAN LONG
John Walshe travels to Berlin to see Ash in superlative live form on Paddy's night. And no wonder: the band reckon their new album, free all angels could put them in the Michael Jackson league! plus: why they're so down on Louis Walsh, Westlife and Ronan Keating and so up for Bono, John Hume, David Trimble and - wait for it - Darius of Popstars. Flash photography: Mella Travers
With the tragedy which disfigured their last Irish appearance still fresh in people's minds, SMASHING PUMPKINS' return to a Dublin stage was never going to be an ordinary affair. As it turned out, PETER MURPHY witnessed an act of redemption and spoke to BILLY CORGAN about surviving troubled times.
Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden? It doesn t get much
better than this. JOE JACKSON goes
backstage for a brief but revealing encounter with Joni and, from a vantage point to die for, finds two 60s legends who can still send shivers up the spine at the end of the millennium.
If you’re Randy Newman you’ll also need a piano, some borrowed dominants and lashings of irony. And that’s just for starters. Joe Jackson hears about the private, public and musical lives of one of American music’s most singular talents.
With a new tribute album to Gram Parsons on release, PETER MURPHY enlists the help of co-executive producer EMMYLOU HARRIS to recreate the tale of Southern Gothic that was the late singer s life.
U2, Elvis Costello, The Pogues, The Waterboys, Emmylou Harris, Hothouse Flowers, The Everly Brothers, Christy Moore just some of the dozens of artists who contribute to an adventurous new five part TV series which traces the extraordinary return journey that Irish traditional music has made to America and beyond. Here, Liam Fay previews the programmes, talks to Philip King who originated and nurtured the project and hears many of the participants explain how they discovered the importance and influence of Irish music.
OUT FROM BEHIND THE GREASE-PAINT THAT ADORNS HIS FACE ON THE COVER OF ‘SPIKE’, ELVIS COSTELLO EMERGES TO TALK ABOUT THE MUSIC THAT RUNS IN HIS FAMILY FROM BIG-BAND TO SPEED-METAL, HIS MUCH-TOUTED IRISH CONNECTION, WORKING WITH PAUL McCARTNEY, HIS CONTEMPT FOR MUCH OF TODAY’S POP MUSIC AND THE FEELINGS THAT INSPIRED HIS DEATH-WISH FOR MARGARET THATCHER.
MIKE SCOTT once fronted the greatest rock n roll band in the world, but before the world got a chance to wake up to the fact he had gone west and invented raggle taggle. Now with a new Waterboys album, A Rock In The Weary Place, just released, Scott takes time out to reflect on his strange but true adventure. By PETER MURPHY
While the entity that is U2 continues to be the dominant focus in the creative lives of its four members, away from the band, Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry have all indulged in extra-curricular activities, bringing them – and their music - into contact with such legends as Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Keith Richards, and Roy Orbison, By Dermot Stokes
Long before boomtime Ireland there was boomtown Ireland, a country where the national symbol was not a tiger but a rat. to coincide with the release of the best of the boomtown rats, Bob Geldof looks back to the tepid Irish scene of the mid-’70s from which the rats emerged, biting, snarling and laughing, to take on the establishment, Britain and, almost, the world.
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
After being a magnet for A&R men during the 80s, Dublin has recently developed into something of an underachiever. The city may have the second biggest growth-rate in Europe but there are a hell of a lot of gigs and records that simply aren t selling. peter murphy casts a critical ear over the capital s music scene and decides that what s required is a full-scale artistic enema.
Prince may be content just to party but in a four-page special the Hot Press journalistic elite takes a look at everything 1999 has to offer. And then some.
For many people it is U2's greatest album. Twenty years on, to mark it's re-release, Colm O'Hare talks to Daniel Lanois and reflects on the extraordinary background to a monumental album.
At the end of an exciting, painful and earthshaking year, Bono reflects on the political and the personal – from drop the debt, September 11, Afghanistan and Genoa to the death of his father Bob, the birth of his son John and the enduring friendship which underpins U2’s music and career. Interview: Niall Stokes
[this interview originally appeared in the spectacular Hot Press Annual 2002 - used in the pictures below - a very limited number of this unique collectors item will shortly be on sale - email u2@hotpress.ie to reserve a copy]
Nirvana - Ten years after. Peter Murphy talks to producer Butch Vig, musician Mark Lanegan and critic Greil Marcus, and gets the inside story of the making of Nevermind, the classic album that changed the face of music, unveiled the anthem 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and brought the world face to face with a screaming soul called Kurt Cobain.
A special report on the arts in Northern Ireland which is alive and rocking with the whole gamut of cultural activity. Here James Elliott and Margaret F. Grundy give the lowdown on the province’s artistic and creative hub.
