Bristol rock band Idles and rising Dublin pop superstars Wild Youth have a been chosen as the featured covers stars in Hot Press special Hot For 2019 issue, which hits the streets on 24 January. The special Hot for 2019 issue of the magazine can be pre-ordered here.

• It might have seemed like a turn-up for the books, when Idles snaffled the Hot Press Critics Album of the Year accolade in 2018, beating off established artists like Gorillas, Arctic Monkeys, Villagers and Janelle Monae to seize the top spot with  Joy Is An Act of Resistance. But not if you had listened t the record in question...

"Formed in 2011, Idles released their debut album Brutalism back in 2017, to critical acclaim,” Peter McGoran wrote at the time. "Lauded for their documentation of a UK fraught with division, they also became champions for the politically disillusioned, as well as speaking words of self-acceptance, self-love and understanding. Following the release of Joy Is An Act of Resistance, many commentators called them 'the band we need for the era we live in'. Hot Press couldn’t agree more.”

The band are set for a busy year, with a landmark headline Iveagh Gardens show set for Dublin on 11 July. To say that they are Hot for 2019 may yet prove to be an understatement. By the end of the year they could well be one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. Watch them go!

Idles fans can pre-order the cover of their choice here...

“There are moments when it seems right to do something special in publishing terms – and this is one of them,” Hot Press editor Niall Stokes says. “There is huge support within the magazine for Idles – as was clear when our critics collective voted Joy Is An Act of Resistance as there Album of the Year for 2018. Alongside that, we felt that it would be important to get behind a special Irish band, who have the potential to really scale the heights this year. The way things are shaping up, Wild Youth are ready to go into overdrive. They are a great pop band, with real musical credentials. The feeling in the camp here is that they could be huge. And what better way to start the year for this hot young Irish outfit than on the cover of Hot Press?"

• Wild Youth's rise to the forefront of Irish music has been rapid. Having packed out Electric Picnic's Rankin Wood tent in the summer of 2018, they began the push for international recognition. Writing songs and recording with Danny O’Donoghue and Mark Sheehan of The Script, they have brought a fresh commercial nous to their big, Stadium-filling sound. Their debut EP, The Last Goodbye, has just been released and is already garnering huge radio support and heavy-duty streaming.

In this, their first ever magazine cover story, we get the full low-down on a band on the cusp of greatness.

Let the fun and games commence!