- Music
- 14 Nov 05
Featured writer: Peter Murphy
Having shifted from playing drums in “loud, noisy rock bands” to becoming a Hot Press contributor in 1996, Peter Murphy has fast gained a reputation as one of Ireland’s leading journalists.
The Wexford-born writer has also contributed to Rolling Stone, Music Week, rocksbackpages.com, and dabbles in TV and radio.
He’s written over 30 cover stories for HP during his nine years here, and his interviewees include leading figures like Patti Smith, Lou Reed and filmaker Bruce Robinson.
But his hand-picked highlights are here for your delectation, including an interview with Radiohead after the New York bombings and an album review of Willie Nelson, who he cites as one of his favourite artists alongside Miles Davis, Howlin’ Wolf, Dirty Three and Hank Williams.
Return to neverland
Ten years after its release, Mark Lanegan, Butch Vig and others give the inside scoop on the making of Nevermind, the classic album that introduced the wider world to Nirvana.
The man who built the old weird America
Peter explores the universe of Greil Marcus, the celebrated music critic who coined the term 'Old Weird America'.
How I learned to stop worrying and loathe the bomb
When the Twin Towers have just been hit, the last thing Peter Murphy wants to do is traipse to Belfast to interview and watch Radiohead in all their bleak glory. But thank God he did, otherwise we wouldn't have the magnificent resulting piece.
Tom Waits album review
After a six-year absence, Tom Waits returns to the scene with Mule Variations. And Peter loooooves it.
What makes the grass grow green in Texas
The year is 2002, and country music legend Willie Nelson is given a gentle grilling by Peter when he's in town to play the City West Hotel just outside of Dublin.
Lost in transmutation
Breaking his solitude with the first proper interview in twelve years, My Bloody Valentine frontman Kevin Shields jets Peter over to his studios in Camden, London.
