True, there weren’t pitched battles between baton-wielding riot police and revolutionary street-fighters hell-bent on the destruction of western imperialism, but the HP-7 Christmas Summit wasn’t without its potential flashpoints. Would there be animosity between the major label champagne quaffers and the indie pint of porter brigade? Might a few young hotheads break away from the crowd and storm the nearby kebab shop? And, most worryingly, would the mob turn ugly when the few quid hotpress had stuck behind the bar ran out?

The answer to these and other important questions in a moment. First, let me introduce you to the leading musical lights who are gathered round the conference table:
Paddy Casey 2003’s undisputed comeback kid who, having been MIA for four years, debuted his Living album at number 2 in Ireland and has refused to exited the top 10 since.
Sarah Fox Having beaten off stiff competition to become Hilary Woods’ bass-playing replacement in JJ72, the Canadian has been helping the band assemble their third album which is due for spring 2004 release. And jolly good it’s sounding too.
Graham Hopkins Known as the ‘Taliban Rocker’ in HP Towers – it’s the beard! – Hopkins has a busy few weeks ahead as his Halite troupe play Crimbo shows with Feeder and The Thrills. The New Year promises to be just as hectic with their Head On album earmarked for American release.
Jenny Huston Another Canadian import who’s made radio, and 2FM in particular, worth listening to again between ten and twelve of a night.
Paul Noonan When he’s not being mentally undressed by female members of the hotpress staff – you know who you are, ladies! – young Mr. Noonan can be found fronting those other Irish top 20 infiltrators BellX1.
Joining us via-high speed intercontinental satellite link – otherwise known as a mobile phone – is Ash bassist Charlotte Hatherly who’s currently in LA, dahling, working on a solo album. And carousing with just about every famous Californian rock star you care to mention, the little scamp!
We’ll come to famine, third world debt and the War On Terrorism later, but first:
Stuart Clark: The Darkness – Band of The Year or Bad Joke of The Year?
Jenny: I love the fact that they’re fun, glamorous and exciting, but it’s not an album I’ll be playing non-stop for the next few years. For me, they’re done already.
Graham: It’s all frighteningly reminiscent of when I was in My Little Funhouse! I was never into Poison or Whitesnake or No Sweat which is essentially what they’re a modern day version of. Then there was the whole thing of Colin Farrell and all those people latching onto them and saying it’s amazing. That pissed me off.
Charlotte: I think The Darkness are fucking great! That album has so many classic songs and Justin, well, he’s the new Freddie Mercury, isn’t he? I saw them at The Roxy (in LA) a few weeks ago which is like the place they were born to be in, and they seriously rocked. There were loads of old AC/DC fans there who, to be honest, looked a bit nonplussed. The old cliché about Americans not undestanding irony…I think it’s true. They mightn’t get Justin, but anyone who flashes their cock on the big screen at Knebworth is alright by me! They were on before us at the Robbie Williams gig there and halfway through their set the lad came out.
Paul: The guy who did our record also produced The Darkness and I remember him telling us about them doing gigs where they were bottled off stage. Fair play, though, they stuck to their guns and have sold more records than all of us sitting here put together.
Paddy: It’s not my thing at all, but from the songwriting point of view you can’t fault them.
As amazing as I think they all are, The Darkness are basically Van Halen circa 1973; Kings Of Leon are Lynyrd Skynyrd; The Raveonettes are The Jesus & Mary Chain with added bird factor; and Interpol are a superior Joy Division tribute band. Has anyone heard anything this year that’s genuinely innovative?
Sarah: Everything’s so polished and pop now, it’s nice to see some beards and long hair back in the equation.
Graham: Why’s everybody looking at me? You won’t believe the amount of stick I get because of the beard. I grew it when I was in the studio with Kittser last year and can’t be arsed to shave it off. Can we talk about something else now?
Sarah: (To a chorus of approval) The most original record this year has to be the Mars Volta one. Not only is his voice phenomenal but no two songs sound the same.
Graham: They were the best band at Witnness by a mile. It was pure mayhem.
Charlotte: I’m going to be boring and say The Mars Volta too. Their album reminds me of some of the ’70s prog I’ve been getting into recently like King Crimson and Yes (cue ensemble sniggers). Don’t laugh, it’s so good! The producer who did our record is mastering and mixing a Mars Volta live album and says it’s amazing.
Paul: It wouldn’t be as cutting edge as The Mars Volta, but a record that stood out by virtue of its simplicity and quality of songs was Gillian Welch’s Soul Journey.
Jenny: Cat Power’s You Are Free is stunning and very understated. Other than their initials being on the sleeve, you wouldn’t know that Dave Grohl’s the drummer or that Eddie Vedder’s doing backing-vocals. It’s an all-star band. Her gig at Whelan’s, though, was a disaster area. She has problems.
Sarah: I talked her up to a lot of people and then felt embarrassed when she came on and basically rambled.
The Thrills – the biggest band to come out of Ireland since U2 or the new Toploader? Louis Walsh, for one, thinks it’s the latter.
Jenny: I remember going to the famous support gig they did in the Temple Bar Music Centre with Turn and thinking, “They’re cute, retro and easy to market…it might only last a year but, yeah, they’ll be signed by one of the 40 A&R people who’s here!” They’ve got that whole Beach Boys vibe going on which makes them perfect for America.
Graham: What does Louis Walsh know? Honestly, I’m sick of the fucker. He made a big fuss about putting his own ‘rock’ band together and what have they done? Two gigs. The reason there’s been a bit of moaning about The Thrills in rock circles is that they by-passed the whole Whelan’s scene. They didn’t wait for permission to be big.
Jenny: Louis took the singer from Blew who was young and doubtless broke, and said, “I’m going to make you a star!” Which he hasn’t done.
Charlotte: Toploader? I’m astounded that you think that! I keep hearing ‘Big Sur’ on the radio here, so there’s definitely interest in the States. The thing I find slightly disconcerting about The Thrills is that one of them looks like the guy from Starsailor.
Paul: I’m just waiting for some West Coast surf band to do trad! “I wish they all could be Ballyporeen Girls.”
Paddy: At this stage they must have written a song about every town in America. I can’t understand them being so big.
Picking up on what Graham just said – is there still a sense that to be successful here you need to be ‘Touched By The Hand Of Glen’? I’m thinking in particular of Josh Ritter who arrived in Ireland a complete unknown and two Frames support tours later was a top 5 artist.
Graham: It’s like The Frames are the new U2 – y’know, people are afraid to fucking bad mouth them. A lot of people have got big on the coattails of The Frames and they’re all very, very average.
Paddy: There’s no harm in it.
Paul: It’s a far more positive environment than the one which existed in the wake of U2. When all that international A&R focus was on Dublin, it created a real sense of competitiveness and bitchiness. Everyone was chasing “the big deal”, whereas now bands have discovered the knack of doing it off their own back.
Paddy: You see a lot of bands around who are incredibly hungry, which can be unattractive but gets them places.
Westlife didn’t break up but otherwise it’s been a pretty good year for pop, hasn’t it?
Paul: Justin Timberlake’s ‘I Love You’ is a great song. We do a country version of it with a banjo which works well. A lot of it’s down to the people he has on the record like Timbaland and The Neptunes, but it’s definitely a notch above your Blues and Westlifes.
Sarah: I love Sugababes. They’re the girl band you’re allowed to like. The new Outkast album’s quality as well.
Paddy: Beyoncé’s ‘Crazy’ was my favourite record of the year. It’s got so much energy.
Charlotte: Yeah, the Beyoncé singles are great. I had a medium sized thing for Justin when the album came out, but now he’s totally over-exposed. There aren’t as many horrible boy and girl bands around as there were a couple of years ago, so yeah, that’s good.
You guys can blag yourselves onto the guest-list, but a lot of people weren’t impressed with Neil Young and the Rolling Stones charging €105 and €110 into their respective Dublin gigs. Were they taking the piss?
Charlotte: I’d pay any amount of money to see David Bowie but the others, no, I’d go if it was fifty quid but not a hundred. The great thing about being in LA at the moment is that there are up and coming bands playing everywhere. I’d rather go and see The Rapture or The Shins or The Modest Mouse in a bar than The Who in a fucking football stadium. (International) Noise Conspiracy are great as well. They’re recording their new album at the moment with Rick Rubin.
Sarah: It depends who you’re talking about. I’ve seen Neil Young play to 80,000 people with Pearl Jam and Soundgarden and it’s been brilliant, but he’s also good at the teeny, tiny club gig where he tells stories and sings his love songs. A hundred and five quid’s a lot but I would pay it to see him in such an intimate venue.
Paddy: If a band’s selling less records because of internet piracy, they’re going to make up for it in other ways. Like charging more for gigs. I’d pay €100 to see Richie Havens and Bob Marley if he was alive but no one else.
Graham: My attitude towards the Paul McCartney gig was, “Yeah, it’s expensive but no more so than a night on the beer.” I’ve done it now, I’ve seen a Beatle.
Okay, a couple of questions that Charlotte’s excused from answering because she’s not living here. Firstly, with ex-Phantom DJs like Alison Curtis, Cormac Battle and Jenny Huston getting jobs on Today FM and 2FM, has the standard of music radio here improved?
Paul: There’s definitely been a “storming of the palace” this year with the people you mentioned and John Walshe at FM104 playing some really good stuff. Galway Bay FM’s Jon Richards is another guy who goes the extra yard for Irish bands, and in prime time as well which is unusual. And let’s not forget Larry Gogan who’s always championed new music.
Jenny: I don’t think the ruffling and changing at 2FM is over yet. There are people at the station who look at the charts and say, “Okay, that’s what’s going on.” It’s great when records that myself and Cormac have been playing on promo make it into the top 20 and the daytime guys pick up on them.
Graham: I do think the TV thing needs to be sorted out. I’m still annoyed that the Late Late cancelled us so they could give more time to Celebrity Farm!
Paul: It helps if the host gets your name right. We were on The Dunphy Show and he called us Bellelife.
Graham: It’d have been worse still if he’d called you Bellend! There’s definitely room for a good music show, but without getting up its own arse like maybe No Disco did.
Jenny: It was too obscure.
Paddy: They should mix things up more. The Frames, David Kitt, Damien Dempsey, Josh Ritter, Turn and BellX1 have all been in the top 20 this year, so play them alongside Justin and Beyoncé on The Chart Show. Radio and TV stations should reflect what people are buying.
Top A-List musos that you all are, I imagine there’s been plenty of celebrity schmoozing this year.
Charlotte: We got a stretch limo and drove to the Halloween party that Dave Grohl was throwing in his fucking mansion up on the hills. Tim went as Robin The Boy Wonder, Rick was a really crap Grim Reaper and I had to be a witch ‘cause that’s all they had left in the shop. I didn’t recognise the bloke who opened the door at first, but then the penny dropped that it was Jack Black in this bizarre Lord Of The Rings outfit. Dave was the Grand Wizard so, all in all, it was pretty bizarre. I don’t know if he qualifies as a ‘celebrity’, but we stayed up partying for two days with Har Mar Superstar after we finished the album. We turned one of the rooms in the studio into a ‘giant space egg’ and went mental with him and The Rapture.
Sarah: We played after Beck at the Benacassim Festival which was scary. It’s like the Spanish Glastonbury but with added palm trees and a swimming pool backstage.
Graham: Denis Desmond take note!
Paul: We supported Bon Jovi once in the RDS. Our sound engineer called me over before the gig, pointed to this guy under the stage turning down all the power amps and said, “That’s what they’re doing to you!” They’re one of the last few relics from when monsters roamed the earth. We just toured with Stairsailor, though, and they were really cool.
Sarah: We did a couple of shows recently with the Stereophonics and it was like, “Tell the crew what you want and they’ll fix it for you.”
You and Graham both left bands you’d been with a long time to do what you’re doing now. How difficult was that?
Sarah: Being in a band is like being in a relationship. Making music’s a very personal experience which breeds intimacy. When I left The Valves, it was like leaving my three boyfriends but they were very supportive of what I had to do. That made it a lot easier than it might have been.
Graham: I’d had five or six great years with Therapy? but musically it just wasn’t floating my boat anymore. Telling the lads I was leaving was like splitting up with a girlfriend, there were tears and everything! There was no animosity or sense of me jumping from a sinking ship, though, because the band still have a colossal fan base and are doing really well. A concern, if I’m being totally honest, was turning my back on a good wage. I went from relatively comfortable to skint overnight which is a bit daunting.
Paul, it must have been weird for you this year switching on the telly and seeing your former bandmate Damien Rice on Conan O’Brien.
Paul: I never watched it. Or Letterman. Or Leno. Or Later With Jools Holland. I’ve no idea what he’s been upto. Has he sold a few records? No, Sarah and Graham’s analogy is spot on – a band is like being in a relationship with all the ups and downs that entails. I know that Damien felt guilty about leaving, to the point where he left the country and went round Europe for two years. It was the right thing, though, for everybody. A band can’t function on the whim of one person – he’s a nice bunch of guys. We’ve known each other since we were 12 or 13, so whatever we have goes beyond the whole music lark. A lot of people think there’s been gnashing of teeth, but actually I’ve been very moved by the success he’s had, here at first and now all over the world. It was nice meeting up at a couple of the V festivals in England and realising there’s no animosity. The bastard!
Your favourite Irish venues?
Graham: The Spirit Store in Dundalk is amazing.
Paul: Which is down to the people who run it, Mark and Derek, putting music first. De Barra’s in Clonakilty is another place where they really care about what they put on.
Graham: They look after you well in Cuba of Galway too.
Sarah: Connolly’s of Leap is the coolest place. They’ve a big hanging of the hammers from The Wall.
Graham: Which The Frames gave them.
Who’s in the studio at the moment?
Charlotte: I’ve stayed on in LA to finish my solo album which is a bit B52s and XTC inspired. I’ve been doing it on and off for the past five months and am currently in the mixing stages, so I’m going to go home with it finished. Thank fuck! I’d like to think it’s “eagerly awaited” but we’ll have to see. For the Ash record we were staying in a very posh mansion in Beverly Hills, but for my stuff I’ve moved to a small flat in the Eastside.
Apart from bringing about the end of war, pestilence and famine, what are your goals for 2004?
Paddy: I’d like to be in a bath with Beyoncé and her dancers. Failing for that, I’ll settle for panto with Dustin and Twink.
Sarah: I hope that in 12 months time JJ72 will be touring like mad on the back of our new record. Mark’s doing the writing still, but they’ve a new member – me! – which means that things are evolving all the time. Our first couple of weeks in the studio were with Ken Thomas, a really cool guy who did the last Sigur Ros album, and we’re about to go in with John Leckie. The songs are sounding great and we hope to have it out in March or April.
Charlotte: To have people go, “Fuck me, that’s great!” when they hear our new record. Nick Raskulinecz who’s done a lot of stuff with Foo Fighters and Queens Of The Stone Age is the producer, so it’s…heavy! Rick ‘Rock’ McMurray is really on form – it’s the best drumming he’s ever done – and Tim’s used The Darkness as an excuse to indulge in some extreme metal solos. I was with him when they were on stage at the Robbie Williams gig and he kept going, “This is fucking amazing!”
Graham: The first Halite album was sort of me on the rebound from leaving Therapy? Now that I’ve made my claustrophobic “anti-noise” record, I want the band to go in a heavier direction. Not that I’m abandoning Head On. There’s talk of bypassing the UK and releasing it early next year in the States, which means lots of touring. I’ve also been missing rocking out on the drums, so I might find myself a side-project!
Jenny: I’ve just renewed my contract with RTE, so I know where I’ll be in 12 months time. The slot’s going to stay the same, which is great except that it stops me getting to gigs during the week. It’s a minor complaint, though!
Obviously there won’t be any let up in the BellX1 camp until you make it onto Conan O’Brien or Letterman.
Paul: No, we’ll keep it real and stay at home. I think we should form a Dublin Reindeer Section so this time next year we can all be number one with our Christmas single!

[photos Liam Sweeney]
Many thanks to SIN, Sycamore Street, D 2. for accomadating the HP-7 Summit