Matters of life and death

Lesser Among Equals With honours even in Paris leaving neither side happy, surely it’s time the powers-that-be did away with the draw in rugby.

Craig Fitzsimons, 12 Mar 2012

The toughest call by far is up front, where all five of Keane, Doyle, Long, Cox and Walters look simply too good to leave at home: Cox’s late equaliser against the Czechs last week would have done Lionel Messi proud, and hardens the hunch that we’ll find a way somehow when the going gets tough this sumer, which it assuredly will. The countdown continues...  

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Craig Fitzsimons

The World Cup is suddenly almost upon us. We can either gnash our teeth and stick pins in our Thierry Henry voodoo dolls, or sit back and enjoy a wonderful spectacle.

2010-03-24 - Reports

By the time you read this, you’ll know whether Ireland have qualified for the World Cup. One thing’s for sure – a home defeat to France has left Trap’s men facing an uphill battle. Well, at least the rugby team is humming along nicely...

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Is it curtains for Ireland’s World Cup chances now that we’ve been drawn against the, on paper at least, far superior French? Also, fair dinkum to Cork hurling keeper Dónal Óg Cusack for doing the unthinkable and actually penning an interesting sports autobiography

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Alex Ferguson’s incessant terrorising of referees has long been one of his least appealing traits

2009-09-30 - Reports

Ireland may still be in with a shout for World Cup qualification. But the turgid standard of recent performances leaves a great deal to be desired

2009-09-22 - Frontlines

Saint Patrick’s Athletic are now just two games away from the group stages of the Europa League. Chief executive Richard Sadlier talks the Super Saints’ chances against the mighty Steaua.

2009-08-24 - Frontlines

Ireland’s last-gasp Grand Slam win over Wales will go down as one of this nation’s greatest sporting achievements. It was both a much needed shot of good news for a country gripped by economic despair, and vindication for a group of players who had been tagged the ‘nearly-men’ of world rugby.

2009-03-26 - Frontlines

The Fall delivers a slow-starting but strong, riotous show at the Spiegeltent, performing an electrifying set that leaves little doubt that this band will still be at it many years from now.

2008-10-22 - REVIEW

It's a long fall with an unmistakable impact...

2008-04-08 - REVIEW

She's the multi-platinum artist you won't read about in the tabloids. AMY MACDONALD explains how she managed to top the charts without becoming famous.

2008-03-07 - Interview

Where did the most popular illegal drugs come from? What's in them? And how do they affect users? Here is The No Bullshit Guide.

2008-02-01 - Reports

Cockney football pundit Tony Cascarino recently paid a visit to the Ballydung abode of potty-mouthed puppets Podge and Rodge. Here both sides reflect on the historic get-together.

2007-12-10 - Interview

In the wake of Steve Staunton’s sacking as Ireland manager, Eamon Dunphy welcomes Craig Fitzsimons into his Ranelagh home and offers some characteristically forthright views on the state of Irish football.

2007-11-13 - Interview

Overnight sensation Newton Faulkner talks about sudden success, his Irish guitar teacher and the challenges of covering Massive Attack.

2007-10-08 - Interview

She fell out of love with music having toured her debut album incessantly. But now Cathy Davey is back with a new sound, and a new attitude.

2007-10-04 - Interview

Irish author Paddy Woodworth has written the definitive tome on one of Europe’s most complex and at times contradictory regions.

2007-10-03 - Frontlines

In a revealing interview, frontman Richard Archer talks about the pressures of success and the death of his parents.

2007-09-14 - Interview

A forthright interview with the new Union of Students in Ireland president Richard Morrisroe.

2007-09-10 - Interview

Primal Scream’s Mani talks to Hot Press about the chances of a Stone Roses’ reunion and the recently deceased Tony Wilson's contribution to pop music.

2007-08-31 - Interview

Irony-deficient Nordic rockers Turbonegro are one of the world’s most credible hardcore acts, with a fanlist that includes Queens Of The Stone Age and Therapy?

2007-08-28 - Interview

If you have a sweet tooth for pop, then look no further than The Radio. Behind the melodies, though, is a story of struggle and redemption.

2007-08-23 - Interview

Whether hooking up with a former Sugababe or taking on the all mighty iTunes, bleepy twosome Groove Armada are continuing to do things their own way.

2007-07-19 - Interview

Blessed with total recall, Craig Fitzsimons relieves the most glorious Irish sporting achievements of the past 30 years – and some that we’d all rather forget.

2007-07-05 - Reports

Kilkenny rapper Captain Moonlight fuses the ideologies of Public Enemy, Marx, Nietchzke and Brian Cody into a unique whole.

2007-04-02 - Interview

Thirty years not out, Belfast punks Stiff Little Fingers are still railing against the establishment.

2007-02-28 - Interview

The US-led ‘War on Terror’ has officially extended its scope to east African territory. But will this make the world a safer place or merely stoke the flames of Islamic extremism?

2007-02-06 - Frontlines

Beauty this desolate hasn’t been heard since Roy Orbison’s darker moments.

2007-01-25 - REVIEW

With elections to the Dáil and the Seanad on the way, 2007 is likely to throw up a fresh generation of political contenders. Craig Fitzsimons casts an eye over some of the young guns likely to make a splash.

2007-01-23 - Frontlines

Louis Walsh and Bono suffer a roasting as Echo And The Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch talks to Hot Press about life as an indie-pop legend and explains why he’s rock music’s answer to Frank Sinatra.

2007-01-16 - Interview

Cricket may be on the verge of transcending its colonial trappings, thanks to rising star and master batsman Eoin Morgan.

2007-01-11 - Reports

Thirty nine years ago a British soccer team won the European Cup for the first time: Glasgow Celtic veterans Billy McNeill and Tommy Gemmell look back at their triumph in Lisbon.

2007-01-02 - Interview

For the painfully shy and private Ray LaMontagne, life in the spotlight is one of almost unremitting discomfort, and yet he hopes to last as long as Willie Nelson.

2006-12-07 - Interview

Four albums in two decades may seem like a poor return, but not when the music is as gentle and wondrous as that made by The Blue Nile. Ahead of a rare live turn, frontman Paul Buchanan explains why he likes to take things slowly.

2006-11-29 - Interview

After an eight-month hiatus to refine their craft, Dublin five-piece The Chapters talk to Craig Fitzsimons about their new EP and overcoming ego wars.

2006-11-28 - Interview

Could a serial killer be behind a rash of disappearances in Dublin and neighbouring counties over the past two decades? And might the murderer now be behind bars? Craig Fitzsimons untangles a dark and disturbing tale and wonders whether the truth of what happened will really ever become known.

2006-11-02 - Frontlines

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.

2006-10-20 - Interview

Former Hollywood A-lister Juliette Lewis and her backing band The Licks rock without mercy throughout their third album Four On The Floor, a laboriously endurance-defying excavation of every 70s rawk-monster riff you’ve ever heard, with Juliette’s angry vocal caterwauling thrown in by way of a bonus

2006-10-04 - REVIEW

Year Of The Leopard – Yorkston’s third album – is an extremely downbeat collection, probably best suited to those in boozy broken-hearted 5am lamentation mode.

2006-09-20 - REVIEW

Are they Madchester tribute band charlatans, an even more half-baked Kula Shaker, or swaggering rock monsters from Leicester? The jury is still out in the case of The People vs Kasabian.

2006-09-14 - Interview

The missing link (ouch) between the Velvet Underground and Phil Spector, The Jesus & Mary Chain were one of the most influential and critically lauded bands of the 1980s. 20 years after Psychocandy though, Jim Reid found himself mired in serious alcohol addiction problems. Now domiciled in Devon, he looks back through the lens of newfound – but still precarious – sobriety.

2006-09-05 - Interview

Journalist STEVEN POOLE has, inspired by Orwell, written a riveting book documenting the insidious abuses of the English language perpetrated by politicians and powermongers.

2006-08-25 - Interview

Every hip indie musician is namechecking (and soundchecking) Gang Of Four these days. But there’s more to the band than scratchy guitars and funky rhythms – as guitarist Andy Gill tells us, their unique sound was forged during a time of musical innovation and political radicalism.

2006-08-24 - Interview

What sorcery is this? By now, it’s accepted that every musical sub-genre gets excavated and recycled after time has put the original article at an appropriate distance, but a full-on psychedelic folk revival?? Weren’t the punk wars fought to cleanse the Earth of beads, beards, flutes and six-minute one-chord drone jams?

2006-08-01 - REVIEW

Amir Khan is one of the hottest young British boxers in a generation. What makes his story especially interesting is that the Bolton Olympic silver medallist is an English Muslim child of Pakistani parents. He is due in Belfast shortly for his seventh professional encounter and, make no mistake, fight fans are in for a treat.

2006-05-24 - Interview

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

2006-05-03 - Interview

Ballymena is a sleepy Northern Ireland town in the heart of the Presbyterian ‘Bible belt’. How did it become the heroin capital of Europe?

2006-05-03 - Frontlines

They redefined the parameters of contemporary music, creating weird, eerie and magnificent soundscapes. Now, as they prepare to release a career retrospective, Massive Attack talk about their choice of collaborators and why they agreed to soundtrack a porn movie.

2006-03-28 - Interview

A row over Shamrock Rovers’ proposed new stadium in Tallaght threatens to drag relations between GAA and soccer back into the dark age.

2006-03-27 - Interview

An icon of the radical left, Noam Chomsky has long been one of the fiercest critics of US foreign policy. During a rare visit to Ireland, he explains why the Bush Presidency might be the most dangerous yet.

2006-02-20 - Interview

Why the Government decision to ban magic mushrooms is short-sighed, hypocritical and naive – and will merely fuel a black market in hallucinogenics.

2006-02-10 - Frontlines

The American interior has long influenced the music of Wilco. But frontman Jeff Tweedy, a confirmed member of liberal 'blue' US still feels deeply alienated from his nation’s conservative heartland.

2006-02-02 - Interview

The fourth series of RTÉ Two's highly-acclaimed Other Voices, presented by John Kelly, was recorded over an extraordinary eight days during the madcap run-up to Christmas, in the thoroughly invigorating coastal environs of Dingle. Hot Press reporter Craig Fitzsimons was there to soak up the phantasmagoria, as some of the hottest talent from Ireland and abroad descended on the tranquil Kerry town to make heavenly music.

2006-02-01 - Interview

Gloomy English newcomers Editors traffic in brittle post-punk angst. With four acclaimed singles under their belts, could they be this year’s Killers?

2006-01-24 - Interview

Though the throng treat the night as a karaoke singalong excuse to rattle out the 20% of lyrics they’re actually acquainted with, the highs are vertigo peaks.

2006-01-12 - REVIEW

Robert Fisk is one of the most insightful war correspondents on the planet, his reports from Iraq and elsewhere the scourge of spindoctors, warmongers and tin-pot dictators alike. Craig Fitzsimons finds him on the frontline.

2006-01-05 - Interview

The funniest, most interesting and downright weird things people said to Hot Press in 2005.

2006-01-05 - Interview

Annual article: Hunger and malnutrition still stalk the Third World, but there were hints in 2005 of a public will to tackle the problem.

2005-12-20 - Frontlines

Annual article: Dreams of a Grand Slam and a ticket to the World Cup collapsed in traumatic fashion.

2005-12-20 - Interview

Annual article: The gaelic football season was a tale of three counties, and of further northern dominance.

2005-12-20 - Interview

He is one of the world’s most famous campaigners, but Bob Geldof’s musical output documents a frayed and fragile soul, ravaged by life and love.

2005-12-02 - Interview

George Best's life, and death, has struck an emotional chord with millions.

2005-12-01 - Frontlines

With strikingly disciplined ferocity, better melodies than the Manics, near-Teutonic efficiency and positively ballistic energy levels, it was hardly a massive shock that Franz blew the Point to shards

2005-12-01 - REVIEW

Lending a new meaning to the phrase ‘genre-hopping’, this atrociously-named outfit serve up a thoroughly weird, studiedly eccentric sort of neo-psychedelic stew, fusing elements of prog-rock, electronica and lightweight summertime pop into a multi-faceted concoction that defies all rational explanation

2005-11-29 - REVIEW

Following the publication of The Ferns Report, there is no longer any hiding the rampant extent of clerical sex abuse of children in Ireland. But in Pope Benedict II, the Roman Catholic Church is headed by a man who knows the detail of what went on – and yet has done nothing to redress it.

2005-11-04 - Frontlines

Following the publication of The Ferns Report, there is no longer any hiding the rampant extent of clerical sex abuse of children in Ireland. But in Pope Benedict II, the Roman Catholic Church is headed by a man who knows the detail of what went on – and yet has done nothing to redress it.

2005-11-04 - Frontlines

Bloodied but unbowed by press smears, Scottish socialist firebrand George Galloway is one of the most vocal anti-war politicians in Britian. In a characteristically frank interview he discusses Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Resepect, and why Shannon could be considered a terrorist target.

2005-11-02 - Interview

There’s enough edge on his third outing, The Trinity, to suggest he has at least an even-money chance of cutting it as a more credible latter-day incarnation of chest-beating predecessors like Shabba and Shaggy.

2005-10-06 - REVIEW

Look out the rest of Ireland – the Dubs are back on top. But can they stay there?

2005-07-28 - Interview

Despite the pre-tour hype, Clive Woodward's team came crashing to earth.

2005-07-27 - Interview

Elevator is safer-sounding, less adventurous and less exciting than their last blast Make Up The Breakdown, an evolution possibly not unrelated to their being snapped up by a major label. The intimidating energy level remains undiminished, and there still isn’t a note out of place - all that’s missing is anything resembling a sharp edge. At its worst, the frantic cramming of hooks and harmony vocals can create a faintly twee, sugary effect, conjuring spectres of an amped-up They Might Be Giants. At its best, there’s more than enough bite and balls in the guitar work to render such objections irrelevant.

2005-04-27 - REVIEW

There’s no arguing that greater lyrical invention would make the Queens a more enticing prospect, but they rock it out like few bands alive.

2005-04-07 - REVIEW

Spoken of in hushed, reverential tones by an entire generation of aspiring guitarslingers, QOTSA are modern-day six-string gods, utterly fluent in post-Zep/Hendrix metal, and heavily informed by a certain strain of early-‘90s stoner rock (Soundgarden, Alice in Chains) though without the glum, humourless self-absorption that made most of the latter ilk such a charmless proposition.

2005-04-06 - REVIEW

The siege of Derry was a pivotal moment in Irish history. But contrary to popular opinion, it was fundamentally about land and not religion, says Carlo Gebler. Photography by Cathal Dawson.

2005-04-04 - Frontlines

The only serious present-day heir to sainted founding fathers DMC and NWA, ex-crack dealer 50 Cent became an overnight hip-hop Godhead with his beyond-phenomenal debut Get Rich or Die Tryin’, an echoing, booming, bloodthirsty beast saturated with paranoia, claustrophobia and general violent vibes. It sold ten million-plus copies, and Eminem aside, the spliff-toting kids in my less-than-Bronxlike suburb scarcely listen to anybody else.

2005-03-29 - REVIEW

Roots’ two previous albums have been credited with influencing everyone from The Streets to Dizzee Rascal, but Awfully Deep is easily his most consistently worthwhile offering yet

2005-01-28 - REVIEW

Aside from a slew of wasted lives, a sad but inescapable consequence of the staggeringly high mortality rates that accompany most worthwhile rock’n’roll voyages is the fact that wet-eared young whippersnappers in their early twenties feel emboldened to undertake ambitious, epic statements about love and death.

2005-01-13 - REVIEW

A polished little diamond, if a little on the sugar-heavy side, The Trial Of The Century (the FK’s third) showcases a band who’ve stumbled across a distinctive and engaging sound of their own, although they seem no more inclined to take chances with it than The Charlatans ever were: it’s all uptempo, lush, lilting, sweeping aural confectionery which frequently sounds extremely pretty.

2004-10-26 - REVIEW

Given that many of rock’s most universally revered icons could at least partially be filed under ‘folk music’ – Dylan, Cohen, Nick Drake - it’s striking how rarely the genre attains genuine crossover appeal among those who’d gleefully hunt down reggae or blues obscurities.

2004-10-04 - REVIEW

There hasn’t been a debut this ominous and arresting from sleepy Lincolnshire since a radiant young Margaret Thatcher first addressed the Tory conference, and we all know how that one ended up.

2004-08-23 - REVIEW

Offering undeniably superb musicianship in a sun-drenched Cuban-soul context that sounds several worlds removed from the Ireland whence they came

2004-08-05 - REVIEW

Craig Fitzsimons talks to David Gleeson, director of Cowboys & Angels, another exciting addition to the growning canon of unapologetically youthful and exuberent contemporary Irish movies

2004-07-28 - Interview

An influential and respected figure in evolutionary terms, though never stratospherically successful, the good Doctor (still) specialises in a heady, ebullient, high-spirited brew of jazz, soul and piano-based Southern boogie-woogie.

2004-07-19 - REVIEW

With even the comparatively tranquil Euro 2004 marred by trouble on the Algarve, the issue of football hooliganism remains a live one. Now, one of its definitive texts has made it to the big screen. Craig Fitzsimons meets the men – and learns about the hard men – behind The Football Factory

2004-07-13 - Interview

It’s not revolutionary or groundbreaking stuff by garage standards, but it’s an impressive enough statement of intent from potentially Peckham’s finest export since the family Trotter.

2004-07-08 - REVIEW

With his first film The Station Agent, Tom McCarthy has fashioned a magnetic fable of Fin, the new-dwarf-in-town, which has invited comparison with Ford and Cassavetes.

2004-04-26 - Interview

With his first film The Station Agent, Tom McCarthy has fashioned a magnetic fable of Fin, the new-dwarf-in-town, which has invited comparison with Ford and Cassavetes.

2004-04-26 - Interview

The violent life and death of the Florida prostitute Aileen Wuornos, who was executed in 2002 for a string of murders, is the subject matter of the debut film feature monster by Patty Jenkins. Craig Fitzsimons talks to the writer-director about the controversial, Oscar-winning movie

2004-03-30 - Interview

John McCarthy’s experiences as a hostage of Islamic fundamentalists in the late ’80s form the basis of a powerful new film, Blind Flight. McCarthy here reflects on his period in captivity and discusses his ongoing growth as a writer with Craig Fitzsimons.

2004-03-11 - Frontlines

He may have already seated his place in movie history with searing performances in the likes of Scarface and Dog Day Afternoon, but legendary screen icon Al Pacino remains keen to seek out fresh challenges. Hotpress caught up with Pacino to discuss his role in People I Know, the gritty New York thriller which sees the actor go back to his lo-fi indie roots.

2004-02-16 - Interview

Milo O’Shea and David Kelly, two famous old-stagers, re-unite for a new Irish caper movie.

2003-12-04 - Interview

Four Weddings And A Funeral and Notting Hill man Richard Curtis is back with another film that has heartstrings and funnybones in its sights. But is Love Actually any good? Craig Fitzsimons and Tara Brady endeavour to find out

2003-11-21 - Interview

Having scored critical and commercial success – not to mention putting Irish cinema on the map with the likes of My Left Foot and In The Name Of The Father – Jim Sheridan has now mined his own past for in America, a haunting remembrance of the film-maker’s time as a struggling immigrant on the streets of New York.

2003-11-04 - Interview

Following the lukewarm reception accorded Jackie Brown six years ago, Quentin Tarantino reached a crossroads in his career. now, following a prolonged retreat from the media spotlight, a rumoured struggle with writer’s block and his break-up with Mira Sorvino, the most influential film-maker of the nineties has made a stunning return to form with the explosive samurai thriller, Kill Bill. Craig Fitzsimons travelled to london to meet the director and discuss the film he describes as “the movie of my geek boy dreams.”

2003-10-13 - Interview

Craig Fitzsimons talks to oscar-winning director Kevin McDonald about his gripping new docu-drama touching the void, chosen to open this year’s stranger than fiction festival at the IFI.

2003-10-01 - Interview

A goofy frat-boy movie that even the critics can warm to – Luke Wilson and Will Ferrill give Craig Fitzsimons their Old School report

2003-05-12 - Interview

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