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.
A new Bob Dylan Facebook application is among the smartest pieces of viral advertising yet. That's the view of influential e-media commentators at Techcrunch (who described it as "the coolest Facebook application yet"), Face Reviews and PSFKT – as well as the Sun newspaper.
Previously unpublished extracts from DAVE FANNING’s recent interview with BOB DYLAN in rome during whIch zimmy tries to recall a night with bono, expresses his fear of the internet and answers the ultimate question: ever meet Elvis?
Those more familiar with Dylan’s modus operandi know that he has latterly treated the recorded versions of his songs as mere rough demos and starting points from which he walks a tightrope of adventurous reinvention from which he sometimes topples off.
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.
Lest we forget, for a long time there most of us Dylan-ites were glad just to see the man could get his boots on of a morning, but post Chronicles, the stakes have been upped.
Some people reckon that Bob Dylan has sold out by flogging his music on a lingerie commercial. but our consumer affairs correspondent disagrees and has some even better ideas for Irish rockers
Yes, it’s the all-new, all-chuckling, all-giggling, all-grinning Dylan Moran. Well, not quite, but as Paul Nolan discovers, portraits of the stand-up as a difficult interviewee are rather wide of the mark
Having been lucky enough to have witnessed Mr. Zimmerman’s legendary gig in Vicar St. a few years back, it seemed almost inevitable that a trip to this East Wall arena would prove anti-climactic. And so it proved to be.
Annual article: Bright young things like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen captured the HP critics’ hearts this year, though they somehow neglected Johnny Cash and Mark Lanegan...
The sound of history in the making, here’s a warts, gags and all document of young Bobby Dylan, folk hero, in the process of creating a rock revolution.
Bob Dylan, who holds court at The O2 in Dublin tonight and tomorrow night made chart history in the UK, when he hit the No.1 spot there this week, with his latest album Together Through Life.
Semi-officially, Modern Times is being touted as the third in a trilogy that began with 1997’s Time Out Of Mind and the follow up Love and Theft. Recorded with his current touring band and produced by Dylan himself, it treads very similar territory sonically with that raw, live feel and no-nonsense, almost 1950’s production that made his last two albums so compelling.
Rolling Thunder finds Dylan and his travelling minstrel band reveling in novelty, comradeship, a sense of the mischievous and, most tellingly, the freshness of the then newly released Desire album.
Tickets for Dylan Moran's September dates in Vicar Street went on sale this morning, and are already sold out. Now three more dates have been added to meet demand.
Billy Scanlan takes a long day’s journey into night at the celebrated new york hotel, which has been a home from home for Bob Dylan, Brendan Behan, Sid Vicious and Mark Twain.
Dylan would recreate Highway 61 in his own image, a spooky fairground of lost souls, freaks and Americana where Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot rumble and John The Baptist tortures at the behest of the Commander-in-Chief.
40 years after the Clancy Brothers brought Irish ballads to an international audience and won famous fans like Bob Dylan, Tommy Makem is still committed to the power of song – but appalled at the way modern Ireland treats its own culture.
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.
The Source Festival in Kilkenny kicked off the first two Dylan dates in Ireland this weekend - though he faced tough competition from support act The Flaming Lips.
With the general election approaching, the leader of the Labour Party offers his views on Bob Dylan, Bono, Ali Hewson, Sile De Valera, RTE, Sellafield, The Abbey Theatre, marital breakdown, the decline in power of the Catholic Church, the rise of Sinn Fein, the irrelevance of the PDs, his ambitions for Labour, and the perception of him as a smoked salmon socialist. All this, and the enduring appeal of a certain song
He’s jammed with Bob Dylan, partied with Keith Moon, sued The Byrds, traded spiky tops with Rod Stewart, had close encounters with Presleys Reg and Elvis and played "name that key" with John Lee Hooker, but arguably the best moment in his life was when he was named small breeder of the year. RON WOOD, the man who would be the queen mum of rock 'n' roll, tells a mean tale.
Words: STUART CLARK. Pictures ROGER WOOLMAN
Soul legend Solomon Burke waxes lyrical about a new album that sees him aided by a stellar cast including Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Van Morrison, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello, The Blind Boys Of Alabama... and one hundred pieces of fried chicken
He created great songs out of the good, the bad and the ugly and earned the respect of people as diverse as Bob Dylan and Hunter S. Thompson. In this previously unpublished interview Warren Zevon, who died last week after a long battle with cancer, reflects on his sweet and dirty life and times.
Despite the controversies in which she has recently bee involved, when SINIAD O'CONNOR starts talking music it becomes evident why she ran away to join the rock'n'roll circus in the first place. Citing Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and Van Morrison as her ultimate trinity, she discusses the spiritual forces that drive and inspire. Interview: BILL GRAHAM
The wild rise and fall of the coke-snorting, heavy boozing, rampantly horny music biz mogul who knew Dylan, Jagger, Jackson, Springsteen and Streisand better than most. And now he’s ready to tell all.
It’s been a tumultuous few years for Josh Ritter. Against the dramatic backdrop of the Swiss Alps, he talks about his number one fan Stephen King, recalls the day he met Bob Dylan and explains why it’s never a good idea to drink before a show
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
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
Hollywood's highest paid actress and the female star of Ocean's Eleven tells all about Bob Dylan, Anthony Hopkins, George Clooney, good hair, big bucks, greatest misconceptions and unfulfilled ambitions. Interview: Bruno Lester (additional quotes: Earl diTtman)
One of the finest white soul voices Britain ever produced, Rod Stewart reminisces about the sozzled Faces days, discusses Bob Dylan, his penchant for blondes, and recalls the thyroid cancer that almost robbed him of his voice seven years ago.
[oops this was mis prompted as oxegen video interviews in our e-zine - they're here ]
It's been a long strange trip and no mistake, one that describes a discernible line from
Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music through to the Handsome Family.
But there's even more going on beneath the surface. GREIL MARCUS, the music critic's music critic,
is PETER MURPHY's guide on a mystery train whose other passengers include Elvis Presley, Robert Johnson, Mark Twain, Nick Cave, The Blair Witch, Bill Clinton, The Band, Siniad O'Connor, Beck, William Burroughs, William Faulkner and Bob Dylan. And that's just the first class carriage. All aboard
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.
Kings Of Leon have had number one albums, rave critical notices and boast a remarkable array of A-list fans (U2, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones).
Twenty-three year old Thea Gilmore may have five albums and a record label to her name, but she still give kudos to ma and pa. Born and raised in rural Oxfordshire, her Irish parents – “quite liberal characters” – gave her a carefree upbringing and a healthy musical nourishment.
John Banville places himself among some of the century’s most celebrated and notorious figures, in a frank interview which sees one of Ireland’s most revered and controversial writers musing on the raging battle between high art and popular culture, not to mention the war between the sexes . . . Tape: Joe Jackson Pix: Cathal Dawson
This graphically personal and confessional album is reputed to be about the agonising and acrimonious break-up of Dylan’s marriage to Sara Lowndes, and it sees him alternately at his most vicious and his most vulnerable.
Dylan is a farmer with a difference – he's a cannabis cultivator. He is squeezed by both criminals and the Gardai. But he aims to put Ireland on the map for quality, organically grown weed.
He started out wanting to be Kurt Cobain. Then he went to New York, nursing dreams of emulating Dylan. Now Cork strummer Mick Flannery is resolutely charting his own course.
Californian-born JIM PAGE is no ordinary protest singer. Best known on this side of the Atlantic as the writer of such classics as 'Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Russian Roulette', his music has continued to move hearts and minds well into the corporate nineties. Here, he traces his roots from Bob Dylan to Public Enemy, and explains why he wrote a special song in tribute to Sinead O'Connor. Interview: GERRY McGOVERN
was born in Navan, discovered comedy in Dublin, paid his dues in London and then conquered Edinburgh in 1996. Liam Mackey meets Dylan Moran, the stand-up comedian with the world at his feet.
Though it would be a while before the purist folk fascists lost patience, Freewheelin’ (Dylan’s second) already hinted at his move away from political commentary towards soul-searching introspection.
Now on their third album, Kings Of Leon have rubbed shoulders with Bob Dylan, U2 and the Pixies, and can count Led Zep and the Rolling Stones among their fans.
Despite the sell-out success of the Monster tour and a shelf-load of awards for Black Books, Dylan Moran remains as steadfastly gloomy as ever about the art of stand-up comedy. “You’re standing there pandering to a couple of hundred swivel-eyed, maroon-faced, braying fucks,” he groans to Barry Glendenning.
LIAM CLANCY is in sparkling form as he looks forward to the release of a documentary on his life, which explains how he escaped the Irish Ayatollahs and wowed a young Bob Dylan in Greenwich Village.
Michelin star man Dylan McGrath has brought something of a rock ‘n’ roll aesthetic to Irish cooking. In a slap-up feast of an interview, he talks about his West Belfast childhood, kitchen stabbings and why he’s no time for mumsy housewives' choice chefs.
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.
Still making great music after all these years, Van Morrison is an Irish genius worthy of comparison with the most enduring ’60s legends such as Bob Dylan and Neil Young
Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison and Lewis Carrol may all be touchstones for the muse of sinÉad lohan, but this is one talented and increasingly successful singer-songwriter who definitely does things her way. joe jackson meets a self-confessed "spacer".
Pix: Mick Quinn
The Stunning's new EP, Deja Voodoo, features cover versions of Beatles, Byrds, Dylan and Captain Beefheart tracks. But what about the more intriguing and embarrassing records that lurk within Steve Wall's collection? Olaf Tyaransen investigates and unearths a few surprises like The Goons, BBC sound effects albums, and ...Barry White?!
Rolling Stone's most promising artist of the year and Dylan/Stones endorsed songstress Kathleen Edwards tells all about her acclaimed new record Back To Me, life on the road in the US and why she just might make the move to those shores in the not-too-distant future.
The author of the influential *AwopBopAlooBopAlopBamBoom*, Derryman NIK COHN has helped lay the foundations of serious rock criticism. Here, the author of the short story on which "Saturday Night Fever" was based talks about his latest book, "The Heart of The World". and tells JOE JACKSON why Elvis is King and Dylan is crap.
He used to be a music journalist but now rapper Cadence Weapon is lighting up the hip-hop scene. The Canadian tells us he's not quite as clean living as he's made out to be.
Jeff Buckley, fresh from his recent triumphant gig in Whelan’s, and with his debut album Grace just released, tells Patrick Brennan why he doesn’t want to live or die in L.A., how Cooney and Begley are getting on in New York and about why he needed therapy after meeting Bob Dylan!
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'
Dr Sean Millar is back with an acclaimed new album, this time accompanied by The Beet Club, displaying a recently acquired maturity in both music and lyric. Yet he tells Stephen Robinson that he's happy to be still growing up
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.
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.
As The White Stripes prepare to unleash another work of scuzz-bucket genius, frontman Jack White talks about his Catholic upbringing and explains why, as a teenager in blue collar Detroit, he fell hopelessly in love with the blues.
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.
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.
Doctor John may be renowned as a laid-back Big Easy legend, but get him started on the Federal Government's treatment of his beloved New Orleans and he spits nails.
The Queen of Zydeco, Boris Bob Dylan Grebenshikov and an erstwhile Rolling Stone were among the unlikely collaborators on ANTHONY THISTLETHWAITE S latest opus, Crawfish & Caviar. COLM O HARE hears more.
So what happens when an indie band goes major league? how can you stay cool when your date’s a Charlie’s Angel? how important is the boy/girl song in a flag-waving time? and like Alexander The Great, do you weep when you have no more worlds to conquer? in addressing these and other pressing questions of the day, The Strokes salute John Lennon, Bob Dylan and their own undying band of brotherliness.
Blonde On Blonde revival tent. Dylan’s raucously entertaining melodrama swaggers and swoons between costumed surrealism, poppy field interludes and pot shots at John Lennon, but mostly he’s preaching about love.
The Kooks' first album was a million-selling sensation. As they unleash the long-awaited sequel, frontman Luke Pritchard talks about the death of his father, his feud with television presenter Simon Amstell and much more...
Comedian and all-round-nice-bloke Tommy Tiernan is back with a new show on RTE, a live video/DVD for Christmas and a series of brand new live concert shows around the country this autumn. We invited him to submit to the inquisition that is the hotpress.com mixed grill and he was only too happy to be hauled over the charcoal
When the offer came to produce the new Rolling Stones album in Dublin what answer could Don Was give but a resounding ‘Yes’. Mick, Keef & Co. are the latest in a long and impressive list of the man’s studio credits which includes Bob Dylan, The B-52’s, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt and Paula Abdu. But throw in the small matter of the career of Was (Not Was) and the musical rehabilitation of errant Beach Boys’ genius Brian Wilson and we’re talking major industry player here. Bill Graham takes up the story . . .
After years of slogging in the undergrowth of comedy, whimsy-merchant David O'Doherty has suddenly become an 'overnight' success having won a top prize at Edinburgh.
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
The home studio, the stadium gigs, the best-selling dvd – nope, it’s not rock’n’roll, it’s stand-up comedy. Pat Shortt talks about a boom year for mirth-making.
To mark the release of his new album, Jape main-man Richie Egan took comedian David O’Doherty to the zoo on condition that he write 1200 words about it for Hotpress.
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.
Five albums, fifty-eight songs, sixty-eight pages of liner notes, one large container, and a title that's as bone-dry academic as anything you'll find sitting atop a legal document - against that backdrop, perhaps the first and most useful thing to say about Bob in the box is: don't be intimidated!
Far from the misanthropic character of lore, Tommy Tiernan is in fact a remarkably upbeat performer with a spring in his step and a whole host of new material to debut on his upcoming Loose tour. “Life is good, God is great and tay is hot!” he tells Tanya Sweeney.
Back from exile in Brighton, Fionn Regan is making major waves with his filmic observations on life in a seaside town. Peter Murphy joins him for a promenade down memory lane, and suggests that he might just be the Wicklow Dylan.
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.
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.
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.
Though much of the comedy is hit-and-miss, Michael Caine’s supreme turn as a hopeless, hack thespian makes this enjoyable viewing all on its own, while Moran is ever reliable as our maudlin hero, even beneath the silliest of wigs.
The first rule of interviewing LOU REED is that you don t: he interviews you. Peter Murphy survives the turning of the tables and is rewarded with thoughts on Joyce, Wilde, Dylan, Ginsberg and on becoming an elder stateman for the alternative thing .
Brushing shoulders with the likes of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Bertie Ahern is currently all in a day’s work for hugely acclaimed singer-songwriter, Juliet Turner. But, as she tells Hot Press, the singer’s Northern Methodist upbringing has left her with a distaste for the spotlight and an overwhelming desire for creative and personal independence.
n a career spanning 25 years in the glare of the stagelight, CHRISTY MOORE has known every emotion from insecurity, despair and vilification to adulation, triumph and the warm glow of creative fulfilment. He has dabbed in drugs, drink to excess, suffered a heart attack for his troubles and made some of the finest records that have ever been subjected to critical scrutiny in this country. Now, in a frighteningly honest interview, he tells it like it is and was. Cross-examination: JOE JACKSON. Microscopic camerawork: COLM HENRY.
From the tragic death of Cliff the fish to turning Madonna down, praise from Nick Hornby and fanmail from Bono, Badly Drawn Boy ’s life is certainly bewildering.
and that’s before you consider his hellenic aspirations…
When Siniad O Connor tore up a picture of the pope on the Saturday Night Live television show in the US recently, she unleashed a storm which has been swirling around her ever since, causing her at one point to announce her premature retirement from the music industry. One month on, bruised and weary she may be but Siniad is neither downhearted nor repentant. Having declared war on the Roman Catholic Church she is determined to keep taking the battle to the real enemy. Interview: Niall Stokes.
With their biggest dates ever in Ireland looming, LIAM MACKEY dips into voluminous hotpress archives and selects a small sample of what the paper said about U2 over the years
With his upcoming concert in Poulaphouca marking his solo Irish debut, it's been all too easy in the recent past to overlook Bob Geldof's standing as a musical and lyrical artist. The lines connecting the youthful Dun Laoghaire blues and Dylan aficionado with the creator of The Vegetarians Of Love are rarely traced in media-bytes that prefer to concentrate on Modest Bob, Live Aid Bob and Saint Bob. Here, Bill Graham, who knew the schoolboy, takes musician Bob on a freewheeling trip from then to now.
With his upcoming concert in Poulaphouca marking his solo Irish debut, it's been all too easy in the recent past to overlook Bob Geldof's standing as a musical and lyrical artist. The lines connecting the youthful Dun Laoghaire blues and Dylan aficionado with the creator of The Vegetarians Of Love are rarely traced in media-bytes that prefer to concentrate on Modest Bob, Live Aid Bob and Saint Bob. Here, Bill Graham, who knew the schoolboy, takes musician Bob on a freewheeling trip from then to now.
With his upcoming concert in Poulaphouca marking his solo Irish debut, it s been all too easy in the recent past to overlook Bob Geldof s standing as a musical and lyrical artist. The lines connecting the youthful Dun Laoghaire blues and Dylan aficionado with the creator of The Vegetarians Of Love are rarely traced in media-bytes that prefer to concentrate on Modest Bob, Live Aid Bob and Saint Bob. Here, Bill Graham, who knew the schoolboy, takes musician Bob on a freewheeling trip from then to now.
He’s worked with Van, Dylan, Christy, Sinéad, The Cranberries and many other household names – but now he’s gone centre-stage himself as the composer of The General soundtrack. JOE JACKSON meets RICHIE BUCKLEY. Pix: Mick Quinn
He may have ranked among the biggest-selling artists in the world in 2002 – but the ambition that has driven Eminem to pop’s dizziest heights shows no sign of abating with the release of his own biopic, 8 Mile. On track to becoming Hollywood’s latest darling, with all the attendant pressures and provocations that entails, will his art survive?
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.
Funky Ceili, non-conformist politics and the approval of Bob Dylan, Robin Williams and Johnny Cash to name but a few. Larry Kirwan tells Liam Fay how Black 47 have become the hottest band in New York and one of 'The Ten Most Hated Things About America
He’s the joker in the Irish music pack, a working class hero who has at once conquered and subverted the mainstream. For his first album in six years JERRY FISH and his MUDBUG CLUB have also roped in some top-tier collaborators including rockabilly queen Imelda May and Carol Keogh.
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?
One of the most familiar faces and voices in Irish broadcasting, Dave Fanning has interviewed just about every rock and movie star worth knowing. But here Olaf Tyaransen goes behind the public image to unearth some of his more secret history: working with the disgraced “Captain” Cooke; nude interviewing with U2; getting ripped off by the nanny; and much more.
The outlaw loved by the in-law, Willie Nelson can draw 4,000 people outside Dublin virtually by word of mouth. But it ain't all middle of the road: as befits a veteran of the honky-tonks who had done battle with the IRS and the law, the country music legend can still get in touch with the dark side of Hank
Further artists have been announced for the London Fleadh bill, while elsewhere, headliner Bob Dylan has been revealed as the unlikely new face of Victoria's Secret underwear
A life-long Dylan devotee, the Roxy Music frontman has wanted to make this album for 30 years and here he finally gives us 11 Dylan songs, recorded live in the studio in a week-long session with his touring band.
The lean, hobo visionary of old is gone: in his place is a suited bandleader, and his new song is almost brilliant. The sound is very Band-era Dylan, and Josh’s quicksilver lyrics evoke the same swirl of images the Big Zim’s always did. While the solo is wonderfully commanding, the ‘70s soft-rock chorus feels like a downward gear-shift from the verse. And so, once again, Ritter lacks the stratosphere-catapulting single he’s been looking for.
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.
When we first awarded The Basement the SOTF accolade three years back, they seemed destined to become the Derry wing of the psychedelic Scouse movement alongside The Zutons and labelmates The Coral. Biding their time has worked wonders though, for just as that whole thing has petered out, The Basement come back sounding truly out on their own. 'I Just Caught A Face' still buzzes with the ramshackle charm of their early singles, threatening to fall apart at any moment, but somehow keeping it all together to remind you of Dylan at his freewheelin’ best.
Available to download freely on his website, Lynch’s follow up to his decent debut ‘The Storm’ shows an altogether different side to his normally restrained musical palate. Gone is the traditional singer-songwriter fare – in its place stands a raucous, blues-driven back-bar stomp much in the vein of the Killiney man’s heroes Paul Brady, Springsteen and Dylan. A taster, perhaps, for what gems may lie ahead on his forthcoming A Whisper In The Riot LP.
Like one of his heroes, Bob Dylan, Karl Wallinger may not be the finest singer the world has ever heard, but he certainly is one of the planet’s finest pop music composers.
Wallinger’s songs are confounding buggers, though.
After two years and two limited releases, the Evil Harrisons finally hit their stride in spectacular fashion. Six tracks on a debut single may seem to be a bit presumptuous but, like The Rags before them, they exude the confidence to make it all sound effortless. The pick of the bunch is ‘Some Grand Plan’, a bizarre clash of guitars, vocals that sound like Bob Dylan having a go at rapping and a shuffling dance beat.
The other five tracks are no slouch either, displaying an equally admirable disregard for convention. With both 8Ball and The Rags themselves gone AWOL, this might just be the lot to do it.
Messiah J & The Expert and Captain Moonlight have some competition in the credible Irish hip hop stakes with the emergence of teen rapper Maverick Sabre.
Liverpool-born Wilkes has acquired a growing internet-following, thanks in no small part to world of mouth acclaim on several Irish music forums. Backed by Mersey band Ella Guru, 'They’ve Got Nothing On You' is a fine suite of of rootsy folk, in the vein of Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Opener ‘Your Face It Cracks’ demonstrates to good effect Wilkes gravel-toned voice and Ashcroft swagger. However, it’s the sparse and haunting title track which impresses the most. We may have a young John Martyn in the making.
An all star line up featuring Mundy, the Violent Femmes, the Flaming Lips and the inimitable Bob Dylan successfully rocked the Source Festival in Kilkenny.
Not since Dylan went electric has such debate raged over artistic choice. The revolt has begun. Walk outs, heckling and cries of “worst Frames gig ever” marred the first and the last nights of The Frames' three sell-out gigs at Vicar St. So irked was Glen Hansard by fans’ calls for ‘Revelate’ and ‘Star Star’ that, at one stage, he angrily announced, “How about you be the audience and we’ll be the band. Okay?” This wasn’t the happy Frames of past.
The Galway singer So claims Sonic Youth, Pink Floyd and Neil Young (“with or without Crazy Horse”) as inspiration, but the only discernible influence here is Dylan-esque folk-pop. On the EP’s lead track, ‘Just For You’, he evokes sweeping vistas but forgets to include a chorus.
If there was one album that convinced Bob Dylan to include Paul Brady in the club of “secret heroes” he listed in the liner notes of Biograph— and let’s not forget the only other members of this somewhat exclusive coterie were Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen— then it was 1981’s Hard Station.
"Only Bob Dylan comes close to such cracked passion." Who's been on the business end of such purple praise, you enquire? Our own Damien Rice, in UK reviews of debut album O, that's who
The American singer-songwriter Carly Simon is suing the American coffee chain Starbucks because she was not satisfied with the way they promoted her 2008 album This Kind of Love.
As predicted first by hotpress.com over a month ago, Madonna has been confirmed as the headline artist for Slane 2004. The concert has been scheduled for Sunday, August 29, signalling a change in practice for the annual Slane Castle event, which has not taken place on a Sunday since Bob Dylan appeared there in 1984.
Like his compadres Dylan, Cohen, Nelson and Prine, Kris Kristofferson’s voice is showing the results of too much living, but it still can convey more passion and commitment than a chartful of boy bands.
When considering the Wallflowers, it's almost too easy to refer to the bizarre genetic accident that has befallen Jakob Dylan, son of Bob. Fortunately for him, he appears not to have inherited his father’s crumpled, imperfect looks. Instead, he sports the symmetric, excruciatingly photogenic looks of a latter-day Adonis. On the other hand, it also seems that Jakob has also not inherited his father’s flair for crafting a heart-stopping hit.
Having played alongside the likes of B.B. King, Keith Richards and Bob Dylan, American jazz/rock legend Larry Coryell makes his maiden voyage to Ireland
It’s probably not the most cerebrally challenging album in world history, but what they lack in slow-burning substance, they make up for in serotonin-inducing, anthemic treats that you crave when you should be on a strict diet of Bob Dylan and Arcade Fire.
If last year’s line-up (Shania Twain, Pretenders), seemed a little below par following previous appearances by Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, the fourth Source Festival was very much back on track with a much stronger bill.
When reviewing Noelie McDonnell’s demo in these pages last year, I described the Galway singer-songwriter as a hybrid of John Prine, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan. The arrival of his debut album only confirms that he is all that and, indeed, far more than the sum of his influences.
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.
"Power certainly has an incredibly beautiful and expressive voice, it’s just that covering big band classics isn’t necessarily putting it to its best use."
The songwriter’s oldest friends – Don Henley, Ry Cooder, David Lindley and Jackson Browne – occasionally seem hamstrung by too much respect for the material, although Bob Dylan does essay a decent ‘Mutineer’, and you can hear Bruce Springsteen’s mouth water as he gets his chops around the East Texas testament of ‘My Ride’s Here’.
A Bob Dylan harmonica, a Slash guitar, a Prince bass and a saxophone signed by former US President Bill Clinton are among the items on offer in a pre-Grammy Awards charity auction.
Even before I’ve opened the PR release, I know the reference points to expect: Dylan, Petty, The Byrds and The Band with a more than-is-strictly-necessary side order of Tonight’s The Night-era Neil Young.
The new album from Alison Krauss and Robert Plant (pictured) is one of the folk records of the year. As is Steve Earle’s remarkable ode to his adopted New York.
THE INTERNET has already been utilised to flog every kind of consumer good imaginable, from cut-glass cutlery to left-handed monkey wrenches. Now, even portable commodes have got their own homepage, in the shape of the Bumper Dumper website.
The Bumper Dumper is a stand-alone toilet which can be taken on field trips such as hunting and fishing expeditions, or even on off-roading excursions.
"No more searching for the perfect bush to squat behind," says the on-site blurb. "No more squatting and finding out later it was poison ivy! No more falling off the unstable porta potty! No more concern for germs from public facilities!
"When you have to go . . . you CAN! And with the privacy curtain, you might forget that you are miles from home."
http://www.myfreeoffice.com/rsenterprises/ n
Photographer JILL FURMANOVSKY has snapped and shuttered virtually all of the rock industry's big names during her illustrious 25-year carrer, from
U2 to Dylan to Miles Davis. Her latest subjects are Oasis, who she's "spent three years having an absolute ball with." olaf tyaransen caught up with her. Pic: Colm Henry
In the words of visionary film-maker David Cronenberg, "There are records you listen to when you want diversion, and there are records you go to when you're in spiritual trouble." We asked an array of today's brightest stars to tell us about the artists they feel provide the greatest sustenance in time of turmoil and upheaval.
Reformed baa-aaa-aad boys pet lamb are back with a new album that's going to make Roadrunner sorry they ever dropped them. Getting the wool pulled over her eyes: Adrienne Murphy.
The Camden Crawl: 40 buzz bands play across 10 venues on one night, in indie’s capital of cool. In the green corner are The Chalets, who pit their musical talent in a predominately London-led line-up.
Legendary ballad singer Liam Clancy, of the pioneering Clancy Brothers, kicked off this year’s Fleadh Cheoil in Clonmel with a vintage performance in the Enfer village. Here he reflects on Fleadhs past and their current contributions to Irish culture.
Top international journalist and acclaimed stand-up comedian BARRY GLENDENNING pens this self-aggrandising subhead before continuing his countdown to the third Murphy s Cat Laughs Comedy Festival
Having already played high-profile support slots with the likes of Joe Strummer and John Squire, Omagh folk-rockers The Basement are aiming to go overground in 2003.
Now in its second year, Cork Live At The Marquee is one of the highlights of the Irish music calendar. Here, Hot Press presents a complete preview of what's in store for music fans in the southern capital - and looks at the great legacy of Cork music.
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.
A police raid on a dublin record store has led to intense speculation that the Gardaí are about to commence a serious crackdown on the retail of bootleg CDs.
Loved by the Kaiser Chiefs and bushy moustached Ukrainians alike, The Chalets have partied their way round most of the western world in recent months. Stuart Clark hears about backstage beerathons, ding dongs with Kele from Bloc Party and monkeys in track-suits.
BP Fallon, who toured with The Ramones in 1977 and 1978 - including their epochal gig in Dublin at The State Cinema in Phibsboro that forever changed the face of Irish rock'n'roll - dips into the archives of oblivion to remember Dee Dee Ramone
To the relief of countless Hot Press staff who bet that it would take less than six months, BARRY GLENDENNING completes his transformation from amiable Offaly muck savage into name-dropping London showbiz wanker in the nick of time. Read on . . .
TV celebrity chef Richard Corrigan's latest project is his new Bentley's Oyster Bar and Grill in Dublin. He talks to Jackie Hayden about his passion for food, tricky customers and more.
Having admitted that he really doesn’t know what he’s talking about, Brendan Dempsey briefs Paul Nolan on the upcoming Montreal Comedy Festival. and other stuff
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.
Now in its second year, Cork Live At The Marquee is one of the highlights of the Irish music calendar. Here, Hot Press presents a complete preview of what's in store for music fans in the southern capital - and looks at the great legacy of Cork music.
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
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.
Jackie Hayden drops in on comedian Carol Tobin hoping to catch her doing some air comedy practice ahead of her forthcoming appearance in Kilkenny at the Smithwick’s Cat Laughs Festival. Instead he meets a woman who seems to be barred from half of Ranelagh and finds out why there are no goldfish around.
Noko, squadron leader of dance cosmonauts Apollo 440 talks about his new album Millennium Fever and the small matter of what the universe will be like in the year 2,000. Ground control: John Collins
Ahead of his Dublin gig, Motown legend Smokey Robinson tells Hot Press what it was like running one of the greatest music labels in the history of pop music.
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.
Back with another volume of Woody Guthrie songs, BILLY BRAGG talks to Siobhan Long about supersonic boogie, the act of collaboration and why Tony Blair s Labour Party still has his respect.
Once something of a child prodigy, Carlow singer-songwriter Joe Cleere now reckons he has the answer to self-promotion in the download age. He speaks to Celina Murphy about supporting The Script and passing out 10,000 free CDs in a month!
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...
They’re one of the buzziest bands in indie-dom. But beneath the burbly synths and upbeat melodies, Hockey are serious songwriters with a passion for Dylan. And no, they don’t mind if you think they sound a little like LCD Soundystem
Ronnie Wood reveals that his autobiography, a rather entertaining account of his hair-raising life as the 'new boy' in the Stones, was a toil of love to write.
tomais o saoire is an Irish immigrant living in New York. He is also HIV positive. This is his heartrending story a tragic tale which includes brushes with alcoholism and depression. Tape: DYLAN FOLEY.
There’s no argument. The Rolling Stones new record Voodoo Lounge finds the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world of yore back in fighting trim, stomping out that distinctive blend of musical mayhem we know and love in positively swaggering style – good enough, some would say, to see off any contenders to their coveted throne. At the centre of this triumphant return to form is one Michael Philip Jagger, who sounds lean, mean, hungry and ready for the fray. Here he raps with Don Was – producer of Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Was Not Was, Bonnie Raitt and of course The Rolling Stones – about the primeval power of music and how to keep on doing it even at the grand old age of twenty (Sorry! I’ll read that again) . . .
Neil Young is God, the Riot Grrrls are a cod and Hot Press is the greatest music magazine in the Northern hemisphere. So says Monica Queen of ‘hard alternative country rock band’ thrum. Interview: Patrick Brennan.
What has transformed 47-year-old boy Adonis TOM MATHEWS into a realistic simulacrum of that red-nosed little feeb in the Bamforth Comic postcards? Yes, readers, a punishing fortnight at the Galway Arts Festival. Now read on
Having started out busking on the rainy streets of Dublin, 747s have lately struck up a friendship with Arctic Monkeys and nearly triggered an international terrorist scare.
He might not have been the first rock n roller but he came pretty damn close. And in the success-through-excess stakes no-one could rival Rimbaud. PETER MURPHY savours a revealing new biography of the wild child
With the huge success of his sophomore album and a brand new masterwork in the offing, 2004 has been a capital year for US singer-songwriter and adopted son of Eire, Josh Ritter.
Despite all appearances, Tamsin Grieg’s Black Books character Fran isn’t an unsympathetic, neurotic freak. “She wears dresses… she makes an effort,” she tells Paul Nolan
As the countdown to the 4th Hot Press Bacardi Unplugged final continues,
JACKIE HAYDEN speaks out against those who would protray band competitions as irrelevant anachronisms.
Having built up a solid reputation on the gigging circuit, blues outfit Ali and The DTs have just released their debut album. Harp player Christian Volkmann discusses the details of their unique sound with Colm O’Hare.
Throughout the pioneering events of Band Aid, Live Aid and Live 8, Bob Geldof has repeatedly achieved the impossible, twisting the arms and consciences of self-absorbed rock stars to get them to think beyond their egos and stimulating recalcitrant politicians and a jaded media into doing things that are not really difficult at all but thinking makes them so.
The recent release of the compilation album So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley was a potent reminder of the extraordinary impact Jeff Buckley made during his short life. In an exclusive interview, on the 10th anniversary of his death, his mother Mary Guibert reflects on the singer’s legacy.
Anointed by the blogosphere, Tapes ‘N Tapes are just about the hottest thing in indie rock right now. Despite his rather fraught stage persona, frontman Josh Grier turns out to be a picture of charm. And no, he can’t explain the slightly silly name either.
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.
The enigmatic pied-piper of psychedelic rock Donovan is to be honoured with a festival and a new documentary. Long based in Ireland, he talks about working with David Lynch and his plans to bring a new movie project on the road.
The boy from San Diego, Jason Mraz, earned enough kudos with his debut album, Waiting For My Rocket To Come, to convince famed U2 man Steve Lillywhite to produce its sequel Mr. A-Z.
In another case of “Bono made me do it”, former hotpress-er and U2 biographer Neil McCormick explains to Jackie Hayden how he ended up living near Bob The Builder and about the travails of interviewing all four U2 men on four different continents in the same evening. Photos by Mark Harrison.
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.
Stonemason-turned-artful strummer Mick Flannery talks about nearly winning the Choice Music Prize for his album White Lies, his on-going battle against laziness and his dreams of breaking the UK
It’s that time of year when gongs are being dished out. Guest columnist Rossa O Snodaigh of Kíla makes the case for a change of emphasis. Plus news, gossip and all that jazz.
30th Birthday Retrospective: He was the original art-rocker and the quintessential ladies’ man. Bryan Ferry looks back at three decades spent at the frontline of pop.
Blogger faves and YouTube stars OkGo stepped into the A-league recently when they attended the Grammys. Biggest thrill of the night? Shooting the breeze with Mastodon.
She may have a reputation as an actress who has a penchant for getting romantically involved with many of her leading men, but Julia Roberts is guarded about her personal life. She has been romantically linked to Matthew Perry, Daniel Day Lewis and Pat Manocchia, a friend of the late John F Kennedy Jr. among others, but she is constantly surrounded by a loyal staff, whose job it is to preserve her privacy. However, she has been involved in some very public liaisons,
as Stephen Robinson reports.
Julie Feeney, Ron Wood and Kazakhstan’s answer to Will Young are just some of the artists who’ve availed of Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott’s Dublin studio. He talks about life as a budding recording mogul
In the second and final part of our exclusive interview, JONI MITCHELL tells her story from the ground-breaking Blue to the present day.
Having grown increasingly disenchanted with a music biz providing junk food for juveniles it took the classic songs of Billie Holiday and Etta James to restore her faith and give her own career a new lease of old life. Once a romantic always a romantic, she tells JOE JACKSON
In the second and final part of our exclusive interview, JONI MITCHELL tells her story from the ground-breaking Blue to the present day.
Having grown increasingly disenchanted with a music biz providing junk food for juveniles it took the classic songs of Billie Holiday and Etta James to restore her faith and give her own career a new lease of old life. Once a romantic always a romantic, she tells JOE JACKSON
In the second and final part of our exclusive interview, JONI MITCHELL tells her story from the ground-breaking Blue to the present day.
Having grown increasingly disenchanted with a music biz providing junk food for juveniles it took the classic songs of Billie Holiday and Etta James to restore her faith and give her own career a new lease of old life. Once a romantic always a romantic, she tells JOE JACKSON
In the second and final part of our exclusive interview, JONI MITCHELL tells her story from the ground-breaking Blue to the present day.
Having grown increasingly disenchanted with a music biz providing junk food for juveniles it took the classic songs of Billie Holiday and Etta James to restore her faith and give her own career a new lease of old life. Once a romantic always a romantic, she tells JOE JACKSON
The 25th anniversary edition of London Calling includes an album’s worth of previously unheard material, and most of it’s amazing! Stuart Clark talks to Mick Jones.
The Murphy's Cat Laughs Comedy Festival returns to Kilkenny from May 30th-June 3rd. This year's line-up includes the cream of Irish and International stand-up talent and a plethora of extra attractions
‘When A Man Loves A Woman’ used to be a pretty good song before it became a fairly awful movie. Now it will be impossible to listen to Percy Sledge’s tremblingly emotive cry from the heart without thinking of Andy Garcia giving moist-eyed Meg Ryan that puppy dog on prozac look.
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.
As he limbers up for yet another sell-out Irish tour, guitar-picking hearthrob Tom Baxter is keen to scotch rumours of impending nuptials and wax lyrical about his love affair with this country
Internationalist jet-setting dance-pop playboy Sam Sparro has been propelled to ubiquity by the single 'Black And Gold', but he's not above offering HP a bite of his cheese toastie. Ahem.
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
Having befriended Joe Strummer before the Clash man’s untimely death, artists such as Adam Duritz, Ryan Adams and Shane MacGowan are also now lining up to give kudos to New York singer-songwriter Jesse Malin.
Phil Udell switches into Marty Whelan mode as he joins The Chalets at a European rock festival with a difference - and lots and lots of lovely French wine!
Artists and record companies are losing millions of pounds every year through piracy. New developments like Napster and MP3 will bring further challenges. Report: JACKIE HAYDEN.
Seven years ago, CATHERINE ZETA-JONES was so down on her luck that she was having to open supermarkets to pay the rent. Then came a move to Hollywood and the patronage of, first, Steven Spielberg and, then, Michael Douglas who was so taken with the Welsh actress' charms that he married her. In London last week for her new film, Traffic, she talked to CRAIG FITZSIMONS about life among the Hollywood A-list
2004 was a year of infotainment overload when popular culture became increasingly co-opted to the business of selling. But there were those precious few, who remained faithful to the idea of art for its own sake.
KARAN CASEY may be a folk singer, but don t classify her as easy listening . Her music is infused with radicalism and eclectism. She spoke to SIOBHAN LONG.
Annmarie O'Grady's second album, 24 Hours, was produced in New York by Malcolm Burn who worked with Daniel Lanois on Bob Dylan's acclaimed Oh Mercy album.
During a career spanning almost forty years as a professional musician, Van Morrison has created an extraordinary body of work. A masterful musician, songwriter, producer, arranger and musical director, he possesses one of the most uniquely recognisable and powerful voices in music. His influence on contemporary music has been profound but far from resting on his laurels, his latest work Back On Top ranks among his finest albums to date. For Van Morrison, the search goes on. It was particularly appropriate, therefore, that he was chosen to become the first inductee into the Hot Press Irish Music Hall of Fame, at a special ceremony there last week. Report: Niall Stanage.
Dave Grohl looks back on 20 years of playing music and talks about the birth of his daughter, the trapped Beaconsfield Miners and why Neil Young is his hero.
David Gray's debut album A Century Ends signalled the emergence of an innovative singer-songwriter with forthright lyrics, a remarkable voice, and an unusual degree of integrity. Just, one warning: mention the words 'introverted' or 'soul-searching' and you run the risk of being beaten over the head with a guitar... Interview: Lorraine Freeney
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
Cat Malojian may be one of the most promising acts to have emerged from the north in recent times, but why are they obsessed with food? It is, they say, a metaphor for loneliness. Wow.
ED BYRNE can t wait to do The Late Late Show. Hopefully then, Irish people might realise who he is. BARRY GLENDENNING meets a young Dubliner who s being hotly tipped to win this year s Edinburgh Festival Perrier Award.
Stuart Clark, whose middle name is “Intrepid”, recently spent 48 hours on tour with PET LAMB, grindpopcore merchants extraordinaire. His liver and tympanic membranes survived intact, and after a mere six weeks recuperation, he filed this report.
From Shakespearian thesp to sitcom star in Black Books, Nina Conti has proven herself to be one of the most versatile actresses around. But, as she tells Phil Udell, what she’s most interested in is reviving the lost art of ventriloquism
From Shakespearian thesp to sitcom star in Black Books, Nina Conti has proven herself to be one of the most versatile actresses around. But, as she tells Phil Udell, what she’s most interested in is reviving the lost art of ventriloquism
Over the hills and far away, Chumbawamba come out to play! They get knocked down. But they get up again. They get dropped by Indie One Little Indian, and then get signed up by Capitalist major EMI. Then the Tub-Thumpers Anonymous go on to score the most unlikely hit single of 1997. So what now for Alice Nutter and her chums? ANDY DARLINGTON reports.
Over the hills and far away, Chumbawamba come out to play! They get knocked down. But they get up again. They get dropped by Indie One Little Indian, and then get signed up by Capitalist major EMI. Then the Tub-Thumpers Anonymous go on to score the most unlikely hit single of 1997. So what now for Alice Nutter and her chums? ANDY DARLINGTON reports.
Bequiffed crooner Richard Hawley takes a break from animal husbandry to discuss life, love and the making of what he believes to be the defining album of his career
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
Few things faze gary louris and marc perlman, the original members of the jayhawks. In fact, their only regret is that they don t have breasts. Interview: Peter Murphy.
Nearly 30 years after he coasted into the big time, PETER MURPHY asks PETER SARSTEDT the big question - and finds that there is much more to the man than the "one-hit wonder" tag implies.
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.
Despite sharing a home with fellow troubador Paddy Casey, singer-songwriter Declan O’Rourke isn’t one for late-night acoustic sessions. You’re far more likely to find him kicking back with a Coen brothers box-set and musing on the early exploration of Antarctica.
For many years a 'musician's musician', TOM PACHECO is now enjoying the commercial recognition he deserves thanks to a collaboration with Steiner Albrigtsen that's stormed its way to the top of the Norwegian charts. Here, the American singer-songwriter reflects on a remarkable career which has seen him hanging out with Jimi Hendrix and The Doors in New York, taking on the Nashville establishment and finally settling in Ireland where his star is also firmly in the ascendent. Interview: SIOBHAN LONG.
By day he's Nick Cave's trusty lieutenant, but Conway Savage is also spreading his wings as a solo artist, tipping his hat to James Joyce along the way.
Their sombre, melancholy music has seen The National tagged as arch-moochers. Face to face though, frontman Matt Berninger turns out to be a stand-up fellow.
isabel monteiro, lead vocalist with arch miserabilists drugstore tells stuart bailie exactly why she's writing songs about dead Chilean heads of state.
This fortnight s postbag brings another serious dilemma from an unsigned Irish band. Last year they recorded a demo and it aroused some record company interest.
...Or at least it does where Halloween is concerned, as the old pagan feast is transformed into an orgy of amateur pyrotechnics, civil disobedience and open-air boozing.
Michael Franti is mad and he wants you to know about it. To demonstrate the fraught condition of the world, he’s even gone to the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones to make a movie.
Russian born, New York reared, Regina Spektor writes songs that seem to inhabit their own dark little world. No wonder she’s been compared to both Tori Amos and the anti-folk movement.
Back in the saddle witha politically charged new album, Burning TimesChristy Moore and co-collaborator Declan Sinnott are putting the agit-prop back into folk. In a rare interview, Moore speaks frankly abot Hattie Carroll and Rachel Corrie, Richard Thompson anoraks, interpreting Morrissey and recently being detained by British authorities under anti-terrorism laws.
Tanya Donelly star of the upwardly flying Belly, wouldn't sleep with Robert Redford for a million dollars and she wouldn't throw her knickers at Tom Jones. But she is engaged, believes in the concept of marriage - and is on her way to Sunstroke. Interview: Andrew Darlington
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.
This week sees the re-publication of Lee Dunne's novel Paddy Maguire Is Dead which, in one of many outrageous acts visited on our writers, was banned for alleged obscenity by the Irish government in 1972. Jackie Hayden called in on an author who writes because he can't not write.
Six years ago, when a group of Belfast artists invited Bill Drummond to play host at a gathering at College Green House on Botanic Avenue, something like a seed seems to have been planted.
STUART BAILIE recalls some of the social and political movements that have occupied U2's hearts and minds down through the years... not least, the Springfield Garbage Dump campaign
Robyn Hitchcock – wayward musical genius or fruitcake, depending on your point of view – is on the brink of even greater notoriety with the patronage of REM and the release of his strongest album to date. Andy Darlington does his best to uncover the man behind the mayhem.
She's the red-haired electro-pop debutante of the year. La Roux frontwoman Elly Jackson talks about her love of the 80s and tells us why Blur were the only decent rock band of the past 20 years.
colin murphy is living proof that there is such a thing as a comedic afterlife. The Downpatrick funny man, who once "died every week for six months", tells barry glendenning all about heaven down here.
He is widely regarded one of Ireland's finest singers. Now, by way of confirmation, Brian Kennedy has released a superb album, entitled Interpretations.
the poet Allen Ginsberg died at his East Village home in New York on Saturday, 5th April, just two months short of his 71st birthday. After more than four decades of constant, and often controversial, conflict with such repressive figures as J. Edgar Hoover, Fidel Castro and Newt Gingrich, liver cancer finally succeeded where they had always failed in silencing the notoriously outspoken writer and self-confessed beat-hip-gnostic-imagist performance poet.
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
Gerry McGovern talks to Dael Orlandersmith, one of the leading lights of the new generation of New York-based street poets,about the inherent subversive energy of the medium and about why the movement takes its cue from Lou Reed, rap and Hip Hop.
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.
When not touring with Republic Of Loose, Mick pyro is free to kick back in his basement pad in a 1960s Swedish-style Terenure house, where he indulges his love of CDs, books and movies – and ponders the aesthetic similarities between Shakespeare and hip hop.
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
Tara Brady takes a look at the enduring appeal of Japanese cultural icon Hello Kitty – the billion-dollar company which has spread into areas as diverse as mobile phones, toasters, leopard-skin legwarmers and – you guessed it – porn.
"I've made another great movie, and the critics have already said it's a great summer hit," Arnold Schwarzenegger declared at Cannes recently, promoting his latest bid for world domination, "The Last Action Hero".
what good was rock’n’roll in 2001? No good at all – and yet we couldn’t have got through without it.
Peter Murphy reflects on a year in which some old codgers stood up to be counted and many of us lived “on songs and hope”
Before Wexford playwright BILLY ROCHE made a name for himself as a Chekhovian chronicler of smalltown dreams and desperations with The Wexford Trilogy, he wrote a novel entitled Tumbling Down. More than 20 years after its original publication, that book has been revised and reissued as a beautiful limited edition hardback.
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]
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
Jackie Hayden calls round to visit Miriam Ingram’s current abode at the foot of the Dublin Mountains and gets to hear his first Christmas carol of the season.
FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM is a major new six-part RTE series. Directed by DAVID HEFFERNAN, and featuring new interviews with the major players including Van Morrison, Bob Geldof, U2 and Siniad O Connor it traces the history of Irish music, from showbands to boybands and beyond. By PETER MURPHY.
He pioneered the art of glam-punk excess with the New York Dolls and now he's learned to grow old gracefully. Peter Murphy meets the boy from New York City, the ever cool David Johansen. Photos: MYLES CLAFFEY
He scored his first hit single as lead singer with Them in 1965, with Baby Please Don t Go . In 1968, he released his debut solo album Astral Weeks, which is widely regarded among critics as one of the most important and complete records of the past 50 years. But these are just two early landmarks in a remarkable career which finds Van Morrison still on top of his game 40 years since he made his debut with his own skiffle group, The Sputkniks, at a school concert in Orangefield in Belfast. In an exclusive interview, carried out for the RTE television series From A Whisper To A Scream, and published in the run-up to Van s latest Irish dates, he talks to Niall Stokes.
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
Ahead of a headline date at Vicar Street, David O’Doherty talks about hanging out with the Flight of The Conchords and about his new Channel 4 TV show.
It is hardly a surprise to learn that the fifth Super Furry Animals’ album was due to be christened Text Messaging Is Killing The Pub Quiz As We Know It.
BARRY MURPHY is not the Godfather of the new Irish comedy. Repeat: Barry Murphy is not the Godfather of the new Irish comedy. barry glendenning interviews the benevolent uncle of new Irish comedy instead.
When former IRA prisoner Marion Price decided to go public about the intimidation she claims to have suffered,
she did so on Radio Free Iireann. STUART CLARK reports on the New York station that s providing a focal point for dissident Republican opinion.
Sprawling across four restless, angry and sometimes contradictory sides, "Rattle And Hum" is nothing less than U2's most ambitious album yet. Review by Bill Graham
When not sleeping late or trying to score free beer, students like nothing better than to kick back and watch a movie. In fact, it is thanks to students that many films have gained a permanent place in the pantheon. Here are some stude faves from the annals.
He’s Ireland’s latest singer-songwriter sensation. But Colm Lynch is no mere Damien Rice clone. In fact, his debut album, A Whisper In A Riot might be the most exciting thing you’ve heard in years.
The industry may not have always liked them but their fans couldn’t be more passionate. Ten members, four studio albums, three managers and two major labels later, The Frames still managed to add up to more than the sum of their parts. Peter Murphy, with help from Glen Hansard and other key players brings the story of the band up to date in this, the final part of our two-part special [Photo Mick Quinn]
Edwyn Collins, late of Orange Juice and whose third solo album was recently released, gets all acidic about the state of the music business. Interview: Patrick Brennan.
With feelgood fables like Jerry McGuire and Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe has forged a reputation as one of the Good Guys of American cinema. His new film Elizabethtown does nothing to change that perception, no matter how much he protests. "I'm more caustic than you think," he tells Moviehouse.
Award-winning director and actor Ed Burns talks about enjoying success on your own terms, his lifelong music obsession and the fact that he’s about to make his first big-budget Hollywood movie.
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
GERRY MALLON is the brains behind The Murphy's Comedy Club which has been running weekly in Galway's GPO for the last three years, despite one Englishman's determined attempt to incinerate the joint. Interview: BARRY GLENDENNING.
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.
You mightn't expect to find Ireland’s sharpest new indie talents tucked away in a rural abode, but that’s where The Immediate have decamped, ready to lead the fight against MySpace while making the punters dance.
Sharing the spotlight with only his trusty guitar, Ireland's foremost troubadour Christy Moore prepares to take on audiences at The Point later this month. Here he tells Bill Graham of his growing sense of worth and self-confidence, defends Siniad O'Connor's right to free speech and explains just why good hecklers are worth their weight in gold.
Well and truly punch-drunk and punch-lined, BARRY GLENDENNING rounds
up the gargles and the giggles at this year's CAT LAUGHS COMEDY FESTIVAL
in Kilkenny. Pix: Kevin Clancy
LA, Joshua Tree, Alabama, New Orleans . . . Kristin Hersh verbally back-packs her way around the most significant places in her life and career thus far.
Interview: Nick Kelly.
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.
Christy Moore, who headlines this year’s rejuvenated Lisdoonvarna Festival, recalls the first flowering of music festivals in Ireland – and looks forward to this year’s event, when once again the challenge will be to weave that spell
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the dissection of the rock ‘n’ roll year that is the Hot Press Summit. Gathering round the table are the good and great of Irish music, but who let Podge & Rodge in?
Talk of drug excesses, Noel Gallagher and James Joyce are all par for the course when john walshe catches up with the laconic evan dando, chief lemonhead, sometime actor and aspiring writer.
RTE Lyric FM will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the birth of the late genre-defying trumpeter Mile Davis with a special weekend focusing on a man who is arguably the greatest jazz innovator to have a major impact on rock music. To give you a little something for that weekend, Jackie hayden reflects on one of the true giants of music.
It was the hottest ticket in Manhattan – and no wonder. With Goldfrapp, The Strokes, Carl Cox and Kanye West on the bill, this was a gig for people of impeccable taste – all the more so since it was brought together by Hennessy cognac.
ave Fanning: We just played "Wild Things Run Free" (sic) and as you say yourself you are "back in the harness". Now, except for the vocals would it be a fair assumption to call the music on the new album pop with a rock steady beat?
...And the kids just keep on comin’, as Hot Press investigates another assortment of motley crews with songs in their hearts and stars in their eyes, and concludes that the future is indeed so bright, you’ve gotta wear shades.
FLEXIHEAD, MEXICAN PETS, THE GLEE CLUB, IN MOTION
Or how TONY BENNETT survived drugs, near-death and the mafia, to become possibly the coolest man on the planet at the age of 72. Interview: Joe Jackson.
Music | Interview
22% | 27 Jul 2005
Colm O Hare
She’s been a rock icon, a tabloid sensation and a muse to Mick Jagger. But you won’t find Marianne Faithfull mooning over past glories.
He's reputed to be one of the toughest interviewees in music. But RAY LAMONTAGNE is slowly learning to chill out and, if not embrace the limelight, then at least live with it...
In Ireland, he’s the biggest name in comedy – a superstar who can pack them into live shows and shift DVDs by the jumboload. But having conquered his homeland, Tommy Tiernan faced the question: where to from here? The answer was America, the Holy Grail for anyone in the entertainment business. The story of his battle to win hearts and minds is captured in Jokerman – Tommy Tiernan Takes On America, a documentary series that is about to hit the screens on RTE. But first, there’s the important matter of a Hot Press interview to attend to.
Poetry slam takes poetry out of the hands of academics and puts it on stage in front of an audience. But not everyone thinks this is a good idea, as a recent spat in Galway underlines.
As suede prepare for their headline slot at Dublin Castle next month, their stock has never been higher, thanks mainly to the success of their fantastic third album Coming Up. craig fitzsimons talks to singer brett anderson about it and invites him to take stock of the last few wildly successful months.
DOMINO RECORDS has released some of the most essential music of the 90 s by the likes of Sebadoh, Palace Brothers, and Elliott Smith. NICK KELLY talks to lynchpin Laurence Bell and one member of the label s current roster, Stephen Pastel of The Pastels.
Former Friends star David Schwimmer talks about his dark days of waiting tables and why his lawyer parents were perturbed by his determination to make it as an actor.
From the early excesses of the Birthday Party through meisterwerks like The Good Son to his new release, Live Seeds, Nick Cave has spent nearly fifteen years probing those crevices of the human psyche that few care, or even dare, to venture into.
Here, in a highly personal, in-depth interview, Gerry McGovern grills the god of Goth about his ambivalence towards and obsession with religion, his love of dysfunctional people, his thoughts on the past and his hope for the future, oh, and how to reconcile life as an internationally renowned icon of doom with being a mummy’s boy! (Only joking, Nick!).
As Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, MO MOWLAM M.P. has one of the toughest, most thankless jobs in British and Irish politics. The task facing her is an unenviable one: to bring together the two extremes of both traditions, however briefly, for the purposes of all-party talks. In this exclusive interview, she talks about the difficult journey to date, and the immense challenges which lie ahead of her. Our man who went to Mo:
JOE JACKSON.
Pix: COLM HENRY.
In a year that saw events which will forever change the world in which we live, selected hotpress contributors offer some personal recollections of the past twelve months. We begin by listing the critics’ choice of 2001’s single and album releases
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.
With an Irish tour approaching and a new album in the shops, Luka Bloom looks back on three decades that have taken him from busking in a pub in Newbridge to the big stages of Europe and America. In this candid interview with Jackie Hayden the man also known as Barry Moore talks about brother Christy, overcoming stage fright, finding an original voice, dealings with the music business, the need to combat racism - and why he remains a wannabe bogman
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.
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.
Roisin Dwyer catches up with electropop duo MGMT to discuss their greatest rock 'n' roll moment, Jools Holland and their growing reputation as popular music's new trouble-makers.
Going back to the deep-seated roots of music is the route taken by THE PALACE BROTHERS on their stunning debut album. GERRY McGOVERN goes to meet them at the crossroads where cultures collide . . . well, The Baggot Inn actually.
Razorlight have catapulted to superstar status with their No. 1 single 'America'. As they prepare to wow Oxegen this weekend, we talk to mainman Johnny Borrell about cricket, saving the planet and dating Kirsten Dunst.
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.
Overnight success was a long time coming for American novelist Lionel Shriver, whose breakthrough book, We Need To Talk About Kevin was her seventh novel. Here she talks about a life-time of struggle, unsympathetic women, her blistering tennis novel Double Fault – and how she is coping with the pressures of sudden literary fame.
He’s spent years trying to live down his bubble-gum pop days but, two decades after the event, former hearthrob Jason Donovan is finally going back to his roots.
(N.B. This is a work of faction. All names have been changed in order to protect the guilty from certain incarceration in state mental institutions or correctional
facilities.)
To some it is the great white hope in the battle against illegal file-sharing, and the idea that music on the internet comes for free. But to others, it is another nail in the coffin for artists who earn a paltry sum for the streaming of their music.
From “Outspan” to Glen Hansard, from Grafton Street to Hollywood – and onwards to Lisdoonvarna 2003. A portrait of The Frames as a most unusual band. Part one of a two-part special feature by Peter Murphy. [Main Photos: Mick Quinn]
It's time to lock up your sons, daughters, pet poodle and drinks cabinet, as eight of Ireland's top bands descend on the venue, london, for the first major Hot Press-sponsored musical event of the year.
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?
The man behind the Mystery Train is a bit of a mystery himself but, at Peter Murphy's request, writer and broadcaster JOHN KELLY steps forward to talk about Enniskillen, friends in high places, the fall and rise of his broadcasting career, his lack of intercourse with Dave Trimble, "taking the soup", desert island music and Uaneen.
Broadcast Views: Cathal Dawson
With his new album sex, age and death in the shops, BOB GELDOF, songwriter and performer, is back in our midst. but after the traumatic personal events of the last five years - events which inform the songs on the new record - the private man is arguably under scrutiny as never before. In this heartfelt, eloquent and, at times, angry interview with JOE JACKSON, Geldof talks about the loss of Paula Yates, the death of Michael Hutchence and his own painful journey back to happiness
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.
When Ryan Adams gave his record company an album called 'Love Is Hell', they declined to release this “fucking dark, twisted sad and morose” record. so Adams decided instead to record a loud, punky, uptempo album called 'Rock N Roll'. and guess what? now we get to hear both.
With a career-best new album under their belts, Razorlight's Johnny Borrell talks about bling, mid-career reinvention and Britain's battle with metrosexuality.
. . . and ready to go. Mercury Rev s recent album Deserter s Songs was met with a rapturous critical reception, even topping the Hot Press critics end-of-year poll. On their recent Dublin visit they spoke to Peter Murphy about the album, The Band and their volatile past. Jonathan Donahue pics: Cathal Dawson
Every loser wins on patrick kielty s new Channel 4 show, Last Chance Lottery , and for the 26-year-old comedian, presenter and former germ , things have never looked so good. Interview: barry glendenning.
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 her stinging one-liners and droll, deadpan delivery, JO BRAND has established herself as the Queen of British comedy. In the run up to her Dublin appearance, she talks about men, booze, cakes and Gary Bushell to LIAM FAY, and explains why she would eventually like to become an MP.
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.
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”
You cook them, we serve them up in the Q&A cantina. At the table to answer the questions posed, in our second serving this fortnight, by members of hotpress.com: Ash
30th Anniversary retrospective: From the murders of Tupac and Biggie to the bizarre implication of Marilyn Manson in the Columbine massacre; from Courtney, Axl and Spector’s falls from grace to the canonisation and demonisation of Peter Doherty... here’s a potted history of the most controversial events in the last 30 years of rock ‘n’ roll.
If having your music featured on every TV programme from TFI Friday to England v Morocco is a measure of success, then CORNERSHOP are now one of the biggest bands in the world. Multi-instrumentalist BEN AYRES talks to STUART CLARK about Noel Gallagher collaborations, festivals, royalties, The Blind Boys Of Alabama and that Fatboy Slim remix.
Advances in computer technology are set to have a more dramatic influence on our lives than eighty years of developments in motor transport. In this, the first of a new regular column called Cyber Walking, Gerry McGOVERN puts you under starter’s orders.
From that piano-ballad cover of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ to her new-found fascination with Gnostic texts, Tori Amos has remained one of the most compelling and enigmatic solo artists of the past ten years. Here, she fills Peter Murphy in on the intriguing background to her latest album, The Beekeeper, her reasons for relocating to the bucolic splendor of Cornwall, and the difficulties of maintaining artistic integrity in the face of corporate profiteering. Oh, and beekeeping, of course.
The most famous beards in rock 'n' roll are back with a new album that's guaranteed synthesiser-free and hotter than a Tex-Mex jalapeno pepper. As ZZ Top do a John Major and return to basics, DUSTY HILL tells STUART CLARK about the danger of eating chili-dogs, what he used to get up to under the bed-clothes as a kid and the nature of his relationship with long-horned steers.
With the death of Johnny Cash two weeks ago, music’s Mount Rushmore finally crumbled. From the hell-raising country outlaw of the ’60s to his final incarnation as a patriarchal figure intoning songs of guilt and redemption, Cash’s voice resonated down through the years with undimmed intensity. In this special Hot Press tribute to the Man In Black, Peter Murphy talks to Cash collaborators Sandy Kelly and U2, and recounts the turbulent life and times of one of the most iconic figures in 20th century music
On the eve of the release of the group’s new album Winning Days, The Vines’ bassist Patrick Mathews gives hannah Hamilton the inside story on the tensions that threatened to split the band, hanging with Steve-o and the Jackass crew, and the group’s heretofore undeclared love of the Clancy Brothers.
SIMON FOWLER of OCEAN COLOUR SCENE speaks to Colm O'Hare about the band s new album, his outing at the hands of the tabloid press, and hanging out with Noel Gallagher.
The Boomtown Rats came burning out of Dublin in the late ‘70s, railing against the Irish establishment to the audible gasps of the nation’s more conservative elements. With their remastered back catalogue having been recently reissued, Bob Geldof here looks back on a period of notoriety, controversy and personal angst, and also reflects on his ongoing efforts to highlight the issue of Fathers’ Rights. Interview by Peter Murphy. Photography by Mark Harrison.
Can you see the Forrest for the Gump? Can you explain the cultural phenomenon of Steven Seagal in English plain enough for Seagal himself to understand? Did you recognise any of the actors hiding beneath moustaches in Wyatt Earp, Tombstone and Gettysburg? Are you ready for the fourth annual X-mas rated Blow Up Movie Quiz?
Oh, well, give it a go anyway. Now we separate the movie buffs from the people who have got something more interesting to do than spend all day hanging around cinemas and reading Hot Press. Answers can be found on page 99 but anyone caught peeking will have to live with the knowledge that they are a dirty, rotten, good for nothing, low down cheat. Good luck. And remember, this quiz is just like a box of chocolates . . . you’ll feel sick when you’ve finished.
Peter Murphy takes a train to the wild west (Galway that is) with the original Texas Jewboy, crime writer and legendary stardust cowboy Kinky Friedman. Peter Matthews has the negatives.
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.
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.
There’s no drink or drugs for Tommy Tiernan these days, but you couldn’t say his life is uneventful. In conversation with Olaf Tyaransen, the comedian reflects on tabloid interest in his private life, the night he had to get away from Jordan, the future for post-Catholic Ireland and the genius of Flann O’Brien and James Joyce. All this plus the unveiling of the secret tattoo. Photography by Mick Quinn.
Sean O’Reilly, whose superb Watermark hit the shelves recently, has been hailed as one of the most important new voices in Irish fiction. So why has more widespread success eluded him to date?
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.
An aristocrat turned rock’n’roll promoter, Lord Henry Mountcharles has been one of the most intriguing figures in Irish public life over the past twenty years. On the eve of Madonna’s hugely anticipated gig at Slane Castle, Mountcharles talks to Hot Press about his priviledged upbringing, studying at Harvard, running for electoral office, experimenting with drugs, meeting U2, Guns n’ Roses and David Bowie, and his encounters with UFO's. Photography Cathal Dawson
Jinx Lennon is a true original, a rock'n'roll outsider whose music throbs to the pulse of rural Ireland. Here he talks about attending cocktail parties with David Norris and explains why Dundalk just might be the strangest town in Ireland.
As Barack Obama gets ready to take up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Bob Geldof, Josh Ritter and Laura Izibor offer their views on his presidency. Plus what the rest of the rock ‘n’ roll community including Bruce Springsteen and Ani DiFranco are saying about the new man in the White House.
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.
During the heady days of Italia ’90, The Stunning provided the unofficial soundtrack to the nation’s summer-long party, playing a series of uproarious shows around the country and treating the top-ten like their local. thirteen years later, having just re-released their classic album, Paradise In The Picturehouse, the group reflect on what a long, strange trip it’s been and why they’re not ready to hang up their guitars just yet.
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 Manaña In Manhattan just released, the wily Wexford wizard believes his time will come . . . Pic: Cathal Dawson.
So this is Christmas and what have we done... As U2 prepare to enter the final yearof the decade, Bono devotes a long night at his home in Dublin to reflecting on his life, his music and U2's extraordinary career to date. Interview: Liam Mackey
DENIS LEARY, sultan of sneer, is en route to Dublin to star in the Murphy s Ungagged Comedy Festival. By way of a little limbering up, and proving that there s no smoke without fire, here he lets rip on Noraid, The Kennedys, The Royals, Bill Hicks, Dean Martin, Oasis, Father Ted, drugs in Kerry and, oh yes, why he d like to go to Riverdance with a sniper s rifle . Interview: LIAM FAY.
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.
Who wants to be a millionaire? Not Philip Ó Ceallaigh, who actually seems remarkably nonchalant about not scooping a pot of money for his latest short story collection.
ANI DiFRANCO is one of contemporary music's most impressive originals. Without compromising her independence or political radicalism, she has scaled the heights of commercial and
critical success. In this, her only Irish interview, she speaks candidly to NIALL STANAGE about TAFKAP, her battles with the music industry, American 'gun culture' and the troubled family life which lies behind one of her most moving songs.
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.
Martin Sheen has starred in at least two of the greatest films ever made, survived a massive heart attack, found God, and campaigned tirelessly for social justice in the Third World. Now, he’s gone back to school, studying Philosophy and English at (of all places) the NUI in Galway. Jason O’Toole meets him for his only Irish print interview.
She has the bearing of a 19th-Century aristocrat but, face to face, Keira Knightley is nobody’s princess. Here she talks about starring in Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End and explains why, for her at least, it really is time to jump overboard from the franchise.
When Patti Smith came up with Rock N Roll Nigger in the 70s, she marked herself out as one of the most articulate and confrontational performers of her generation. On the eve of her visit to Ireland, the High Priestess of American Punk Poetry talks to Peter Murphy about art, music, the people she s lost and why she ll never give in to political correctness
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.
In the second and final part of the ultimate interview, elvis talks about colonel Tom Parker, marriage to priscilla, his '68 comeback, his quest for enlightenment and the truth about his drug intake. but as he dreams of an exciting future, at 42 he doesn’t realise that the end is close at hand
*The quotes in this recreated interview are drawn from a wealth of reliable sources and involved extensive research into many rare articles and books
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.
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
Or how a short-term model, aspiring novelist and Indie kitten became a sophisti-cat and lived to twitch her tale. Peter Murphy meets the multi-layered Sophie Ellis Bextor
"Hope is a scarce commodity in the Inner City," writes Gerry McGovern. Here, he hears from Paul Hansard, who has lived in the Inner City all his life, about the many and varied injustices aimed at the working class, the frustration of never rising above the level of subsistence and about trying to wish for better for your children
Sharp suits, a global fan base, his own luxury recording studio - David Gray has certainly come a long way. On the eve of the release of his latest album, he talks about the dark side of success and explains why he wants to leave the singer-songwriter tag behind
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
TRACY CHAPMAN S eponymous debut album was one of the biggest sellers of last year more than ten years after its release.
She spoke to PETER MURPHY about her life before and after fame, that album and the race issue.
In a rare interview, Simpsons writer Mike Scully talks about the show’s A-list musical guests, his love for Ned Flanders and upsetting the entire population of Brazil. He also tells us what to expect from The Simpsons Movie, which blockbusters its way onto the big screen in the summer.
Even though he s just as acerbic and witty as he ever was, these days GRAHAM PARKER isn t what you d call the man of the moment. Which is a shame, because the veteran new-wave critics darling is currently writing some of the best material of his life, including last year s Acid Bubblegum album, which he describes as a fucking great record . And as if that wasn t enough to be going on with, he s also got plenty of short stories on the go.
Tape: Peter Murphy
ADRIENNE MURPHY, Hot Press writer and environmentalist was among seven people charged with sabotaging a Monsanto-owned GM sugar beet crop in Wexford last June. From the field to the courtroom, from taking a stand to taking the stand, this is her personal account of a tumultuous ten months. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
Jack Johnson may be a regular dude, but with his latest album simultaneously at No.1 in the UK and the US he is one with a vast world-wide fanbase. So how did this happy-go-lucky surfer suddenly become a hero to millions?
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
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.
John Walshe talks to Irish rugby captain and Munster stalwart Keith Wood ahead of the most important game in Munster s history, and hears his views on the media, sex before a game and his love for bellybuttons and pregnant women.
Pictures: DECLAN ENGLISH
The ace bass in the STONE ROSES and PRIMAL SCREAM, MANI is the living embodiment of the concept of largin it . In Ireland to dee-jay and hang out, he sinks a few beers and offers his uniquely colourful thoughts on music, Man U, drugs, Thatcher, Reagan, Blair and Bill Clinton s blow-jobs. Interview: EAMON SWEENEY.
How The White Stripes turned the bare essentials into an essential noise, insisted that three is indeed a magic number and wound up becoming one of the most phenomenally successful rock acts in the world
For Gen X-ers like Kurt Cobain, Matt Groening and Sonic Youth, Daniel Johnston is akin to Syd or Roky, a gifted figure beset by the demons of delusional paranoia and manic depression. A 1994 tribute album featuring Beck, Tom Waits and eels showcased his ghostly and surrealistic folk songs, and now, as the remarkable documentary film The Devil And Daniel Johnston goes on release, hotpress is granted an audience with the man who isn’t there.
They re calling it Little Africa, this area close to Dublin s city centre where the country s first real ethnic quarter is slowly taking shape. Peter Murphy reports on the birth pangs of a new kind of Irish nation. Photography: Peter Mathews
With Cameron Crowe s Almost Famous putting rock hackery on the silver screen, no less, Peter Murphy wonders if Seventies rock journalism is the new rock n roll. Helping him with his enquiries: PAUL MORLEY and GREIL MARCUS
June 1998, the World Cup is in full swing and the Saw Doctors are on their tenth visit to the US of A. Leo Moran of Tuam’s finest kept a diary. Now read on . . .
BECK is one of the most eclectically talented musicians of his generation. STUART CLARK sees the man play a stormer at Witnness and hears him talk about fame, musical obsession, heroes like Bowie and Black Sabbath and 'Britney fascism'
Having a right royal laugh at monarchies is all very well in what we loosley describe as the free west, but Olaf Tyransen is alarmed to find it's no laughing matter in Thailand
Don't write the singular Maria McKee; write the plural Maria McKee instead. Bill Graham encounters a mercurial talent in a variety of moods, musics and memories.
MARILYN MANSON may be the epitome of Middle America's worst nightmare but, as STUART CLARK discovers, he's not that bad, really. On the agenda: Bono, Eminem, Moby, George W. Bush and the Columbine shootings
The godfather of the modern Irish gothic tradition, Patrick McCabe, has released what critics are hailing as his darkest, and arguably finest, novel yet, Winterwood.
Television s best-known wearer of colourful jumpers turned Conservative politician has reinvented himself yet again this time as a writer of credible fiction. PETER MURPHY hears the nice Tory s vice story. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON
Thought that’d grab your attention! Having made his name with such arthouse classics as In The Mood For Love, Fallen Angels and Chungking Express, legendary Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai is back with the eagerly anticipated 2046. A dazzling collage of existential longing, wacky sci-fi and lurid pulp thrills, it confirms his status as, well, one of the real greats of modern cinema.
