After playing to a sold out Olympia audience last year, one of Ireland’s most famous crooners, Dickie Rock is back to play the theatre again this October
Still riding high on the post-release wave of their Burn The Maps album, The Frames will play a series of hometown shows at the intimate Olympia Theatre
Academy Award-winners Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova stop being huge in America long enough to play the Dublin Olympia this December, with another date just added.
“ROSE-mair-ee!” yells a sold-out Olympia along with Paul Banks, as the Morse-code bassline of ‘Evil” jitters away beneath. “HEAV-en re-STORES you in LIFE!” So, yes, onstage it looks like Interpol: five smart-suited gentlemen throwing rock shapes in a graveyard-mist fug that is ‘lit’ (if you can say that about a near-dark stage) in their trademark two colours, black and dark red. But turn around to face tonight’s all-singing, all-dancing crowd, and you could be at an Oasis concert circa Definitely Maybe.
He may well go on to produce better work, but Live At The Olympia captures a wonderful hour or so of music, during which Damien Dempsey is king of all he surveys.
Despite the valiant attempts of an efficient fog machine, irony quickly displaces mist in the Olympia Theatre as the most noticeable (if unintended) element of Good Charlotte’s show. "The world is a cold, dark, lonely place and no one understands me. But Ireland, I think you understand me!" screeches lead singer Joel Madden before launching into ‘The World is Black’, a surprisingly serious song from Good Charlotte’s surprisingly serious new album.
The National are blessed with a dedicated Irish fanbase, who were out in force to greet the Brooklyn-based outfit on this, the second of their three nights at The Olympia.
The incomparable Dead Can Dance – reunited after seven years for a European tour that kicks off tonight in the Olympia – have created a sound that diverges sharply from anything else in contemporary rock/pop, drawing on ancient and sacred musics from around the world.
With the recently released Some Cities completing a trio of gorgeously layered masterpieces, Doves are the band many take for granted. Brilliance is expected, and we have become accustomed to excellence from the Manchester trio. If there was anything unexpected about their set at a sold out Olympia, it was that we may have forgotten beforehand just how special they really are.
If there was anything unexpected about Doves set at a sold out Olympia, it was that we may have forgotten beforehand just how special they really are. It didn’t take long for one's memory to kick into gear.
We knew there was little danger of getting crushed in the mosh pit this evening but only a stint in a nunnery might have adequately prepared us for the heavy-curtained reverential silence of the Olympia.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space. A few tracks into Air’s stunning show at the Olympia and the redoubtable Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel are already gently elevating us to a higher plane of consciousness.
KT Tunstall doesn’t hang around. Following the release of her debut album earlier this year, her rise through the ranks has been swift and startling. Tonight the Olympia is packed full of loyal screaming fans. Through every break in the set they call her a legend. “You can’t say that!” replies Tunstall. “You can’t call me a lesbian!”
If their rapid ascent has left Alex Kapranos & Co. gasping for air it doesn’t show as Franz Ferdinand launch into their Olympia set with a breakneck ‘Michael’. All that having to grab American audiences by the scruff of the neck has toughened them up to the point where on occasions they’re bizarrely redolent of Live & Dangerous-era Thin Lizzy.
As it happens, there is a good deal more substance to Kele Okereke and co than the average flash-in-the-pan indie outfit, and throughout 2005 their standing has grown and grown, to the point that they are now able to perform with considerable confidence and poise before a sold-out Olympia audience.
Mary Coughlan returns to Midnight At The Olympia on February 4th, but this time it's with an unreserved optimistic outlook, and the determination to put all her troubles behind her. Interview Lorraine Freeney
As they prepare to storm Dublin's Olympia for two reunion shows later this month, LIAM FAY talks unfinished business to KEITH DONALD and EOGHAN O'NEILL of MOVING HEARTS
“I can’t believe it’s taken us this fuckin’ long to get here,” says Johnny Borrell from the Olympia’s stage. And neither can we. On the eve of the release of their second album, Razorlight have finally made it to the capital for their debut Irish headliner.
BRENDAN O’CARROLL is bringing his latest opus
Good Mourning Mrs Brown to the Olympia theatre, Dublin, in January. But STEPHEN ROBINSON discovers that the author and comedian has quite a serious side
It’s a good life being a FUN LOVIN' CRIMINAL. You get to party at your own club in Dublin, chill out in Maui, dress like "an irish soccer hooligan" and watch astral television in germany. All this and you’re a nice guy too. HUEY MORGAN tells FIONA REID about life on the town
DUBLIN'S OLYMPIA is one of the city's great venues for late night rock gigs that roll the music right back to its base on the streets, and among the community.
Currently drawing huge crowds to The Olympia with his third Mrs. Brown play, Brendan O’Carroll nonetheless has a bone to pick with those pushing for the retention of the section 481 tax break for film-makers.
A glimpse into Glen Hansard’s tour diary while on the road with The Frames' fourth album For The Birds (2001) - including reflections on their first landmark Olympia show (March 30th, 2001)
Ed Byrne has just finished a smash-hit series of concerts at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre as part of his hundred-date tour but those who are missing him already can tune into the new Network 2 show Just For Laughs which finds him wearing his TV presenters’ hat. and shades.
These bass-pounding songs about alienation and rebellion are the standard stuff of punk-pop, but I can’t help wondering what the pre-teeners, dwarfed by oversized Good Charlotte t-shirts (they don’t make them in extra, extra small), really have to be that angry about.
Bic Runga is cute. All glammed up in a champagne-coloured silk dress and fishnets for the final stop of her six-night Irish tour, she’s just a pair of pigtails away from being a delicate porcelain doll with a shy smile that goes some way towards masking an awkward stage presence.
Sinead’s voice and the band, honed from months on the road, are at the absolute peak of their powers. Lots of fans I spoke to afterwards felt they’d never heard her sound better.
Over 50 artists came together to pay their respects to Jimmy Faulkner in an unforgettable show of more than four hours of emotionally-charged performances.
Time magazine dubbed him The Renaissance Man Of Rock . With and without Talking Heads, he s made some of the most innovative music of the last two decades, as well as being an author, photographer, director, sound-track scorer, Academy Award winner, and all-round friendly neighbourhood psycho-killer. David Byrne allowed Hot Press to put him on the couch for thirty minutes when he arrived in Dublin for his recent Olympia Theatre show.
Peter Murphy was there to hear the Head man
talking.
Sometimes I wish Glen Hansard’s guitar would explode, or that half way through a terrible rendition of ‘Pavement Tune’ the band would lose their way and let the song fall apart. A mistake of some sort would be nice, if only to prove that The Frames are mortal when it comes to playing live.
The inimitable Angie Stone arrived in pomp and bluster, along with her seven-member band, with various musical tasks fluidly exchanged between drummer, guitar-players and the classic soul triumvirate of Angie and her two Pips. The Gladys comparison is more than fair; indeed Stone draws on the pantheon of great soul artists like Aretha and Marvin to create her own brand of slick R‘n’B.
The Olympia Theatre was rocked to its core when Faith No More rolled into town leaving a trail of epic destruction in their wake and here's the evidence!
With his Everything Is New album doing very nicely thank you in the charts, Mike Skinner has confirmed that he’s bringing The Streets to the Dublin Olympia on January 25.
Following on from their Point Theatre and Fitzgerald Stadium sell-outs, Counting Crows return to Dublin on March 2 for an intimate show in the Olympia.
At some point Sharon Shannon realised that being one of the most highly-regarded instrumentalists in Irish music doesn’t make you the kind of dynamic performer that pulls huge crowds, so she has evolved a stage show where she gets to do what she’s best at and steps back enough to let her motley assortment of rabble-rousing yahoos do their thing as well.
So says our not-normally-easily-ruffled news hound Stuart Clark - and so will you be when you hear that country-noir legend Lee Hazlewood is playing the Dublin Olympia in September
Next week's Jimmy Faulkner tribute gig, which takes place in the Olympia on September 22, will now feature an appearance by Jimmy's friend, guitarist Gary Moore.
Due to overwhelming public demand, Alison Krauss and her band Union Station will be playing an extra date at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on Monday September 5.
ALTHOUGH YET TO be officially confirmed, hotpress understands that Shane MacGowan & The Popes are set to play back-to-back shows at the Olympia on May 18th and 19th.
Northern Ireland's The Amazing Pilots, having signed to Chrysalis last year amid tanti industry kerfuffle, launch their first single this week. Just in time for their unbelievably cool support slot in a fortnight - with none other than Lee Hazlewood in the Olympia
The Blizzards, Director and Dirty Epics will take over Dublin’s Olympia on April 26 for the 2009 FM104 Help a Dublin Child gig in aid of Temple Street Children’s University Hospital.
ASLAN (Midnight At The Olympia, Dublin)
EXPECTATIONS and emotions were high, and given further impetus by the behind-the-curtains intro to 'It's Been So Long', and the big question on everyone's mind was the obvious one? Could Aslan, after a five year break still have the old, old magic.
This could develop into the kind of farce that marred their last Olympia show. Another half hour and it probably would have but as it is, the band carry their errant frontman in a sprint to the end that includes a cracking version of The Clash’s ‘Clampdown’ and ensures that, at last, the first day of Oxegen gives us something to talk about aside from the rain.
Starsailor’s success is beginning to dwindle. While previous trips to Ireland brought them to the Point depot, the Olympia and high up on festival bills, tonight they are reduced to performing in front of a half full Ambassador.
Chris Cornell is set to play The Olympia Theatre, Dublin. The former front man with Seattle trailblazers Soundgarden hit Ireland for a one-off show in the capital on Sunday 14th June, 2009.
So how do you review a Kraftwerk concert? With four members, including two from the original line-up, the undisputed godfathers of electronic music would never really disappoint, particularly in an intimate venue like the Olympia. Yet, even as a huge fan, it is important not to get carried away and resign all objectivity.
YO LA TENGO
(Olympia, Dublin)
If not as cohesive as they might be at times, Yo La Tengo tend to fray the edges without unravelling, or, if coming apart very occasionally, then it's a case of deliberately pulling threads.
The singer is actually much more assured onstage than the last time I saw The Killers, at the Olympia in 2004, when his inhibitions seemed to be holding him back.
Siobhán Long was at the Olympia Theatre to hear Ireland’s finest musicians
pay their respects to the much lamented Altan flautist who died last September.
The event, sponsored by Smithwicks/Hot Press, was a truly memorable and moving occasion.
The highlight of the year – and probably the decade – was scamming a trip to Havana to see the Manic Street Preachers do their live thing in front of Fidel Castro
MICHAEL D. Higgins obviously got under the hypersensitive skin of Sunday Independent journalists who have accelerated their systematic, and at points, paranoiac attack on the Minister since he proposed some relatively revolutionary ideas about the arts, in a recent issue of Hot Press.
Come Into The Garden
Colm O'Hare meets Fionnuala Sherry, the only Irish person to win the Eurovision for Norway and half of new age superstar group Secret Garden
B*spoke’s Jane Brennan on Tom Murphy’s adaptation of The Drunkard – and the family connections which make this production all the more meaningful for her.
Currently reprising her role of Mrs. Johnstone in Willie Russell’s Blood Brothers, Rebecca Storm here enthuses about both the play and her own burgeoning musical career
Venturing across the pond for his first London headline show since his days with A House Dave Couse was delighted, and not a little surprised, to play to a packed house. Might his stop-start solo career finally be gathering momentum?
If anyone had told me a year ago that I’d be flinging my knickers at a bloke in a catsuit and another who used to be in a boy band I’d have told them to fuck right off. But, they wore me down and I eventually succumbed to the cock rockin’ charms of The Darkness (albeit with the help of a persistent Stuart Clark). And as for old Trousersnake, well, frankly, who wouldn’t?
The Jesus & Mary Chain are playing their first Irish gig in over seven years as part of May's Heineken Green Energy Festival. Stuart Clark appreciates their god-like genius.
A North Carolinian who speaks Irish and a country performer who only occasionally performs country,
jim lauderdale has a way that makes the seemingly contradictory work well. Interview: siobhan long.
Comedian JACK DEE, the supremo of sarcasm, the sultan of sardonicism, is back on the road and he s headed for this green and pleasant land, for a string of dates in April. Interview: Andrew Darlington
There is many a haven for shunners of the Christmas Cheer like myself. Lots of lovely bands, singers, comedians and even hynotherapists are at hand to entertain the life out of us, and distract Santa while we throttle him. Right up to the New Year there’s so much going on you needn’t come home till Easter.
Since 1996 the Heineken Green Energy Festival has lit up the capital city with some of the brightest stars of modern rock. Patrick Hedlund and hotpress assistant editor, Stuart Clark, report
Danish This is Your Life specials; Bob Monkhouse game shows and seling petrol to Bobby Robson . . . Nick Kelly hears the untold story of Prefab Sprout from Martin McAloon bassist, founder member and sibling of songwriting genius, Paddy.
After what seemed like an eternity of enduring processed boy/girl band hell, 2003 was the year that pop became exciting again. Finally, we got a long hot summer soundtracked by Beyoncé (song of the year – hands down), 50 Cent’s awesome ‘In Da Club’ and even a band from my own ‘hood whose debut album was the feelgood hit of the season.
FAST tells Fiona Reid about the Fun Lovin Criminals' plans to posthumously record with Reggie Kray and takes her track by track through their new album Loco
Having released just three albums in 16 years, PAUL BUCHANAN explains why THE BLUE NILE don t want to clutter the world up with useless CDs. Interview: SIOBHAN LONG.
The 12th annual Miss Alternative Ireland competition took place last week at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre. A host of entrants – of all genders! – came to see who would follow in the shoestraps of last year’s winner Miss Heidi Konnt. The judging panel included Anna Nolan, Brendan Courtney and Mick Wilson and they gave the crown to Funtime Gustavo – who here tells how she came, saw and truly conquered. Photos by Cathal Dawson
Having learned his trade with Muddy Waters and just about any other blues legend you care to mention, BUDDY GUY has long since become one himself. On the eve of his showcase gig in Dublin's Olympia, he tells PETER MURPHY of his struggle to pass the blues torch on to another generation.
As Scottish tunesmiths BIFFY CLYRO prepare to release their fifth record Only Revolutions, Edwin McFee chats with bassist James Johnston and hears all about working with Josh Homme, why their latest sonic manifesto is their most positive to date and why he’s glad he doesn’t have to support Limp Bizkit anymore.
STEPHEN ROBINSON talks to former CROWDED HOUSE bassist NICK SEYMOUR about the band s break-up, their rarieties collection and his nascent career as a producer.
THE WAR between the sexes certainly seems to be dominating Dublin stages these days. In The Mai at the Peacock, the male character is slowly marginalised, and in Refugees at the Eblana, the man exists only as an object of mockery, whose prick has been removed by his wife’s knife.
THE WAR between the sexes certainly seems to be dominating Dublin stages these days. In The Mai at the Peacock, the male character is slowly marginalised, and in Refugees at the Eblana, the man exists only as an object of mockery, whose prick has been removed by his wife’s knife.
Going on the road with Chris Rea was a once in a lifetime opportunity for Derry blues virtuoso Paul Casey. Here he opens his tour diary to Hot Press readers.
After splitting on the verge of a major breakthrough in the eighties, Aslan are back and determined to learn from past mistakes. Interview: Stuart Clark.
Andrew Maxwell who has followed up a year of successful television appearances with a sell-out stand-up show and a nomination for a prestigious comedy award.
IT MAY be hard to explain, but we’ve all witnessed great acting – in our favourite movie, play or television programme (or simply when your lover claims that she, or he didn’t betray you, despite the fact that you caught them in the act).
This year there is one striking feature of the Dublin Theatre Festival which would suggest that the Capital’s two key theatres are not making too much of an effort for the event.
Like Groucho Marx may or may not have said, timing is (pause) …everything. As such, the two albums that electrified us this year (Interpol’s hugely moving, visceral masterpiece Turn On The Bright Lights; Justin Timberlake’s Neptunes-assisted pop‘n’B triumph Justified) were actually released in ’02.
Who needs Abbey Road or The Power Station when you ve got Connolly s Of Leap? Failed Keith Richards impersonator martin stephenson tells nick kelly about a wild week in County Cork.
Bad-ass rockers The Cult have reconvened following half a decade in the wilderness. Frontman Ian Astbury talks about standing-in for Jim Morrison, jamming with UNKLE and explains why it's good to return to his day-job.
“I write a lot on the hoof when i’m walking,” reveals Carol Keogh, which may explain why The Tycho Brahe’s love life is one of the more satisfying sonic and emotional journeys of the year.
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
The Dublin Theatre Festival celebrates its 45th birthday in 2002 with a quality combination of classic and more recent works in musical theatre, comedy and drama
The Dublin Theatre Festival celebrates its 45th birthday in 2002 with a quality combination of classic and more recent works in musical theatre, comedy and drama
Radio has studiously ignored it but that doesn’t mean that Republic Of Loose’s ‘Girl i’m gonna fuck you up’ isn’t the best Irish single of the year. Tanya Sweeney meets the Dublin boys who just want to have fun.
Radio has studiously ignored it but that doesn’t mean that Republic Of Loose’s ‘girl i’m gonna fuck you up’ isn’t the best Irish single of the year. Tanya Sweeney meets the Dublin boys who just want to have fun.
Radio has studiously ignored it but that doesn’t mean that Republic Of Loose’s ‘Girl i’m gonna fuck you up’ isn’t the best Irish single of the year. Tanya Sweeney meets the Dublin boys who just want to have fun.
Reuben is one of the most innovative of the Irish comedy circuit’s new breed, a near-silent comic who’s character-based sketches are combined this month in a brand-new two-hour show. So what’s 98 FM’s funniest comedian got to say for himself then?
Adrienne Murphy speaks to ASLAN, in the midst of recording their live album. Under discussion: the dangers of chasing fame, and the importance of self-belief.
In which Editors, like Bloc Party before them, abandon urban ennui for the country life, recording that not-very-difficult second album in Grouse Lodge with Garret ‘Jacknife’ Lee.
MARY STOKES reminisces on her first decade as Ireland s premier blues artist, and looks forward to expanding her horizons in the future. Interview: john walshe.
It’s a familiar sign, wherever PICTUREHOUSE appear, all over Ireland. This time it’s Carrick-On-Shannon, as the band take to the rock tower stage.
Report: COLM O'HARE
Lesbian singer-songwriter CATIE CURTIS doesn t care much for the mainstream. She talks to SIOBHAN LONG about sexuality, Lilith Fair and success in a parallel universe .
WEEK AFTER week I try to remain the right side of well-mannered when some myopic PR person or director phones and says "There's a play coming up in the blah-blah-blah theatre and it's got great music that'll really appeal to your readers."
A tired and emotional Ed Byrne talks to Hoot Press about partying in Edinburgh, undergoing strenuous discourse with Ricky Gervais and attempting to track down a Czech porn star.
They may look after Lambchop’s pets and occasionally leg it from Crawdaddy to catch the last train home, but when not partaking in such hi-jinks, Dublin quartet Delorentos are busy trying to kick rock music another rung up the evolutionary ladder.
Meet Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Mexican guitar virtuosos and planet-hopping adventure-seekers who, as Kim Porcelli discovers, are partners in more ways than one
They're the hottest thing to come out of the Midlands since, well, ever. Slinker rockers Zing talk about growing up hooked on Michael Jackson and give us the lowdown on the Portlaoise scene.
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.
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.
The Dublin Theatre Festival is fast approaching its 50th anniversary, but the organisers haven’t let anticipation of next year distract them from the task in hand. There’s a rake of quality shows to check out over the coming weeks, from Ibsen to Leonard Cohen.
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.
tim rogers, frontman of Australian popsters you am i, talks to nick kelly about the primeval forces that made him want to get into the rock n roll business.
He's gone from bashing out Brel covers in pokey Dublin clubs to crooning 'New York, New York' while gazing at the Manhattan skyline.For his latest project, the wonderful story so far. Jack L has pushed the boundaries yet again by collaborating with up and coming Irish Novelist Anna McPartlin. Here they talk to Hot Press about their intriguing hook-up and explain how your career can lead you to some very strange places...
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.
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…
It hasn't been success all the way for Paths To Freedom star Deirdre O’Kane but here she tells Paul Nolan how a chance encounter with Billy Connolly helped her see the funnier side of the Montreal Comedy Festival
Following a potentially fatal bout of auto-immune deficiency, Airborne Toxic Event’s Mikel Jollett gave up a damned promising writing career to play music.
When Jackie Hayden was enlisted to interview Sugababe Mutya Buena, little did he suspect that he would be loudly upstaged by another woman as he tries to get the lowdown on the Sugababes’ near break-up, Mutya’s concern over the sexing-up of their recent video, the effects of her pregnancy on her career and who ‘Push The Button’ was really about.
Her work is brutally explicit and fired by an anger that seems to know no limits. GERRY McGOVERN plunges into the black heart of two new works by one of contemporary art's most controversial women, Lydia Lunch.
They've sold albums by the truck-load and are about to embark on a sold-out four-night run in Dublin, but Brummy three-piece Ocean Colour Scene have plenty they'd like to complain about, including the press, the music industry, and – especially – ringtone ads appearing on their albums.
Forget Rod, Emu and gottles of geer david strassman s ventriloquism is the missing link between rock n roll and Bill Hicks. barry glendenning meets the
puppet master. Pix: cathal dawson.
Seasick Steve is a former hobo who once called Kurt Cobain a neighbour and, in his 60s, now finds himself acclaimed as one of folk's hottest 'new' acts.
He's the comedy songwriter who is deadly serious about his work. Meet Stephen Lynch, the man determined to prove that stand-up and indie rock really can get along.
A full 17 years after their acclaimed eponymous debut exploded onto the American alt-rock landscape, Milwaukee malcontents The Violent Femmes are back with a new album (Freak MAgnet) and the same old typically off-kilter worldview. Interview: PETER MURPHY.
ARDAL O'HANLON is back in anti-hero mode in a new BBC sit-com. But before that, there's more stand-up, a movie, another book and the small matter of football, football. NICK KELLY hears all about a busy life after Ted. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
ARDAL O'HANLON is back in anti-hero mode in a new BBC sit-com. But before that, there's more stand-up, a movie, another book and the small matter of football, football. NICK KELLY hears all about a busy life after Ted. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
Kells three-piece Turn are on the crest of a wave, and are about to unleash their rather spiffing debut LP, Antisocial, on an unsuspecting world. John Walshe reports. Suit shoot: Myles Claffey
John Walshe catches up with Teenage Fanclub s Norman Blake and hears about avoiding musical fashions, the realisation that they are growing older and how they are ambitious, despite what Alan McGee says
As Duke Special set off for a jaunt around Europe with the Divine Comedy, our correspondent hitched a ride on the tour bus. In between the sound-checks and the motor-way pitstops, he received a unique insight into the life of the touring musician.
A Private Members' Bill which aims to put ticket touts out of business will come before the Dail in September. Here we talk to some of the scalpers themselves, to get their reaction. By Peter Murphy.
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.
...So said David St. Hubbins 20 years ago in Marti DiBergi’s seminal documentary or, if you will, rockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap. In the time that’s elapsed since then, the Tap have become synonymous with all manner of excess, on the road hi-jinx and bizarre gardening accidents. In a special hotpress tribute, we ask a plethora of their admirers for their own Spinal Tap-style stories. And remember, it’s such a fine line between stupid and clever.
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.
As famous for being mates with Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher as for being pop stars in their own right, ocean colour scene take time out from a hectic touring and recording schedule to explain to john walshe just how popular they are. Pix: mick quinn.
Guitarist richArd hawley explains why legal wrangles and a lack of media exposure have not affected the meteoric rise of Sheffield s longpigs. Askin t questions: peter murphy.
Gigs with Mick ’n’ Keef and Angus ’n’ Malcolm, and a potential ding-dong with The Strokes – it’s only rock’n’roll but Jet like it as does Stuart Clark.
Exhausted following her prolonged spell on tour, Bic Runga is keen to make it back home to New Zealand for some well-earned r’n’r. but not before she discusses the vagaries of life, love and pop stardom.
Incendiary Irish-American rabble rousers black 47 are coming to town for a couple of Irish shows later this month. liam fay talks to band mainman larry kirwan about those two eagerly-awaited dates, as well as their new album, Green Suede Shoes.
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.
On the eve of his appearance in the Dublin Theatre Festival and with a nationwide Irish tour pending, Jimeoin, the award-winning Irish comedian, talks to Tony Clayton-Lea about his journey to fame, from his early jobs as a builder in London and a carpenter in Sydney to his current status as the funniest man in Australia. He may own ten Van Morrison albums but he's still the best man around to liven up a night on the town.
On the eve of his appearance in the Dublin Theatre Festival and with a nationwide Irish tour pending, Jimeoin, the award-winning Irish comedian, talks to Tony Clayton-Lea about his journey to fame, from his early jobs as a builder in London and a carpenter in Sydney to his current status as the funniest man in Australia. He may own ten Van Morrison albums but he's still the best man around to liven up a night on the town.
The Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, has just promised “to streamline and modernise our liquor licensing laws”. Karla Healion asks if the government is correct in its approach to curbing problems associated with alcohol.
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.
Manic Street Preachers have turned the guitars down, but not the bile. A slimline James Dean Bradfield tells a pleasantly plump Stuart Clark why John F. Kennedy, Billy Connolly and Jesus Christ Superstar are in league with Satan. Or words to that effect.
After a four-year sabbatical, hothouse flowers are back. john walshe talks to arch-botanists Liam, Fiachna and Peter about just what it was that kept them out of the limelight (or should that be sunlamp) for so long.
If the name TINDERSTICKS is synonymous with images of grim-faced men in suits, peddling unbearably lovelorn songs of emotional destitution and heartbreak, then the Nottingham sextet have only themselves to blame. But, as frontman STUART STAPLES tells NIALL CRUMLISH, their new offering Simple Pleasure swops despondency for optimism with brilliant results.
Psychic and physical disintegration! Quacks, pulsars and Marshall amps! The sound of the end of space and time! And, oh yes, silly song titles too! Welcome to the world of WAYNE COYNE and The Flaming Lips. Interview: Peter Murphy.
They may be one of the hottest bands of the year, but Las Vegas synth fiends The Killers are planning to cool off this Christmas with some well-earned down-time and a skiing holiday in Utah. But not before they’ve discussed texting Charlize Theron, hanging with Elton John and that David Bowie tribute with Stuart Clark.
Niall Stanage pays tribute to a remarkable young woman whose passion for music made her one of the most widely respected and genuinely loved people in the history of Irish music
On the eve of Kraftwerk’s headlining appearance at the Electric Picnic, mainman Ralf Hütter talks with rare candour about David Bowie, U2, hip-hop, cycling and why sometimes even man-machines have to smile.
JOHN WALSHE talks to JIM WHITE about his amazing life – from dropping acid and modelling for Vogue to surfing for Jesus – and his amazing album No Such Place
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
Although the acclaimed C Mon Kids was conspicuous by its absence from the
Best-Of-96 polls, The Boo Radleys sice and martin carr aren t bitter. As they prepare for an assault on the States, peter murphy gets the lowdown on their hatred of videos, their contempt for producers and their disapproval of outfits such as Dodgy, The Lightning Seeds and Everything But The Girl.
His career was almost over before it began. But hard work - and a surprise hit - have turned Edmund 'Mundy' Enright into one of Ireland's most widely adored stars. Here he reflects on some of the high points of what has been an amazing journey, during the course of which he has rubbed shoulders with some of the greats.
He’s been The Jam Man, The Cappuccino Kid and The Modfather. Now the proud father of a 17-year-old goth daughter, Paul Weller has taken a break from compositional chores to recharge his batteries with a new covers album, Studio 150.
WITH THE RELEASE OF HER FIRST LIVE ALBUM *LOVE FOR SALE* MARY COUGHLAN HAS PUT THE PERSONAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAUMAS OF THE PAST THREE YEARS BEHIND HER. IN A FRANK INTERVIEW SHE OUTLINES HER DARK DAYS TO SIOBHAN LONG AND INDICATES THAT PERHAPS A FUTURE COVER VERSION OF *WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN* MIGHT JUST BE IN ORDER.
The new musical based on Mick McCarthy and Roy Keane’s infamous bust-up in Saipan, I Keano, aims to bring closure to one of the most divisive conflicts in the nation's history. Colm O’Hare talks to the play’s writer Arthur Mathews and lead actor Risteárd Cooper.
BARRY GLENDENNING visited the Leeds Town and Country to witness the BRUTUS GOLD LOVE TRAIN, an unfeasibly
popular 70s disco extravaganza that will soon be winging its way to Dublin.
BARRY GLENDENNING visited the Leeds Town and Country to witness the BRUTUS GOLD LOVE TRAIN, an unfeasibly
popular 70s disco extravaganza that will soon be winging its way to Dublin.
Why are the Spice Girls animals ? Why would Crispian Kula Shaker benefit from a hefty spell of National Service? And why should you never trust a hippy? These are just some of the burning issues that Dr. Alex Paterson of The Orb would like to address. Oh yeah, and he also talks about his band s ace new album Orblivion, as well as his exotic, not to say erotic, yesteryear escapades on the road with LL Cool J and Motvrhead. Our man with the shiny black Panasonic tape recorder: jonathan o brien.
One of the most successful bands in British history after the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, the legendary Status Quo have confirmed an Irish Tour in February 2009.
Why the media were wrong in their assessment of Sharon Shannon’s court case; the latest musical venture from producer, director and PR ace, Mary McPartlan, plus the usual round-up of news from the world of folk and traditional music.
Cavernous arenas, capacity crowds, shrieking teenagers and a brisk trade in merchandising.
No, it s not a Take That reunion, it s eh, Dublin popsters picture house travelling the autobahns of Germany.
Our Eurosceptic in D|sseldorf: colm o hare
Why are four Birmingham lads skulking through Barna Woods in Galway, and why is there a camera crew following them around? john walshe met up with ocean colour scene on the set of their new video, Traveller s Tune . Pix: AENGUS McMAHON.
In an age when hype springs eternal, DAVID GRAY is that rare phenomenon a success story scripted by the fans rather than the industry. And a distinctly Irish success story at that. A certifiable platinum-selling box-office blockbuster in this country, the Welsh singer-songwriter still awaits a similar eruption of Gray fever in Britain, Europe and America. But his latest album, White Ladder, could be the record which tells the world what Ireland already knows. Now as he prepares to wow the faithful at Galway s Big Beat festival, JOHN WALSHE presents the inside story of the best kept secret in the west.
Pics Mick Quinn
Which is a rather cryptic way of introducing an interview by Joe Jackson with Brian Kennedy on his distaste for the macho ethos of rock and his admiration for fellow Belfast troubadour Mr. Morrison.
How did Brandon Flowers, Ronnie Vannucci, Dave Keuning and Mark Stoermer go from the Las Vegas dive bar circuit to selling four million copies of their debut album, Hot Fuss? On the eve of the band's highly-anticipated Oxegen 2005 appearance, Stuart Clark talks to the people involved in the making of The Killers.
Mooks, homies, rat bastards and why Quentin Tarantino is in danger of catching a slap
nope, it s definitely not the Phish interview. jonathan o brien raps with
HUEY MORGAN of the FUN LOVIN CRIMINALS.
A hit album, critical acclaim, sell-out shows… everything was going swimmingly for DAVID KITT until a sunday paper made serious allegations about him and his Government Minister Dad. In a gloves-off interview with COLIN CARBERRY, Kittser responds to his detractors and explains why, despite the journalistic flak, 2001 has been a great year
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.
From the pits to the pits no, hang on, that s the story of Welsh soccer. Or is it Welsh rugby? For the manic street preachers, by contrast, it s all onwards and upwards. james dean bradfield tells jonathan o brien about their unlikely climb to the top.
From Have I Got News For You to his own sketch show series, from his soap ads to any television awards ceremony you care to mention, Paul Merton is undoubtedly the biggest and busiest star in British comedy. As he hits Dublin for a series of shows, he talks to Liam Fay about the price of fame, his close brush with nervous breakdown and, most importantly, his love affair with Bishop Eamon Casey.
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.
Who better to launch this year’s Music Show than Irish band of the moment The Script? In a taster of what to expect from October’s RDS weekender, Danny, Glen and Mark treated a roomful of fans, music students and industry professionals to their thoughts on illegal downloading, songwriting, the dreaded Auto-tune and touring with Macca and U2.
Brutally sexually abused as a child, by the age of 14 Anthony Godby Johnson found himself on speaking terms with death, as a result of AIDS. At an advanced stage of the illness, he knows that he is not long for this world. In the meantime, however, he has told his own unforgettable story. Report: Gerry McGovern
co.uk, with their spiky sound and their hearts set on superstardom, are the new great white hopes of the northern rock scene. STUART CLARK met them.
PiX: MICHAEL TAYLOR
Known for his hyperactive - even threatening - live performances, Iggy Pop is sure to deliver one of Féile '93's most invigorating performances. Here, with an overview of the ex - Stooge's unconventional career, Hot Press prepares you for what's to come.
THE CORRS' public image is one of unblemished beauty and soaraway success. But beneath the pop sheen lurk the darker lyrical themes of Andrea
Corr.
JOE JACKSON talks to her about the inspiration behind some of the Corrs' biggest hits, hears her anger at recent critical reaction and finds out what "Ireland's sexiest woman" really thinks about love, sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll and the whole damn thing.
A breathtaking variety of acts have come together - as Lennon might have put it - to focus attention on the ongoing genocide in Darfur, under the auspices of Amnesty International.
As none of the three people named in the title of Something Happens new album Alan, Elvis And God was available for interview, Tom Dunne, Ray Harman and Ted Ryan took on the roles of all three to discuss how the planet-fab foursome are moving into overdrive with the acquisition of a new record deal and the imminent release of that new album.
Tape: JACKIE HAYDEN.
Flying winger Denis Hickie is one of Ireland and Leinster's leading stars. But when he takes off his boots, it's music he turns to for inspiration – from Nick Drake, through Mark Lanegan and Hem to Athlete (but of course!). Interview by Steve Cummins. Photography by Cathal Dawson
No-one has ever asked suzanne vega before if Luka the story about child sexual abuse which made her famous was based on personal experience. Here for the first time ever the singer reveals that indeed it is and that she is still dealing with the after-effects of that traumatic experience. Interview: SIOBHAN LONG. Pix: COLM HENRY.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers visited Lansdowne Road, Dublin on July 8 but we caught up with the band in Paris recently and heard why the west coast warriors of funk-rock have never been hotter
Contrary to what you may have been led to believe it is not against the law to drink and drive. So why is there a concerted attempt to demonise those who do it responsibly? Colm O’Hare who’d had a few drinks before being breathalysed recently asks: what’s it all about?
With their latest album Riot Act, Pearl Jam have recaptured the blistering form of their first three albums. Matt Cameron, once of Seattle comrades Soundgarden, gives an insight into how the band has outlasted and outperformed most of its contemporaries
Since the release of their sophomore album Antics late last year, New York goth-rock quartet Interpol have risen to the pantheon of great contemporary bands. In a rare in-depth interview, the group’s erudite frontman Paul Banks here discusses the making of Antics, their upcoming support slot with U2, the band’s peers in the NYC indie scene, The Strokes, Nirvana and David Lynch - and where one of the most acclaimed groups of recent years go to from here. Interview by Paul Nolan.
With the departure of Shane McGowan a couple of years ago, it was fashionable to write off The Pogues as mere also rans. But the band have proven to be one of the success stories of 1993, with the release of their superb Waiting For Herb album putting them right back on course. Now they can afford to tell their detractors: kiss my ass (under the mistletoe of course). Interview: Siobhán Long.
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
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.
JENNIFER BATTEN, as well as being a solo artist in her own right, has spent 10 years slinging six strings for michael jackson. Amazingly, she has survived to tell her story to peter murphy.
Pix: Cathal Dawson.
With the tragedy which disfigured their last Irish appearance still fresh in people's minds, SMASHING PUMPKINS' return to a Dublin stage was never going to be an ordinary affair. As it turned out, PETER MURPHY witnessed an act of redemption and spoke to BILLY CORGAN about surviving troubled times.
Now that he's discovered the joys of the Dobro, are Frankie Lane's madcap, balcony-scaling days over for good? Not a bit of it. *It's all really just about finding a new way of being nasty.* He tells Siobhan Long.
Bloom with a view after a four year sabbatical, Hothouse Flowers are back. John Walsh talks to arch-otanists Liam, Peter and Fiachna about just
what it was that kept them out of the limelight (or should that be sunlamp) for so long.
I’ll have at least one foot in the grave – or at least that’s the dominant feeling as JOE JACKSON joins the Country Music U.S.A. crew on their visit to BRANSON – a bizarre small town in the Ozark Mountains that now rivals Nashville as a centre for country music tourism, of the blue-rinse variety.
Tori Amos has rocketed to international prominence with her album "Little Earthquakes", but behind the public success story lies the private trauma
of a young woman who was raped at the age of 22. In an uncompromisingly honest interview with Joe Jackson, Tori talks about that terrible experience, it's lasting scars and how her music has helped to set her free again.
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.
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
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.
Tom Baxter's second album, Skybound, has just topped the Irish album chart. But it was a record that only got made after Baxter personally financed the sessions with his other talent of figurative art painting.
The Sultans of Ping may have a penchant still for fetishwear and dirty three-minute pop songs but they’re definitely mellowing as Stuart Clark discovers when he meets Niall O’Flaherty and Pat O’Connell for
afternoon tea. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON
Cakes: Mr. Kipling
Michael Stipe talks about REM's new album Accelerate, looks back at their 'working rehearsals' in Dublin and explains how their Irish-born producer helped them through their mid-life crisis.
It's been over four intriguing years since Damien Rice's extraordinary debut album O was launched. That record went on to become a huge underground international hit, selling in excess of 2 million copies. Now his long-awaited follow-up – the similarly simply titled 9 – is finally ready to hit the shops. So how did Rice so successfully capture the collective imagination? And will the latest instalment in the Rice musical biography propel him to even greater heights? Hot Press talks exclusively to some of the key players in his remarkable rise and rise.
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
IT WAS straight out of Reservoir Dogs. Six men, all in black, most in suits, lope onto the stage, a cigarette nestling between fingers or dangling from
the side of the mouth. You half-expect them to open with 'Stuck In the Middle With You' and drag out a member of the Garda Siochana from the side
of the stage with a gag in his mouth and the contents of an extra-large can of Castrol GTX dripping from his fettered uniform.
the frank and walters are back addressing the nation. Our man on the inside, Peter Murphy, shares a day in the life of the Cork threesome as they record a radio session for RTE.
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
The Black Crowes! Blowjobs! Journey! Drink! Bob Seger! Vick’s inhaler! and why Keith Duffy is more fun than the Manic Street Preachers! Stereophonics let their hair down in the company of Stuart Clark
After 12 months which saw the group go from the indie B-division to rock’s premier league, Snow Patrol have had a more dramatic 2004 than most. In an in-depth interview, Gary Lightbody discusses a life-changing year, the Irish and British music scenes, friendships, relationships and where the band go to next.
Don’t go, they said. but they didn’t follow their own advice. Now, after much professional and personal upheaval, the Hothouse Flowers are back, once more in love with the idea of “ringin’ the bell”.
The man tipped to knock James Blunt of his throne according to industry sources, David Ford, is showcasing his talents with a number of support dates in Ireland.
You re the frontman with The Stunning, you make an innocent remark about farmers and acid house and you end up creating banner headlines in The Western People. Lorraine Freeney assures Steve Wall that this is the sort of stuff Hot Press never stoop to, and also hears about the new album, Deco in The Commitments and the art of bridging the rural-urban divide.
In the second and final part of an extensive interview, MIKE SCOTT discusses inspiration and influences, recalls his difficult solo years and explains the death and resurrection of THE WATERBOYS. Interview: PETER MURPHY
Not since The Bothy Band in 1976, has an Irish traditional group signed to a major international label. By linking up with Virgin, ALTAN have confirmed their status as the pr-eminent force on the Irish scene and signalled their readiness to take on the world. Of course, theirs has been no overnight success story and, with the tragic loss of Frankie Kennedy, one that has also involved an immense amount of emotional courage. Interview: BILL GRAHAM. Pics: COLM HENRY
So says the man the tabloids have dubbed Fat Puss, Alan Bradley. But he's due in court on charges of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, with figures between €950,000 and €2 million being bandied about in the media. In an exclusive interview, he asks how can he get a fair trial?
1 guitar + 1 drum kit + 1 boy + 1 girl = The White Stripes. In other words, sweet, sweet noise meets the best brother and sister penned pop since The Carpenters. Eamon Sweeney meets Detroit's finest, who play Dublin Castle on Saturday, May 4th as part of the Heineken Green Energy Festival
Snow Patrol‘s Gary Lightbody may be the thinking woman’s indie sexpot, but with their new album Eyes Open going supernova all over the shop, the poor fella has no time to capitalise on his status, given that the only people he sees on a regular basis are his band and crewmates. With whom, he assures us, “penetrative sex is out of the question.” Also on the agenda: break-ups, infidelity, the Northern body politic, U2 and, of course, underpants.
Their unique combination of sensual Latin melodies and brilliant, metal-inspired guitar playing have made Rodrigo y Gabriela a phenomenon in their adopted Ireland, with a platinum album, sell-out tours and barn-storming festival appearances already to their credit. Now, with the release of their third album, Rodrigo y Gabriela, their sights are set on the international arena. Here, this extraordinary couple explain why they swapped sun-drenched Mexico for rain-kissed Dublin – and, for the first time, talk candidly about the open relationship they enjoy, as long-term friends and lovers.
It s a story that has it all. Fame, drink, women, politics. Even death threats and The Mob. In a special retrospective feature JOE JACKSON explores the myth, and the reality, of THE RAT PACK, the original reservoir dogs.
Elstree, remember me, went the old Boggles tune. The location is a far-flung suburb of north London, former nerve centre of an entire B-movie industry, now home to television shows like East Enders, Holby City (wandering through the corridors, your correspondent comes across a room identified by the rather ominous notice: Make-up - GUTS), and of course Top Of The Pops.
Even more than winning a Mercury Prize, you know you’ve made it when the disappearance of your woolly hat makes the news. with rave reviews for his album offset by damning criticism of his live shows.
NADINE O’REGAN talks to DAMON GOUGH about nerves, self-belief, and the birth of his daughter. Well-taken pictures: MYLES CLAFFEY
Lee Dunne is reputed to be the most banned author in Europe and, by his own reckoning, has slept with over 1,000 women. You could says he’s got a story or two to tell.
The old fashioned virtues of talent and charisma, combined with the latest innovations in media technology, look set to make JACK L Ireland's first superstar of the new millennium. JOHN WALSHE has the inside story on a man who is about to get to The Point.
The old fashioned virtues of talent and charisma, combined with the latest innovations in media technology, look set to make JACK L Ireland s first superstar of the new millennium. JOHN WALSHE has the inside story on a man who is about to get to The Point.
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.
With the release of their fourth and finest album "For The Birds", THE FRAMES have zoomed straight into the Irish top ten for the first time. Now, with critical acclaim ringing in their ears, and their glowing fanbase sensing that something special may be about to take place, they prepare to take the Green Energy Weekend by storm. could it be their time has finally come? Interview: KIM PORCELLI. plus mainman GLEN HANSARD gives us a glimpse inside his private diary. out of frame: MICK QUINN
1998 Bloom With A View
John Walshe talks to Luka Bloom on the eve of the release of his fourth studio album, Salty Heaven, about his return to Ireland, the inspiration behind the songs, older brother Christy Moore and the latest generations of the Moore dynasty.
Luka Bloom doesn't look 43, when I walk into the room in the Berkeley Court Hotel where our interview is to take place, he's standing in front of the window, guitar strap around his neck and an acoustic six-string in his hand - he strums it and I'd swear that he's 12 years of age. Every time he plays on stage the look is the same, one of wonder and even serenity.
It’s Christmas, time for some of the leading lights of the Irish musical family to return from far-flung stages and convene for a traditional evening of reflection, revelation, conversation, merriment and, well, gargle. The guests: Glen Hansard and Colm Mac Con Iomaire of The Frames, Gemma Hayes, Mundy and David Kitt.
John Walshe talks to Luka Bloom on the eve of the release of his fourth studio album, Salty Heaven, about his return to Ireland, the inspiration behind the songs, older brother Christy and the latest generations of the Moore dynasty.
Pics: Colm Henry
As John Gormley's Green Party enters government with Fianna Fail, he talks about the Taoiseach’s financial affairs, recalls his youthful drug experiences and explains why he agreed to a ministerial car.
Well, so would you be if you had to wear all that hideous make-up. Barry Glendenning meets FRANK KELLY, the long-established actor and comedian who now finds himself in the curious position of being best-known for shouting 'Feck!', 'Drink!', 'Girls!' and 'Arse!' fr. Jack hackett, this is your other life . . .
Black & White Pix: CATHAL DAWSON
An overnight success story that was years in the making, The Strokes have been dismissed as flagrant hype and lauded as the saviours of rock 'n' roll. Eamon Sweeney, a journalist who has spent more time in their company than most, gets the fullest account yet of the rise and rise of New York's band of brothers. "Whatever happens, we'll be there together," they tell him. "we won’t let each other fall."
Or should that be The Clash? Well no, actually, cos there's no Clash, Damned or Pistols in 1999. But there s still joe strummer, who was there when Shane got his ear bitten off and, 22 years later is back for his own second bite with THE MESCALEROS. I ve seen everything that it s possible to see go down and I ve survived it, he tells STUART CLARK who finds himself shanghaied on a ferry to Stranraer.
Main pix: MICHAEL QUINN.
Until recently one of the ultimate indie cult bands, The Flaming Lips have survived the ravages of heroin, acid and a hunting trip with William Burroughs. Now, their new album At War With The Mystics finds them taking their funky psychedelia to strange new places – including the upper reaches of the charts for the first time. Could it be that their moment has finally come? Interviews: Craig Fitzsimons (now) and Peter Murphy (then). additional reporting: Stuart Clark, Ed Power and Jackie Hayden
Following the huge commercial success of Set List and ‘Fake’, The Frames look poised to ascend to rock’s premier league with the upcoming worldwide release of the Burn The Maps album. Kim Porcelli joins the band on the day of their triumphant show at Marlay Park to discuss the pros and cons of pop-stardom, the departure of dave odlum, the abiding influence of mic christopher, and the challenge of creating their most eagerly anticipated record yet.
Returning from an extended hiatus, Manic Street Preachers are in stridently upbeat form. In a revealing interview, they reflect on their enduring cultural imprint and talk about long lost Manic Richey Edwards.
With her new volume of autobiography, AGNES BERNELLE has turned the spotlight away from the stage and onto her own life illuminating both the happier and dark chapters of a turbulent personal story. Interview: JOE JACKSON. Pix: COLM HENRY
Fianna Fail TD, guitar player, marathon runner and father of David, TOM KITT on: Charlie, Beverly, Liam, Bertie, Carr Communications, drink, dope, religion, protest singing and the high regard in which he holds his famous son.
Interview: OLAF TYARANSEN. Photography: MELLA TRAVERS
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?
With ‘Yellow’, Coldplay captured the imagination of even the most resistant of hard-boiled rock’n’roll cynics. Now, as A Rush Of Blood To The Head achieves lift-off in the U.S., even the sky is no longer the limit.
Maverick genius or away with the fairies? Peter Murphy travels to North-East Scotland to meet Mike Scott at home in the spiritual Findhorn community where The Waterboys’ latest album was written and recorded. And Steve Wickham explains how he left and rejoined the band.
After a career barely spanning five years, there is a definite feeling amongst those who know about such things that POLLY
JEAN HARVEY is destined to be one of the true rock music greats. Her darkly visceral, sexual and lacerating work has struck a
raw chord, and made her the object of passionate adoration. But it has also cast her in the eyes of some as an
"axe-wielding bitch cow from Hell."
LIAM FAY travels to meet ze monsta, but instead finds a home-loving Yeovil lass who likes nothing better than gardening and whipping
up pots of rhubarb marmalade.
They love Ireland and Ireland loves them. As the Arcade Fire ramp up for world domination, the band talk about love, death, war and making music in churches.
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.
He may well be a prime target for the jibes of other Irish comedian-types, but right now brendan o carroll is
riding the crest of a wave of popularity of quite phenomenal proportions. With three best-selling books to his credit, a smash hit play and a movie already in the offing, he s back on the road with his sell-out one-man show The Story So Far. Here, in a startlingly honest interview, he talks about his addiction to gambling, his contempt for the theatrical establishment, the fear and paralysis that is endemic in RTE, Father Ted, the Catholic Church, groupies and (cue fanfare please) his plans to become an M.E.P. Tape recorder: liam fay.
Pix: MICK QUINN
Never mind pressies and OD’ing on cranberry sauce, the important thing about Christmas is that it signals the return of the HP-10 Summit. Absolutely no blushes are spared as Ireland’s rock ‘n’ roll elite dissects the musical year that was 2006. Keeping order: Stuart “Paxman” Clark. Taking photos: Graham “Paparazzi” Keogh. Taking the piss: Eyebrowy
Never mind pressies and OD’ing on cranberry sauce, the important thing about Christmas is that it signals the return of the HP-10 Summit. Absolutely no blushes are spared as Ireland’s rock ‘n’ roll elite dissects the musical year that was 2006. Keeping order: Stuart “Paxman” Clark. Taking photos: Graham “Paparazzi” Keogh. Taking the piss: Eyebrowy.
And so, unbelievably another year has bitten the dust. Here, continuing a tradition as Christmassy as the eating of turkey and the consumption of way too much alcohol, The Hog reflects on a turbulent year, when we all grew older and much, much wiser.
To follow up his summer headlining stints at Oxegen last weekend and at the V Festival next month, rock veteran Paul Weller will get back on the road this winter.
I’d hate to be a Massive Attack roadie. Not only do they have four vocalists, six banks of synths, live guitars, drums and percussion to worry about, but there’s a huge ticker-taping video screen to put up and take down every bleedin’ night.
If REM apply the same print-and-be-damned attitude to the recording of these songs as they did to their live unveiling, they might produce their most vibrant record in years.
Performing their first concerts in a decade, Clannad opened tonight’s celebratory Patrick’s Eve show with the majestic ‘Newgrange’ from the album of the same name.
A handful of bands, each playing four or five-song sets; this is a formula that will always produce mixed results. But, pleasingly, tonight threw up more hits than misses.
For the duration of this two-hour (yes, a full 120 minutes) show, he displays the energy of someone that has just supped from the cup of eternal youth.
Unsurprisingly, we’re straight into dramatics with Ms. Goldfrapp delivering Kate Bush proportioned vocals over Connery Bond themes that never got made.
A frisson of pure excitement waves through the capital upon hearing news of the band’s reunion, which does little to explain the somewhat muted reception the band receives tonight.
The Scottish singer-songwriter, unheard of a year ago, oozes the kind of charisma and girl-next-door charm that makes for a refreshing change from the wistful and mournful personas of most in the genre
David Gray’s seventh studio album is called Life In Slow Motion. As someone who hasn’t ever fully understood the appeal of his music, that’s exactly what his concert experience felt like.
Odelay! The undisputed master of rock/funk/hip-hop/blues has come to spellbind us with his magical sonic sound-dust. And – to quote well-known indie authority, John Motson – my word, he doesn’t half deliver the goods.
For all the romanticism and swoonsome sentiment, Baxter’s sound is
frightfully muscular. Aided tonight by a string quartet, his set is bracing
and uplifting in spades. Predictably, ‘Half A Man’ builds to a swooping
crescendo, ‘The Moon & Me’ is brimming with vitality and substance, while
his heartfelt rendition of ‘Almost There’ is almost unbearably perfect. As
it was always meant to be, ‘My Declaration’ is an inspiration, intensely
stirring the senses with little more than a perfect falsetto and a string
quartet.
For all the romanticism and swoonsome sentiment, Baxter’s sound is frightfully muscular. Aided tonight by a string quartet, his set is bracing and uplifting in spades. Predictably, ‘Half A Man’ builds to a swooping crescendo, ‘The Moon & Me’ is brimming with vitality and substance, while his heartfelt rendition of ‘Almost There’ is almost unbearably perfect. As it was always meant to be, ‘My Declaration’ is an inspiration, intensely stirring the senses with little more than a perfect falsetto and a string quartet.
For all the romanticism and swoonsome sentiment, Baxter’s sound is
frightfully muscular. Aided tonight by a string quartet, his set is bracing
and uplifting in spades. Predictably, ‘Half A Man’ builds to a swooping
crescendo, ‘The Moon & Me’ is brimming with vitality and substance, while
his heartfelt rendition of ‘Almost There’ is almost unbearably perfect. As
it was always meant to be, ‘My Declaration’ is an inspiration, intensely
stirring the senses with little more than a perfect falsetto and a string
quartet.
For all the romanticism and swoonsome sentiment, Baxter’s sound is
frightfully muscular. Aided tonight by a string quartet, his set is bracing
and uplifting in spades. Predictably, ‘Half A Man’ builds to a swooping
crescendo, ‘The Moon & Me’ is brimming with vitality and substance, while
his heartfelt rendition of ‘Almost There’ is almost unbearably perfect. As
it was always meant to be, ‘My Declaration’ is an inspiration, intensely
stirring the senses with little more than a perfect falsetto and a string
quartet.
Watching Steve Earle and The Dukes is like rooting for a nag you know has a shot at the cup if it would only get the lead out. I’ve seen this lot a few times over the last 15 years, and tonight was possibly the closest they’ve come to an all-out tour de force, yet there’s always the sense that they’re holding out on that extra ten per cent.
No great surprise then that tonight’s audience was overwhelmingly female (average age early 30-something) and clearly out for a good time as they sang along to virtually every word of every song on Gabrielle’s hit-heavy set-list.
With The Waterboys being between albums, tonight’s acoustic show was a case of evolution-in-progress, allowing Mike Scott, Steve Wickham and Richard Naiff the opportunity to excavate gems from the back catalogue too rare or oddly cut to fit the full band format.
Selling out six nights in a venue this size is impressive by any standards and usually the preserve of the Christy Moores and Mary Blacks of the this world.
The received music industry wisdom that Dublin crowds are a soft touch for touring artists got another boost here tonight, as funk/R’n’B queen Kelis came rolling into town in support of her Tasty album
Fresh from their Oxegen New Band Stage triumph – yeah, we’re still scratching our heads over that – Super Furry Animals have confirmed an assignation in Dublin.
Don McLean has been unveiled as the headliner at this year's Celtic Fusion International Music Arts Festival which is taking place in Castlewellan from August 5 to 15.
BellX1 fans unable to lay their hands on tickets for their current dates will be mighty pleased to learn that they'll soon be returning to the live scene for a one-off date at the RDS Arena in Dublin.
Following on from their Marlay Park cracker last year with Peter Gabriel, Crowded House have announced their own headlining show in the capital for June.
Those in Dublin and the vicinity (plus diehard fans who are willing to travel of course) will be thrilled to learn that the big Moz himself has announced an outdoor date for the summer.
Clearly on the back of a glowing review for their latest album One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This, in the last issue of Hot Press, the New York Dolls are to head to these shores.
Rodrigo y Gabriela take to the road next month in support of their eponymous new album, which was produced by Radiohead, Stone Roses and Muse man John Leckie.
Fans disappointed at Sigur Ros's recent omission of Ireland on their recent tour will no doubt be pleased to learn that they're coming back over to make amends.
The Charlatans will be gigging their way to the Ambassador for one night. Although originally scheduled for May, hotpress.com has learnt that the gig is currently being rescheduled and will bring you details as they emerge.
