With trademark buzz-saw guitars and memorable tunes, their back catalogue is an object lesson in the power of the sub-three-minute pop single, with the added appeal of the subject matter – sex, romance, love and guilt. But despite the “maturity” of the audience, there was an edgy atmosphere in the packed Village tonight.
Punk is riding a new wave of end of the century nostalgia. Yet another addition to the fray is the timely release of a new Buzzcocks album, packaged with an additional greatest hits enhanced CD containing three videos and lots of multi-media memorabilia.
They once blagged a soccer scholarship to America as a laugh. Now back in the UK with a number one album, The Hoosiers are at the forefront of their very own scene: “odd-pop”.
Although dissatisfied with mainstream media and wary of having his own work pigeonholed, former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr revels in his role as elder statesman to a generation of maverick musicians and is no less proud of his new album, Boomslang.
AGEING PUNK STUART 'CIDER'N'SPIT' CLARK REHEATS THE WHITE HOT CAULDRON OF 1977 IN A DISCUSSION OF TIMES PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE WITH THOSE CHARMING MEN FROM MANCHESTER, BUZZCOCKS. PIC: CATHAL DAWSON
The Moondogs were one of the original wave of late ’70s Northern Ireland punk bands. Now reformed, they have no less than two albums slotted for imminent release. Bassist Jackie Hamilton tells all.
He has one or two other things going on at the moment, but if The Edge happens to be free on the first day of the Electric Picnic there’s a good chance you’ll find him and his wooly hat front of stage for reformed post-punks Magazine.
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.
They all left poxy factory jobs to be in a band, they used to dress in Clockwork Orange costume onstage, and they confess that they only signed to their current label so that one of them could sleep with Saffron from Republica. They are THE JOSEPHS, and your host is PETER MURPHY.
The show has already lost one team captain, EDDIE BANNON, and hasbeen devoured by critics, but producer COLM CROWLEY insists that Network 2 s Don t Feed The Gondolas is a big hit with the viewers. BARRY GLENDENNING reports.
Annual article: Soul sensation Amy Winehouse has the voice of a fallen angel and the mouth of a docker. And that’s before she’s even got a few vodkas into her.
Evan Dando may have very mixed memories of his days with the Lemonheads and hanging out with Kurt and Courtney but with the dark stuff consigned to the past, he’s much happier where he is today.
He's one of the most notorious stand-up comics on the circuit, once even sparking a brawl among outraged audience members. But Jim Jeffries says he's just trying to make people laugh.
Mr. Hudson talks about his mentor Kanye West’s Taylor Swift meltdown, the challenges of hanging with the hip-hop elite when you’re a skinny white guy from Birmingham and why the death of Auto-Tune is greatly exaggerated.
Best known for his mirth-inducing, deadpan quips on Have I Got News For You, paul merton is travelling to Kilkenny this year for the Murphy's Cat Laughs comedy festival. A typically upbeat barry glendenning asks him about bad comedy, failed marriages, mental breakdowns and Don't Feed The Gondolas.
Best known for his mirth-inducing, deadpan quips on Have I Got News For You, paul merton is travelling to Kilkenny this year for the Murphy's Cat Laughs comedy festival. A typically upbeat barry glendenning asks him about bad comedy, failed marriages, mental breakdowns and Don't Feed The Gondolas.
Best known for his mirth-inducing, deadpan quips on Have I Got News For You, paul merton is travelling to Kilkenny this year for the Murphy's Cat Laughs comedy festival. A typically upbeat barry glendenning asks him about bad comedy, failed marriages, mental breakdowns and Don't Feed The Gondolas.
Occasionally, music from Derry effects the wider scheme of things with spectacular results. This year, the fun centred on the use of D:Ream?s ?Things Can Only Get Better? as a Labour Party anthem. The touchy-feely, get-off-your-arse-and-participate message of the song was just what Tony Blair wanted for his born-again campaign theme.
Why have one of the most successful Irish bands of the past decade decided to split up? And who's going to get custody of the Fender-Rhodes keyboard? STEVE WALL tells STUART CLARK where it all went wrong – and right! Pic: CATHAL DAWSON.
They say they’ve come from hell to bring us foot and mouth. But in reality they come from a small village outside Ipswich. STUART CLARK meets CRADLE OF FILTH, metal maniacs and purveyors of blasphemy, horror and gore – and, as you might expect, ends up talking about mums, kiddies, Winnie the Pooh and moisturiser
He has warts on his face, chemical paste in his blood, viagra in his dick and a heart full of rock 'n' roll. "There are occasions when I do preach temperance," Lemmy tells a startled STUART CLARK Woooooargh! Photography: SIMON ROCHE
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
Not content with being one of the most successful stand-up comics of his generation, sean hughes has once again turned his hand to the world of prose with the publication of his first novel, The Detainees. barry glendenning, for his part, gives it a ringing endorsement of Eh, quite good. The Booker Prize awaits.
Morrissey famously said that he hoped the author would die in a motorway pile-up. David Crosby was freebasing when he gave him the best interview of his life. He once went a whole year without speaking to another human being. And now he s just updated his classic biography of The Byrds and made it five times longer. He s JOHNNY ROGAN, the rock biographer s rock biographer. And he s talking to Jonathan O Brien.
JOHNNY ROGAN didn't write just any old biography - he wrote a book about MORRISSEY which brought down a virtual pop fatwah on his head, with his subject declaring in public that he hoped the author would die a grisly death. Now, with the paperback version just published, the 'controversy' seems to have been given a new lease of life. It's not by any chance a publicity scam, is it? CATHY DILLON puts Johnny Rogan on the spot.
With 1993 going down as the year that Irish rock finally emerged from U2’s shadow, HOT PRESS takes an introductory look at four of the rapidly emerging outfits that are poised to make headlines and sell bucket–loads of records in ’94.
Schtum, Ash, Joyrider, Compulsion.
The star-spangled story of how Richard Melville Hall learned to relax and love sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. "Don't tell anybody but I'm actually the lead guitarist with Slipknot," he informs Stuart Clark.
PIGEON-HOLE THEM AS BELFAST HARDCORE MERCHANTS AT YOUR PERIL - IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS THERAPY? HAVE RELEASED TWO CLASSIC PUNK-POP EP'S THAT SHOOK THE BRITISH CHARTS, AND EVEN GOT THEM INTO THE PAGES OF TEEN-BIBLE SMASH HITS. AS THEY BEGIN RECORDING THEIR NEW LP, THEY TAKE TIME OUT TO GET NERVOUS ABOUT FEILE, GET ANGRY ABOUT THE BEATLES, AND EXPLAIN WHY THE DAYS OF THE NINE-MINUTE INSTRUMENTAL EPIC ARE OVER. INTERVIEW: LORRAINE FREENEY
Pigeon-hole them as Belfast hardcore merchants at your peril in the past few months Therapy? have released two classic punk-pop EPs that shook the British charts, and even got them into the pages of teen-bible Smash Hits. As they begin recording their new LP, they take time out to get nervous about Fiile, get angry about the Beatles, and explain why the days of the nine-minute instrumental epic are over. Interview: Lorraine Freeney.
Comedian of the moment Andrew Maxwell talks about his recent car-crash gig in Dublin, in which he staggered on stage drunk and promptly blacked out, the controversy over Tommy Tiernan's comments on the holocaust and his love/hate relationship with Ireland. Plus, why we're to blame for our current economic crisis and how going to the same school as U2 helped turn him into ther performer he is today.
This soundtrack is essentially a collage of the work of three bands - Joy Division, New Order and the Happy Mondays - with a few house tunes and the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks and The Clash thrown in for good measure
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.
U2 are about to unleash their new album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. The world’s media are descending on Dublin. And Bono is back at the punch-bag, getting into fighting shape before the shit storm really explodes. The gloves are off. He’s got work to do. And he’s going to do it. Words Stuart Clark, additional reporting by Niall Stokes.
They make few out and out pop albums like this any more, with songs that shamelessly attempt to make you fall in love with them at first sight and wherein catchy hooks (sorry) are far more important than meaningful lyrics.
"Thanks to everyone and apologies to no one" Manor have stepped onto centrestage. This Keady quartet have been plugging away on the live circuit and in the recording studios for quite a while with ne'er a glance in the direction of the corporate music business for handouts.
Over the next few weeks we'll be compiling oddles and oddles of video footage from the big day out. We've got a stack of video interviews and - exclusive to hotpress.com - all your favourite Lisdoon artists playing some classic old covers.
Of all their undeniable qualities, it is Ash’s bone dry sense of humour and their eye for unnervingly absurd detail that bodes most auspiciously for their long-term future.
Laughlines was pleased to be among the invited comedy glitteratti at the final of RTE’s New Comedy Awards. Catherine Maher's latest project is a sit-com for RTE television based around the myths and legends of ancient Ireland which should be broadcast in late 2002.Corkonian comic Michael Mee takes his latest one-man-show to his native city when he visits the Lobby Bar for one night only on Sunday, November 25th.
There s no sign of Derry s finest turning into the Rolling Tones but neither is there much sign of any new contenders ready to challenge the supremacy of THE UNDERTONES
It s probably an indelible part of what we are, but we seem to have an over-developed tendency in this country to wring our hands and whine about this, that and the other, often forgetting that the energy, effort and time thus expended might be put to better use in actually doing something positive.
This year's Murphy's Kilkenny Cat Laughs festival features a strong line-up of both Irish and International acts that includes some old favourites and a smattering of Kilkenny virgins. Below we offer some top tips from the Laughlines' Cat Laughs Comedy Card. Ladies and gentlemen place your bets...
As the Summer festival season kicks in, our Nostalgia Correspondent recalls the heady, pioneering days of rock in the great Irish outdoors. Keep a hose handy.
Well sort of ...
Not content with priming their Meltdown album for April release, Ash have recorded a cover of the Buzzcocks' 'Everybody's Happy Nowadays' with one C. Martin on backing-vocals.
In previous years Dara O'Briain’s public persona seemed to pendulum-swing from TV personality and game show host to stand-up guy – but with the release of his Live At The Theatre Royal DVD, the former UCD man’s comedy ship has well and truly come in.
One of the music world s best-loved and most charismatic figures, IAN DURY finally lost his battle with cancer in March of this year. But as this edited extract from a major new biography by author RICHARD BALLS shows, Dury left life as he lived it fighting and smiling all the way
