The Electric Picnic-bound Mick Jones has his youth revisited on October 3 when The Clash’s 1982 set supporting The Who in Shea Stadium is given a CD release.
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.
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.
He may have gone from The Clash to the BBC World Service but, happily, Joe Strummer is still a self-proclaimed "loony and rebel" after all these years. Interview: Olaf Tyaransen
If being a member of The Clash is enough to ensure one’s reputation for life, then Mick Jones more than any of them – even Strummer – has refused to rest on his laurels. As well as producing The Libertines, the past four years have seen him work alongside Tony James (Generation X, er.. Sigue Sigue Sputnik) in Carbon/Silicon. The terrible, literal, cover aside, it’s pretty good punk-pop, the sound of two men in their fifties who know that youthful posturing is beneath them yet still refuse to grow old.
He may have gone from The Clash to the BBC World Service, but, happily, Joe Strummer is still a self-proclaimed "Loony and Rebel" after all these years
He may have gone from The Clash to the BBC World Service, but, happily, Joe Strummer is still a self-proclaimed "Loony and Rebel" after all these years.
The legacy of a punk great is scrutinised in a new documentary Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten. Filmmaker Julien Temple explains what motivated him to make a movie about his old friend.
hotpress.com re-runs an extensive 1999 interview with Joe Strummer and lets Brian Young, lead singer with legendary northern punks Rudi, explain how The Clash changed his life
Pennie Smith, the legendary NME photographer who shot the cover of The Clash’s London Calling is about to have an exhibition in Belfast. Peter Murphy gets her to rewind the film
They've tangled with the legends of Krautrock, extended the hand of friendship to Eastern Europe and campaigned against light pollution. But what you really need to know about British Sea Power is that they're being hailed as this year's answer to Arcade Fire.
To mark the occasion of the release of a near definitive punk compilation, GEORGE BYRNE fondly recalls the days when pogo was go-go and gabba gabba was hey.
The star of what s set to be the summer s hottest movie, High Fidelity, on love, obsession, movies, rock n roll, his pal Bruce Springsteen and the records he turns to when he s had his heart broken. With support from co-star Lisa Bonet and director Stephen Frears. Text: CRAIG FITZSIMONS
He plays guitar for Springsteen, plays The Clash on his radio show and plays it fast and loose as Silvio Dante in The Sopranos. Colm O’Hare meets the three-in-one Steven Van Zandt
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.
Well, it’s too long for a start, but then again this is the man who went from the short, sharp shock of The Clash to the sprawling Sandanista in the space of four albums.
One of the more interesting all-girl guitar groups in years, LA three-piece The Like blend Blondie with The Clash through the upbeat bounce of their second single ‘June Gloom’.
Sounding not unlike ‘90s Brits Lush, there’s less bombast here and a greater focus on melody then their previous outing.
Sure, the single fizzles with punk pop values but it is remarkably low on angst. Impressive.
Bossa and nu-jazz/funk versions of punk/new wave classics from The Undertones, The Clash, Killing Joke, PIL, Dead Kennedys delivered by two sultry chanteuses.
This would generally be the season when the new, interesting bands give up and leave it to the big guns to slug it out for the Christmas number one.
Milk Kan, however, sound as if they like a challenge, as well as a good scrap.
Others have made this point, but ‘Bling Bling Baby’ really does sound like The Streets rewriting ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’, before veering off down a punk rock alleyway.
‘Real Fake World’, meanwhile, bounces along like Billy Bragg fronting the Clash and ‘Kill All A&R Men’ sounds exactly like you might suppose it does. It’s ridiculously early to be talking about the next Arctic Monkeys I know, but Milk Kan are already looking like they could provide us with a lot of interesting times in the year ahead.
The death has occurred of Joe Strummer, one of the most important British musicians of the punk era. As lead singer and chief lyricist and ideologist with The Clash, he was central to making some of the finest music of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.
Whatever happened to...? Though they never had the notoriety of the Pistols or the street spirit of the Clash, the Stranglers were one of the finest bands to emerge from the punk maelstrom of the late '70s, able to develop from ear-bashing anger terrorists with guitars, to the dark balladeers who gave us the cautionary tale that was 'Golden Brown'.
With influences by The Jam, The Clash and the Smiths, shirts by Fred Perry and haircuts grade one, The Ordinary Boys couldn’t be any more British if they embarked on a Bank Holiday tour of sleepy seaside venues with amps draped in Union Jacks.
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
The Catholic Church may snatch the bodies of non-believers and dodge responsibility for child sex abuse, behind a cloud of legal obfuscation – but the heathens are growing in strength.
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.
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.
The Alien vs Predator movie has resurrected two of the most successful action movie franchises of recent years. You’ll kick yourself – in slow motion, and with gratuitous blood loss, of course – if you miss it, according to the film’s star Colin Salmon.
The Police's reformation is the reunion they said would never happen, and according to guitarist Andy Summers the band is still the same mix of egos and visionaries.
Are they genuine punks or just an amped-up, radio-friendly version of the real thing? Good Charlotte‘s twin frontmen Benji and Joel wouldn’t like to say for certain.
It wasn't too long ago that The Blizzards were unknown outside of their native Mullingar. Now they've three top 10 Irish singles to their credit and an album, A Public Display Of Affection, that has the potential to explode internationally.
Snowman FC from Cork won the Irish heat of the JD Sets, played live in the legendary Jack Daniel's Distillery in Tennessee and recorded with REM man David Barbe in Nashville.
NIALL STANAGE sees GERRY ADAMS and EAMON DUNPHY fight out an honourable draw. Pix: Peter Matthews
They've been talking about it for weeks. Now the moment of truth has finally arrived. The sense of anticipation that has been building up over the past few weeks, around the impending clash of these two old adversaries, has been immense. It's been billed as the clash of the titans, the battle of the giants, the mother of all matches and even, extraordinarily, as the rumble in the mumble. Now the house-full signs have gone up, the touts are out in force and there's an air of
expectancy you could cut with a knife.
NIALL STANAGE sees GERRY ADAMS and EAMON DUNPHY fight out an honourable draw. Pix: Peter Matthews
They've been talking about it for weeks. Now the moment of truth has finally arrived. The sense of anticipation that has been building up over the past few weeks, around the impending clash of these two old adversaries, has been immense. It's been billed as the clash of the titans, the battle of the giants, the mother of all matches and even, extraordinarily, as the rumble in the mumble. Now the house-full signs have gone up, the touts are out in force and there's an air of
Primal Scream bandmate Kevin Shields may be complaining about the neighbours, but Mani hasn’t thrown the towel in yet. He tells us why things are looking up for the Scream.
The twisted dance-punk of Hard-Fi is inspired by the angst of suburbia. But that hasn’t stopped them reaching for the stars – or breaking into an airport.
From Oasis to The Ping Pong Bitches, ALAN McGEE is living proof that there s life after
success, excess, Labour, near-death and, oh yes, Creation Records. Even if you re a Rangers
supporter. Interview: STUART CLARK
They may, for the moment, be garnering more press attention for their singer s love life than for their music, but THE warm jets are one hell of a fine band in their own right. Tape: NIALL STANAGE.
It s sink-or-swim time for UK guitar aesthetes gene as they unveil their second album, Drawn To The Deep End. But, two years down the line, the quartet are still insisting they don t sound like The Smiths. Interview: Nick Kelly.
How Eric Eckhart quit his swish job, sold his house and cars, split with his girlfriend and burned his picket fence in order to pursue his creative vision.
In going back to her roots on her latest album, Nanci Griffith also shines a light on one of the great backing bands of rock n roll Buddy Holly s Crickets. Interview: Joe Jackson.
From the ashes of The Libertines comes Dirty Pretty Things, Carl Barat's new band. But can Pete Doherty's old sparring partner escape the legacy of his old group?
Hot Press visited BellX1 in their city-centre studio, where the group are working on the follow-up to Music In Mouth. “There’s been a lot less fuck-acting this time around,” they tell John Walshe. Photo: Liam Sweeney
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.
They’re the hottest thing to have come out of Belfast in years. Ahead of the release of their hugely anticipated long-play debut, guitar-abusing noiseniks and so I watched you from afar, give us a track-by-track lowdown on the album.
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.
He may just be the best-kept secret in Irish comedy, a veteran export who has won critical acclaim in Britain and the respect of luminaries such as Frank Skinner, Bill Bailey and Simon Munnery. Paul Nolan talks to Ian MacPherson in advance of his homecoming.
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.
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
Once an unwitting part of the punk movement, Squeeze have survived the vagries of fashion to become pop elder statesmen, Stuart Clark takes a trip down south London way and swaps a few yarns - but not spit - with Glenn Tilbrook.
US chart-topping rockers tool like nothing better than hob-nobs, baiting journos and calling their children after prog rock bands. stuart clark shares the chocolate biccies
Radio Ulster’s Donna Legge ensures there’s no punching below the belt as she and two of the north’s other leading DJs - Maurice Jay and Johnny Hero - come together to discuss the local music scene, on-air rows with James Galway and prank calls to Sellafield.
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.
‘Looking after number one’ was the record that kick started Ireland’s passage toward punk, and the man who penned it is still vitriolic about the time and place that inspired the song.
The college circuit is an important stepping stone in rock music around the world. While the potential remains unfulfilled in Ireland, there’s a new breed of Ents Officer who are aiming higher.
They were one of the superstars of grunge, a band that did more than perhaps any other – even Nirvana – to bring underground rock and roll to the mainstream. But they lost their way with fan-alienating experimental records and a long-running feud with Ticketmaster. Now Pearl Jam have shrugged off the cobwebs and are back rocking like legends. Ahead of the release of their best album in years they talk about the long-road to rejuvenation, lessons gleaned from Neil Young and their place in the greater scheme of things.
They’ll never win any prizes for speaking the Queen’s English but, with a number one album under their belts, mop-topped Dundee rockers The View aren’t too bothered.
Steve Lillywhite, who produced U2's first three albums – and has featured on the production team of almost all of their records – looks back over the band's career and recalls the highs... and the lows
To coincide with the release of the Today FM DJ’s double-CD compilation tracking the history of alternative rock in Ireland, Tom Dunne talks to Jackie Hayden about the state of Irish music, singer-songwriters versus guitar bands and the role of Irish radio.
GREEN DAY have had a meteoric rise over the last 18 years, from poky Dublin dives to colossal international stadia. But despite their maturing worldview and increasing political articulacy, they’re still as exciting a kick-ass punk rock group as ever.
Manu Chao may not be able to change the world, but he’s certainly conquered it with his unique fusion of musical styles. Fresh from a sell-out show in The Point, he talks to Danielle Brigham about journeying to the North Pole, trashing Argentinian TV studios and “Mr. Bush, the number one terrorist.” Photographs: Cathal Dawson.
Snow Patrol‘s Gary Lightbody waxes eloquent about burnout, creativity, exotic fowl, and why David Healy should be made First Citizen Of The Republic And Overlord Of The Universe.
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
It was one of rock's most bizarre and impressive spectacles - the MANIC STREET PREACHERS live in Cuba, in front of an audience including Fidel Castro! STUART CLARK was there, and spoke to JAMES DEAN BRADFIELD about Bill Clinton, Top Of The Pops, Bono, Elian Gonzales and the band's new album
In a surprise change of direction, Green Day’s latest album American Idiot sees the punk three-piece coming out fighting against a certain George W. Bush.
Travelling by first class train between Wales and London James Dean Bradfield did a surprising thing: he started working on his first solo album. The resulting record taps the Manic Street Preacher’s growing affection for his roots in the valleys.
In the five years since its debut, The Sopranos has grown from an underground show with a small cult following to one of the most successful TV series' of all time. Paul Nolan traces the show’s development from its inauspicious beginnings on HBO to its current status as a transatlantic cultural phenomenon, and also examines our enduring fascination with a man called Tony Soprano.
Long before boomtime Ireland there was boomtown Ireland, a country where the national symbol was not a tiger but a rat. to coincide with the release of the best of the boomtown rats, Bob Geldof looks back to the tepid Irish scene of the mid-’70s from which the rats emerged, biting, snarling and laughing, to take on the establishment, Britain and, almost, the world.
Four years on from Inflammable Material and even Jake Burns is beginning to wonder if Stiff Little Fingers are losing their bearings. Here he reveals some of his misgivings to Bill Graham
the jon spencer blues explosion
are the hippest, baddest,
sleaziest, sweatiest, sexiest, sickest, noisiest,
in-your-face-est rock n roll
act to come out of America
for a loooooong time.
colm o hare joined them on the road to Manchester.
James Dean Bradfield on The Cult of Richey, The Spanish Civil War, Jon Bon Jovi, and the new album This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours. Truth Serum: Peter Murphy. Light Detector Test: Simon Clemenger.
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.
Well, a trio of humans, to be precise. Confronted with the flesh and blood reality of Phil, Susanne and Joanne munching sandwiches right in front of his eyes, Nicholas G. Kelly accepts that we must come to terms with the fact that The Human League have indeed risen from the grave. But not, repeat not, the ’80s.
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.
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
It was a Jubilee ago that The Sex Pistols exploded onto the world stage and changed music forever. Except little has changed, according to John Lydon and that's why he's back
From Donegal to London and beyond, altan s breathtaking music continues to win new converts. As the band showcase material from their latest album, Runaway Sunday, at the international headquarters of Virgin Records,
mairiad nm mhaonaigh tells sarah mcquaid:
It s all about letting it rip.
When massive attack decided that they'd meet the press in Dublin, stuart clark got just thirty minutes to prepare for the
interview. But he still manages to talk to 3d about music, football, the band's new album Mezzanine - and the difficulties of making sweet leurve to the sound of your own records.
From gigs with cider punks in limerick to playing for Fidel in Havana and from the low of Richey’s disappearance to the high of performing before Wales’ victory over Italy – life has never been boring for the Manic Street Preachers. Stuart Clark listens intently as Nicky Wire discusses their defining moments
Roddy Doyle is one of Ireland's most important writers. Having made his initial breakthrough with The Commitments, he won the Booker prize in 1993 with Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. Now with his new novel Oh, Play That Thing – the sequel to the critically acclaimed A Star called Henry – he is back to one of his guiding passions, music, as he takes his protagonist Henry smart through the scrum of 1920s New York, and on to Louis Armstrong's Chicago.
UNLESS YOU’VE BEEN FREQUENTING THE LATE-NIGHT HOSTELRIES OF DUBLIN, YOU’RE UNLIKELY TO HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO ENGAGE IN A BATTLE OF WITS, ER, MANO A MANO, WITH ACE QUIZ MASTER GEORGE “I KNOW A LOT MORE THAN YOU DO” BYRNE. WORRY NOT. THAT’S WHAT THE HOT PRESS QUIZ OF THE YEAR IS FOR. NOW GO FOR IT. SECONDS OUT!
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]
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.
Opening our U2 special, DERMOD MOORE catches up with ADAM CLAYTON during the UK leg of the Elevation tour, and delves deep into the physics of music celebrity, politics and, er, penises
Having steamrolled its way across America, and through most of Europe, it seemed as if U2 s PopMart extravaganza might come to grief in the most unlikely of places their homeland of Ireland. Now however, one Supreme Court case on, U2 are scheduled to play not just two Dublin dates but a newly-added Belfast homecoming as well. Interview: MIKE EDGAR
They may be about as prolific as giant pandas, but now the waiting is over. The mighty LEFTFIELD are back with their first new material in almost five years - the new album Rhythm And Stealth - and it looks set to have the same genre-redefining impact as their debut long-player Leftism. BARRY GLENDENNING talks to mainman PAUL DALEY about media critics, professional jealousy, John Lydon, banned videos and that Guinness ad.
The boys are back in town for Galway s Big Beat and SHAUN RYDER is back in the saddle. I m actually now becoming some sort of poet-film-directing-intelligent-motherfucking-artist-luvvy-darling sort of guy and it s wonderful, he tells PETER MURPHY. Pics: Michael Quinn
Massive Attack explain why they are outspoken opponents of the proposed war in Iraq, give high praise to Sinéad O’Connor and reveal how a porn soundtrack left them gasping for airtime.
From small-time ramshackle punk'n'Irish troubadours to 'international touring act' in the space of six incident-packed years, The Pogues have not only produced music to consistently surprise and delight - they've put it in the charts too! With the help of band members Phil Chevron and Jem Finer, Bill Graham examines The Pogues' enigma in advance of the outfit's impending Christmas single 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah' (phew!) and their seasonal show at The Point Depot in Dublin.
It s the morning after the night before and BRET EASTON ELLIS feels like he s got Marilyn Manson playing inside his head. A dinner date with fellow penslinger Irvine Welsh has gone seriously pear-shaped and like his most famous literary creation, the Californian is fit to kill. STUART CLARK offers tea and solpadeine, and in return gets the lowdown on American Psycho, trans-Atlantic stalkers and why both Air Supply and the Teletubbies are evil. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
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...
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.
DO YOU WANT NAILS OF FEEDBACK DRIVEN THROUGH YOUR BRAIN? DO YOU WANT YOUR EARS TO BLEED? THIS IS HARDCORE AND IT'S THE MOST VITAL ATTITUDE IN ROCK'N'ROLL, FROM LOU REED TO THERAPY? VIA NICK CAVE, FUGAZI AND... CHRISTY MOORE. OR SO SAYS GERRY McGOVERN, WHO ALSO ADVANCES THE THEORY THAT 'HARDCORE IS GENERALLY FOR HARD WHITE MEN'. SHOOTING GALLERY AWAITS YOUR RESPONSE!
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.
After years of pushing the self- destruct button, Pete Doherty has proved his detractors wrong with a solo album that's on a par with anything he did with the Libertines.
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?
Is football hooliganism really the new rock ’n’ roll and should little boys be wearing Boot’s No.7 blusher? Stuart Clark fears for the moral wellbeing of the nation’s youth as Manic Street Preachers wage holy war against MTV, Take That, Kate Moss and poor old Gerry Ryan.
Pix: Cathal Dawson.
ADRIENNE MURPHY lived with the ecological vigil-keepers in the Glen O The Downs for two weeks leading up to the dreaded day when the chainsaws finally arrived. This is her report from the frontline of Ireland s latest environmental battle. Pix: Colm Henry
Philip Chevron's career has been nothing if not varied. From the early days with the Radiators through his collaborations with people like Agnes Bernelle and right up to his current work with The Pogues, he has proved himself to be a consistently fine songwriter and performer. In the first part of a lengthy and intense interview, he talks to Eamonn McCann about his childhood, his love of Broadway musicals, the Horslips connection, the genesis of the Radiators and his fleeting career as a journalist.
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.
As one half of D’unbelievables, Jon Kenny became one of Ireland’s most famous and successful entertainers. but the hard touring took its toll and, he believes, may even have contributed to the cancer which threatened not only his career but his life. now fully recovered, Kenny is back as a solo artist but one still hugely inspired by small-town Ireland and its rich crop of characters. Photo Cathal Dawson
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.
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
With compass in hand and their newly unfurled Map Of The Universe nestling comfortably on their laps, Blink are boldly going where few Irish bands have gone before. But what happens when they get to Cork and Ballybunion? Intrepid explorer LIAM FAY dons his rucksack, climbs aboard the Blinkmobile and survives to tell the tale.
When Jeff Buckley drowned in the Wolf River, Tennessee, five years ago, the world lost a fledgling musical visionary, his lone album Grace becoming a sacred text of loss and unfinished beauty. In his short 29 years on earth, his power and grace touched many, especially his mother Mary Guibert and his former bandmate Gary Lucas.
It sounds like the stuff of hype and overnight success – from struggling garage band to next big thing and accolades from noel gallagher, morrissey and bono – but even at an average age of 23 The Thrills have paid their dues. Olaf Tyaransen hears how the summer’s hottest band went from worshipping whipping boy to having beck’s da play on their debut album.
from reagan to bush; from radio free europe to clear channel; from green to reveal; from the sfx to marlay park. REM call time out and Peter Buck fills in the gaps from 1983 to 2003. interview Peter Murphy
Underdogs who've clawed their way into the top flight, Setanta Records, like Wimbledon, are a premiership act - with attitude. stuart clark gets the rags to (comparative) riches story from label boss, Dubliner Keith Cullen and also seeks the considered opinions of boys-done-well, Neil Hannon and Edwyn Collins.
He’s been at the helm with U2 since 1979. In the intervening time he’s been involved in every aspect of the career of the biggest rock band in the world. In a rare in-depth interview, Paul McGuinness talks about the highs and lows of managing the fab four and reflects on the State of the Nation and the implosion of the Irish economy.
It s re-introductions all round, as the Starman embarks on a hazardous solo mission. Stuart Bailie records him taking one giant leap for a man.
The Starman walks into a public bar in Chorlton and looks for a quiet spot. The old regulars at the back are nudging each other. They re sure that they recognise the face
and the style of a traveller who s been all the way up there and back.
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.
When writer and documentary film-maker Jon Ronson set out to discover the truth about the secret group which conspiracy theorists believe rules the world, he expected an interesting trip. What he didn’t anticipate was a brain-rattling, five year-long odyssey, by turns wacky and scary, that would bring him into contact with neo-nazis, religious fundamentalists, twelve-foot lizards, Mr burns from The Simpsons, David icke, peter mandelson and, ahem, Ian Paisley. Olaf Tyaransen hears the story that’s coming to a bookshelf and television screen near you. undercover pictorIal evidence: Cathal Dawson
pat mcCABE is on a roll. Neil Jordan s film adaptation of his acclaimed novel The Butcher Boy has been rapturously received. His latest meisterwerk Breakfast On Pluto about a border county transvestite is about to be published. He s going on the road with Jack L. And what s more he was recently named Monaghan Man of the Year! Interview: liam fay.
Pics: Mick Quinn
He’s been many things: a roadie with De Danann, a carpenter with Druid, a founder of the world-famous Macnas theatre group and, not least, a six-foot four-inch Connemara man in a skirt and self-styled “cranky fuck”. But now Paraic Breathnach spends a lot of his time crying tears of rage. Olaf Tyaransen finds him down but definitely not out. Portrait Aengus McMahon
Is she a manufactured pop act made to look like a rock chick? is she a rock chick who sells records like a manufactured pop act? or is she something else entirely? Why’d Avril Lavigne have to go and make things so complicated?
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.
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
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
Andy Darlington travels to Manchester to meet the Stone Roses, an outfit who’ve progressed past the point of being just a band to become something altogether bigger...
Since their debut single ‘Wired To The Moon’ went gold here The Revs have established themselves as Ireland’s hungriest and most energetic rock combo, with an appetite for gigging and an eye for publicity that has seen them embroiled in a number of amusing controversies. But behind the brash exterior is the fascinating story of three dedicated young musicians who have overcome their status as outsiders to build one of the biggest and most loyal grass roots following of any local act. Now with the release of their debut studio album, Suck, they are ready to go international.
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.
It’s all about broken down tour buses, Alan Partridge, high speed collisions, Moby, broken ribs, Mina Suvari, MTV stars and David Bowie as Ash launch a sonic assault on America. So riddle me this: can Ireland’s hardest-working rock’n’roll outfit crack the big one?
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
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
The Manson Family at work, rest and play, in sickness and in health. Peter Murphy travels to britain and the US to bring back the full, intimate story of a band on the run
It s easy to trace the tracks of DAVE GAHAN s tears. Like the illustrated man, the marks on his body tell their own story. But not the whole story for this is a man who took heroin abuse to such a lethal extent that he was once clinically dead for two minutes. Now, after a long and painful battle, he s clean, sober and delighted that depeche mode have released the album that few ever expected them to make. Interview: Olaf Tyaransen.
The future is here. Well, somehow it always is. And, as usual, it is both familiar and strange. Nothing seems to change, but one day you turn around, it is 1995, and you are cybersurfing on the internet, summer seems to last all winter, ambient-acid-techno is bubbling away on the radio, your fax machine shows up on the Antiques Roadshow and papa’s got a brand new drug.
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.
It is five years since rapper TUPAC SHAKUR was gunned down on the streets of las vegas in a gangland-style shooting that took place on September 7, 1996. Since then he has become the subject of one of modern music’s most bizarre death cults, as he continues to sell millions of records and to top charts all over the world. but behind his death lies a story of hip-hop babylon – a sordid tale of intrigue, egos, drugs, sex, intimidation, violence – and, almost by the way, some great and enduring music.
By PETER MURPHY
As if gracing the top 10 with the Dizzee Rascal and Chrome-assisted ‘Dance Wiv Me’ wasn’t enough – didn’t they have spelling tests in the schools they went to? – Calvin Harris plays a DJ set in Dublin’s Spy niterie on August 3.
Backed by the electric, eclectic band of the title, the record is a whirlwind of energy, passion and pure musical brilliance that perfectly encapsulates the European musical melting pot
Anglo-Swedish indie rock’n’rollers Razorlight are on the verge of releasing their debut album. A catchy attack on mediocrity with vocals that linger in the head.
Clash legend Mick Jones, his Carbon/Silicon and Generation X counterpart Tony James, Elbow and The Flaws are among the stars set to appear at this year's Hot Press Chatroom at the Electric Picnic
Singalong to your favourites at the Rock Band sessions, or watch top movies, as the Xbox Live Stage brings digital thrills to this year's Oxegen festival.
Having had to pull out of 2004's Electric Picnic, Jamaican legend and dub reggae pioneer Lee 'Scratch' Perry is to make his first Irish appearance in two years.
Even if the lyrics were penned by journalist-turned-managerial Svengali Gordon Ogilvie, you have to admire the balls of four Belfast teenagers who circa 1979 were prepared to go on stage and tell the paramilitaries where to “stuff their fucking armies”.
A mere decade after his first post-Clash solo effort, Earthquake Weather, Joe Strummer comes bounding back into the ring just as his previous band's legacy is revisited via a superb video documentary Westway To The World, an incendiary live collection From Here To Eternity and the remastered reissue of their entire back catalogue.
Duff McKagan has exclusively revealed to Hot Press that Velvet Revolver are in pole position to support Led Zeppelin if they decide to go ahead with a full-blown reunion tour.
Jill Furmanovsky will add significantly more culture into Dublin's 'cultural quarter' when she opens the Rockarchive photo gallery in Temple Lane South
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland has granted a Classic Rock licence to Radio Nova 100, a new station which will be available in Dublin and the commuter belt.
As social phenomena – teenage pregnancy, counterfeit designer clothes, weekend binge-drinking – rip through small towns like a cultural wildfire, it’s only fitting that there’s some comeback to the suburban suffocation.
Music Review | Live
22% | 15 Oct 2003
Phil Udell
The sound is pretty poor, rendering the succession of frantic punk rockers an increasingly indecipherable mess.
Serrated guitars, clipped beats, angular riffs, pummelled basslines and snarled vocals form the backbone; throw in some scratchy beats, blistering samples and crank the volume up to full.
Though they’re still hammering on about western society (‘Everything’s In Question’), corruption (‘Packing Things Up On The Scene’) and corporate greed (‘Ascension Street’), the political message is more weighted within the music rather than weighing it down.
The Joe Strummer Foundation For New Music has teamed up with the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast to create two new rooms for songwriting and rehearsing.
Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, or at least till it comes back. Saint Etienne are one of those bands who, like Teenage Fanclub, were hardly the subject of extensive search parties when missing in action yet now that they are back with us, are being greeted like long lost (rich) relatives.
As social phenomena – teenage pregnancy, counterfeit designer clothes, weekend binge-drinking – rip through small towns like a cultural wildfire, it’s only fitting that there’s some comeback to the suburban suffocation.
The news that the legendary outfit Rocky De Valera & The Gravediggers were reconvening - 26 years after they last played a note - has caused more than a few smiles around town.
The thirteen tracks herein can be split roughly into two camps - the originals penned quick and recorded even quicker for soundtracks, and the covers dashed off as extra incentives on special edition albums, or just for pig iron
Lipstick Traces comprises two CDs of covers, live, and unreleased tracks spanning their eleven-year career of consistently strong, intellectual rock on release.
Apparently the quartet used to rely a lot more on synths than guitars, but the recruitment of the wonderfully named Dante DeCaro on six-string evens up the balance somewhat, with keyboardist Steve Bays taking up the mic for these short, sharp stabs of infectious and off-kilter post-punk pop, with barely time to draw breath.
In frontman Richard Archer , Hard-Fi possess a wry, self-aware lyricist, with a gift for poetic bluntness. Musically, however, they remain some way short of virtuoso status – melodies plod when they might soar; their debt to reggae-flavoured post-punk can tip into pastiche.
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...
Blur axeman, Graham Coxon, releases his second solo LP and, like his 1998 debut, The Sky's Too High, The Golden D is a trip into the speed/trash/hardcore underbelly of America.
Tabloid fiends that you are, you’ve probably heard that Roman Abramovich has offered Amy Winehouse a million quid to play at his new model girlfriend’s birthday bash...
Quite how Texas found themselves transformed from worthy but dull, blues-obsessed write-offs to fashionable multi-platinum pop merchants is one of the more remarkable career spins of recent years.
In the countdown to the general election, Apres Match member Risteard Cooper is aiming to revive Irish political satire with his new series of spoof documentaries, The State Of Us.
Liam Mackey's 1979
Released when the infant ’79 was still in the grip of winter, Graham Parker’s ‘Squeezing Out Sparks’ stood the test of time and defeated the heaviest competition.
We all think we know what Belfast stands for, but beneath the headlines is a city with a very specific industrial sensibility – something constantly reflected in the bands it produces.
They have got it all going on: big beefy choruses, a rhythm section that don't lose their nerve at high speed or volume, a nice line in multi-tracked vocal melodies, and guitars like a gravel bath
Breathless, sexy, frantic – the album’s forty minutes include five minutes waiting around for a hidden extra track; don’t bother, it’s shite – Fever To Tell is a racket but an undeniably glorious one.
IN THE cold light of 1999, it's easy to forget that reggae was once the hip-hop of its time, a well of indigenous black music used by every other mainstream act as a source of rejuvenation and inspiration.
The use of rock music for soundtracking and advertising purposes has opened up important new avenues for artists eager to get their music out to a mass audience.
Just can't get enough? Low, The Clash, The Raveonettes, The Faint, The Datsuns and Johnny Cash (and that's only the tip of the iceberg, friends) ...feature on what has to be a record-breakingly good instalment of No Disco (tonight, N2, 11.15pm). Dig in
The heart is a bloom, but you knew that already. Bono's lead line on 'Beautiful Day' effectively sets the tone for this new scheme. Great things can be nurtured, he tells us. Scepticism is out and old-fashioned hope is the greatest buzz around. So it's entirely fitting that the stage for the band's Elevation Tour should be framed by a massive, pulsating heart.
Friday at Electric Picnic saw Sigur Ros pull off a spellbinding main stage performance, Christy Moore lift the mood of all, and many comings and goings at the Hot Press Chatroom.
Because the Fun Lovin’ Criminals never meant Bo Diddley in their home country, the band have always been at the whims of the British and Irish record-buying public, notoriously more fickle than America, where the sheer size of the land mass and populace means it takes longer to make a man as well as break one.
Today sees the first unveiling of the complete Hot Press Covers Exhibition online, featuring a selection of the great and historic images that have adorned the front page of the magazine, from June 1977 onwards
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.
SPROG are a four-piece funk/rock band based in Galway. They’ve been together since August 1993 and this demo entitled Scratch’n’Sniff, a six-tracker, was recorded late last year.
This year, Lesley Kane, general manager with both Music Maker and MIDI (Musical Instrument Distribution Ireland), chalks up 20 years in the musical instruments industry. Jackie Hayden gatecrashes the celebrations to quiz Kane on her career to date.
What a year it’s been for that colossal, decentralised intellectual landfill we call the internet! This list of 2002’s best websites is neither definitive nor exhaustive. But on the plus side, it’s right here
Since records began, popular music has maintained a healthy and unstinting preoccupation with political issues. GERRY McGOVERN namechecks some of the artists who have nurtured such links and argues that even music which ostensibly extricates itself from the issues of the day, is itself inherently political.
PHIL LYNOTT would have been 50 on 20th August this year. Here, PETER MURPHY profiles the legendary Philo, and talks to other stars about his enduring influence.
"The Foos rock out royally, the reverberations from the kick drum dislodging confetti from the ceiling": Hannah Hamilton - and hotpress.com's three prizewinning guest reviewers - report from the Point's front line
Well, reader, we ve finally reached the end of our journey, after navigating our way across the length and breadth of the 32 counties (and detouring briefly to New York for a tincture of the tastiest in that honorary 33rd county).
The Boss is back, and boy is he pissed. Bruce Springsteen uses the language of classic American rock 'n' roll to address the disquiet and despair of the modern-day American nightmare. Hot Press bore witness to a cluster of exclusive warm-up shows in New York and New Jersey.
Q: Which top Irish quiz-masters’ pathological obsessions include Something Happens, Shamrock Rovers and the amount of shopping days left to the next Suede gig? A: George “You Started, So I’ll Finish” Byrne
In the new Hot Press, Peter Murphy picks his 20 highlights from the last 35 years of home-grown alternative culture (in strictly chronological order!). Take a look and then have your say on the indie moments that rocked in your lifetime...
There are those who believe that the future of music as an art form is seriously under threat from the rise of music piracy. Where will it all end? The truth is that no one truly knows.
