Chat of the Land
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the festival of chat that is the Hot Press roundtable summit — in fact, you might say it’s more important than An Bord Snip, Nama and the campaign to have Thierry Henry exiled to French Guyana put together. This year, our panel of the rock world’s great and good get animated about ‘Le Main de Dieu’, surviving the recession, the passing of Stephen Gately and Michael Jackson and encounters with famous friends such as Madonna, Annie Lennox and Taylor Swift.
Stuart Clark, 17 Dec 2009
Never mind An Bord Snip Nua, the people who can save Ireland from famine, pestilence and Brian Cowen are gathered round an extremely large table in The Central Hotel for what could be the most crucial HP Christmas Summit meeting yet.
What is usually an excuse to get spectacularly jolly at Niall Stokes’ expense is today a sober affair where the only intoxicant is the dizzying power of the participants.
Our saviours of the rock ‘n’ roll nation are:
JOE ELLIOTT: The Def Leppard mainman who elicits the biggest ‘aaaaaah’ of the morning when he reveals that at the age of 50 he’s about to become a daddy for the first time. If he reckons he’s knackered now after five years of virtual non-stop Leps touring, just wait ‘til he’s on nappy-changing duty!
CIARAN GRIBBIN: Also known to the musical public as Joe Echo – he has a gig in the Dublin Academy on December 17, be there! – the Derryman scored a massive worldwide hit in July when up and coming singer Madonna recorded one of his co-writes, ‘Celebration’.
RONAN YOURELL: Sporting a fine Movember lip slug – thanks Joe! – the Delorentos singer and guitarist is preparing for another run round the country in support of the superb You Can Make Sound, which if it hadn’t been for that pesky Shakira would have topped the Irish album chart in October.
SHARON CORR: July’s Ms. Twitter is currently applying the finishing touches to her debut solo album in Windmill Lane Studios whilst also working hard to promote for her Children In Need version of Rosemary Clooney’s ‘Me And My Teddy Bear’, which is out here as a single on December 4.
TIM WHEELER: It was no sleep ‘til Zennor recently when the New York exile and his Ash bandmates embarked on a 26-date A to Z tour of the UK’s most out of the way venues. That’s also the number of singles they’re in the process of releasing at fortnightly intervals through ash-official.com.
TARA McCORMACK: Having previously worked behind the scenes with other artists, the Dubliner made headlines herself this year as the feline lead with Vengeance & The Panther Queen. With an album’s worth of glam pop belters ready to go, 2010 appears to be theirs for the taking.
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