It's a widely held, if not universal, belief that a live show doesn't translate all that well as a recording. Sure, it's evocative - the popularity of bootleg tapes, CDs and downloads as well as it being practically compulsory to bring out a live album or concert film at some point in a rock band's career is a clear indicator that to a certain extent it at least works, if only as a way of keepi...
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In the interest of full disclosure, I need to start by saying this: I was just about ready to give up on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Not in an 'I prefer their early stuff, don't like this new direction' kind of way. I didn't like them all that much to begin with. Nothing personal or anything - I just didn't get them .I should have liked them from day one, of course - I dig, to paraphrase They Might B...
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In what looks to be one of the coolest events in Dublin in a long time, Amanda Palmer will be performing as part of a signing event for Newbery Award winner Neil Gaiman in Chapters Bookstore, Dublin on Tuesday February 17th. Admission is free.Full details are on the Chapters website - click on the event calendar to the right of the page.Sounds awesome to me. Unfortunately I'll be in work, but i...
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A couple of days before this baby business erupted, I got to interview John Fred Young from the band Black Stone Cherry about the new album and tour for an entertainment website here in Dublin. I'm still not sure if I can post the entire interview - John Fred was very cool, and very cordial - and it must be said articulate and interesting - and he talked to me for a good 20 minutes, which I had...
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This isn't entirely musical, but it's an introduction to a new person in my life.My son, Andrew James Madden was born on Sunday, November 23rd at 5.21am. It was a heck of a weekend - his mom had phoned me at 8.15 on Friday morning, asking me to come home as, well, she was ready to go to the hospital. In the interests of her dignity, I'll spare you further detail. In thinking about him on the wa...
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Note: as much as I wish I'd managed to take photos like this, I'm not that good and neither is the camera on my iPhone. So credit, thanks and much love goes to my sister, Caroline Madden, and her DSLR both of whom risked the wrath of Ambassador Theatre security to get these shots."Best. Gig. Ever."Not my words. This is from the freakishly tall hipster twenty-something standing behind me, just ...
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Seeing as the new Genius feature in iTunes seems convinced that I'm not listening to enough from my youth (the early 90s is a prominent feature in the playlists it's creating for me, regardless of the song I base them on), and as of yesterday we're now ten years removed from the release of '...Baby, One More Time', I thought it would be a good time to talk about some of the things we need to br...
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There's nothing like good rock and roll. Good rock and roll doesn't need to remind you how clever it is, it doesn't need bizarre electronic noises and it doesn't need seven minute introductions. I'll happily accept that all these things have their place and for everything I rail against I can easily name a band that I love that is guilty on multiple counts, but sometimes you want to stick to th...
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When I agreed to review James' 'Hey Ma', I was excited to do it. James were one of those bands that was compulsively likeable when I was growing up and, despite not having paid much attention since their 'Best of...' compilation came out a few years back, I couldn't wait to hear it. And then, I could. The minutiae of life piled up between overtime, home improvements and requests to pitch for ot...
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One of the most jarring experiences I've ever had while listening to music was the first time I heard 'Pet Sounds'. I was a relatively old 20, and my previous experience with the Beach Boys was a vinyl 'Greatest Hits' in my dad's collection, which was pretty much completely devoted to the 'Fun, Fun, Fun', 'Surfin' USA' type stuff. But a guy in college, during an extended and meandering conversa...
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