
Niall Doherty
Niall Doherty is a writer and editor whose work can be found in Classic Rock, The Guardian, Music Week, FourFourTwo, on Apple Music and more. Formerly the Deputy Editor of Q magazine, he co-runs the music Substack letter The New Cue with fellow former Q colleagues Ted Kessler and Chris Catchpole. He is also Reviews Editor at Record Collector. Over the years, he's interviewed some of the world's biggest stars, including Elton John, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Depeche Mode, Robert Plant and more. Radiohead was only for eight minutes but he still counts it.
Latest articles by Niall Doherty

The essential one-size-fits-all phrase U2’s Bono was given by a hard rock icon
By Niall Doherty published
U2’s frontman on being enlightened by a true rock’n’roll sage

The Stone Roses on the making of their flawed, long-in-the-making second album
By Niall Doherty published
Second Coming turns 30 this week but the Mancunian indie-rockers’ resurrection didn’t last long

Ahead of next summer’s shows, your full guide to the contenders to play with Noel and Liam in Oasis, 2025 version
By Niall Doherty published
From Bonehead to Andy Bell and Guigsy to Gem, your essential guide to the contenders to join the Oasis Live '25 bandwagon

Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich on how making Band Aid 20 was the "beam me up" moment of his career
By Niall Doherty published
Producer Nigel Godrich on the "clusterf**k" that was putting together the 2004 charity single

Dave Gahan on how he “blagged” his way into Depeche Mode
By Niall Doherty published
The story goes that the other members heard him singing Bowie’s “Heroes” in the room next door – but was it Gahan on the mic or not?

Nicky Wire on why cooking programmes wind him up so much
By Niall Doherty published
The Manics man, who also reveals the very unique approach he has to making baked beans, probably didn’t tune in to the Great British Bake Off finale this week

How Blur’s Damon Albarn turned his idea for a cartoon band into one of the biggest acts of the 21st century
By Niall Doherty published
Diving into the beginnings of Gorillaz, Damon Albarn’s virtual pop side-project that became even bigger than Blur

The drug-addled craziness that fuelled Blondie’s most successful era
By Niall Doherty published
Debbie Harry’s new wave trailblazers had a special formula to knocking out the hits in the late 70s, not one your doctor would recommend

"Global warming is horrible but damn, it makes for beautiful weather." An audience with Kim Deal, still the coolest indie rock star on the planet
By Niall Doherty published
She was the coolest person in the Pixies, a platinum-selling artist with The Breeders, and now, finally, she's gone solo. Kim Deal on Steve Albini, dogs, loss, life and loving it all – even the rubbish bits

Evan Dando revisits the "hellish performance" that persuaded him to quit drugs and get clean
By Niall Doherty published
How one disastrous show in a cemetery made Evan Dando realise it was time to kick his drug habit

How this 2014 Bowie single set up his final masterpiece
By Niall Doherty published
Bowie’s jazz experiment was released ten years ago this month. Here, his collaborators remember how it came together

The story of how The Beatles made Free As A Bird
By Niall Doherty published
It’s 30 years since McCartney, Starr and George Harrison entered the studio together again to record The Beatles' reunion hit

Watch The Cure take on The Beatles' Hello Goodbye
By Niall Doherty published
Robert Smith & co. took on the very chirpy and unCure-like Hello Goodbye for a Paul McCartney tribute album

The story of The Offspring's global smash Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)
By Niall Doherty published
Inspired by a baseball-capped server at a dive-thru, the song brought the band a UK No.1 single, lifted them out of the doldrums and set them up for the next period of huge success

Finger Eleven have made an album that sounds like it's from both the past and the future
By Niall Doherty published
Multi-platinum Canadians Finger Eleven will release their first album in a decade next year - we asked what they've been doing in the meantime

Bush’s Gavin Rossdale on what the mammoth success of their debut taught him
By Niall Doherty published
The grunge-rockers' multi-million selling debut turned 30 this month and the singer says success was a long time coming

Watch a drunk U2 taunt Phil Collins
By Niall Doherty published
The Genesis frontman was tasked with presenting to an inebriated Bono & co. in 1992 and they were in a cheeky mood

Watch footage from David Bowie's last ever live performance
By Niall Doherty published
The rock'n'roll icon drew a line under his live career with a charity gig performance in New York in 2006

Stone Temple Pilots on how Interstate Love Song came together
By Niall Doherty published
Written in a parking lot, titled on a tour bus, Scott Weiland & co.’s biggest hit truly was one for the road

The ever-humble Billy Corgan on how he was the best songwriting foil for Courtney Love
By Niall Doherty published
The Smashing Pumpkins frontman also looked back to working with the Hole singer on some of her band's biggest hits

Soft Play’s Laurie Vincent on how the reaction to their first single showed them what they needed to be
By Niall Doherty published
The punk pair wrapped up a hugely successful 2024 with a riotous Halloween show in London last week

The story of Spin The Black Circle, the song where Pearl Jam turned away from what was expected of them
By Niall Doherty published
The lead single from Vitalogy turns 30 this week and now appears to be a line in the sand for the Seattle giants

Gavin Friday on what being U2’s Creative Director entails
By Niall Doherty published
The former Virgin Prune and solo artist has been U2’s official Tell It Like It Is Correspondent since the mid-80s
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