
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

Sprints unveil two previously-unreleased tracks, share US, UK and Europe tours announcement
By Niall Doherty published
The Dublin punks have released two songs recorded during sessions for their brilliant debut Letter To Self

You Me At Six frontman Josh Franceschi on his concerns about the pressures that are put on new bands
By Niall Doherty published
The British rock group are calling time on their career and singer Franceschi shares some of the lessons he's learned on the way

“Every time I see him, he goes, ‘Am I still a Vampire?’”: Alice Cooper on initiating Paul McCartney into Hollywood Vampires
By Niall Doherty published
McCartney appeared on the supergroup's version of his 1969 track Come And Get It back in 2015

Alabama 3 on Woke Up This Morning, the song that became the theme tune for The Sopranos
By Niall Doherty published
Don’t worry, the London country-blues rave crew did make some money eventually from soundtracking the show’s iconic opening sequence

Metallica manager Peter Mensch on why it's harder than ever for rock bands to launch a career
By Niall Doherty published
The Q Prime supremo also oversees the careers of Muse, Foals and more

Producer Alan Moulder on the album he and Trent Reznor would listen to driving round New Orleans whilst making The Fragile
By Niall Doherty published
Moulder recalls the pair listening to a lot of hip-hop for inspiration when making Nine Inch Nails' third album

Robert Plant on the album that he likes to start his day with - even if no-one else in the house is a fan
By Niall Doherty published
The ex-Led Zep icon has a compilation that takes him back to early blues trailblazers

Doncaster pop-punk sensation Yungblud unveils his cover of a Kiss classic
By Niall Doherty published
The Doncaster pop-punker has reworked the 1979 hit for the soundtrack of The Fall Guy

Smashing Pumpkins unveil their new guitarist after trawling through 10,000 hopefuls
By Niall Doherty published
Billy Corgan's crew put out an open call for a new member in January and they've found the latest addition to their line-up

The band that split-up every five minutes: Your essential guide to every album by The Verve
By Niall Doherty published
When they weren't splitting up on a monthly basis, The Verve made some fabulous records

“I don’t filter my opinions. I filter whether I’m being kind or not”: how David Crosby turned into a master of the Twitter putdown in his final years
By Niall Doherty published
The iconic singer-songwriter had no problems dishing it out if he felt like his targets deserved it

“It might be as close as we came to being a four-piece rock band and I say that with no regret”: Michael Stipe on his favourite R.E.M. album
By Niall Doherty published
The R.E.M. frontman has two records he holds closest from the 17 that the Athens, Georgia alt-rockers released

“Even Bowie must have thought, ‘Hang on, these guys have appeared out of nowhere, how did that happen?!’”: Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera on the meteoric rise of the glam-rock trailblazers
By Niall Doherty published
The group went from zero to heroes when their self-titled debut blew up big in 1972

“I remember seeing my first rock legend snorting cocaine in the bathroom, like, ‘Oh, I’ve heard about this’”: Foo Fighters’ Nate Mendel on the night they played at David Bowie’s epic 50th birthday bash
By Niall Doherty published
The Foos joined Robert Smith, Kim Gordon, Lou Reed and more for a triumphant night at Madison Square Garden

“I started watching people like the Pope - when he turns up you know he’s in the room!”: Skindred frontman Benji Webbe on how he became metal’s most flamboyant frontman
By Niall Doherty published
And it’s not just onstage, either – the singer says sometimes he’ll do the gardening in one of his sequinned jackets

"He was one of those people that I knew I would listen to”: Muse's Matt Bellamy on the time they worked with Mutt Lange
By Niall Doherty published
The Back In Black producer was behind the mixing desk for the trio's 2015 record Drones

"Carlos Santana told me I was like a shaman on stage and he wanted to do a band with me": Gavin Rossdale's stories of Keanu Reeves, David Bowie, Bono and more
By Niall Doherty published
He's been bitten by Shirley Manson, sung on stage with Alice In Chains, spent 15 hours a day for months with Tom Jones, and is pals with Robert Downey Jr. He’s Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, and these are his stories

"He was drunk out of his mind and he asked me to make out with him": Billy Corgan on how he became a fan of The Cure... and the first time he met Robert Smith
By Niall Doherty published
The Smashing Pumpkins frontman and Cure leader went on to become fast friends

“It was so embarrassing, it was terrible”: Muse on their most galling onstage malfunction
By Niall Doherty published
The trio have a knack for the spectacular, but sometimes the spectacular backfires…

“We started out with an aim to annoy!”: Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil on the band’s early days
By Niall Doherty published
The Scottish trio will revisit their first three records with a series of shows in October

“It was the loudest thing I’d ever heard in my entire life”: Jet’s Nic Cester on the time he auditioned to be the new singer in AC/DC
By Niall Doherty published
The Jet frontman was in the running when Brian Johnson was ruled out of the Rock Or Bust tour in 2016

“It’s about a beautiful ménage à trois and you can’t beat that, can you?” Perry Farrell on what he thinks is Jane’s Addiction's most underrated song
By Niall Doherty published
Look away now if you get awkward about rock stars talking about their threesomes...

"My dad said, 'Turn off the demo, just play me it on acoustic guitar and sing it'": Inhaler's Eli Hewson on the advice he got from his dad, Bono
By Niall Doherty published
The Inhaler frontman also recalls the famous faces who visited the family home when he was a kid
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