Features archive
April 2026
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37 articles
- April 6
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- “I used to cringe when I heard my voice on those songs, and then it went to Number 1! I remember it blasting out of radios. I was mortified”: The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde wrote a classic late 70s hit. She’s still not sure why it was so popular
- “How dare he revolutionise rock’n’roll then give it all up and just walk away without a word!” Syd Barrett was never lost. He just didn’t want to be found
- April 5
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- “Whoever listens closely to Hallelujah will discover that it is a song about sex, about love, about life on earth”: How Jeff Buckley turned a Canadian troubadour’s forgotten song into a one-man tour de force – and launched a million bad cover versions
- “When Eric Clapton left, we tried different guitarists. Peter Green told me he was better than everybody else. Once I heard him play, I realised he was”: How the most influential British blues band of the 60s replaced one brand new guitar god with another
- “I cried my eyes out when I heard Maiden’s Brave New World. There was this sense of great loss that hit me really hard”: Blaze Bayley comes clean about leaving Iron Maiden, clashing with Rick Rubin and the heart attack that nearly killed him
- “His legend has only grown since his death. He comes closer than anyone to being the best guitar player that ever lived”: In 1989, this cult rock’n’roll musician was called “the world’s greatest unknown guitar player”. Five years later he was dead
- “There would be no Holiday In Cambodia without Hawkwind”: Jello Biafra discovered the space rockers in a copy of Penthouse – and wound up singing Silver Machine with Nik Turner
- April 4
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- “We’d been getting a battering about how polished we sounded. So we started to search for a little more earthiness”: How a hard rock band who made Johnny Rotten “jump around like a lunatic” made a gritty 70s classic – and caused uproar with the cover
- “Our peers – Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Green Day – see the honesty and they get it. A lot of people never will, but that’s not important”: Horror-punk icons the Misfits recorded their classic debut album in 1978. It took 18 years for it to be released
- “He asked, ‘Who owns the rights to your albums?’ I was like, ‘We should.’ He said, ‘How about I buy them for you?’” It took nearly 50 years for Happy The Man to hear their music the way they’d intended
- “Gram had this idea of ‘Cosmic American Music’. Music had no rules back then. There was so much freedom”: The trailblazing ’60s country-rock band who pioneered a whole new sound – only for the Eagles to steal their thunder
- “Spielberg requested a meeting. They’d written a movie and decided their hero’s favourite band would have been Huey Lewis & The News”: How a Hollywood legend and a time-travelling teenager turned a veteran rocker into an unlikely 80s superstar
- 5 insanely obscure 1980s rock albums that are a perfect 10/10
- April 3
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- "I started chemo and got in touch with my Native American roots." How Testament's Chuck Billy survived cancer (and grunge) to become a thrash metal legend
- Cool new proggy sounds you need to hear from Plini, Chimpan A, William Gilmour & John McGuigan, Playgrounded and more in Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week
- “David Coverdale believed those things were alright to say. Jon Lord and I would see something he’d said and wrinkle our noses”: How a controversial album cover and cheeky T-shirts helped turn two ex-Deep Purple members into stars all over again
- "I wanna write lyrics that have real weight in real life experience. I don’t wanna write about still dyeing my hair black!" Members of influential bands Crowbar and Type O Negative unite in dour new supergroup Sun Don't Shine
- If you think Bruce Springsteen should shut up about politics and just play his songs, you obviously have no idea what Bruce Springsteen has been singing about for the past 50 years
- Lost treasures: Ten cult classic albums worth scouring second-hand record stores for
- “Taking up music was a rebellion against order… I realised I was never going to be the most studious guitarist”: Why Steve Howe didn’t join The Nice or Atomic Rooster, and didn’t even go to his Jethro Tull audition
- April 2
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- "I want to do lots of different things. I'm always on some sort of learning curve." Every album Robert Plant has made since Led Zeppelin broke up, ranked from worst to best
- “He may be alluding to life, the universe or a balance sheet, for all the listener knows”: The 1980 album that brought George Orwell, Casio calculators and a pop producer into the realm of prog
- "If you’re trying to have followers and make them think like you do, you’re just building a cult." How Maynard James Keenan's Puscifer explore comedy and tragedy
- "We like going places where it's a challenge." How Queen helped tear down the Iron Curtain
- "Our goal is to be the biggest heavy metal band in the world." Tailgunner want to be the new Iron Maiden. Or the new Metallica. Or the new Judas Priest. And KK Downing is convinced
- “I wake up in the middle of the night thinking, ‘What if we hadn’t gone with him?’ I can’t see how it would have worked”: If Big Big Train hadn’t met Alberto Bravin, they wouldn’t have been on tour to discover the inspiration for Woodcut
- "Bonzo picked George Harrison up and launched him into the swimming pool. He said it was the greatest night of his life!" How Led Zeppelin seized control of the industry and became the biggest rock band on the planet
- April 1
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- "I could feel his heart through his chest and he passed away right there." Childhood tragedy, unlikely success and emotional reunions: Max Cavalera on how he reshaped metal with Sepultura and Soulfly
- "I lost it. I was just screaming and swinging at people. I’m not proud of it." How Red Hot Chili Peppers made By The Way, in their own words
- "When you live in Mexico there is always this thought in the back of your head that you are not safe. You’re always alert." Meet the band bringing true heavy metal back to Mexico - while trying to escape it
- "Linkin Park helped me survive." Anti-war protests, hidden identities and split personalities: Meet N0trixx, the Russian-born trap metal artist exploring mental health
- An incredible lineup and a unique, intimate European festival experience just round the corner from a beautiful city and Dracula's Castle? Rockstadt is unlike any other metal festival around - and you need to be there
- "Pete Doherty said that I was a high-kicking acrobat crossed with Nico. I was very pleased with that." Approved by Blondie, Iggy Pop and the Sex Pistols, The Molotovs are a ferocious generational voice
- "I'll definitely take being number one in fourteen countries!" The story of the song that heralded Blondie's comeback – but tanked in the US
- “I freely admit to doing disgraceful things in the past. What I did to certain band members was appalling. I hope that’s all behind me”: When Robert John Godfrey rebooted The Enid
- Why you need to be at Alcatraz 2026
- "We exchanged no words. He eyed me up and down, dipped the silver tube he wore on a chain into a bag of white powder, shoved it up my snout, then walked out. I was up for three days." The day The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde met Motorhead's Lemmy
