Features archive
July 2024
Filter
173 articles
- July 31
-
- “I’ve never had a fear of expressing things." Ms Amy Birks and the story of her second album In Our Souls
- “The chief of police came up to me in the cell and went, Is this the Englander who’s accused of beating up punks? Then he bent down and said, Good for you, mate.” Joe Strummer on the night a Clash gig turned into a bloody band versus audience riot
- “It became cool to slag off prog, but what do you think these punk musicians did when they got home? Listened to the bands they’d been having a go at”: JJ Burnel on how Caravan inspired a Stranglers track
- "I don’t want to say that I have sacrificed the band or the music for The Truth, but I’ve held them both very close." Serj Tankian reflects on a life of truth, activism and System Of A Down
- "Hamferð probably has more crying than moshing." Meet the band exploring the Faroe Islands' complicated history through crushing, emotional doom metal
- "A guy's just died and here we are making this euphoric, celebratory music. It seemed a bit weird": How Def Leppard overcame tragedy and made Adrenalize
- “The unions stopped playing however far through the song you were. So I got fed up with using strings and I was really glad when the synths came in”: How Jeff Lynne steered ELO through the 80s and beyond
- "I'm gonna kick your ass when we get off the stage": The night the Eagles broke up
- July 30
-
- "Linkin Park's Faint helped me get over my stage fright."The Hu's Enkhsaikhan 'Enkush' Batjargal picks the 10 songs that changed his life
- “A testament to what extreme bands can achieve when they grind hard and write innovative but relatable songs.” Why Gojira at the Olympics was the most important moment for metal this century
- I thought they’d drop us… the daft stuff made the label think it was viable”: Trifecta’s new album features Alex Lifeson, didgeridoo and Zappa nods – but Nick Beggs insists he’s no prog musician
- “We’re young, hungry, and we want to punch people in the balls”: Nu metal up-and-comers Vended announce debut album and US headline tour
- "I've got poop on me!" We took Kittie to a cat cafe (obviously) to ask them about their amazing comeback, the nu metal nostalgia train and surviving the music industry as a band of young women
- “The fact that I'm even alive and made it through that era living and breathing is powerful.” Royal Blood's Mike Kerr reflects on a decade in the spotlight
- “I was always the lowest common denominator… but occasionally less can be more”: Jeffrey Hammond’s five years with Jethro Tull
- With a new album that "cuts right to the chase", Marcus King reflects on working with Rick Rubin, vulnerability, mental health and love and loss
- "That extraordinary voice, switching from urgency to desolation within a few bars": The Chris Cornell albums you should definitely listen to
- Freedom might be profoundly un-Googleable as a band name, but it sure looks good on a t-shirt
- July 29
-
- “The 1975 are one of the most unlikely success stories of the modern era.” Your essential guide to every The 1975 album
- “I’m three years younger than Jesus. I’m just waiting to be crucified”: how Ville Valo went darker than ever on HIM’s Venus Doom
- “It’s about coming to terms with being weirdos, having doors shut in our faces and being told we’re a little too strange”: Thank You Scientist on how to embrace being different
- "I remember getting offstage like, ‘I feel like Dave Grohl right now!'" From sweaty basement shows to Coachella, Madison Square Garden and Fred Durst: how Scowl became the most exciting new band in hardcore
- "Lars felt so sorry that he got us a slot on the main stage.” Apocalyptica's Eicca Toppinen on stoned soundguys, collaborating with Metallica and how they helped revolutionise both metal and classical music
- “I wanted to bring the R40 show to everyone, but circumstances have made that impossible… I didn’t have a lump in my throat until the very last show”: Geddy Lee’s feelings when there was still an even chance of a new Rush album
- July 28
-
- “There was a very loud voice in my head that said, You're going to be dead by your birthday unless you get clean.” Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante on his recovery from addiction
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now
- “It’s like Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. We can’t live with each other and we can’t live without each other”: the tangled history of Rick Wakeman and Yes
- From solo albums to The Smile and Peaky Blinders to Flea: the 10 best non-Radiohead Thom Yorke songs
- “Some albums are a natural birth. This one was definitely a breech birth. It came out kicking and screaming”: the turbulent story of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, the album that tore Genesis in two
- “The greatest Pink Floyd moments are the ones where he is in full flow”: revisiting David Gilmour’s tribute to Richard Wright on what would have been the keyboardist’s 81st birthday
- July 27
-
- “Being crazy is being free, man. Completely free!”: the unhinged story of System Of A Down’s Hypnotize, the last album they might ever make
- “Maynard had this fifty-yard stare and I was in the target zone. I thought he was ready to jump off stage and have a ruckus”: how A Perfect Circle made the funniest and most provocative rock album of the 2010s with Eat The Elephant
- “We’ve done Jimmy justice. Whether we quit or not, we’ve done what we were put on earth to do”: how Avenged Sevenfold emerged from tragedy with Nightmare
- “Lots of people hated it at first. Fans wanted them to do Kill ’Em All 20 per cent faster”: how Metallica defied the haters and changed the course of metal with Ride The Lightning
- “If Pavarotti had come along and offered to sing Sex Action, I’d have probably said, ‘Yeah, you’re in’”: the wild tale of LA Guns, Hollywood’s most chaotic band
- “I love people and I hate people at the same time. I’ve a lot of passion”: how Gojira took took metal in a whole new direction with L’Enfant Sauvage
- “You can stay small but, if you have something to say, you need to utilise these things”: Why James Hetfield is glad a Metallica fan spat on him in 1989
- “It was never released because Chris thought it didn’t need him”: 20 years since The Streets’ Dry Your Eyes hit Number One, hear the unreleased version featuring Coldplay’s Chris Martin
- “We grew up with the album Crises from Mike Oldfield… The Beatles’ I Want You (She’s So Heavy) could be one of our songs”: From eco activism to maddening production values, there’s more to Gojira than you might think
- July 26
-
- “The world is full of cowards. You see cowards a lot when you’re doing something that’s honest, because you remind people of their own dishonesty.” Remembering Sinéad O'Connor, one year on
- The 16 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- "It's nice to see that people still care." How beloved thrash metallers Power Trip rose again following the tragic loss of Riley Gale to deliver 2024's most welcome surprise comeback
- Cool new prog music you must hear from TesseracT, God Is An Astronaut, Dim Gray and more in Prog's Tracks Of The Week
- "My wife dying has given life a different meaning." Andreas Kisser and Derrick Green on reunions, new projects and the future of Sepultura
- “We found out Robert Fripp listened to our music while soaking in the bath, so we asked him to play”: Dave Bainbridge on the life and times of Iona
- July 25
-
- 10 awesome independent UK festivals still to come in summer 2024
- "The best way to be anonymous in a band is by not forming a band. Don’t do it!" How Ghost fought Hollywood to make their own blockbuster movie, Rite Here Rite Now
- “When the mood took them, the prog legends of the 70s could write simple but catchy music with aplomb”: The 40 greatest Yes songs ever
- "I can't believe all these people are buying a single about death!": Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, Lindisfarne's Lady Eleanor was written during an overnight shift in a psychiatric ward
- July 24
-
- “I like to be technical, I like to be fast and I like to do intricate things – but it’s always important to have the passion and the feel”: Why Kris Barras loves Planet X
- “Yes, we sell out – we sell out every seat in the house, every time we play!” 11 times Metallica were accused of ‘selling out’ for ridiculous reasons
- "They're hitting tired, bored people that want to pull their hair out and paint their face green." The teenage Kate Bush loved punk rock's energy, originality and "guts"
- “I had a great substitute teacher who lent me albums by King Crimson, Gentle Giant and Genesis. He had a prog band called Butt-Crack”: Rikard Sjöblom’s musical world
- "Jeff Beck's not here on the planet anymore. So we're gonna do our bit, you know?": Battlesnake are here to save humanity from mediocrity
- "It's crazy how disposable artists are in America. In Europe they treat artists with a ton more respect": Mitch Ryder on his long, schizophrenic career
- "I was left standing alone in the dark, trying to match up to these iconic singers that had gone before": The chaotic tale of Black Sabbath's Tony Martin era
- July 23
-
- “The audience were either totally mesmerized or totally disgusted.” The night that Hüsker Dü played a single note for 35 minutes as an encore
- "While I made the album alone, the bassist and drummer fell out with each other": The Tangent's Andy Tillison wound up arguing with himself as he created To Follow Polaris
- “I’m not a classical composer… but with a 16-piece orchestra you get a big lift that you can’t reproduce on anything else”: When Andy Mackay took Roxy Music tracks on a new journey
- "She said she wouldn't do it with anybody except Mike Tyson": The improbable story of Joan Jett's strangest photoshoot
- "Murder and mayhem never had their way, though the potential was there": A story of Moby Grape, chaos and courtrooms, acid trips and white witches
- Jon Bon Jovi masterminded one of the biggest and biggest-selling bands of his era, and became one of its biggest rock stars. But there's more – so much more
- July 22
-
- “I thought Syd could do no wrong. It’s so sad that he couldn’t continue with the fever he started with. ” Why David Bowie was “passionately in love with” Syd Barrett and took huge influence from his “magical" time in Pink Floyd
- "The absolute best vehicle for communicating our emotions is through the medium of stories, imagery and fantasy." The story of young UK proggers Azure
- "Emails were exchanged with Ian Anderson, containing something that could be described as music": Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt is unable to tell you what he'd like to tell you
- “It seemed like prog had run its course… he kickstarted the second wave”: Pendragon’s Nick Barrett wants Marillion co-founder Mick Pointer to get credit for his influence
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now
- July 21
-
- “A highly consistent and often underrated catalogue”: Every Kittie album ranked from worst to best
- “Did we do drugs in the studio? Of course. What could be better than three or four bongs before you start recording?”: how stoner-doom kings Electric Wizard made the classic Dopethrone album
- “We were the belt-and-braces Pink Floyd – basic yobbos”: how Hawkwind boldly went where no band had gone before on psychedelic masterpiece In Search Of Space
- "I knew immediately it was a heavy-hitting song": Soundgarden on how they made Black Hole Sun
- "Imagine. Your phone rings and it's Anthony Hopkins": Anvil's career has taken them to unexpected places, but now they've got everything they ever wanted
- "I have stood on stage during some difficult situations": Journey's Jonathan Cain on band animosity, the long life of Don't Stop Believin', and why they don't play Germany
- July 20
-
- “We’ve really fought. In one day something can blow up into a full-scale war. There’s been days I’ve quit the band”: how System Of A Down turned friction into genius with Toxicity
- "I always say, he’s from outer space somewhere": Prince's old bandmates on the otherworldly magic of being in his crew
- 7 new progressive metal albums that break all the genre’s rules
- “We didn’t meander into obscurity and make records that I wasn’t proud of. None of that ever happened”: the epic story of Soundgarden, the superstar grunge band who didn’t want to be superstars
- "I wasn’t concerned if people who liked The Downward Spiral would like this": Trent Reznor on the making of Nine Inch Nails' epic 1999 masterpiece The Fragile
- July 19
-
- The 15 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- Great new proggy music you must hear from Ulver, Simone Simons, Dark Sky Burial and more in Prog's Tracks Of The Week
- “There are qualities of grandeur and flight in her music, yet it comes across as totally unpretentious and emotionally grounded”: Remembering Sandy Denny
- July 18
-
- The 100 Songs That Changed Metal
- Every Sleater-Kinney album ranked from worst to best
- “These kids say they’ve been here before and talk about their sky parent. That’s more than a sprinkling of prog… that’s three and a half cups!” Despite being tagged as a metal band, Karnivool know the truth
- "A perfect storm of obstacles and misfortunes": New England released one of the greatest AOR albums of all time, but their career was derailed by the Pope
- "I had never heard anything that raw and heavy and fast in my life": Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy picks the 10 albums that changed his life
- July 17
-
- “He goes, ‘This isn’t as good as the first album.’ The song became a bit like a baseball, but now it’s a favourite. It was a struggle for two or three months”: How Six By Six faced down their doubts for second record Beyond Shadowland
- “I'm very, very, very, very competitive... and I've got unfinished business.” Travis' Fran Healy talks poverty, celebrity, car-jacking, insecurity, Radiohead, Coldplay, and why it's no sin to want to teach the world to sing
- "Samara from The Ring is a fashion icon!" Genre-mashing Eurovision star Bambie Thug names the five horror movies that have terrified them the most
- “Every song has an element of odd. I like to push against our audience, ourselves, our producer… and see how far that can go before it breaks”: The prog credentials of Baroness
- "Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong": Praying Mantis once vied with Iron Maiden for attention, but setbacks and bad decisions took them on a very different journey
- "I knew we were going nowhere fast and I had to get out": Triumph were on the cusp of superstardom – then they let it all go
- "You have a right to a complete show. You paid for it. If they cut the power, be my guests, do what you want": Chaos, no-shows and bomb scares on Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion tour
- July 16
-
- 10 artists that defined 2000Trees festival 2024
- “Because Dad did his album I thought, ‘Do I really want to put this out there?’” Despite Rick’s legendary work, Oliver Wakeman includes one wife of Henry VIII in his new solo record
- "He did the heroin, fell down, and stopped breathing": If you want wild and dangerous tales, Johnny Winter's story has them all
- July 15
- July 14
-
- "Playing live to 100 million people. It gets to you at times": The chaotic story of the day Pink Floyd hired an oil rig to play Venice and the mayor lost his job
- “Nu metal? No guitar solos! Everyone played with their pants down round their ankles… It was a bleak period, but we came through it”: how Megadeth kicked off the 2010s with the blazing Th1rt3en album
- “There was a crunching noise, as the plane hit the tarmac, and the propellers and engines flew off, along with the odd bit of wing”: the epic life and mad musical journey of Rick Wakeman, keyboard wizard and Knight Templar
- “In a world of dunces, everything bad is blamed on the devil. Yet it’s the Church who promote a lot of things that are genuinely bad for mankind”: how Ghost kicked things to the next level with Infestissumam
- “We’re basically like two guys running in a three-legged race, we’re tied together and that’s just how it is”: The Cult’s Billy Duffy on his relationship with frontman Ian Astbury
- “I couldn’t be arsed and James said, ‘Why don’t we ask Duff McKagan?’”: Nicky Wire on the time the Guns N' Roses legend played bass on a Manics song
- "My organs began to shut down. I was travelling in the astral world. It was magic": Masters Of Reality's Chris Goss on the dark side of Rick Rubin, the bright side of Ginger Baker, and surviving the music industry
- July 13
-
- “I spent a lot of time investigating cults and they’re out there. I believe that there’s more going on than we know about”: how The Black Dahlia Murder shone a spotlight on real-life human evil with Ritual
- “Eddie Van Halen could say: ‘I got this idea,’ and Sammy could pick up a guitar and go, ‘Yes, but what about this?’” why Sammy Hagar is the greatest guitar hero no one talks about
- Five bands you must not miss at Radar Festival this year
- “They managed to have artistic integrity at the level they were operating at and were decent people”: Radiohead drummer Philip Selway on what the band learned from R.E.M.
- “I was very pretentious. On the early albums I was writing things I thought I should write. But all I ever wanted to do was write pop songs”: how ELO conquered the planet with mini-symphonies and giant spaceships
- “Americans tried to write songs and harmonies. We didn’t care about that. We just wanted to be filthy!”: the snarling, savage story of German thrash
- July 12
-
- 4 brilliant new metal bands you need to hear this month
- Cool new proggy sounds from Lizzard, Ebony Buckle, Exist Immortal and more in Prog's Tracks Of The Week
- The 13 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- "The security guard opens it up, and of course in there is a sword." European folk superstars Heilung reveal some of the unique challenges that come when your live show features bones, weapons and animal bits
- “So many bands came through and ripped us off”: how death metal icons Obituary came in from the cold with comeback album Frozen In Time – and a little help from Andrew WK
- “Anybody that doesn’t get along with John Petrucci must be a really big asshole”: Why the Dream Theater guitarist is Steve Vai’s prog hero
- July 11
-
- “It’s almost like we’re so preposterously uncool that somehow we became cool”: the turbulent story of Dream Theater’s Images And Words, the album that changed the face of prog metal
- “I thought he was very unique. He really had something crazy, something great.” How meeting infamous cult leader Charles Manson inspired Neil Young to write a song so dark that his own bandmates refused to play it live for almost 30 years
- “It’s about an underlying optimism or faith in humanity. The quotes have a positive message, even if they’re said in a fairly ridiculous way”: Public Service Broadcasting’s first small steps that led to giant leaps
- “It’s not as if Jarvis cracked Michael Jackson on the head with a baseball bat, which is what I woulda done.” Oasis had a lot of fun annoying everyone at the 1996 Brit Awards
- “Listen to Romeo And Juliet by Prokofiev. It’s one of the heaviest pieces of music you’ll ever hear”: The magic and mystery – but not genius – of Muse’s first decade
- "The show was vilified by the record companies because artists were insulted on a regular basis": In 1974 Captain Beefheart appeared on Dutch TV show Van Oekel's Discohoek: Even by his standards, it was weird
- "The best gig of all time": What happened when Van Halen played a secret show at a tiny New York club
- A guide to harmonica blues in five essential albums
- July 10
-
- "I came out in that knight costume to God Save The Queen...The Queen died like a week later.” A conversation with Joey Valance & Brae, the duo finally bringing some fun back to hip hop
- “It’s hard to justify to friends who don’t get it that you make a living, but you’re not goddamn Led Zeppelin and not playing cover sets at the bar”: Between The Buried And Me just do what they do
- “Here they are! Willie’s poopie pants!” Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe once went hunting for his guitarist’s soiled jeans in the woods and made a short film about it
- "My girlfriend had to leave the room when I played the album": The 10 records that changed Fish's life
- "Led Zeppelin left behind a body of music that defined the term 'progressive rock', but in the truest sense of the word": The case for Led Zeppelin, uncrowned kings of prog rock
- July 9
-
- “Their first couple of albums, they were a good band. After that... boring.” AC/DC's late, no-nonsense leader Malcolm Young wasn't impressed by Led Zeppelin
- 10 songs we want Sepultura to play before they retire
- "We're five mates who get on a plane on Friday, have fun shouting at some nice people on Saturday and come home on Sunday": The low-key, hit-free career-in-reverse of Cock Sparrer
- "He's in a good place, vibrationally. He has a message for Angus": In 1997 AC/DC bore witness to a seance during which contact with Bon Scott was attempted
- July 8
-
- “It was alive and exciting and subversive.” Why Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones chose to work with Texan noise-punk weirdos Butthole Surfers, and what he found the two bands had in common
- "I've learned to embrace the sides of me that I used to consider darker." Maria Brink on the In This Moment album that let her explore her "eccentric" side
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now
- July 7
-
- "Girls talk to me when I play": Chris Spedding took up the guitar nearly seventy years ago and he's still in demand
- “It suddenly escalated when a Mercedes in the car park got trashed… it belonged to the hotel manager”: the night Oasis wrecked London’s most rock’n’roll hotel and got a lifetime ban for their efforts
- "Eddie Vedder is running the shop today": the time the Pearl Jam frontman reported for duty at his local record store
- “Syd was always experimenting. He had a very open sort of mind, to an almost dangerous degree”: the truth behind the myth of Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd’s original singer and psychedelic icon
- July 6
-
- “There are so many bands who’ve been influenced by us, even if they don’t f***ing know it”: why the world needed death metal sickos Carcass to reunite and make Surgical Steel
- “I believe we’ve made a huge leap forward this time. This is our Radiohead moment!”: how Iron Maiden made a 21st century masterpiece with A Matter Of Life And Death
- “We used to cover Problem Child in the early days. We did it two or three times in front of an audience”: we got Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott to pick his ultimate AC/DC setlist
- “I wrote a few emails saying ‘I’d like to give my songs to the public’… he wasn’t interested”: Paul Heaton tried to nationalise his back catalogue, the Tories said no
- “The Jilted Generation is all the kids who’ve grown up on this supposedly corrupt dance music”: revisiting The Prodigy’s era-defining second record, 30 years on
- “We were on the right track at the start, but drugs and booze made us lose our way”: the explosive story of Wild Horses, the supergroup who had it all and threw it away
- July 5
-
- The 11 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- Great new proggy sounds from Swallow The Sun, Kingcrow, delving and more in Prog's Tracks Of The Week
- “There are people listening to Sleep Token now who started out listening to Busted.” Watch Busted discuss metal's gatekeepers, tribalism, and their hurt at being abused by the rock community when they first started
- A beginner's guide to power pop in five essential albums
- July 4
-
- If Emily Eavis is looking for great young rock artists to play Glastonbury, look no further than the incredible modern metal scene
- “We were going to be The Fabulous Stains for real.” How a cult movie featuring Diane Lane, Ray Winstone, and members of The Sex Pistols and The Clash inspired a new generation of women to play punk rock
- “When there’s a crisis, it’s musicians, actors and comedians who step up and get things done – so put us in charge”: Rick Wakeman’s election manifesto on behalf of the Progressive Rock Party
- "It's the worst album in the history of mankind": This is the soundtrack of Al Jourgensen's life
- "Rice Krispies for you and you and you!" That time the Rolling Stones were paid £400 to record a jingle for Kellogg's Rice Krispies
- July 3
-
- “We took his trousers off, gaffer-taped him to one of the girders and left him there to be photographed by Japanese tourists.” That time The Stranglers gaffer-taped a journalist to the Eiffel Tower, 400 feet off the ground
- "Tipper Gore, as misguided as she may have been, her heart was kind of in the right place." Inside Cover Your Ears, the thoughtful new documentary on music censorship starring Dee Snider, Chuck D, Jello Biafra and more
- "Lars smiled: 'What do you think?' 'You need more guitar solos, that’s for sure.'" How Metallica kickstarted thrash metal and changed the game forever with a "sloppy" little demo track called Hit The Lights
- “It’s so nice having this youthful enthusiasm and energy. It isn’t just a bunch of grumpy old men – myself included!” How Derek Sherinian and Bumblefoot levelled up from Sons Of Apollo to Whom Gods Destroy
- "Brian Jones picked me up and sat me on top of the fruit machine": Why I love Brian Jones, by Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman
- In 1991 a student from Akron, Ohio, won Axl Rose's apartment in Hollywood in an MTV competition: First, she had to evict him
- July 2
-
- “I imagine there’s more unlistened to copies of Killtaker than any other Fugazi album.” Nirvana may have brought 'alternative rock' to the masses, but for Fugazi, America's greatest punk band, the fall-out proved to be “a real nightmare”
- 11 acts that defined Glastonbury 2024
- “When The Spirit Of Radio came on she sang every word. I knew right then she was the one”: Crown Lands’ Kevin Comeau discovered Rush at 14, forging two marriages made in Heaven
- "Tobias Forge is a nerd." Rite Here Rite Now director Alex Ross Perry opens up on helping to bring Ghost's first movie to life
- Billie Joe Armstrong calls Bad Nerves "the best new band in England right now" but they're ready to take on the world - even if it means living at home with mum
- "On a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time": The story of the Bruce Springsteen show that saved his career and made him a star
- "We knew how good we were. That on our day we needn't be afraid of anybody": In 1970 Free had the world in the palm of their hands... and they let it blow away
- July 1
-
- "My hope is that most fans of progressive music are fans of experimental stuff, so I leave it in their capable hands." How Simon Godfrey returned with Shineback
- “Peter Gabriel was forced to start slipping into this persona… If we’d not had two 12-strings to retune, would he ever have started telling all those stories?” Why so many musicians envy Anthony Phillips’ career after Genesis
- “Prog? There was a university pretentiousness about it. People asked what we did and I’d say, ‘10cc music’”: However you describe it, The Original Soundtrack is a progressive landmark
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now
