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Hot Press
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Hot Press is a fortnightly music and political magazine founded in 1977, based in Dublin, Ireland. It is distinguished by its anti-establishment stance and championing of Irish music, most notably early U2. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it had a circulation of 19,215 during 2007. It has won a number of PPAI Awards, including Website of the Year (2003 & 2007), Magazine of the Year (2002) and Publisher of the Year (2004) and has been cited by independent sources such as The Irish Times and the British based NME.
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Encyclopedia
Hot Press is a fortnightly music and political magazine founded in 1977, based in Dublin, Ireland. It is distinguished by its anti-establishment stance and championing of Irish music, most notably early U2. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it had a circulation of 19,215 during 2007. It has won a number of PPAI Awards, including Website of the Year (2003 & 2007), Magazine of the Year (2002) and Publisher of the Year (2004) and has been cited by independent sources such as The Irish Times and the British based NME. Rory Gallagher featured on the cover of the first issue. The magazine title is a play on the term "hot press", a common Irish term referring to a domestic airing cupboard.
The magazine has regularly tended to feature interviews with politicians, breaking stories that are later covered by national and international news agencies. It is also known for having conducted one of the last interviews with the model Katy French before her death in 2007. Kings of Leon used a February 2003 edition of the magazine featuring the band on the cover as part of the artwork for their 2004 single "California Waiting".
Regular features
- The Mad Hatter's Box - A random well-known person is asked random questions about themselves.
- The Shooting Gallery - Features letters from readers, responses from the editorial team to these letters and choice cuts from the HOTPRESS Message board. A Letter of the Fortnight is selected to win a €20 Dolphin Discs voucher.
- The Message An article by someone, usually the editor, Niall Stokes. Notable exceptions include the 2006 Christmas Special which featured a Christmas Message from Podge and Rodge who wrote of how Ballydung Manor had been "inundated with D to Z list celebs for much of the year".
- Music News with Stuart Clark. Features the latest from the Irish music scene as well as international events.
- Frontlines - Investigation and analysis of a significant piece of current affairs, e.g. Youtube, Borat, drink-driving...
- Sexed Up with Anne Sexton. Features stories from her life, top sex tips, the sex life of a well-known person and The Sex O'Clock News (a look at the latest sexual innovations).
- Bootboy with Dermod Moore - A personal take on sex, men, politics...
- Sounding Off - The latest from the music scene in general. Contains interviews with bands and musicians.
- What's Going On - A complete guide to what's happening at the moment with extensive listings covering TV, radio, gigs, comedy, clubbing,exhibitions and theatre.
- The Moviehouse with Tara Brady. Features movie reviews and interviews with actors, directors, producers, etc.
- At Home With... - A piece about life at home with a well-known person.
- On The Game with John Walshe. Features games reviews.
- Hot Looks - Fashion feature where a guest shows off their unique style.
- Hoot Press - Comedy guide.
- Garageland - A comprehensive section covering news, views, information, gossip and demos on the homefront.
- Folk Centre with Greg McAteer. Features the latest news from the world of folk and traditional music.
- Hit The North with Colin Carberry. Features the latest music news from Northern Ireland.
- Charts - Top 30 singles and albums, what we were listening to 10 years ago, and download and ringtone charts.
- The Phantom - Out and about stories with images of social events and people.
History
Music
A large number of the most popular artists from the world of rock’n’roll and pop music have been interviewed by Hot Press, including those as diverse as David Bowie, Bob Marley, The Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fleetwood Mac, R.E.M., Kate Bush, Radiohead, Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, The Smiths, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Oasis, Blur, New Order, 50 Cent, Green Day, Foo Fighters, The Strokes, Kylie Minogue, Westlife, Massive Attack, Alicia Keys, David Gray, PJ Harvey Robbie Williams, Beyoncé, and many more.
In recent times, Hot Press has published interviews with the new breed of modern rock band, championing Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, Editors, Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, Maxïmo Park, Muse, Razorlight, HARD-Fi and Keane among others. In 2006, Hot Press also interviewed some of the more popular emerging solo artists and songwriters of that year from James Blunt and Sandi Thom to Lily Allen and Nellie Furtado.
Well-known Irish artists from U2 and Enya through Bob Geldof, Sinéad O'Connor, The Cranberries, The Frames, Snow Patrol, Damien Rice and Ash to David Holmes, The Thrills and The Corrs have been interviewed extensively by the magazine, as well as the more recent or up-and-coming Irish artists such as Bell X1, Humanzi, Future Kings of Spain, Delorentos, Director, The Blizzards and Republic of Loose, as well as reviewing music from The Marshals, The Immediate, Ham Sandwich, The Flaws, Travega and The Aftermath.
Festivals
Hot Press covers all the major international music events, as well as Irish festivals such as Oxegen, Electric Picnic, Live at the Marquee, Cois Fharraige and Heineken Green Energy.
- Hot Press released a special edition of their magazine in the weeks leading up to the Electric Picnic which took place in September 2006. Its cover was filled with those bands and artists who played the festival. The issue featured interviews with the bands that played at the festival. A free CD was also distributed with each issue featuring ten songs from these artists, including Bloc Party, Duke Special, Broken Social Scene, Gang of Four, Hot Chip and Elbow.
- A similar edition was published prior to the 2008 festival in August 2008, which included a free CD entitled Unlaoised. The Flaws, Boss Volenti and Dark Room Notes were amongst the bands whose music was featured on the CD.
- A CD featuring artists from Cork was free with a special edition of Hot Press published before Live at the Marquee in June 2008.
Music-related interviews
Over the years Hot Press has featured some of the most significant stories in the music world, both in Ireland and internationally:
- Hot Press covered the rise of U2 since the late 1970s.
- Sinéad O'Connor talked first to Hot Press about her lesbianism.
- Hot Press writer Stuart Clark was present on the day that Oasis came closest to splitting up. He gained an insight into the life of Noel Gallagher, including an interruption to the interview during which the Oasis songwriter was told that Liam would not be gigging with the band that night.
"Fuck, no way man," he (Noel Gallagher) insists. "I'll probably get away with it tonight but I'm not as good a singer as he is. I'd much rather be stood in front of me amplifier doing the odd backing-vocal. The cunt! I tell you what I'm tempted to do - go on stage and tell the crowd his room number so they can go round the hotel and get their money back off him."
Politics
Hot Press has had a strong liberal left wing stance on politics and social issues. During the 2007 General Election it supported many smaller left wing parties such as the Green Party and Labour. It currently is critical of the Fianna Fáil government, pro Seanad reform and was opposed to the June 2007 decision of the Irish Film Censor's Office to ban the videogame Manhunt 2 This is the first time a video game has been refused certification by the IFCO.
Politics-related interviews
Hot Press has interviewed among others President of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams, DUP's Ian Paisley, Jr. MLA, leader of the Green Party, John Gormley and Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen.
- "The sort of smug know-all commentator... I suppose if anything annoys me, that annoys me... I could instance a load of fuckers whose throat I'd cut, and push over the nearest cliff, but there's no percentage in that." – Former Taoiseach Charles Haughey speaking to
Hot Press writer John Waters in 1984.
In his May 2007 interview with Jason O'Toole, former Minister for Health Cowen admitted to smoking marijuana, saying, "Anyone who went to the UCD bar in the ‘70s that didn’t get a whiff of marijuana would be telling you a lie. I would say there were a couple of occasions when it was passed around – and, unlike President Clinton, I did inhale! There wasn’t a whole lot in it really – (it was like) a Sweet Afton, as a 10-year-old, under a railway bridge on a rainy day, in small town Ireland in the late ‘60s. I certainly got more enjoyment out of a few pints." This confession later provoked much criticism from opposition parties in the Dáil. Mr. Cowen later became Taoiseach following the resignation of Bertie Ahern.
In June 2007, DUP's Ian Paisley, Jr. MLA caused uproar in an interview with Hot Press by publicly denouncing acts associated with homosexuality. This was the year before Iris Robinson, wife of First Minister, Peter Robinson made her thoughts on the issue.
A December 2008 interview with Irish European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy was the subject of news stories and other commentary in a number of Irish based newspapers, including the Irish Independent, the Irish Star, the Irish Mirror, The Sun, the Irish Mail, the Mail On Sunday and The Irish Times and was covered extensively on radio, on RTE News and in other television including TV3's The Political Party. Internationally the interview was covered by the Wall Street Journal and the Morning Star, and the main news in Denmark featured it, as well as Das Journal in Austria, Diário Digital in Portugal and France's leading daily paper, Le Monde. The interview, conducted once again by Jason O'Toole (on this occasion in Brussels), had McCreevy say that Ireland's decision to reject the Lisbon Treaty had to be respected by the rest of Europe. McCreevy also revealed that he was pro-choice when it came to matters of abortion.
2006-08
The Hot Press Annual 2007 (published in 2006) featured interviews with the Scissor Sisters and others.
The first issue of 2007 was a Simpsons special where there is an exclusive interview with the show's executive producer Mike Scully. It included musicians such as Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody and other celebrities talking about their favourite Simpsons shows/moments. 2007 was also the year that Hot Press announced a war against ticket touts following a number of high profile incidents, such as the Arcade Fire ticket fiasco.
2008 saw Hot Press break the news of the 2008 BCI Irish music crisis.
Katy French interview
In an interview with Hot Presss Jason O'Toole model Katy French revealed that she would consider having an abortion if she got pregnant during the peak of her career and that she loved fur despite being a "massive animal lover". She also aired her religious beliefs (she was a Protestant but also practised Catholicism) and spoke highly of Islam and her Muslim friends saying, "When you read the Koran, you realise that Islam is a beautiful religion". In the same interview she was asked if she had ever used cocaine and denied ever having done so. Yet in November 2007, French confessed to an Irish tabloid that she had previously been a regular abuser of cocaine in the past only to be come disillusioned with this. In the early hours of Sunday December 2, Katy collapsed at a friend's house in Ashbourne, County Meath. She died at Our Lady's Hospital in Navan on the evening of December 6 just six weeks after her Hot Press interview was published. The interview became a regular source of information for newspaper reports in the aftermath, and was revisited in the Hot Press Annual 2008 which went to press just as she died.
Books
Hot Press has published a number of books:
- A Man In A Woman's Worldby Jackie Hayden, general manager of Hot Press (co-published in Nov 2007 with Killynon House Books.)
- , by Dermod Moore, 2005. A collection of essays by the magazine's columnist aka Bootboy.
- The Rooms, by Declan Lynch, 2005. The third novel from Declan Lynch.
- The Palace of Wisdom (Sex Lines & The Story of O), by Olaf Tyaransen (2004, 2002, 2000) (all of Olaf Tyaransen's books have covers featuring paintings by Irish Artist Graham Knuttel
- McCann: War & Peace in Northern Ireland, by Eamonn McCann, 1998.
- My Boy, by Philomena Lynott with Jackie Hayden, 1996 Synopsis: The story of Phil Lynott as told by his mother. It is also her story, from the days as a single mother bringing up a young black child in Manchester and Dublin, through the heady success of Thin Lizzy, to the tragic chain of events which ended her son's life and plunged her into depression.
CDs
- Hot Press issues free CDs on an irregular basis. These have included:
- Phil Lynott: The Lost Recordings which was rereleased with an issue in August 2006 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Phil Lynott's death. The CD featured five recordings which had never been released, including two tracks that had never been heard before.
Contributors
Past writers for Hot Press have included the authors of BAFTA award winning Father Ted, Graham Linehan & Arthur Mathews, Sunday Times television reviewer Liam Fay, author and Daily Telegraph columnist Neil McCormick, the late Bill Graham, Sunday Business Post US correspondent Niall Stanage, Irish Examiner soccer correspondent Liam Mackey, Irish Times columnist John Waters, food writer John McKenna author, Sunday Independent journalist Declan Lynch and Guardian football writer and Football Weekly regular Barry Glendenning.
Competitions
As part of their thirtieth birthday celebrations in 2007, Hot Press ran a competition in association with Vodafone Ireland with a top prize of winning an internship at Hot Press. They asked sixth year and third-level students to submit no more than four hundred words about any music subject of their choice and the competition closed on January 29 2007.
Four students won an internship at Hot Press, which took place in the summer or autumn of 2007 at the winner's discretion, as well as other prizes.
The panel of judges included seasoned writers and musicians, such as Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy; best-selling author Alex Barclay; Paul Howard of Ross O'Carroll-Kelly fame; Hot Press editor Niall Stokes and deputy editor Stuart Clark.
Awards
Amongst Hot Presss awards are a photojournalism award for magazine photographer Graham Keogh.
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| 2009 || Graham Keogh's moshpit photo of Bruce Springsteen || Arts category of the AIB Photojournalism Awards || 3rd
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Covers
| 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | | | | | 2000 | | | | | 2001 | | | | | 2002 | | | | | 2003 | | | | | 2004 | | | | | 2005 | | | | 1996 | 2006 | | | | 1997 | 2007 | | | | 1998 | 2008 | | | | 1999 | 2009 | |
Annuals
External links
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