Music and Rock

Interview: Friendly Fires plan to get the crowds dancing at RockNess 2012

Ed Macfarlane on festivals, pop music and dancing ‘like an idiot’

28 May 2012

Friendly Fires blur the lines between indie and dance music, so their brand of punk funk should fit in perfectly at RockNess. Hailing from St Albans in Hertfordshire they were nominated for the Mercury Music prize for their debut eponymous album, which…

Slash interview - Full transcript

16 Jun 2010

Born in Stoke on Trent, Saul Hudson became Slash after a move to LA at the age of 11. Now one of the world’s most iconic guitarists who gave us the timeless riffs from ‘Welcome to the Jungle’, ‘Paradise City’ and ‘Sweet Child of Mine’. After leaving…

Steel Panther, Saxon and Dilinger Escape Plan added to Download 2010 bill

23 Mar 2010

A further 22 names have been announced by rock and metal festival Download to perform on the 2010 bill. Steel Panther, HIM, Saxon, Airbourne, Coheed & Cambria, 36 Crazyfists, Dilinger Escape Plan, Dommin, Taking Dawn, Unearth, Cinderella, A Day To…

Summer Festivals 2012: Biffy Clyro - interview

The band's James Johnston discusses their headline slot at RockNess

25 May 2012

Despite the unusual time signatures, the uncompromising riffs, the bizarro lyrics and the beards, somehow Biffy Clyro have become one of the biggest rock bands in the UK. Even their hits – ‘That Golden Rule’, ‘Mountains’ and ‘Many of Horror…

Patti Smith - Banga

Unique album of punk poetry populated by rocky arias, improvised psalms and lyrical reveries

22 May 2012

You may have heard that Patti Smith dedicates a song to Amy Winehouse on her 11th studio album, Banga. This takes the form of a syrupy ballad, ‘This is the Girl’, and its intentions are honourable, but look beyond it: there are greater, more defiant…

Summer Festivals 2012: Here We Go Magic - interview

The band's Luke Temple gets ready for their slot at T in the Park

25 May 2012

‘I’m kind of a late bloomer, really,’ testifies Luke Temple, singer and songwriter in chief with Brooklynite indie-pop contenders Here We Go Magic. ‘I didn’t start writing songs until 2000, until I was about 25, and up ‘til then I’d only listened to…

Melvins Lite – Freak Puke

Experimental craziness from the long-running grungers' reduced incarnation

24 May 2012

You can never really expect every album by these insanely experimental men to sound the same. Even after 29 years of performing and recording together, The Melvins (or Melvins Lite, in this case) somehow manage to remain enthusiastic and creative in an…

Jonsi's live multimedia extravaganza tours UK

Sigur Ros singer on UK tour

22 Aug 2010

The majestic, cinematic voice of Jonsi, lead singer of Sigur Ros, should make for a shivers-up-the-spine performance. Supported by Mountain Man, a misleadingly named trio of twentysomething female folk singers from Vermont. O2 Academy, Glasgow, Sun…

Summer Festivals 2012: Death in Vegas - interview

A chat with Richard Fearless ahead of his RockNess performance

25 May 2012

As British music finally dragged itself out of a post-Britpop hangover around the turn of the century, Death in Vegas were among the most quintessential of festival bands. 1999’s The Contino Sessions and 2002’s Scorpio Rising were staples of any…

Friends - Manifest!

An insidiously hooky album that's sometimes brilliant, sometimes bloomin’ annoying

22 May 2012

There are songs you can’t get out of your head, and then there are songs you wish you could get out of your head. In the latter category: ‘Hey Baby’ by DJ Otzi. In the former: Friends’ ‘Friend Crush’ and ‘I’m His Girl’. The Brooklyn band’s well-blogged…

Stag & Dagger, various venues, Glasgow, Sat 19 May

Eleanor Friedberger and Miaoux Miaoux play as part of 13 hour gig crawl

22 May 2012

While its London sister seems to have died a death, presumably smothered by a surfeit of such hipster-friendly crawls and brawls in the English capital, the Glasgow leg of multi-venue one-dayer Stag and Dagger happily lives on, albeit with perhaps a…

Interview: Ash get ready for RockNess 2012

Northern Irish rockers Ash get ready for their only Scottish festival of the year

24 May 2012

Famous for the instantly catchy pop rock of tracks like ‘Kung Fu’, ‘Burn Baby Burn’ and ‘Girl From Mars’ Ash formed as teenagers in Northern Ireland back in 1992. Juggling homework with gigs and recording sessions they released the instant smash 1977 in…

Biffy Clyro - Only Revolution

And evolution too chaps?

16 Oct 2009

It’s all making sense now with Biffy Clyro, since Muse showed that you didn’t need to follow the entirely conventional path and attain rock band enormodome status. And it’s not like with the demise of Oasis there will be a flood of rock geeks filling up…

Calvin Harris

10 Sep 2009

The Dumfries born disk jockey and all round music maestro is riding high on the success of his latest album ‘Ready For The Weekend’ charting at number one in the UK, cementing his position as the premier recording DJ in Britain. His first album, the 80s…

Twin Atlantic - Vivarium

3 Sep 2009

Not since the sacred Biffy Clyro has The List been this excited about a bunch of young Scottish rockers. Twin Atlantic conjure up images of early Idlewild and Foo Fighters with a post-rock twist, and one listen to mini debut offering Vivarium proves why…

Emeli Sande - King Tut’s, Glasgow, Mon 15 Nov, 2010

Voice of UK rap-pop hits tours classically-styled soul material

23 Nov 2010

Acknowledging the fact there were representatives of London record labels in the house for this last date of a short Scottish tour, Aberdonian singer Emeli Sande seemed every inch the promising young singer-songwriter trying hard to make an impression.

Foals and Toro Y Moi set for UK tour

Five reasons to go see nu-prog double header

26 Oct 2010

For their lies, for their sweet little lies Foals (pictured) are not baby horses, we can tell you that. And Toro Y Moi is not a bull. The former is a Mercury-nominated art-rock quintet from Oxford. The latter is one Chazwick Bundick: a hazy…

Exposure - Tango in the Attic

11 Jun 2009

Despite the apparently never-ending harsh times worldwide, Tango In The Attic actually sound like they’re having a lot of fun. Bright, colourful, and straight to the point, their songs have a charm to them that could very easily be overlooked and…

Exposure - Jonathan Coulton

16 Oct 2008

From his secret lair in Brooklyn, New York, evil genius Jonathan Coulton has been hatching plans for world domination since 2005. His hook-filled fuzz-rock anthems about zombies, Tom Cruise, the Mandelbrot set and cyborg girlfriends have won him a…

The Son(s) – Leviathan EP

Remarkable EP of lo-fi subtlety and intimacy from the mystery-shrouded artist(s)

24 May 2012

Having consulted an online resource to find a definition of the word 'leviathan' I was met with the task of trying to come to terms with how a mythological sea creature that is manifested as some kind of demon incarnate would find context in the lush…

Interview: Jakwob prepares for his live show at RockNess 2012

The dubstep producer talks remixes, Rocky and RockNess

23 May 2012

Young dubstep producer and DJ Jakwob (aka James Jacob) favours a jazzy take on bassy electronica. He first appeared on most people’s radar with his squelchy remix of Ellie Goulding’s ‘Under the Sheets’ and has since gone on to remix Lily Allen, MIA and…

Sigur Rós - Valtari

A typically dazzling record from the Icelandic cosmic folk-pop outfit

22 May 2012

The rumours of an ‘indefinite hiatus’ might have left us thinking that was it for Sigur Rós, but the four years since their previous album have amounted to little more than a bit of creative refreshment time. Valtari (the infinitely less satisfying to…

Interview: Ben Sims gets ready for RockNess 2012

The techno DJ/producer among names added to festival bill

13 Apr 2012

DJ Ben Sims has been announced for 2012’s RockNess festival, where he joins Soma Records on the Arcadia UFO stage. With over 20 years of DJ experience, running his own Theory label (among others), he’s renowned for his DJ skills using vinyl, CD and…

Incubus announce one-off 2012 UK show

The Californian rock group to play London's O2 Academy Brixton in July

11 Apr 2012

After their highly successful sell out If Not Now, When? world tour last year, fans will be pleased to hear that Incubus have now confirmed a one-off UK headline show for 2012. This performance will be highly anticipated by fans as the band were…

Pere Ubu, Mogwai, Thomas Truax and Zombie Zombie set for The Glasgow Music and Film Festival

17 Feb 2010

The Music and Film Festival is a strange beast, full of contradictions and tangents that threaten to pull apart its coherence, but ultimately make it the most exciting strand of this year’s Glasgow Film Festival. Co-curated by the Arches, and featuring…

Colette Thurlow of 2:54 - interview

The indie singer/guitarist discusses sibling bandmates and significant influences

27 Mar 2012

Like a louchely worn black leather jacket, moody guitar music will never go out of fashion – see 2:54 for proof on both counts. Having toured with Warpaint and The Big Pink since emerging a year ago, the London four-piece based around sisters Colette…

Pulp - It/Freaks/Separations

Reissue of first three albums from 1980s originally released on Fire

27 Jan 2012

(Fire) Testament to the 80s’capacity to incubate provincial bands until they’re ready for megastardom, Pulp’s first three albums on Fire were a career’s worth in themselves, although hardly anyone remembers. Containing, as all three of these reissues…

Shock rocker and horror film director Rob Zombie - full interview transcript

Musician and director's first UK tour for 12 years

15 Feb 2011

HN:This is your first UK tour for 12 years. Why it’s taken so long? RZ: Basically it’s taken me a pretty long time to get back to anywhere, I haven’t been outside of the US for a long time, basically the thing that’s got in the way of my world wide…

Dawn Landes

13 Nov 2009

With soft folky melodies inspired by Willie Nelson & Linda Ronstadt, Dawn Landes is a welcome addition to the country scene, infusing it with her own brand of nostalgic pop and occasional splashes of psychedelic rock. She’s touring on the back of her…

5 Reasons To Go See - The Cult

28 Feb 2008

The Cult might have a rather dubious legacy after more than a quarter of a century in the business, but they can lay claim to one of the finest rock’n’roll albums of the last 30 years, namely Electric, every inch of which is riff-drenched, wailing…

Silver Jews - Early Times 1990-91

Reissue of early works by David Berman, Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich

22 May 2012

Disbanded in 2009, David Berman’s Silver Jews project was a tremendous portmanteau of country and US indie that acted as a vehicle for Berman’s lyrics, his voice, smooth and unsteady as stretched taffy, often simply speaking the words in tune, offering…

Interview: Andrew Weatherall set for RockNess 2012

Esteemed DJ and producer on A Love From Outer Space and festivals

30 Mar 2012

Andrew Weatherall is just one of the new announcements for 2012’s RockNess line-up where he’ll be joining Soma Records who are taking control of the new Arcadia UFO. It’s a Scottish Festival exclusive as he’s joined by Sean Johnston as they present an…

Graham Coxon - A+E

Latest lo-fi gem from Blur guitarist delivers arch and ugly meditations

26 Mar 2012

(Parlophone) What need for Blur these days? While their will-they-won’t-they recorded reunion is a brand of comeback cock-teasery perfectly suited to the age of stone-bleeding revivalism, what will their eventual decision to just get on with it offer…

Vivian Girls - Cassie Ramone interview

'We are weathered women.’

21 Jun 2011

‘It kinda bums me out if a reviewer compares us to anything twee or C86,’ explains Cassie Ramone, frontwoman of Vivian Girls, taking a break from her laundry at home in Brooklyn to talk to The List. ‘Bands like that really weren’t an influence on us at…

RockNess 2011: Bus times, line-up and stages

New stages, weekend highlights and travel times

27 May 2011

RockNess have laid on three brand new arenas for 2011. Firstly, the Rock’n’Roll Circus will showcase cutting-edge music and comedy talent from the likes of Jamie Woon and The Cuban Brothers. Secondly, Glasgow clubbing institution Sub Club will present…

T in the Park 2010: Running order

7 Jul 2010

If you're heading to Balado this weekend you'll want to see this - the full running order for Scotland's mightiest music festival. Please note that the running order is subject to change, so we'll try to keep it as up to date as possible.

T in the Park 2010: Ten reasons to watch Muse

24 Jun 2010

How did this space age, prog rock three-piece become one of the most in-demand festival headliners in the UK? Henry Northmore explains all, with the top ten reasons why Muse are not to be missed at T in the Park

Picture gallery: Kiss

SECC, Glasgow Sun 9th May 2010

14 May 2010

Tonight's opening declaration - "You wanted the best, you got the best, the hottest band in the world: KISS!" - can be taken very literally, as the bands Sonic Boom Tour landed in Glasgow amid an inferno of 40ft high bellowing flames and exploding…

Monsters of Folk - Monsters Of Folk

3 Sep 2009

With a band made up of such indie big guns as Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes), Jim James of My Morning Jacket and singer-songwriter M Ward, you’d imagine there would be an almighty scrap over who took frontman duties. Not with Monsters Of…

Exposure: Telekinesis

26 Jun 2009

Telekinesis is the now somewhat expanded solo project of Seattle native, Michael Benjamin Lerner. Inspired by travels, and the people and places of the world around him (some he's never seen), the resulting sound is one of hope - bright, upbeat and…

Jeffree Star

5 Mar 2009

Model, fashion designer, MySpace superstar and singer, Jeffree Star is one of the new breed of web celebrities and self-styled ‘Queen of the internet’. A subversive and sometimes controversial figure famed for his transgressive ‘gender-bending…

Exposure: Cage The Elephant

11 Nov 2008

Who are Cage The Elephant? They are ‘five blue-collar renegades’ - namely Matt Schultz (vocals), his brother Brad (guitar) and their friends Daniel Titchenor (bass), Lincoln Parish (guitar) and Jared Champion (drums). Matt, Brad and Daniel grew up on an…

Slayer - Carling Academy, Glasgow, Mon 3 Nov

7 Nov 2008

Relentless. That’s what Slayer are. Relentless in that they have been battering us with a music that they pretty much help invent in the early 80s -- they were original thrash metal pioneers alongside Anthrax, Megadeth and Metallica -- and still revisit…

Brandi Carlile

13 Mar 2008

COUNTRY ROCK Barrowland, Glasgow, Thu 28 Feb It’s fairly rare to see a support act who will easily outlast a headliner, and even if the main attraction on this occasion was Newton Faulkner – an artist with all the staying power (and strangely the…

Sigur Rós - Hvarf-Heim

13 Dec 2007

ROCK (EMI) Released to loosely accompany the Icelandic outfit’s superb recent film, Heima, this two-CD album is a revelation. The Hvarf half contains outtakes and rarities from 12 years of full-band studio sessions and is full of the sumptuous epic…

Mary Epworth - Dream Life

A lavish and eclectic debut album from the folk-rock singer

22 May 2012

Where shall we begin? With the banjo twang, Black Sabbath fuzz and Goldfrapping blues-stomp of ‘Black Doe’? With the brass-toting folk-rock euphoria of ‘Long Gone’? With the swirling psych-pop of ‘Come Back to the Bough’? Or perhaps we should start…

Ride the RockNess Express - train details

The Express will pick up festival goers from London, Birmingham, Derby, York and Newcastle

8 May 2012

As part of the Year of Creative Scotland, RockNess are offering a unique (and environmentally friendly) way to the festival site on the banks of Loch Ness. Picking up passengers from London, Birmingham, Derby, York and Newcastle before dropping them off…

Exposure: Friends

The Brooklyn hipster quintet make disgustingly cool indie post-punk-funk

25 Apr 2012

The List makes two predictions with regards to this fresh Brooklyn indie post-punk-funk ensemble. 1) They’re going to be the sound of many people’s summer, and 2) they’re going to have music journos punning furiously on their sitcom namesake. They’re…

Zulu Winter - Language

The indie rockers' debut is disappointingly unadventurous

23 Apr 2012

(Play It Again Sam) With their unabashed love of Czech new wave cinema, Steve Reich, TS Eliot, Ayn Rand and modern dance troupes The List won’t even pretend to have heard of, we expected something a little more adventurous from Zulu Winter’s debut…

Elle Fanning to star in film adaptation of Stuart Murdoch's God Help the Girl

Glasgow-set musical to commence filming in June

11 Apr 2012

When Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch created God Help the Girl back in 2009, he knew that he was writing a 60s girl-group soundtrack for a film that didn't yet exist. Now, after years of fund-raising and producing, a film adaptation of the album…