Q Magazine

Naming their band The Murder Capital gave five friends from Dublin focus and succour in the midst of grief and turmoil. Now, the art-punkers are spreading that medicine out, one pulverised concert hall at a time. Chris Catchpole reports from the frontline.

In 1999, newly-clean from drugs, Kevin Rowland released a revelatory covers album, My Beauty. But embattled by a furore over its sleeve, then defeated by his label’s demise, the Dexys leader withdrew injured from the fray. Now, with its long-awaited reissue imminent, Rowland tells Ted Kessler the story of its genesis and its aftermath.

Arctic Monkeys are siblings, marriages, relationships, friends and band all folded into one. Niall Doherty joins them in the US for merry drinks, intense silences and the lowdown on how making Q’s Album Of The Year changed everything. Everything, that is, except their mutual respect and love of diggers.

Caught up in the whirlwind of his ever changing muse… The Modfather’s rare gems.

The Barbadian hit-making superstar is vastly more nuanced than she’s given credit for.

Buried treasure from the Radiohead frontman.

Born from punk, yet anything other than a parochial Year Zero outfit. Here’s their rare gems.

The Q readership anointed Paul Weller the Best Act In The World Today at the 2018 Q Awards and nobody is more surprised about that than the 60-year-old himself. Q’s cappuccino kid Chris Catchpole meets him at his local coffee shop to hear about a thirst that cannot be quenched.

We are living through the first flush of what in the future will be known as The Era Of St. Vincent. Niall Doherty steps out into the cold of the Midwest with Annie Erin Clark to hear how her alter ego redesigned pop and performance in her own image, and has designs on the film and art worlds in motion too. “I got all that shit done,” she says. “Did all of it.”

Florence + The Machine released their debut album, Lungs, 10 years ago this July. Since then, Florence Welch has grown into one of music’s most celebrared British stars. But just as her live show reaches new heights, Welch has decided that fundamental change is necessary. Is it the end of the beginning, or the beginning of the end? Ted Kessler finds out.

When Mike Skinner called time on his era-defining rap/production alias The Streets in 2011, the lights went out in him. Ted Kessler meets Skinner to hear about the long, lost journey out of the fog that led him to two brand new albums and a film. “A lot of this time has felt irrational,” he says, “but, looking back on it, it’s been totally rational.”

Her 2011 breakthrough single Video Games is the most voted-for entry in Q’s Songs Of The Decade. But Lana Del Rey’s latest album, Norman Fucking Rockwell, is a strong candidate for album of the decade, too. Ted Kessler is granted an audience in Laurel Canyon to hear how the 2010s belonged to America’s finest modern singer-songwriter.

For 20 years, Liam Gallagher was the renowned singer in Oasis and the greatest frontman of his generation. Then, after two mediocre albums with Beady Eye, he suddenly found himself in crisis, cut adrift with the rest of the mooks on the street. On the eve of an epic new film about Oasis, Ted Kessler meets Liam down the boozer to hear about how he got his life back together “outside of the bubble”, and how he’s now making plans for a dynamic new chapter.

Gaz Coombes spoke with Danny Goffey, then they spoke to Mick Quinn and told Rob Coombes: they were putting a deposit down on Supergrass and taking a lease out on the band for a year of serious gigs, their first since 2010. Niall Doherty meets them to find out if there are plans to move back in permanently yet…

Over the last decade, a disparate group of composers, performers and labels have been designing a modern classical sound that incorporates elements of electronica, dance and even pop. Paul Stokes speaks to Max Richter, one of the genre’s major forces, to investigate a left-field phenomenon that’s colonising the mainstream.

The Vampire Weekend frontman offers up his golden rules for living.

Their last studio album took nearly four years to make, so Doves decided to take a little time off afterwards. A decade later and fully refreshed, the trio welcome Ted Kessler to their Cheshire studio to reveal far more of their comeback plans than they meant to.

A report and interview from the trip-hop duo’s recent tour, which revisited and radically reinvented their shadowy 1998 masterpiece Mezzanine.

The Norwegian synth-pop star on how Grimes’ 2015 record helped shape her world.

Dublin’s Fontaines D.C. cite James Joyce and TS Elliot as the main influences on their fourth single. You can certainly hear it in frontman Grian Chatten’s surreal monologue here, delivered in a tar-thick accent over anxious sounding post punk styled guitars.

There’s a pleasing looseness to the third single from Brown’s new solo album. He plays the role of wise crooner over a tremolo-heavy slow sway that ends just as the baggy beat is getting into its groove.

The Doctor Who and Broadchurch actress on how Alanis Morissette’s 1995 debut spoke to her.

Q writer David Cavanagh died on December 27, 2018. He wrote for Q prolifically during in the 1990s and returned to the magazine in 2018. He was the greatest music writer of his era, universally admired by his peers and readers alike. This profile of former Coral guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones appeared in November, 2018, in Q393. It was to be his last piece for Q.

Pratt’s latest single is testament to her singular genius. Over two repeated guitar chords, her voice floats towards you like something from another plane of existence, her lyrics painting a picture of an eternity of sadness. Spellbinding.

Primal Scream bassist Simone Marie Butler explains how she got into playing and why learning your favourite songs is the best route in.

On Wednesday 10 October, we will host a special, strictly-limited capacity event at The Social, W1, with John Grant. The American singer-songwriter will be talking about the creation of his brilliant new album Love Is Magic, discussing its lyrical themes and how he developed the record’s electronic sound. He will also be fielding questions from the audience. Tickets for this intimate event will go on sale from Dice.FM on Wednesday 26 September, limited to two per person.

In the current issue of Q, Mac Miller talks about the records that shaped him, recounting how hearing Outkast's Aquemini aged 12 changed how he thought about music and explaining why Radiohead's In Rainbows made him reconsider how his own records should sound. After the rapper’s tragic death last week, here is Miller's Albums That Changed My Life published online in full.

Publishing on 9 November, The 10 Commandments: The Rock Star’s Guide To Life is an enlightening guide presenting ten rules for life from fifty musicians, including Iggy Pop, Stevie Nicks, Mary J Blige, Bono and more. The 10 Commandments will feature unseen and unpublished material as well as a compilation of the finest selections from the Q Magazine archives.

The new album from Jason Pierce promises to be one of the most expansive bedroom records ever made. It's hard to fathom how its opener is all just one man, a swirling soul ballad that you can't see to the bottom of.

This month, the landmark album of the year was released: Now That’s What I Call Music! 100. It’s the latest instalment of the hits series that began in 1983 and has frequently outsold all-comers since. Peter Robinson investigates its genesis and our surprisingly enduring love affair with the compilation album.

On Thursday 19 July, Q Magazine will host a special, one-off, strictly-limited capacity event at The Social in Little Portland Street, London W1 with James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers.

The indie stars will be supported at this year’s Roundhouse gig, taking place on Wednesday 17 October, by IDLES.

Ben Howard on how Gillian Welch's 2001 record Time (The Revelator) put him on his backside.

Our friends at The Social are hosting a series of special free events over the next few months. The second Prison Tan Series begins at the W1, London bar and venue this Friday, kicking off 13 Friday parties across June, July and August. As well as the free entry, there's two-for-one drinks before 8pm. The venue has teamed up with a selection of labels and bands to put together an excellent line-up.

Beach House's seventh album doesn't stray far from the Baltimore duo's trusted formula - mournful vocals laid over shimmering organs. Dive does display a slight retooling, its glacial start giving way to New Order-like propulsion.

Annie Clark on how the jazz great's 1965 album shaped her approach to music.

The title track of Mark "E" Everett's 12th LP as Eels sounds like a broken nursery rhyme, sweet melodies and fluttering strings masking the song's melancholic core. A captivating return from one of indie-rock's most consistent songwriters.

Continuing on from our Mark E Smith tribute in the current issue of Q, illustrious fans of The Fall leader remember the music and the man.

The Manics' bassist on why The Smiths' 1984 compilation is so important to him.

Part of a multimedia collaboration with fashion brand Kenzo, Yo! My Saint casts Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer Karen O alongside Michael Kiwanuka for the sort of dread-filled duet you'd expect to find on the soundtrack to a Tarantino thriller.

As part of our Mark E Smith tribute in the latest issue of Q, we spoke to illustrious fans, friends and former colleagues of The Fall leader. Here, ex-wife and former Fall guitarist Brix Smith Start recalls her time with the Hip Priest.

Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA shot in London in October 2017 by Andrew Cotterill, An outtake from Q381, available to buy here.

Mark E Smith formed The Fall as a teenager in 1976 with the explicit goal of tethering primitive music to intelligent lyrics. By 2015, thirty albums and countless band members later, he remained unusually faithful to that mission. But at what cost? In Smith’s last Q interview, Ted Kessler met him in the boozer to find out.

Mark E Smith was the ultimate outlier, a genius contrarian who carved out one of the most singular bodies of work in British music. His sad passing has prompted thousands of heartfelt obituaries. Q’s Simon McEwen revisits The Fall's 32 studio albums and chooses his six favourites.

The first track on Ty Segall's new 19-track album sees the prolific Californian at his most epic, summoning the spirit of Hendrix for a stroll down the Stones' Exile On Main St, all recorded with every needle on the recording desk in the red.

The Arctic Monkeys frontman on why The Strokes' 2001 debut means so much to him.

Natasha Khan, the artist behind Bat For Lashes, on why Kate Bush's 1985 album is so important to her.

Although they released a collaborative album with Sparks in 2015, it has been almost five years since Franz Ferdinand released a record of their own. The title track of their forthcoming fifth album suggests they are determined to make up for lost time, marrying the spiky guitars of their early material to an old school house groove. A welcome return.

Liam Gallagher and Skepta, captured by Jordan Hughes at the Q Awards, London, October 2017. An outtake from Q379, available to buy here.

The Sussex soul man on how Roots Manuva's 2001 album opened his eyes to UK hip-hop.