Skunk Anansie’s Skin: “It was different for people to see me open, exposed ...

by Michael Osborn

Skin, one of the few black women ever to front a successful rock band, is back – but the shaven head and politics are gone. The former Skunk Anansie vocalist uses her solo record, Fleshwounds,...

Erlend Øye: “I’ve lived in London, and in Manchester. People in the north ...

by Michael Hubbard

Norway’s Kings Of Convenience pleased indie fans and post-club party people alike on the way to notching up 130,000 sales of the Quiet Is The New Loud album. The hushed vocal duets and intricate acoustic...

Ian Van Dahl: “In a way we are freaks!” – Q&A

by Michael Hubbard

Fresh from winning the 2002 Top Of The Pops award as Best Dance Act, super dance group Ian Van Dahl show no signs of being a flash in the pan. The combo consists of producers...

Zoe Birkett: “I’ll try anything” – Interview

by Michael Hubbard

Pop Idol made stars of Will Young, Gareth Gates and Darius – and now the highest placed girl is set for planet pop. Fourth-placed Zoe Birkett, just 17 years of age, has released her debut...

Luke Haines: “My output is a rollercoaster romp of good slapstick entertainment&#...

by Michael Hubbard

Since being nominated in 1991’s inaugural Mercury Music Prize for The Auteurs‘ debut LP New Wave, Luke Haines has ranked amongst the UK’s most important songwriters with a body of work comparable to that of...

Yann Tiersen: “It is not my job to define my music” – Interview

by Michael Hubbard

Yann Tiersen‘s soundtrack to Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s blockbuster Amélie has garnered the French composer new fans and much acclaim. Before Montmarte’s most famous resident hit the cultural radar, however, Tiersen’s groundbreaking contemporary music was already lauded....

Interview: Gary Numan

by Michael Hubbard

Lately there’s been an unseemly rush by a bewildering assortment of musicians to cover and sample songs by a bloke from Hammersmith. Pop kittens Sugababes reached number one with Freak Like Me earlier this year,...

Damon Albarn: “I felt that was missing the point of using me, a musician” &...

by Michael Hubbard

Prior to the phenomenon that was Gorillaz, Essex boy Damon Albarn was of course best known as Blur‘s front man – and for having arguments with Oasis. But when Gorillaz appeared, featuring rap, dub and...

Orbital: “We’re not a couple of amazing studs who rip our clothes off or an...

by Michael Hubbard

The brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll are hardly fashionable these days, but as Orbital they are rightly talked about as amongst the very pioneers of dance music as we know it. A decade on from...

Indigo Girls: “Our music and activist work are married” – Interview

by Michael Hubbard

Atlanta’s trailblazing, Grammy Award-winning lesbian folk-rock duo, Indigo Girls, are unleashing a new album – Become You – and it’s being touted as a “back to basics” approach for them. Amy Ray and Emily Saliers...

Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch: “We do what we feel like and let othe...

by Michael Hubbard

Scottish supergroup Belle and Sebastian have collected about them a cult following since their mid-1990s debut, Tigermilk. But, having just released the soundtrack to the film Storytelling, the band received the news that their cellist...

The Hives’ Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist: “We are in a really good band and ...

by Johnny Mango

What about this as a recipe for success: A Kylie Minogue video where she’s riding a mechanical bull wearing nothing but seductive lingerie and – here comes the clever bit – instead of the usual...

Neil Halstead: “Slowdive sold far more records than I ever imagined we would̶...

by Michael Hubbard

Coinciding with the release of his debut solo album Sleeping On Roads, musicOMH caught up with Mojave 3 and ex-Slowdive front man Neil Halstead on a freezing cold winter’s night in east London… Having had...

Joby Talbot: “I want to have a whole contemporary classical repertoire” ...

by Michael Hubbard

In a basement under Spitalfields Market, Joby Talbot is tripping over things. Always the epitome of level-headedness, The Divine Comedy‘s orchestral arranger, keyboard player and occasional oboe and cor anglais performer is, this evening, undeniably...

Marillion’s Steve Hogarth: “The fans were the only people we could trust, w...

by Michael Hubbard

The proggers’ frontman on Genesis, coffee bars and fan funding models

Interview: Anthony Reynolds, of Jack and Jacques

by Helen Wright

Having formed the critically lauded band Jack and the spin-off Jacques, Anthony Reynolds is now turning to writing books. It’s a balmy evening in north London, and we’re standing on his doorstep trying to get...

Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray: “Something important about songwriting? It takes wor...

by Pam Huwig

Let us introduce you to a taste of some of the rawest, edgiest music to hit studios lately and to pass through Indigo Girls‘ Amy Ray‘s lips. Indigo Girls’ bond is strong enough to accommodate...

Andy White: “I think it’s time for me to become a pop star” – I...

by Michael Hubbard

Andy White, formerly of ALT with Liam of Hothouse Flowers and Tim of Crowded House, is now solo and looking to be famous on his own terms. We caught up with his stratospheric folksy star,...

Q&A: Brian’s Ken Sweeney

by Michael Hubbard

Following the release of Brian‘s second album Bring Trouble, the quiet, resolutely unstarry Ken Sweeney has been lauded in the press. Now he’s been nominated for best single of the year in The Irish Music...

Brian’s Ken Sweeney: “I dressed up as a priest to keep them happy” &#...

by Michael Hubbard

He’s 32, he’s been in Father Ted, he’s just given up his day job and is now A Professional Musician with a record deal and the patronage of Sean Hughes, Ardal O’Hanlon, Graham Linehan and...