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Our journalism is funded by our readers. Become a subscriber today to help champion our writing, plus enjoy bonus essays, podcasts, playlists and music downloads.
Getting to the heart of what artists are thinking
Iron Maiden's larger than life frontman talks to author John Higgs about magical practice, the hallucinatory mandrake root, how to survive a rough childhood and why William Blake is an artist we should look to for inspiration. All photographs by John McMurtrie
Thou’s new album takes a brutal back-to-basics approach, all under the ruthless glare of frontman Bryan Funck. Dan Franklin speaks to him and guitarist Andy Gibbs about holding their feet to the fire, roughly dispensing with melody and, most surprisingly, The Mighty Boosh. Main picture of Thou live by Mae Cravotta
As they prepare to release their second album and embark on their debut UK tour, Canadian improvisational ensemble Earth Ball tell Julian Marszalek about advertising on an old mattress, their unconventional base in a “dirty, weird coal mining town,” and the cooperative joy of instant composition
Ahead of a new trio album and a show at this year's Acid Horse, Eric Chenaux takes Barnaby Smith through the thirteen albums that changed him, from the avant-garde to hip hop, traditional folksong to vintage Brazilian psychedelia and more
The Paraorchestra is a collaboration between disabled and non-disabled musicians, composer Charles Hazlewood and singers including Brett Anderson and Nadine Shah. Anderson, Hazlewood and Paraorchestra members speak to Jude Rogers about the strange joy in singing songs about death. Photos by Kirsten McTernan
In a year that sees him finish his 'magical memoir', a new album with The Red Elastic Band and a career-spanning homecoming show in Liverpool, former Shack, Strands and Pale Fountains frontman Michael Head takes Patrick Clarke through the 13 records that shaped him
At the start of the 90s the astounding noise rock band Silverfish were everywhere – their shows nearly as ubiquitous as their Hips Tits Lips Power T-shirts – but since then they seem to have fallen irrevocably (and unfairly) down the memory hole. Keith Kahn-Harris catches up with band members today and asks: What happened?
Marc Riley, Craig Scanlon, Paul Hanley and Steve Hanley speak to Daniel Dylan Wray about a new release of archive recordings capturing Slates performed live in its entirety, how it’s helping them regain agency in a world awash with ropey Fall bootlegs, and what Mark E. Smith might have made of their plans
Goblin Band take Patrick Clarke on a wander through Tottenham Court Road’s lost orchards to discuss plague pits, knitwear, and carving out a space for queerness in the London folk scene
Apartment House leader Anton Lukoszieveze discusses 30 years of combining intricate compositions with a straightforward approach, the band’s performance of Nico’s The Marble Index at this month’s Bristol New Music, and the importance of beekeeping
A Quietus Interview
At the start of the 90s the astounding noise rock band Silverfish were everywhere – their shows nearly as ubiquitous as their Hips Tits Lips Power T-shirts – but since then they seem to have fallen irrevocably (and unfairly) down the memory hole. Keith Kahn-Harris catches up with band members today and asks: What happened?
A Quietus Interview
Marc Riley, Craig Scanlon, Paul Hanley and Steve Hanley speak to Daniel Dylan Wray about a new release of archive recordings capturing Slates performed live in its entirety, how it’s helping them regain agency in a world awash with ropey Fall bootlegs, and what Mark E. Smith might have made of their plans
A Quietus Interview
Apartment House leader Anton Lukoszieveze discusses 30 years of combining intricate compositions with a straightforward approach, the band’s performance of Nico’s The Marble Index at this month’s Bristol New Music, and the importance of beekeeping
From hearing a drumroll so good he dropped out of university, to the links between Iggy Pop and Lana Del Rey, the much-lauded percussionist Jim White speaks to Julian Marszalek about the 13 albums he loves the most
Ghetto blasting synth punk in Rugby. Lending pyjamas to Mogwai. Writing to Nick Drake’s sister. Finding psychology theory in music. Pranked by Robin Guthrie. Rocket Girl Records label head Vinita Joshi takes Will McCartney through the 13 records that have shaped her life
Electronic producers but longtime punk, hardcore and metal heads, Blawan and Pariah take Patrick Clarke through the thirteen records that shaped their swerve into heavy music as Persher, from Meshuggah and Napalm Death to Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan
Baker's Dozen
Ghetto blasting synth punk in Rugby. Lending pyjamas to Mogwai. Writing to Nick Drake’s sister. Finding psychology theory in music. Pranked by Robin Guthrie. Rocket Girl Records label head Vinita Joshi takes Will McCartney through the 13 records that have shaped her life
Baker's Dozen
Electronic producers but longtime punk, hardcore and metal heads, Blawan and Pariah take Patrick Clarke through the thirteen records that shaped their swerve into heavy music as Persher, from Meshuggah and Napalm Death to Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan
Our journalism is funded by our readers. Become a subscriber today to help champion our writing, plus enjoy bonus essays, podcasts, playlists and music downloads.
Support & Subscribe TodayWe left Joel Gibb of Canadian group The Hidden Cameras and touring partner Owen Pallett alone to answer the kind of questions they wish they were always asked. Owen Pallett portrait by Jeff Bierk, Joel Gibb portrait by Alp Klanten
In Conversation
We left Joel Gibb of Canadian group The Hidden Cameras and touring partner Owen Pallett alone to answer the kind of questions they wish they were always asked. Owen Pallett portrait by Jeff Bierk, Joel Gibb portrait by Alp Klanten
Legendary comic book artist and writer Savage Pencil discusses three Edwardian underground figures: Montague Summers, Austin Osman Spare and Louis Wain
Michael Berdan of the band Uniform pens an essay for tQ on how the stunning beauty and harrowing violence in the books of the great Cormac McCarthy has influenced his work
To see himself through lockdown, James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers has been compiling tailor-made crossword puzzles for his family and friends. He tells Patrick Clarke about the therapeutic effects and extreme cultural wormholes they can inspire. Plus, solve an exclusive '80s indie crossword compiled by JDB himself!
Things I Have Learned
To see himself through lockdown, James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers has been compiling tailor-made crossword puzzles for his family and friends. He tells Patrick Clarke about the therapeutic effects and extreme cultural wormholes they can inspire. Plus, solve an exclusive '80s indie crossword compiled by JDB himself!
From Rock's Backpages this month, an infamous NME pop summit from 1989. James Brown and Sean O'Hagan took Mark E Smith, Nick Cave & Shane MacGowan to the Montague Arms (RIP) in New Cross. Great merriment ensued... (republished 24th January 2018)
Fifteen years after the release of Radiohead's phenomenal OK Computer, we visit the Rock's Backpages archive for Paul Morley's Uncut magazine review
The Quietus are proud to be hosting the Village Mentality stage, headlined by Tortoise, at Field Day this Saturday. Writing for the Melody Maker in February 1996, Simon Reynolds heralded their album Millions Now Living Will Never Die as the future...
Rock's Backpages
From Rock's Backpages this month, an infamous NME pop summit from 1989. James Brown and Sean O'Hagan took Mark E Smith, Nick Cave & Shane MacGowan to the Montague Arms (RIP) in New Cross. Great merriment ensued... (republished 24th January 2018)
Rock's Backpages
The Quietus are proud to be hosting the Village Mentality stage, headlined by Tortoise, at Field Day this Saturday. Writing for the Melody Maker in February 1996, Simon Reynolds heralded their album Millions Now Living Will Never Die as the future...
“There were so many great bad ideas to explore.” Joe Thompson of Wrong Speed records guides us through the imperfectly formed catalogue of the cult Chicagoan noise rock band, with the help of guitarist Todd Rittmann
From making groundbreaking electro to working with Whitney Houston via boozy sessions with Motörhead, plus avant explorations of thrash, drum & bass, grindcore, gnawa and disco, Bill Laswell has been on more great records than you've had hot dinners. Zachary Lipez offers ten points of entry to his bewilderingly vast back catalogue
Despite the predictably & performatively negative reaction the Japanese artist inspires in some critical quarters, it is clear she has been responsible for a cavalcade of bangers over the decades. With a new retrospective at the Tate Modern, Jeremy Allen explores her back catalogue
Strange World Of...
From making groundbreaking electro to working with Whitney Houston via boozy sessions with Motörhead, plus avant explorations of thrash, drum & bass, grindcore, gnawa and disco, Bill Laswell has been on more great records than you've had hot dinners. Zachary Lipez offers ten points of entry to his bewilderingly vast back catalogue
Strange World Of...
Despite the predictably & performatively negative reaction the Japanese artist inspires in some critical quarters, it is clear she has been responsible for a cavalcade of bangers over the decades. With a new retrospective at the Tate Modern, Jeremy Allen explores her back catalogue
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