Library Rock's Backpages

Ian Watson

Ian wrote for the British music weeklies from 1988 to 2003, starting at NME in 1988, then writing for Melody Maker from 1989 to 2000, and then working at NME from 2001 until 2003. He was Features Editor at Melody Maker from 1997 until 2000, and then a Contributing Editor at NME. He was London Correspondent for Rolling Stone Australia from 1999 to 2005. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times, Sunday Times, Independent On Sunday, The Scotsman, Sunday Herald, Scotland On Sunday, Evening Standard, Mojo, Uncut, Metal Hammer and Yahoo Music. He retired from music journalism in 2006, and now runs a club night and label called How Does It Feel To Be Loved?, although he still occasionally contributes to The Guardian.

106 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Edwyn Collins: Town & Country Club, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 5 January 1991

THERE ARE those who hold that to fully appreciate the mastery of Edwyn Collins one should be fully conversant with every nuance of his decade-long ...

EMF: The Marquee, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 5 January 1991

TRUE BELIEVERS ...

Blur, Soup Dragons: The Soup Dragons/Blur: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 5 January 1991

FASHION: the question is, do you follow it or skirt round it? It's picked the bill, filled the venue and dressed the punters. Ignore it ...

Suede: Underworld, Camden, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 11 January 1992

OH MY WORD. Proud survivors of a transformation, Suede stalk the Underworld stage like a snarling, growling rock beast. Now one guitarist lighter, they've compensated ...

Leatherface: Minx (Roughneck)

Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 8 May 1992

WHEN DID it happen? When did Frankie Stubbs, gravel-gargling bruiser with a heart of gold, relinquish his past as an underdog-for-all seasons, and become a ...

Elastica: Esquires, Bedford

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 22 January 1994

HALFWAY THROUGH this supposedly low-key warm up for Elastica's appearance on The Word, Justine apologises for the amount of coverage the band have been getting. ...

The Boo Radleys: Boo Radleys: The Garage, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 21 May 1994

POP'S YOUR UNCLE ...

Green Day: Dookie (WEA 9362-45529-2 14 tks/40 mins/FP)

Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 28 May 1994

LIKE A hardcore Hailey's Comet, Green Day have a habit of popping up every couple of summers with an LP stuffed with blazing guitars, bright ...

Radiohead: Old Gaol, Abingdon

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 8 October 1994

THE FIVE YOUNG men lounging about in the hotel bar after their storming sell-out performance seem to be having the time of their lives. They're ...

A Guy Called Gerald, Dreadzone, Global Communication, µ-ziq, Renegade Soundwave: µ-Ziq, A Guy Called Gerald, Renegade Soundwave, Global Communications, Dreadzone: The Rocket, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 4 February 1995

TECHNO PRISONERS ...

L7: Three Steps to L7

Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 11 February 1995

L7 used to be the enfants terribles of US rock, all randomly-strewn sanitary towels and gravity-defying knickers. No more! Now they're Yank Grunge's very own ...

S*M*A*S*H: Another Love (Song)

Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 25 February 1995

THEIR ONLY REAL ALBUM WAS SHITE. You'd almost forgotten they existed. But, according to IAN WATSON, their latest "mini-LP" proves they can still write songs ...

The Boo Radleys, Charlatans, The (UK), The Chemical Brothers, Neneh Cherry, Brian Eno, Goldie, Terry Hall, The Levellers, Orbital, Portishead, Stereo MCs, The Stone Roses, Suede, Terrorvision: War Child

Report and Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 9 September 1995

IAN WATSON talks to the bands who are contributing to the Help album and how this project compares to pop's last major charity initiative, the ...

Marion: I Hate Myself and I Want to Cry

Profile and Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 7 October 1995

Culture Of Despair alert! Since their rise to prominence, MARION have lost their friends and gained loads of ghoulish groupies. IAN WATSON tries to cheer ...

The Bluetones: We Have Lift Off!

Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 10 February 1996

When Melody Maker first put THE BLUETONES on the front cover last September, most people wondered who the f*** they were. Now, of course, everybody ...

Supergrass: Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?

Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 24 February 1996

Almost exactly a year ago, when The Maker put them on the cover for the first time, SUPERGRASS were pop's likeliest lads, cheeky young upstarts ...

Supergrass: Interrogation Terrorists

Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 2 March 1996

Last week, we gave you The Return of SUPERGRASS. This week, we open psycho-bible The Book of Questions and fling some brain-frazzling enquiries at The ...

Apollo 440, The Bluetones, Blur, Dodgy, Elastica, Gene, Massive Attack, Northern Uproar, Oasis, Pulp, Reef, Robbie Williams: Britpop Football Special: Ooh-aah, Rossit-ah!

Report and Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 25 May 1996

Martin Rossiter as Eric Cantona? Liam Gallagher squaring off against Damon Albarn? Robbie Williams and Steve Pulp in the same footie team? No, you're not ...

µ-ziq, Orbital: Orbital, µ-ziq: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 25 May 1996

Well-Rounded ...

Slayer: Undisputed Attitude (American 15tks/35 mins)

Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 25 May 1996

HERE'S A CONCEPT to make your blood curdle. Slayer, the undisputed kings of thrash metal stupidity, cover a cranium-crushing selection of top hardcore punk tunes. ...

Ben Folds Five: Splash Club, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 1 June 1996

IF IT makes you feel better, think of Ben Folds as a visiting alien. He's travelled to our planet in peace, hoping to exchange ideas ...

Funky Porcini: Funki Porcini: Love, Pussycats & Carwrecks (Ninja Tune 12 tks/68 mins)

Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 22 June 1996

PUSSY GALORE: Tranquil trip hop, crystal clear jungle and salacious sex. FUNKI PORCINI has it all ...

Dog Eat Dog (punk and rap): Dog Eat Dog: Astoria, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 27 July 1996

WHO DO you think is more punk rock? The committed mohawk who lives on a steady diet of superfast hardcore tunes and fronts a troupe ...

Sebadoh: King's College, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 27 July 1996

EMPIRE OF THE DEFENCES ...

The Pharcyde: The Forum, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 3 August 1996

IT'S A SHAME ABOUT CABARET ...

Dodgy: What's So Funny About Peace, Love & Understanding?

Report and Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 24 August 1996

People thought DODGY were barking when they turned down an offer to play with Oasis at Loch Lomond and Knebworth. But they had more serious ...

The Auteurs: Dingwalls, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, September 1996

PITY POOR Luke Haines, a man weighed down by the burden of talent. It's odd to think that this sneering bundle of cynical intelligence was ...

Flying Saucer Attack, Tortoise: Tortoise, Flying Saucer Attack: Electric Ballroom, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 21 September 1996

SOMEWHERE IN the paranoid corners of your mind, there are scientists trying to claim this music as their own. They erect cages of solemn reason ...

The Chemical Brothers: The Lucifer-y Freak Brothers: The Chemical Brothers: The Academy, Manchester

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 2 November 1996

THE BOY ONSTAGE looks surprisingly calm and bright eyed. He gazes out at the mass of seething bodies, hunches his shoulders in a quietly at-one ...

Aphex Twin: The Clink, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 9 November 1996

WHAT... what... what the fuck is going on? Frenzied breakbeats and oppressive bursts of synth are emanating from the front of the venue, but the ...

The Prodigy: Festimad, Madrid

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 17 May 1997

MADRID FOR IT!! ...

Spiritualized: Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (Dedicated 12tks/7O mins)

Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 14 June 1997

It's been a long, strange trip for Jason Pierce, and with the new album from SPIRITUALIZED, it's getting stranger and lovelier by the minute... ...

Belle and Sebastian: Trop Belle Pour Toi!!

Report and Interview by David Hemingway, Ian Watson, New Musical Express, August 1997

Once again, Glasgow has provided the world with something special. Belle and Sebastian will become one of the most important bands of the '90s. Oh ...

No Doubt: Over And No Doubt?

Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 13 September 1997

No Doubt have went from garage band to worldwide stardom. But is it the end of the band as we know it? We join them ...

Spice Girls: The Spice Is Right: Spice Girls: Spiceworld (Virgin)

Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 8 November 1997

You've quaffed the cola and scoffed the crisps — now read the review ...

The Jesus & Mary Chain: Water Rat, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 28 March 1998

THERE HAVE always been four steadfast rules regarding the Jesus And Mary Chain live experience. They don't talk, they never smile, they'd rather die than ...

Elliott Smith: Either/Or (Domino) ****½

Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 30 May 1998

THE FIRST thing you'll hear is a slight whisper, a lone voice sighing with warm-hearted devotion. Then a few similarly sensitive souls will chip in, ...

All Saints: Gangster Grippin': All Saints: Opera House, Blackpool

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 1 May 1999

"IS Blackpool in the house?" The dreadlocked DJ isn't making too much sense, but the little girls with the whistles don't care. ...

Elliott Smith: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 15 May 1999

AT FIRST, THE hushed, respectful, masses can't believe their eyes. They've come to sit and worship at the feet of the man who redefined sensitive, ...

Korn: Scream Of The Crop

Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 15 May 1999

Korn's angst-ridden Jonathan Davis is the nearest thing America has to Richey Manic. We meet him on the road in the States and hear tales ...

Britney Spears: Psychobabble

Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 19 June 1999

"Psychoanalyse me, baby, one more time," she asked, and so it was that Britney Spears ended up on the Psychobabble couch ...

Macy Gray: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 2 October 1999

CRAZYSEXYCOOL ...

Sigur Rós: This Week's Best New Band is... SIGUR RÓS

Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 10 November 1999

STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL SOUNDSCAPES ...

Sigur Rós: Haskolabio, Reykjavik, Iceland

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 1 December 1999

IT'S A sound that feels like it's been travelling through the universe for a million long, lonely years. It starts somewhere in the middle distance, ...

Travis: I Was Sitting in Bed, Just Crying

Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 5 April 2000

THE TRAVIS interview ritual is now, it seems, set in stone. You can ask whatever you want, whenever you want, but first you must bond. ...

Limp Bizkit: Master Of Paris!: Limp Bizkit: Salle Maubert Mutualite, Paris *****

Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 13 September 2000

WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE of a war zone. It's us versus them, love against hate, the frenzied adrenalin rush of excitement facing up to the ...

Macy Gray

Interview by Ian Watson, Rolling Stone (Australia), July 2001

ROOM 372 of the Great Eastern Hotel in London's Liverpool Street has everything a travelling soul megastar could wish for. ...

Fatboy Slim

Interview by Ian Watson, The Evening Standard, September 2001

THE INSTRUCTIONS are clear but minimal. Get to Ibiza Town and wait for an email with a mobile phone number. Try the number just after ...

Gabrielle

Profile and Interview by Ian Watson, Sunday Herald, October 2001

SHE DOESN'T SHUT UP. Present Gabrielle with a simple query and her mouth goes into overdrive. She hits the ground sprinting, talking so quickly she ...

Natalie Imbruglia: A loser in love

Interview by Ian Watson, The Evening Standard, 10 October 2001

Natalie Imbruglia has made her first record in four years although her famous, short-lived boyfriends have kept her in the headlines. She talks to Ian ...

Slipknot

Interview by Ian Watson, Sunday Herald, December 2001

BEFORE SEPTEMBER 11th, Slipknot had been revelling in their status as the most outrageous band on the planet. ...

The Strokes: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, March 2002

IN THE END, it boils down to a simple rollcall of facts. ...

Blak Twang: The Rotton Club

Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, May 2002

AFTER GENRE-DEFINING albums by Roots Manuva and Skinnyman, up steps Tony Olabode, aka Tony Rotton (after Johnny Rotten apparently), aka Blak Twang for a slice ...

Eminem: The Eminem Show

Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, May 2002

CAN IT BE mere coincidence that the fourth Eminem album hits the streets in the same week that the third series of Big Brother begins ...

Moby

Report and Interview by Ian Watson, Sunday Herald, May 2002

FROM THE OUTSIDE, Moby Mansions looks like any other whitewashed townhouse in upmarket west London. Walk a little too quickly and you'd pass it without ...

The Polyphonic Spree: Polyphonic Spree: Songs Of Praise

Interview by Ian Watson, New Musical Express, 27 July 2002

LAST MONTH, London was invaded by the strangest musical gathering the capital has ever seen. ...

Morrissey: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, September 2002

IN THE END, it takes the final song of the main set, 'Speedway', to sum up Morrissey in 2002. The man who has nothing but ...

Richard Ashcroft: Astoria, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, September 2002

HE'S A CURIOUS beast, the Sensitive Lad. From a distance he's indistinguishable from your regular lad, all bravado and cheap lager, still dressed in the ...

Sigur Ros: Barbican, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, September 2002

YOU OFTEN hear the invisible when you go to see Sigur Ros live. As the bowed white noise fades into an eerie serenity or the ...

Bruce Springsteen: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, October 2002

AT FIRST, it sounds like boo-ing, as if the twelve thousand capacity crowd has suddenly turned against America's unofficial poet laureate. ...

Marilyn Manson: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, June 2003

THE CABARET is excellent, of course. You come expecting a hilariously over the top gothic freakshow, choreographed by the ghost of Cecil B. DeMille and ...

Nick Cave: Hammersmith Apollo, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, June 2003

AT EXACTLY twenty seven minutes past eight, the polite but firm announcement is made. "Nick Cave will take the stage in three minutes." ...

Texas: Sharleen Spiteri

Profile and Interview by Ian Watson, The Scotsman, September 2003

SHARLEEN SPITERI is talking about Pop Idol. It's a subject that's been on her mind a lot recently and, judging by the look on her ...

Mis-Teeq: Hammersmith Apollo, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, October 2003

THE BEST bits, as with their often startling appearances on daytime radio, are when they mutate suddenly. ...

Radiohead: Earl's Court, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, November 2003

"Computers are useless. They only give you answers" – Pablo Picasso ...

Ryan Adams

Interview by Ian Watson, Rolling Stone (Australia), January 2004

HE ANSWERS THE PHONE like a petulant teenager: another day, another interview to sulk his way through. ...

Joss Stone

Interview by Ian Watson, Rolling Stone (Australia), March 2004

HOW OLD do you have to be to sing the blues? ...

Pink: Shocking Pink

Interview by Ian Watson, The Evening Standard, 18 March 2004

She nearly killed herself with drugs, but now pop's wild child has cleaned up her act. As she prepares to play Wembley, Pink tells Ian ...

Duran Duran: Old Romantics

Retrospective and Interview by Ian Watson, The Evening Standard, 8 April 2004

At their mid-'80s peak Duran Duran had it all — the glamour, the girls, the money. Now, 20 years on they're back. And all they ...

PJ Harvey

Profile and Interview by Ian Watson, Rolling Stone (Australia), May 2004

THE DAY PJ HARVEY turned thirty something clicked in her head. She spent her twenties fighting against herself, trying to quash the parts of her ...

James Brown: Soul Survivor

Interview by Ian Watson, The Evening Standard, June 2004

At 71, James Brown shows no signs of slowing down musically — or in his capacity for getting into trouble. Ian Watson meets the Godfather ...

50 Cent

Interview by Ian Watson, Sunday Herald, August 2004

WHAT DID YOU do last night? Nice meal? Drink with friends? Sweat your own body weight in a packed nightclub? Well, guess what? 50 Cent ...

Fatboy Slim

Interview by Ian Watson, Rolling Stone (Australia), August 2004

NOT FOR the first time in the last few years, Norman Cook looks nervous. He fiddles with a roll of black gaffer tape, keeping his ...

Manic Street Preachers: Just Another Manic Day

Interview by Ian Watson, The Scotsman, 30 October 2004

WHEN Nicky Wire was at school, as soon as someone he hated got into his favourite band he went off them. ...

Joanna Newsom: ICA, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, November 2004

THE RESPONSE in the bar afterwards is split clearly along the gender lines. Robert and his male friend are in raptures. What a voice! Such ...

Lightning Bolt, Wolf Eyes: Lightning Bolt/Wolf Eyes: Electric Ballroom, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, December 2004

A FULL TWENTY four hours after the fact, Yahoo Music is still feeling dizzy with nausea. A mere four hours afterwards, our ears are screaming ...

The Pogues: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, December 2004

BECAUSE HE'S A true poet, we'll always forgive him. With lesser mortals, you'd gaze upon a man staggering and swaying, mumbling his words and randomly ...

Pete Doherty: "I haven't taken crack for 14 days"

Interview by Ian Watson, Scotland on Sunday, 12 December 2004

HE SAUNTERS in, over an hour late. ...

Slowdive: Just For A Day (Sanctuary Records)

Sleeve notes by Ian Watson, Sanctuary Records, 2005

DECEMBER 1990: Neil Halstead, then a mere two months into his twentieth year on the planet, is talking about the legacy of Slowdive, a group ...

Slowdive: Souvlaki (Castle Music)

Sleeve notes by Ian Watson, Castle Music, 2005

NEW YORK, sometime in the early Nineties. A rough-voiced man in his mid twenties is phoning a hotel to reserve a room for himself and ...

Bright Eyes: I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning/Digital Ash In A Digital Urn

Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, January 2005

SOMETIMES YOU can be too darn talented for your own good. Regularly described as a "boy genius", 24 year old Conor Oberst – doe-eyed self-obsessive, ...

Kaiser Chiefs: Employment

Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, March 2005

IT’S COMMON FOR bands to grow up in public these days, but rarely in the space of a single record. ...

System Of A Down: Mesmerize

Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, May 2005

YOU COULDN'T MAKE them up. An American-Armenian four piece based in LA who feed eye-bulging political fury through Dead Kennedys-style anarcho punk, crunching riff-heavy thrash ...

Teenage Fanclub: Man-Made

Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, May 2005

WHAT'S IN A NAME? If Howdy! suggested a flash of cheerfulness that meant well but was gone in a second, then Man-Made deliberately slows everything ...

Orange Juice: The Glasgow School (Domino)

Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, July 2005

THERE'S A TOUCHING sense of karma to the release of this album. Having made a small fortune from their typically prescient signing of Franz Ferdinand, ...

Goldfrapp: Tales Of The Supernatural

Interview by Ian Watson, The Scotsman, 13 August 2005

ABOUT A year and a half ago, Alison Goldfrapp finally snapped. ...

Richard Hawley: Coles Corner

Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, September 2005

IMAGINE BRITPOP never happened. No Pulp, no Longpigs, no exuberant resurgence in literate guitar pop. ...

The Rolling Stones: A Bigger Bang

Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, September 2005

WHAT DO WE expect of the Rolling Stones in 2005? Musical progression? Originality? You may as well wish for change from Mount Rushmore. To expect ...

The Shortwave Set: The Debt Collection

Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, September 2005

AS ONE DOOR closes, another opens. When the Beta Band announced their dissolution late last year, it seemed that a particular brand of dreamy, lo-fi ...

Goldfrapp: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, October 2005

SHE LOOKS LIKE a dying android. As played by Prunella Scales. And not just any dying android as played by Prunella Scales either. She's the ...

Ms Dynamite: Judgement Days

Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, October 2005

WHEN MS DYNAMITE'S debut album was dismissed by some critics in 2002 as "tiresome finger-wagging", it seemed the erstwhile Niomi McLean-Daley was getting a rough ...

Son Of Dork: Welcome To Loserville

Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, November 2005

Dear Shareholders, FOLLOWING THE concerns raised (see minutes passim) about the discontinuation of the Busted product and the underperformance of the Fightstar spinoff, we’re delighted to ...

Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy, Robbie Williams: Stephen Duffy

Report and Interview by Ian Watson, The Scotsman, November 2005

WHEN HE WAS three years old, Stephen Duffy learnt an important lesson about pop music. He'd been given his very first seven inch single – ...

CocoRosie: Scala, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, December 2005

THE BLOKE in the audience isn't impressed. "Where's CocoRosie then?" he shouts. "Who the fuck are you?" Just about visible to the crowd on ground ...

Gnarls Barkley: Hammersmith Apollo, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, 6 July 2006

DRESSED IN red knee socks, black shorts and untucked white school shirt and glistening from fifty minutes of belting out melted funk anthems at full ...

Yo La Tengo: Bush Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, September 2006

IT'S A SIGHT that's familiar to any long-term Yo La Tengo fan. Ira Kaplan – a small, intense, wirey-haired man, apparently cryogenically frozen in his ...

The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: Adelphi Theatre, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, November 2006

YOU KNOW YOU'RE going to cry at a Brian Wilson concert, it's just a matter of when. Sometime during the last-ever UK rendition of Pet ...

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, January 2007

AT TIMES, it's like spying on a first date. She's blond, Scottish, nervous, terminally shy, deals with her jitters by keeping totally silent for twenty ...

Amy Winehouse: Astoria, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, February 2007

OF COURSE, she looks spectacular. Even dressed down in a blue polo shirt and jeans, like she's just nipping to the shops for a pint ...

Lily Allen: Somerset House, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, July 2007

AT ONE POINT towards the end, bless her, Lily Allen looks like she's going to cry. She's been bouncing through her sweet, slightly skanking version ...

The White Stripes: 93 Feet East, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, February 2008

JACK WHITE just doesn't know what to do with himself. ...

The Sonics: Forum, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, March 2008

CALL IT DENIAL if you like, but sometimes you have nothing to gain and a hell of a lot to lose if a band you've ...

Portishead: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, 17 April 2008

PEOPLE WHO don't like Portishead sneeringly dismiss them as dinner party music, something the sickening middle class stick on in the background while they discuss ...

Swervedriver: Scala, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, September 2008

THEY'VE BEEN AWAY for so long…almost ten years in fact. And, strangely, the break seems to have done Swervedriver the power of good. While some ...

Slowdive: Pygmalion (Cherry Red Records)

Sleeve notes by Ian Watson, Cherry Red Records, 2010

THE PRESS hated it. Let's get that out of that way at the beginning. With the UK in the midst of Britpop euphoria, there was ...

Belle And Sebastian: Love, Belle and Sebastian-style

Interview by Laura Barton, Ian Watson, The Guardian, 30 September 2010

A collection of love songs featuring Norah Jones on vocals — have indie's hippest wallflowers gone mainstream? Not for a second, finds Laura Barton ...

back to LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT NOTICE