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Pete Paphides

Pete Paphides

Formerly The Times’ chief rock critic, Pete Paphides has been writing about music ever since his fanzine Perturbed came to the attention of Melody Maker in 1991. Leaving university the following year, he spent over two years writing for Melody Maker before commencing eight years at Time Out, interviewing artists as disparate as Prince, Radiohead, David Bowie, Cher, Pulp and Sting.

Whilst there, he didn’t waste any opportunity to record several of his subjects to record outgoing answerphone messages for him. Getting all three Bee Gees to sing, "If you want to leave a message for Pete/Hold on, hold on/Leave your name and number after the beep..." is a personal career highlight – closely trailed by the time Arnold Schwarzenegger’s P.A. physically ejected him from the room for having the temerity to make a similar request.

Prior to joining The Times in 2005, Pete wrote for Mojo, Q, The Guardian and Observer Music Monthly. He still contributes to The Word and Uncut – and has written and presented two series of Lost Albums for Radio Four, as well as Greek Blues – a one-off for the station in which he traced the roots of the music that his parents played during his early life.

Recent years have seen him interview Paul McCartney, Kanye West, Arctic Monkeys, Mariah Carey, Billy Joel, Mary J Blige and – during an epic bender which culminated at Kebab Machine in Notting Hill – an encounter which saw Paul Weller ordering him to "Have a kebab – it’s your heritage, man."

Pete has been lucky enough to interview members of his three favourite bands of all time – Radiohead, Abba and Pentangle, having written liner notes for the latter’s recent box set The Time Has Come.

List of articles in the library by artist

ABBA: Abba: Supertroupers

Interview by Pete Paphides, Guardian, The, June 2002

People were often a bit sneery about Abba, born of Eurovision, duded out in satin and feathers, quintessentially pop. Only years after the group broke ...

India.Arie: Hammersmith Apollo, London

Live Review by Pete Paphides, Times, The, March 2003

WHERE India.Arie is concerned, the journey to enlightenment will stop at nothing – not even hair. Shorn of her customary dreadlocks since her last British ...

Asha Bhosle: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Pete Paphides, Times, The, October 2002

POP STARS who complain about their workload might care to ponder the achievements of Asha Bhosle. Since she first stepped into a studio, aged ten, ...

Blur Are Back

Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, Times, The, December 2008

SIX YEARS AFTER they last played together, 13 since their epic chart duel with Oasis and almost three decades after the band's dominant figures met ...

Boomtown Rats: The Boomtown Rats

Retrospective and Interview by Pete Paphides, MOJO, May 2005

LONDON 1978. Flushed with the vindication that comes with two hit singles, Bob Geldof has decided its time for payback. ...

Daft Punk: French Pop: A Long Way From Françoise Hardy To Daft Punk

Overview by Pete Paphides, Times, The, February 2003

IT IS no surprise that France has only just got around to its own equivalent of Top Of The Pops. In a country where philosophy ...

Cathy Dennis, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: Songwriters: Musical Chairs

Special Feature by Pete Paphides, Guardian, The, September 2002

Today's pop stars, say their critics, aren't half as talented as their predecessors because they have little or nothing to do with writing their songs. ...

Dollar, 5 Star, Human League, The, Belle Stars, The, Altered Images, Kim Wilde, Visage: The Here And Now Tour: Many Happy Returns

Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, Guardian, The, March 2003

To some, the Here And Now Tour is a has-beens cabaret, to others it's a harmless trip down memory lane. Peter Paphides reports from the ...

Nick Drake: Stranger To The World

Retrospective and Interview by Pete Paphides, Observer Music Monthly, April 2004

Nick Drake's rare talent was almost ignored in his brief lifetime. Since his suicide 30 years ago, his legend has grown and now the discovery ...

Ed Harcourt: From Every Sphere

Review by Pete Paphides, Word, The, March 2003

IF THEY DON'T write songs like they used to, no one told Ed Harcourt. Before the 26-year-old former chef put out his first album — ...

Bob Geldof: Live Aid: The View From The Pitch

Memoir by Pete Paphides, Observer, The, October 2004

Nothing was going to stop a schoolboy fan of the Boomtown Rats making it to Wembley on that fateful day. Peter Paphides recalls every high ...

Incredible String Band, The: A Goat of Many Colours: The Incredible String Band

Retrospective and Interview by Pete Paphides, Rock's Backpages, October 2008

Forty years ago this month, The Incredible String Band released their benchmark double album Wee Tam & The Big Huge, just one of many milestones ...

Kaiser Chiefs... but Under Your Control

Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, Guardian, The, June 2011

Burned by past leaks, Kaiser Chiefs release their new album today after exactly zero buildup – and it might well be the world's first bespoke ...

Alison Krauss, Robert Plant: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: Raising Sand

Review by Pete Paphides, Times, The, October 2007

OUT OF THE BLUE, Jo Bartlett, the co-organiser of the small folk festival, Green Man, received a phone call one day from someone purporting to ...

The Maccabees: The Maccabees May Yet Become Greats

Interview by Pete Paphides, Times, The, January 2010

The NME tour's latest headliners may be the next big thing, but they remain modest enough to doubt their No1 potential ...

Kirsty MacColl: Pussy Galore

Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, Time Out, March 1995

IT'S BEEN a long ascent for Kirsty MacColl. Over 15 years, she's toiled away unassumingly in pursuit of that elusive beast, the perfect pop song. ...

Shane MacGowan: Roamin' Catholic

Interview by Pete Paphides, Time Out, September 1994

It's a long way to Tipperary. Ask Shane MacGowan, who staggered out of The Pogues to spend two years exploring his home town and re-examining ...

Paolo Nutini: Paisley's Own Caped Crusader

Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, Times, The, February 2010

SEVERAL MONTHS have elapsed since Paolo Nutini got the idea for his performance at the 2010 Brit Awards. If he remembers the moment well, that'll ...

Oasis: Hampden Park, Glasgow

Live Review by Pete Paphides, Times, The, July 2005

THESE DAYS, the Zeitgeist might prefer to be seen on the town with the likes of Coldplay – but for a band shadowed by past ...

Prince: Slave To The Rhythm

Report by Pete Paphides, Time Out, March 1995

Prince has always been a bit weird, but lately he seems to have lost it completely. He's changed his name to 0+>, declared war on ...

Prodigy, The: The Prodigy: Glasgow Academy

Live Review by Pete Paphides, Times, The, December 2008

IN 1996, WHEN Keith Flint – the face that soonest springs to mind when people think of the Prodigy – shovelled on the kohl and ...

Pulp: Top Of The Fops

Interview by Pete Paphides, Time Out, October 1995

Captain's log, chartdate 1995: Pulp, Britpop's most militant misfits, are set to trounce rivals with a new zeitgeist-friendly album of caustic lyrics, hum-me tunes and ...

Queen: Mercury Rising: We Will Rock You

Comment by Pete Paphides, Guardian, The, May 2002

A new West End musical, We Will Rock You, plunders Queen's back catalogue for tunes. But, says Peter Paphides, it misses the chance to tell ...

Radiohead: Into The Light

Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, MOJO, August 2003

Depression, dysfunction and near-dissolution – Radiohead have spent the last few years in the wilderness. In a series of astonishingly intimate interviews, Peter Paphides charts ...

Radiohead: P.O.P.R.I.P.?

Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, Melody Maker, May 1993

RADIOHEAD arrived on our pages in January, proclaiming themselves the saviours of UK pop. Four months later, they're on top of a hill in Los ...

Saint Etienne: Lives Of The Saints (And Their Kids)

Interview by Pete Paphides, Times, The, June 2005

Saint Etienne have produced a concept album and a set of children's songs. But they aren't Yes ...

So Solid Crew: Crew's Control

Profile by Pete Paphides, Guardian, The, October 2002

They raced from zero to inner-city heroes in one summer, then stalled in scandal. But don't write off So Solid – there's a serious business ...

Stone Roses, The, Radiohead, Klaxons, The, ABC: Second Comings: The Klaxons and the Struggle to Follow Up a Hit Debut Album

Comment by Pete Paphides, Times, The, March 2009

IT TAKES SOME doing to instigate a backlash from your fans without actually releasing a record. Yet this month, by revealing that their record company, ...

Thrills, The: Filesharing etc.: Money Pit

Comment by Pete Paphides, Guardian, The, October 2003

Who are the victims of music filesharing? Peter Paphides reveals the real band of thieves ...

KT Tunstall, Dido: Dido et al: Music to Watch Girls Buy

Overview by Pete Paphides, Times, The, March 2005

Our correspondent casts a weather eye over the fleet of female singer-songwriters floating their sonic pedalos in the wake of Dido's mighty MOR steamship ...

XTC: Senses Working Overtime

Retrospective and Interview by Pete Paphides, Word, The, April 2004

When the police found him howling at the moon in a mud-stained Santa suit after calling his mother the worst word imaginable, it was another ...

List of genre pieces

Casualties Of War

Comment by Pete Paphides, Times, The, June 2005

Songs about conflict and warfare are guaranteed to destroy a musician's credibility ...

In a Spin

Comment by Pete Paphides, Observer Music Monthly, July 2004

Will iTunes really kill off the record shop? Perhaps not – after all, digital information isn't something you can have and hold. And, says Peter ...

Seven Inches Of Heaven

Report by Pete Paphides, Guardian, The, November 2002

For adolescents, it was a thrill – the first music they owned. Singles survive in the CD age as bootlegs and indie specials. Their covers ...

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