Kris Needs
After running the Mott The Hoople fan club in the early 70s, Kris started contributing to Zigzag, horrifying the old guard with his coverage of the nascent punk scene. Founder-editor Pete Frame ran his interviews with groups like the Sex Pistols, Clash, Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, Ramones and Flamin' Groovies before, acknowledging the new movement, asking Kris to take over as Editor in June 1977.
For the next five years, Kris led Zigzag to punk's front line but also placed himself with everyone from Siouxsie and the Banshees and Blondie to Motorhead, Keith Richards, Chic and Kate Bush. He interviewed a new band called U2 in return for what turned out to be the last UK interview with Bob Marley. There was also an enduring relationship with John Lydon, recently recalled in the Stories Of Johnny compendium.
Throughout this period, Kris contributed to Sounds and NME while acting as New York Rocker's UK correspondent. He also fronted a band called the Vice Creems, who boasted half of The Clash for one single. After Zigzag became the victim of shady publishers, Kris helped run the Bat Cave club and became UK correspondent for Creem, moving to New York in '86 and becoming their man in Manhattan.
Arriving back in the UK in 1990, Kris dived into the club scene for the rest of the decade, writing for NME, Mixmag, Echoes, DJ and Muzik. He made records as Secret Knowledge and Delta Lady, produced around 100 remixes and DJed around the world with Primal Scream and Prodigy. After forming a disco group with Irvine Welsh, running Creation's dance arm Eruption then ending up resident DJ and pole-dancer at Ibiza's notorious Manumission club, Kris chose writing over an early grave and wrote his autobiography Needs Must [currently being revamped], then formed the ongoing Bunnymad69 with his missus Michelle.
Since 2002, Kris has written books: The Scream: The Music, Myths & Misbehaviour Of Primal Scream; Keith Richards: Before They Make Me Run; Joe Strummer & The Legend Of The Clash and Trash! The Complete New York Dolls with Dick Porter. He also contributes to MOJO, Clash, Record Collector, DMC Update and Trakmarx punk webzine, the spiritual son of Zigzag.
199 articles
List of articles in the library
The Flamin' Groovies: Shake Some Action (Phonogram — released very soon)
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, May 1976
I STILL CAN'T believe this album! In fact, I would go as far as to say it will be one of the most important and ...
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, July 1976
THIS IS ONE for hardened Can-atics, being basically a collection of snippets which haven't made it onto past Can albums. ...
The Ramones: Ramones (Sire Import)
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, July 1976
PHEW, WHAT A scorcher! From the opening call to action of 'Blitzkrieg Bop' to the last strung-out powerchord of 'Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World', ...
Report by Kris Needs, ZigZag, August 1976
A STUNNING album and a pair of London gigs last month heralded the return of the fabulous Flamin' Groovies, San Francisco legends still crusading for ...
The Flamin' Groovies: "We're Just Trying To Bring A Little Innocence Back To Rock'n'roll"
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, September 1976
KRIS NEEDS corners Cyril Jordan, founder and leader of the Flamin' Groovies, in room 315 of the Agnew Hotel, and produces his tape recorder. ...
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, September 1976
OOWHEE!! This platter boasts one of the most fetching sleeves I've had the pleasure to mas...ogle at. On the front the glitteringly attired Cherie casts ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, October 1976
Kris Needs, a rather weird creature whose brain has the capacity to appreciate talents as diverse as those of Tom Rapp and the Runaways, decides ...
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1976
THERE'S SOMETHING LIKE five years between the recording of these two albums, so it comes as little surprise that they're almost totally different in style ...
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1976
AMONG THE hordes of bands currently playing London's pub and club circuit, the Stranglers are leading contenders to break out and hit unsuspecting mass audiences ...
The Clash: Nag's Head, High Wycombe
Live Review by Kris Needs, Sounds, 27 November 1976
THE CLASH gave the provincial nightmare of High Wycombe an electric shock it won't soon forget last Thursday night. ...
The Clash, Tapper Zukie: London/The Clash
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, New York Rocker, December 1976
"WE'RE ONE up the arse for the rich, established groups... There's so many useless bands around it's not even worth naming any." ...
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, February 1977
WELL, THIS IS probably the strangest thing Bowie has ever recorded. First listen was a real shock...and I've come to expect surprises from this bloke. ...
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, April 1977
IT'S TWO O'CLOCK in the morning and I'm playing The Idiot for the fifth time running. Can't stop, it's so compelling...but very VERY strange. ...
Report by Kris Needs, ZigZag, April 1977
Well, we got through to the second issue despite opposition from the hippies. Anyway, here we are...and it's about time we went Over The Top ...
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, April 1977
AT THE MOMENT there isn't a group in the New Wave that comes within spitting distance of The Clash, live or on record. Within a ...
Patti Smith: Lenny Kaye: New York Nuggets
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, May 1977
IN ISSUE 68 [of ZigZag], Patti Smith talked about a number of things during an account of the first half of her visit to this ...
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, May 1977
HEY! THIS IS a nice surprise! Almost out of nowhere comes this rip-snorter of an album when all we'd had from The Saints before was ...
The Stranglers: IV Rattus Norvegicus
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, May 1977
HERE COME the Stranglers with forty minutes of brain-rapingly original spewings like you ain't gonna hear anywhere else. ...
What The New Wave's Thrown Up — Punk Press Report
Overview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, May 1977
THE RECENT deluge of New Wave fanzines can only be a good thing... they're written and created by fans for the fans, with no sign ...
The Sex Pistols: Sex Pistols: Silver Jubilation
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, June 1977
A Jubilee special from the ever-patriotic Zigzag team in the form of an almost-exclusive interview with those lovable crop-tops from Shepherd's Bush, the Sex Pistols. ...
The Jam: In The City (Polydor 2383 447)
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, June 1977
THE JAM have come a long way since I first saw them supporting the Sex Pistols at Dunstable last October. Then they had an ill-fitting ...
The Ramones: An Aylesbury Affair
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, June 1977
IT'S BEEN about a year since The Ramones made their first hit-and-run visit to England for a pair of storming gigs in London. ...
New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers: Trash: The Story of the New York Dolls
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, Sounds, 25 June 1977
THE ONE gig I'm never ever gonna forget happened in early 1974 at the opening night of the Rainbow Room on the sixth floor of ...
Generation X: We're Not Into The Mindless Drone
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, July 1977
GENERATION X are half way through their soundcheck, and there's a "what shall we play next?" lull in the proceedings. ...
The Sex Pistols: Sex Pistols Squirt Flood Gush
Interview by Kris Needs, New York Rocker, July 1977
AFTER MONTHS of concentrated opposition from about every form of authority under the sun, The Sex Pistols are finally winning. Everybody from record companies to ...
Blondie: All Aboard For Funtime!
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, August 1977
FUN! IT'S A word which keeps coming back when you try and describe Blondie – live or on record. ...
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, August 1977
THERE ARE FEW groups I'd rather go and see at the moment than The Slits. They've only been going a few months in their present ...
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, September 1977
DRY AND Heavy indeed. The title says it all. This album is pure magic from start to finish and, in my opinion, his best yet, ...
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, September 1977
WHILE countless young groups do weak imitations of the Ig of five years ago Jimmy Osterburg himself moves on at a rate of revitalised progress ...
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, September 1977
Sunrise, wrong side of another day,Sky high, and six thousand miles awayDon't know, how long I been awakeWound up, in an amazin 'state Can't get ...
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, October 1977
BOWIE RECKONS he's discarded the last of his image facades/personality disguises, but as his appearance gets straighter the music gets weirder. ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, October 1977
THERE'S OVER 1,000 people from kids to hall staff grinning, swaying, dancing and screaming with delight at the stage on which Mink DeVille are playing ...
Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers: The Heartbreakers: LAMF
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, October 1977
THE HEARBREAKERS are one of my fave live bands. For sheer ecstatic raunch you can't beat 'em. This album has been a long time coming. ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1977
I KNOW IT'S BEEN a hectic year full of surprises but if anything 1977 will go down as the year Jonathan Richman (a) Got in ...
MC5: Rob Tyner: The Secret Life Of The MC5
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1977
ROB TYNER, NOW fronting a new MC5 after about four years away from the stage, was recently in this country to check out what's going ...
Dwight Twilley: The Dwight Twilley Band
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1977
EVEN ACROSS thousands of miles of trans-Atlantic telephone cable and several time zones Dwight Twilley exudes excited confidence. He's sure the time has come for ...
The Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1977
THE TITLE SAYS it all really. Ignore the press hysteria, dopey articles in Rolling Stone and cross-country panic/fear/loathing over "those foul-mouthed Sex Pistols". This album ...
The Clash, Lester Bangs: The Clash: Clash City Rockers On Tour
Report by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1977
DERBY KING'S HALL. The thickset geezer with the appearance of a frustrated rugby player – too short to make the scrum but just as tough ...
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1977
GROSS. LOUD. Fun. Funny. Fast. Flash. All words which can he applied to the Dictators, the New York City bad boys who toured here last ...
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1977
WHO DOESN'T LIKE the Ramones? Nobody, that's who – unless they're dead or M. Black of Norwich or something. I've had this LP for three ...
Brian Eno: An Interview With Brian Eno
Interview by Kris Needs, Danny Baker, ZigZag, January 1978
YOU COULD SAY Brian Eno was pissed off on the day the dynamic Zigzag interviewing team were supposed to be interviewing him. Quite the opposite ...
Captain Beefheart: The Return of the Zig Zag Wanderer
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, January 1978
HAAARRRM!!! Captain Beefheart's amazing throat lets out a ferociously powerful blues-roar, which in the "relaxed atmosphere" of the Montcalm hotel bar has a resounding effect ...
The Slits: Holland Park School, London
Live Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, January 1978
I BURBLED MY feelings about The Slits for four pages in ZZ75 last July, and happily that resulted in crazed Radio One producer and Zigzag ...
Blondie: Plastic Love: A Day with Blondie
Report by Kris Needs, ZigZag, February 1978
SO SUDDENLY it's in to have fun. The very same self-styled prophets who fell over their spanking new bondage strides last year to tell the ...
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, March 1978
THROBBING GRISTLE: Drop that name in any conversation and watch the reaction. Giggling or nervous laughter, disgust or horror, blankness or a polite "Who?" Yeah, ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, March 1978
WHEN WIRE came out of the Punk No-man's-land with their strikingly different debut album Pink Flag they seemed one of the hottest hopes for lifting ...
Profile by Kris Needs, ZigZag, April 1978
DESTROY ALL Monsters hail from the Detroit area and have provided a good home for two of the Motor City's baddest boys – ex-MC5 bassist ...
Generation X: X Cert For A Teenage Opera
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, April 1978
GENERATION X ARE pissed. Legless. Tony James is sprawled in a dressing room armchair, cradling his bass with a glazed-silly grin spread across the face ...
Live Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, April 1978
JUST GONE 7.30 and the punter queue is already half in. About a thousand punks, bikers, 'Awkwind 'Eadbangers and 48 hour fun-makers have turned up ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, July 1978
I pushed a penny in the toilet door then I quickly stepped inside to some graffiti and a greyhound paper and the gentle thought of ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie And The Banshees
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, July 1978
"I CAN'T WAIT to get into Polydor and run wild 'round the secretaries and throw all their typewriting paper and get their ribbons twisted. They ...
The Flamin' Groovies: Groovy Times On The Road!
Report by Kris Needs, ZigZag, July 1978
UP AND DOWN the country over the last few weeks wide-eyed audiences have been driven past boundaries of passion they never knew could exist in ...
The Rolling Stones: Some Girls
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, July 1978
AH, THE NEW Stones album. For me the most feverishly-anticipated event between the first album in 1963 and Black and Blue two years ago was ...
John Otway: The Intimate Secrets of John Otway
Report by Kris Needs, ZigZag, August 1978
Well go all the way to CornwallTell me baby what do you see?I see a long trip back home 'cos Polydor won't payI say, "Cor ...
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, September 1978
DEBBIE HARRY, teeth bared and eyes blazing, smashes her booted foot into my aching side. Ribs give way like skittles. Through glazed eyes I can ...
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, September 1978
LOVE BITES can be: The vice-like heart-grasp of new love: Embarrassing marks on the neck; Romance with a sting in the tail; THE NEW BUZZCOCKS ...
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, October 1978
BLONDIEEEE!!!! IT'S just yards between the stage door and the coach but feels much more as the waiting hordes grab, shout and thrust bits of ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, October 1978
COULDN'T you just see it coming? Ever since the Ramones made a follow-up album to their magic formula debut they've been under some fire for ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1978
WHEN JOHNNY came swaggering home last month (well, second home), you could safely bet there was no other place I'd be that night than right ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie and the Banshees: The Scream
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1978
FIRST DAY I got it I stunned a full room with this magnificent record...and you should have seen me three hours and four more plays ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1978
HE'S BEEN ON the stage for twelve years, eight of those rarely out of the Jamaican charts. He's a major reggae ambassador to Canada, the ...
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1978
AND YOU ALL thought, or have been led to believe, that Siouxsie and the Banshees were nothing but grim-faced, black-clad warriors of doom and disorder, ...
The Clash, The Slits: The Clash/The Slits: Village Bowl, Bournemouth
Live Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1978
IT'S 5.30 in the morning and for some reason I'm stuck on a ledge halfway down a several hundred foot cliff overhanging Bournemouth beach... And ...
Public Image Ltd.: Public Image Ltd. (Virgin)
Review by Kris Needs, New York Rocker, February 1979
THE EAGERLY-ANTICIPATED debut offering by Public Image Ltd. landed like a depth charge in the mire of self-congratulatory entrenchment that unfortunately bogs down much of ...
Report by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 10 February 1979
ON WEDNESDAY, January 31, Sham 69 played their last ever gig. ...
Doll By Doll: Night Of The Psychotic Woodsmen
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, March 1979
"This band is unquestionably involved in a death trip, and when you're involved in a death trip it ends in one thing alone and that's ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, April 1979
THE SLITS AND me in an Interview Situation, eh? Well, hardly. We just chat away (it was better when the cassette was off but I ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, May 1979
FOR THIS naughty mammal, one of the definite chest-expanding events of recent weeks was the storming resurgence of Ian Hunter, with his first album for ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, May 1979
TO ME, ROBERT Fripp has always meant the nastiest riffs you could wish to cower from. I mean NASTY. Malevolent, grating sounds which fair oozed ...
The Clash, Doll By Doll, John Otway, Merger, Siouxsie & The Banshees: ZigZag: The Party (The Pain)
Report by Kris Needs, ZigZag, July 1979
IT WAS OUR party... the day ZigZag came OUT. An erratic monthly "fanzine" (not owned by IPC or any other gardening clubs) celebrated ten years ...
The Psychedelic Furs: Psychedelic Furs: The Flowers Of Evil Are In Full Bloom...
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, July 1979
"We're in love with beautiful chaos, we're love with flowers..." ...
The Flamin' Groovies: Jumpin' in the Night
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, July 1979
HOT FROM their sizzling UK tour last June, the Groovies bombed into Eden Studios and laid down 16 tracks in a few days of midnight ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Night Of The Long Knives
Report by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
IT'S IRONIC that Siouxsie and the Banshees' latest album bears the title Join Hands when half the group just ran away two dates into their ...
Siouxsie & the Banshees: De Montfort Hall, Leicester
Live Review by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 29 September 1979
"HOPE YOU like the new band." ...
Patti Smith: 20 Minutes With Lenny Kaye…
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1979
THE PATTI SMITH Group had a day off in London. The night before they'd played to a generally enthusiastic reaction but universal slagging at Wembley ...
Live Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1979
JUST FOR that night "ABBA – World Tour 1979" nestled next to Motorhead and the Heartbreakers on my pet leather's lapel. Talk about extremes – ...
Destroy All Monsters: Fighting The DAM-Buster
Report by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1979
DESTROY All Monsters were the first American group to be brought over to the UK by a British small label. ...
Public Image Ltd.: The Metal Box
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1979
FRIDAY EVENING in Chelsea and I'm looking for a house, panning the street on the odd numbers side. Nearly there and a door opens. Down ...
Marianne Faithfull: The Ballad of Marianne Faithfull
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1979
MARIANNE FAITHFULL was the Face of the '60s Fragile, damaged little bird with the voice of an angel, broken on a spike and filled with ...
The Clash: London Calling (Epic)
Review by Kris Needs, New York Rocker, December 1979
A DOUBLE album from the Clash, two discs for the price of one — but that's not the only surprise. Because the speed-rush buzzsaw roar ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1979
"WE DON'T WANT to be a cult," says Kate, the guitarist.It's Mo-dettes. Not Modettes. ...
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, January 1980
'UNTER'S BEEN on stage about three-quarters of an hour now. Behind the shades he's revelling in the ecstatic open-armed adulation raining down on the boards ...
Motorhead: The Year Of The Gory Boys
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, January 1980
IT'S STILL ONE of the greatest pleasures known to man: dig out the Motorhead albums, crank every knob, climb every wall and blister blissfully in ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, January 1980
JERRY HARRISON plays keyboards and guitar for Talking Heads. Usually it's David Byrne, ostrich-like singer-songwriter-guitarist, who gets seized on by writers after hot poop on ...
Joan Jett: Return Of The Jett Girl
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, February 1980
HELLO, hello, she's back again! Joan Jett, the Runaway with the solid gold rock 'n' roll heart has returned, bouncing to a Gary Glitter soundtrack ...
Blondie: The Art Of Class: Behind The Blondie Invasion!
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, February 1980
THREE O'CLOCK on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Debbie Harry and Chris Stein have just got up and the hotel breakfast is being wheeled in. ...
Interview by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages audio, 9 February 1980
During this swift backstage chat, the Ramones talk about working with Phil Spector on their End of the Century album. They also talk about their current UK tour, how they're doing in the USA, and discuss leather jackets and winklepickers!
File format: mp3; file size: 13.3mb, interview length: 14' 34" sound quality: **
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, March 1980
AMERICA TODAY: the old and the new. Play these in a row... ...
Public Image Ltd: Lydon: Rock & Roll is Dead and He Don't Care
Interview by Kris Needs, New York Rocker, March 1980
AN HOUR of music served in a round metal tin, the twelve-inch form giving depth and punch. Once again, Public Image Ltd. have jabbed music ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, March 1980
"Some search this world for fameBut fightin' 'gators is my gameFrom the scars upon my handYou know I'm an alligator man..." ...
The Psychedelic Furs: Psychedelic Furs: The Furs Cut Is The Deepest
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, March 1980
"I HATE supporting other bands it sucks." Butler Rep, singer with The Psychedelic Furs, is reflecting on the last few days, which have seen one ...
The Clash: Six Days On The Road And 16 Tons Of Fun…
Report by Kris Needs, ZigZag, March 1980
THE QUEST GOES ON, HIT THE DECK! ...
The Ramones: Ramonin' In The Moonlight
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, March 1980
AH, THE RAMONES. It's always one of my favourite times when those four are carving up our land with strategic bursts of concentrated sonic Ramonia. ...
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, April 1980
SITTING on a curb with a fuming Joe Ely... ...
Suicide: Suicide: Alan Vega and Martin Rev (Ze)
Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, April 1980
TEN YEARS ago in a dingy New York loft two blokes were whipping up formidable walls of sheer, pulverising sound using just a set of ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, May 1980
"The main thing I've got to emphasise at this time is we're just not going away"– Jackie Leven ...
Linton Kwesi Johnson: Hour Of The Electric Rebel
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, May 1980
Muzik of blood Black reared Pain rooted Heart geared('Bass Culture' by Linton Kwesi Johnson) ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, May 1980
A YEAR after Exposure and Robert Fripp is following through on his 80s drive with the combined Frippotronics-Discotronics and a bunch of new theories on ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Haul Of Mirrors
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, May 1980
SIOUXIE AND THE BANSHEES MAY CALL THEIR NEW LP KALEIDOSCOPE, REFLECTING THEIR NEW, MULTI-FACETTED STRENGTH. HERE THEY TALK ABOUT THE NEW SONGS AND PLANS... ...
Joan Jett, The Runaways: Joan Jett: Joan Alone
Interview by Kris Needs, New York Rocker, June 1980
Ex-Runaway leaves a London Launching pad ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, August 1980
WHAT'S KATE BUSH doing in ZigZag? It's a fair chance that's the thought flitting through your noggin as you espy our rather tasteful cover. ...
Interview by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages audio, 19 September 1980
Ms Bush talks about her recent (and only) tour – the practice, pleasures and fears of performing live; about her new (third) album Never For Ever; the 'paedophilia' allegations surrounding the song 'The Infant Kiss'; and ruminates on the pressures of success.
File format: mp3; file size: 28.6mb, interview length: 31' 16" sound quality: **
John Lydon, Public Image Ltd: Public Image Ltd. (1981)
Interview by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages audio, 1981
John Lydon, Keith Levene and (a barely audible) Jeanette Lee on: the Flowers of Romance album; what was wrong with Wobble; Satin tour jackets; the Futurists & Steve Strange; problems with Virgin Records and more.
File format: mp3; file size: 41.2mb, interview length: 45' 01" sound quality: **
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, June 1981
He's an angelHe's a demonHe's a child in the saneHe's a new starHe's a centaurCommanding a bright green field('A Bright Green Field' by Jackie Leven) ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, July 1981
SIDE TWO crashes in with the heaviest number on the record. 'The Perfect Romance' is in the old style of Doll By Doll aural agony... ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, July 1981
PETER TOSH was in London for two days to promote his new album, Wanted Dread And Alive. ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, August 1981
SCREAM or be screamed at. MOVE or be removed. TAKE what you can or be taken, LOOK out or be looked for. Make them dance, make ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, August 1981
Kris Needs talks to Chrissie Hynde about stardom and the new album Pretenders II ...
Tom Verlaine: The Dreams of Tom Verlaine
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, October 1981
TOM VERLAINE was the mysterious force behind Television, the now-legendary outfit who swept to prominence in the New York Invasion of 1977. They captured eyes, ...
Kid Creole & the Coconuts: That Darnell Cat
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1981
THIS MAN swaps heads like Tommy Cooper! Kid Creole — the desert island disco merchant of two bliss-full albums, the live spectacular and soon Broadway. ...
The Slits: Return Of The Giant Slits
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1981
IN 1977 THE Slits were a noisy, thrashing pupa, slashing at complacent sitcom existences and establishing themselves as an anarchistic, table-turning force. ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1981
TEAR A STRIP off the sucker. Suddenly everybody's selfconsciously diving for the dancefloor. Most groups have got their 'funky number', even if they're not funky. ...
Defunkt: Too Fierce For Radioland
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, June 1982
Joe Bowie, singer-songwriter-trombonist-leader talked to Kris Needs and Killing Joke bassist Youth. ...
Blondie, Debbie Harry: Blondie: Making Tracks And The Art Of Parties
Report by Kris Needs, ZigZag, July 1982
THE B2 ART GALLERY is oddly situated in derelict Thameside structures off Wapping's hysterically termed High Street. But no rundown jungle on the other side ...
Kate Bush: Dream Time in the Bush
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1982
Kris Needs rises with the dawn (Wot?) to talk with the elfin Kate Bush about her new album The Dreaming ...
Orange Juice: Fruit Of The Loon
Interview by Kris Needs, Flexipop!, April 1983
Edwyn Collins of Orange Juice talks chicken with foul Kris Needs ...
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, Flexipop!, May 1983
THESE DAYS I wake up more and more feeling death's breath around the corner as I near the winter of my years. It's so hard ...
The Creatures: Love At First Bite
Interview by Kris Needs, Flexipop!, May 1983
Deep in the bamboo forests of Hawaii it was mosquito against THE CREATURES while SIOUXSIE and BUDGIE cooked up a vinyl feast. KRIS NEEDS took ...
Report by Kris Needs, ZigZag, June 1984
IT WOULD take a century of three-foot-thick ZigZags to truly describe the weird scenes, huge fun, turmoils, wobblers, windups, triumphs and downers of nearly three ...
Marc Almond: Ol' Goo Eyes Is Back
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1984
LURCHING ALONG a dark street, hellhound on my trail, underpants on my head...A new life around the corner. ...
The Gun Club, Jeffrey Lee Pierce: Trigger Happy: Jeffrey Lee Pierce Goes Solo
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, March 1985
AND SO the Gun Club was finally laid to rest. That majestic, thrashing animal with its tail in the blues, foot in the garage and ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, May 1985
"How did Mel go over here?... They still like Culture Club in England?... Who's Junior?... What about Prince?..." ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, September 1985
Ten years on and Lemmy's still there with a new bunch of salacious characters. Kris Needs plays the generation game ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1985
"Since time immemorial the great sea has fascinated mankind, even as he is plucked like a lifeless doll from its creaking shores..." (in BBC2 documentary ...
Overview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, January 1986
TO PUT EVERYTHING INTO PERSPECTIVE, AS TO WHERE THE ORIGINALS FROM '76 HAVE GONE; BE IT A WAYSIDE DITCH OR A MAJOR RECORD COMPANY WATER ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, January 1986
LAST MONTH WE CAUGHT SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES FIGHTING INJURY AND BOUNCERS IN NOTTINGHAM AND SET THE SCENE FOR THIS INTERVIEW, WHICH HAD TO BE ...
Sigue Sigue Sputnik: This Band Needs No Introduction – They Write Their Own
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, February 1986
...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, February 1986
They may look like everybody's image of bouncers but they are America's hottest gospel act ...
Billy Idol: Nice Day for a New Album
Interview by Kris Needs, Creem, August 1986
LONDON: IT'S three in the morning and a rampant telephone slices the night silence. The caller is in New York, but the line is crystal ...
Interview by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages audio, October 1986
Rock and rap, hip hop live and hip hop movies, and the struggle to get hip hop into the mainstream – the Queens Kings of Rap'n'Roll speak.
File format: mp3; file size: 31.9mb, interview length: 34' 51" sound quality: **
The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid And Nancy (Dir. Alex Cox; Samuel Goldwyn Co.)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Kris Needs, Creem, December 1986
LOVE IS A ROSE ...
Billy Idol: Billy Then, Idol Now
Profile by Kris Needs, Creem, March 1987
"I HOPE IF I get it right, it'll be a great record. If I get it wrong, it'll be in the trash-bin. I wouldn't be ...
U2: The Unforgettable Band: A U2 Overview
Overview by Kris Needs, Creem, August 1987
MAY 1, 1980, AND I'm sitting on a plane bound for Dublin. Next to me, the Island Records publicity man is telling me about the ...
Run-DMC: Run DMC's Celluloid Rap
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, Creem, January 1988
SOME INESCAPABLE facts accompany Run DMC's latest venture onto the big screen. They are probably the biggest rap group in the world. They sell millions ...
Interview by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages audio, December 1988
The Head Seed talks about his writing (the collection King Ink and new novel And The Ass Saw The Angel); his work on the movie Ghosts… of the Civil Dead and his latest album Tender Prey.
File format: mp3; file size: 44.4mb, interview length: 48' 27" sound quality: ***
George Clinton: Tales Of Kidd Funkadelic
Interview by Kris Needs, Dance Music Report, October 1989
AT LAST it seems like George Clinton is getting some just recognition after about a quarter century of being funk's most colourful and innovative character. ...
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, New York Review Of Records, June 1990
"WE SET out to write spirited music that will move people," says Ronald Peno, lead singer and lyricist of Died Pretty, Australia's most original export ...
Interview by Kris Needs, Black Echoes, 22 September 1990
FOR SOME reason, I'd half expected renowned Detroit techno demon Derrick May to be the quiet, retiring sort. ...
Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie (1991)
Interview by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages audio, 1991
Primal Scream's front-man and major fanboy talks about making Screamadelica; his major influences; and music, music music.
File format: mp3; file size: 58.1mb, interview length: 1h 03' 28" sound quality: **
Massive Attack Prepare To Storm The US!
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, Rockpool, August 1991
The following feature appeared in New York industry magazine-tipsheet Rockpool on the eve of Massive Attack's introduction to the US market, their Blue Lines debut, ...
Primal Scream: Screamadelica (Creation)
Review by Kris Needs, Black Echoes, 21 September 1991
IT'S SAD when people's preconceptions and filo-friendly phobias dictate that a review has to start by defending its very presence but there will be readers ...
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, Black Echoes, 21 September 1991
MUSICAL BARRIERS are currently falling faster than Russian statues. Exciting crossovers are making it often redundant to use terms like house, hip-hop and soul while ...
Interview by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages audio, 1992
The boys talk about their new album Check Your Head, their love of hardcore and metal, living in Los Angeles and a whole lot more.
File format: mp3; file size: 26.3mb, interview length: 28' 43" sound quality: **
Andrew Weatherall, Jah Wobble: Inner Vision: Andrew Weatherall & Jah Wobble
Interview by Kris Needs, Black Echoes, 15 February 1992
An out-mind experience with the extra-dimensional Andrew Weatherall and Jah Wobble, the man for whom the expression "raving mad" was invented... ...
Larry Heard aka Mr. Fingers: Larry Heard: House Music's Most Mysterious Pioneer
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, Black Echoes, 29 February 1992
LARRY HEARD has always been the most low profile of the original house music pioneers. Although his name has graced some of the deepest, most ...
Interview by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages audio, 21 April 1992
Detroit pioneer May discusses the state of Techno, and pays fulsome, eloquent tribute to the recently-deceased House legend Ron Hardy.
File format: mp3; file size: 18.5mb, interview length: 20' 09" sound quality: ***
Derrick May (1992) [transcript]
Audio transcript of interview by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 21 April 1992
This is a transcription of Kris's audio interview with Derrick. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Robert Owens: Bob's Full House
Interview by Kris Needs, Black Echoes, May 1992
"IT'S PAIN!" For a second Robert Owens assumes the tortured persona which electrifies his performances. The lower lip quivers, the huge eyes cloud and he ...
Lil’ Louis: Lil' Louis: French Kissing In New York
Interview by Kris Needs, Black Echoes, 12 September 1992
LAST JANUARY, during a particularly action-packed week in New York City, I was invited to experience one of the infamous Wild Pitch parties by D.J. ...
Review by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 26 September 1992
WHEN THEY BURY the time-pod to enable future generations to get a handle on what happened in 1992, The Prodigy's debut album will be a ...
Interview by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages audio, October 1992
Mr Atkins talks Detroit Techno vs. Chicago House, the Motor City recording and label scene, being hugely influenced by Kraftwerk and 'Planet Rock', and looks to the future.
File format: mp3; file size: 44.9mb, interview length: 49' 03" sound quality: **
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 7 November 1992
JUAN ATKINS, Godfather Of Techno, returns in style ...
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, Black Echoes, February 1993
DJ PIERRE IS in fighting mood these days and, having seen the scope for his legendary house music trailblazing die in Chicago and narrow in ...
Juan Atkins: Juan Is The Teacher
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, Mixmag, August 1993
COULD IT be 'Magic'? Yes that was Juan Atkins, the "Magic One" and legendary Godfather Of Techno leaning against a pillar at the Drum Club ...
Bill Laswell: Super Barrier Brother
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 4 September 1993
Respect and admiration this week go out to AXIOM label boss BILL LASWELL, breaking down multi-cultural barriers and making perfect musical marriages. ...
John Lydon, Leftfield: John Lydon and Leftfield
Interview by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 27 November 1993
IT'S ONE NIGHT in June '92, long past midnight at the Brixton Academy. The Orb have finished washing the cerebral nether regions of the full-on ...
Primal Scream: Dancing with Mr. G
Report by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 16 April 1994
Are you ready for rock-trucker blues — the PRIMAL SCREAM way? Can you handle misplaced underwear, Jacuzzi romps, leather shorts and shenanigans in gay clubs? ...
Arthur Baker, Afrika Bambaataa, Joe Bataan, New Order, Rockers Revenge: Arthur Baker: Legend!
Interview by Kris Needs, Muzik, September 1996
In the beginning, there was ARTHUR BAKER. And without him, dance music wouldn't be what it is today. For starters, we wouldn't have had 'Planet ...
Report by Kris Needs, Jockey Slut, February 1997
THE PRODIGY HAVE TAKEN LIVE DANCE MUSIC TO ANOTHER LEVEL, INCORPORATING ROCK ICONOGRAPHY, PARENT-QUAKING HAIR AND A FIERCELY LOYAL AUDIENCE. KRIS NEEDS REPORTS FROM THE ...
Masters at Work, Nuyorican Soul: Masters At Work: Shock of the Nu
Interview by Kris Needs, Muzik, March 1997
You know MASTERS AT WORK, you're familiar with the studio prowess of Mr Gonzalez and Mr Vega, you appreciate their high quality, chart-busting, dancefloor output, ...
Report by Kris Needs, Jockey Slut, October 1998
IBIZIAN VIRGIN KRIS NEEDS SPENDS A MONTH WITH MANUMISSION AND ENDS UP IN A WHEELCHAIR SURROUNDED BY BUNNY RABBITS. ...
Public Image Ltd.: Full Metal Jacket – Metal Box
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Fact, January 2004
With the curtain closed on the Sex Pistols pantomime, in 1978 a still-searing John Lydon teamed up with Jah Wobble and Keith Levene to form ...
Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood: The Death of Johnny Thunders
Retrospective by Kris Needs, MOJO, June 2006
How much do we know about the death of Johnny Thunders? That it was murder, says Kris Needs. ...
New York Dolls: Make-up America!
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, June 2006
In 1971 Manhattan, five teenage toughs in make-up, tried to kick-start the punk revolution. By 1976 the New York Dolls seemed finished, poleaxed by drugs, ...
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, Clash, May 2007
IN EARLY 1967, John Peel started playing tracks from the debut album by a new Californian group called The Doors. With no knowledge of the ...
John Fahey: The Legend Of John Fahey & Blind Joe Death
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Record Collector, October 2007
John Fahey was the maverick genius of the acoustic guitar, but that's only part of it. As another classic reissue appears, Kris Needs tries to ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: 20 Minutes To 20 Years: The Banshees' Tale
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Record Collector, November 2007
As editor of legendary fanzine Zigzag, Kris Needs had a front row seat for the explosive rise of Siouxsie & the Banshees. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, November 2007
JULY 26, 1978: The Clash are on the third out of four nights at Camden's Music Machine during their chaotically-successful On Parole tour. Suicide, here ...
Retrospective by Kris Needs, MOJO, February 2008
SEPTEMBER 15, 1978, BIRMINGHAM. Blondie are on form tonight and they know it. Although the previous day's Manchester gig saw screaming adulation and post-gig mobbing, ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: Kid Creole
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, July 2008
JUNE 1982: The tall, dapper figure in the silver-grey zoot suit, two-tone shoes and white Panama hat stares at a TV screen in one of ...
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Record Collector, July 2008
EARLY 1965: The Charlatans were about to galvanise California's acid rock revolution at the Red Dog Saloon, Jimi Hendrix was still playing R&B standards on ...
Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood: Mick Fleetwood in Blue Hawaii
Interview by Kris Needs, Record Collector, December 2008
On the eve of a UK tour, Fleetwood Mac's "spiritual father"' Mick Fleetwood talks to Kris Needs about his new blues band and rediscovering his ...
Captain Beefheart: Low Yo-Yo Stuff
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Record Collector, February 2009
"It's always irritated me that people labelled him weird. It was a kind of super-reality."– John Peel ...
Captain Beefheart: Trout Mask Nightmare
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, Record Collector, February 2009
The shocking story behind the making of Beefheart's greatest album ...
Johnny Thunders: Sticks & Stones – The Lost Album
Review by Kris Needs, Record Collector, March 2009
Johnny was a great songwriter… here's the proof. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, Record Collector, April 2009
With all 14 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds albums being remastered and reissued, Kris Needs chronicles one of music's most compelling catalogues, with help ...
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages, May 2009
'I must play music that is beyond this world' – Albert Ayler ...
Mott The Hoople: Teenage Riot!
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, May 2009
This is the complete, unedited version of the feature from Mojo, May 2009 ...
Country Joe & The Fish, Crosby Stills and Nash, Jimi Hendrix, The Who: Woodstock: Back To The Garden
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, Record Collector, October 2009
40 years on, Woodstock's epochal celebration of music, peace and unleashed hedonism is being marked with an unprecedented deluge of audio and visual releases. KRIS ...
The Clash: Spotlight On The Clash — London Calling
Memoir by Kris Needs, Clash, December 2009
IT DOESN'T seem 30 years since that night at Wessex Studios when The Clash were putting the finishing touches on London Calling. We'd been sitting ...
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Clash, April 2010
IN 1975, LOU Reed was the most dangerously fascinating figure in rock 'n' roll. With his old associates Bowie and Iggy having turned respectively into ...
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, May 2010
"I'VE GOT so much to do. All the music in the world," wrote Arthur Russell to a San Francisco friend after arriving in New York ...
Kim Fowley, The Runaways: The Runaways: Teenage Rampage!
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Record Collector, August 2010
WITH THE RUNAWAYS the subject of a Hollywood movie, Kris Needs charts the turbulent story behind the trailblazing female rock'n'roll band. ...
Jimi Hendrix: Brother From Another Planet
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Record Collector, October 2010
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1970: It's all over the evening news that Jimi Hendrix has died at the age of 27. "JIMI HENDRIX DEATH RIDDLE" bellow ...
Bob Dylan: Izzy Young: The Man Who Made Bob Dylan
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, December 2010
NOVEMBER 4, 1962: Bob Dylan is invoking the time-honoured image of the out-of-town rambler lost on New York's convoluted subway system as he nervously attempts ...
Poly Styrene, X-Ray Spex: Poly Styrene: A Life In Day-Glo
Obituary by Kris Needs, MOJO, July 2011
PUNK UNIQUE POLY STYRENE OF X-RAY SPEX DIED ON APRIL 25. KRIS NEEDS PAYS TRIBUTE TO AN UNFORGETTABLE TALENT ...
Tav Falco's Panther Burns: Tav Falco: Talking with a Panther
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, Record Collector, 6 October 2012
FEW FIGURES to emerge from post-punk's anarchic musical battle-boudoir have charted such an intensely idiosyncratic or enigmatic path as Tav Falco, a.k.a. Panther Burns. Roaring ...
Bobby Keys, The Rolling Stones: Bobby Keys 1943-2014
Obituary by Kris Needs, Classic Rock Online, December 2014
FOR THE LAST 45 years, Bobby Keys was the closest the Rolling Stones got to sporting a sixth member; a larger-than-life force of nature blessed ...
Marianne Faithfull: Give My Love To London (Dramatico)
Review by Kris Needs, Record Collector, Fall 2014
Fifty-and-counting with late-period career peak. ...
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Record Collector, January 2015
"It is interesting to look back to the birth of the British blues scene when one man pioneered a sound that was to give incentive ...
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, October 2016
2016 MARKS 70 years since Syd Barrett entered this world, ten since he left it and an incredible half century since Pink Floyd played their ...
Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd: Overdrive! Syd Barrett Part 2
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, November 2016
LAST MONTH WE looked at Syd's childhood and the birth of Pink Floyd up to releasing 'Arnold Layne'. ...
Tim Buckley: The Dream Belongs to Me: The Tragic Journey of Tim Buckley
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, November 2016
FIFTY YEARS AGO this month, an album was released that, in its own strangely magical way, managed to stand out among the recent folk boom ...
The Impressions, Curtis Mayfield: Beautiful Brother: The Gentle Genius Of Curtis Mayfield, Part One
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, February 2017
How a poor boy from Chicago became the voice of the civil rights movement in soul's greatest vocal group, defined the black pride anthem and ...
Traffic: Fantasy and Reality: Traffic, Part One
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, Shindig, March 2017
50 years ago, four musicians moved into a haunted Berkshire cottage. Surrounded by ancient sites and monuments, they ignited a unique musical melting pot that ...
Curtis Mayfield: Move On Up: Curtis Mayfield Part 2
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, March 2017
VASTLY EXCEEDING his hopes when it was released that September, Curtis was greeted as the most exciting soul album since Isaac Hayes' Hot Buttered Soul ...
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, April 2017
NOW WITHOUT any band at all, Island released Traffic's Last Exit in May, consisting of singles that ironically started with Mason's 'Just For You'. ...
Procol Harum: Still There'll Be More – An Anthology 67-17
Review by Kris Needs, Prog, March 2018
Birth of prog and its inventors' trail-blazing evolution. ...
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