Ben Myers
Ben Myers is a former staff writer at Melody Maker and since the mid 90s has written for publications including MOJO, NME, Kerrang!, Time Out, Q, The Quietus, Alternative Press and 3:AM Magazine. He is the author of a number of books, including biography and fiction, translated into seven languages. His most recent books are Richard, a novelisation of the life and disappearance of Richey Edwards, and Pig Iron.
57 articles
List of articles in the library
Blur, The Levellers, Mark Owen, The Prodigy, Stereophonics, Symposium: Alive and Kicking
Report by Ben Myers, Melody Maker, 31 May 1997
Sunday sunshine and a celebrity soccer shoot-out! A brace of top pop stars recently puffed their way around the pitch in a charity match. Some ...
Green Day: Stick 'Em Up, Punks!
Interview by Ben Myers, Melody Maker, 4 October 1997
Those loveable American punk rockers GREEN DAY are back. We join them in Milan to find out if they're still punk at heart. Guess what? ...
Portishead: Portishead (GO! Beat 11tks/50 mins)
Review by Ben Myers, Melody Maker, 4 October 1997
GLOOM, GLOOM, SHAKE THE ROOM! It's dark, it's gloomy and it's brilliant. Yep, PORTISHEAD are back ...
Interview by Ben Myers, Melody Maker, 22 November 1997
Well, we couldn't take them out on the piss all night, could we? We take HANSON to Laser Quest in Reading and zap their little ...
Review by Ben Myers, Melody Maker, 22 November 1997
IT SEEMS LIKE Soundgarden's rich and fruitful career falls into two distinctive camps, reflected quite clearly on this, their first post-split release. ...
3 Colours Red, All Saints, Goldblade: All Saints, 3 Colours Red, Goldblade: Can't Cook, Won't Cook
Interview by Ben Myers, Melody Maker, 20 December 1997
The search for the spirit of Christmas. Eating 'n' drinking: Ben Myers ...
The Candyskins, My Life Story: My Life Story, the Candyskins: Astoria, London
Live Review by Ben Myers, Melody Maker, 3 January 1998
HMMPH. THE Candyskins. Who would have believed it? Just over a year ago I saw them in a dingy pub in Luton. They were indie ...
Bernard Butler: People Move On (Creation)****
Review by Ben Myers, Melody Maker, 4 April 1998
YOU KNOW the story. March 25,1992 and there in block capitals, the stuff legends are made of: "Suede – The Best New Band In Britain". ...
Diamanda Galás: Malediction And Prayer (Mute) **½
Review by Ben Myers, Melody Maker, 2 May 1998
WITH A voice akin to Ella Fitzgerald, Edith Piaf and Shirley Bassey, yet with a distinctly goth-baroque slant, Galás is something of a unique entity. ...
Girls Against Boys: Freak*on*ica (Geffen)
Review by Ben Myers, Melody Maker, 16 May 1998
UH-OH. IT'S that corporate record thing. After many years riding the subways of an ultra-cool underground, first as Soulside, then as Girls Against Boys and ...
Live Review by Ben Myers, Melody Maker, 30 May 1998
PRE-MILLENNIUM TEDIUM ...
Stereophonics: Three Local Boys Go Global
Report and Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, April 1999
THERE'S A GAGGLE of giggling girls in the hotel lobby. There's even more outside the venue, huddled under blankets or sitting smoking cigarettes in doorways. ...
Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 10 April 1999
Mullet-spotting, interviews with idiotic Euro-hacks and close encounters with transvestites in restaurant toilets – REEF's bid for global domination is only 24 hours old and ...
The Donnas: Hot Style: The Donnas
Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 29 May 1999
ALL THE best bands look great. Whether it was the Sex Pistols in their safety pins or Kurt Cobain throwing on a plaid shirt and ...
Feeder: Truth Or Dare — "How good are you in bed?"
Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 5 June 1999
Do not be fooled by first impressions. Take FEEDER: on the surface they're three serious gentlemen in love with their art. Ask them the right ...
The Offspring: Come Out & Spray
Report and Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 31 July 1999
July 1999, Orange County, California — THE OFFSPRING are about to play the two biggest gigs of their career in front of 14,000 rabid fans. ...
Retrospective by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 7 August 1999
Thirty years ago this week, followers of CHARLES MANSON committed a series of brutal murders that changed US culture forever. On the anniversary of the ...
Foo Fighters: I'm Still Standing
Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, September 1999
This year Dave Grohl has split from his record company, seen long-time friend Franz Stahl walk out on his band and endured far too much ...
Def Leppard: On The Road: Again….
Report and Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, October 1999
"RIGHT," SAYS Joe Elliot. "I think it's time for a few drinks." ...
Rage Against the Machine: Hello, Hello...It's Good To Be Back: Rage Against the Machine
Report and Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 16 October 1999
Humourless revolutionaries. Po-faced militants. Volatile insurrectionists permanently on the verge of splitting. RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE have been called all of these and more. Which ...
Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 16 October 1999
Currently America's hottest property, KID ROCK has spent the last 12 months shagging porn stars, witnessing depraved sex acts and earning more money than he ...
Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 23 October 1999
You would give your left arm to have a celebrity girlfriend, holidays in the Caribbean, several million in the bank and a reputation as Britain's ...
Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 12 January 2002
Making music to take drugs to… ...
Profile and Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 26 January 2002
Eight years, in fact, since Staind formed in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 2001, they made the second biggest selling album of the year. This is their ...
The Hives: "One, two, three, four…"
Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 2 February 2002
They're the most stylish band on the planet. They're also one of the most exciting. This is the rise and rise of THE HIVES… ...
Profile and Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 23 February 2002
Not every young British band gets the opportunity to relocate to Hollywood to record their debut album Hell Is For Heroes have. And they're having ...
Fugazi, Minor Threat: Ian MacKaye: Inventing Hardcore
Profile and Interview by Ben Myers, Careless Talk Costs Lives, March 2002
"These are our demands: we want control of our bodies. decisions will now be ours. you can carry out your noble actions, we will carry ...
Richard Hell: Hell Is Other People
Interview by Ben Myers, Careless Talk Costs Lives, March 2002
IN HOT And Cold, Richard Hell's new collection of three decades of writing, there's a photo of a young obscure poet called Theresa Stern. She ...
Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 16 March 2002
Looking for a genre-splicing, cop-car-driving, multi-media musical experience? Six-foot eight New Yorker Custom is your man. ...
Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 20 April 2002
Conor Oberst began his musical career as a 14-year-old singer-songwriter. Seven years later, he has formed the fiery Desaparecidos. His mission: to open America's eyes… ...
Profile and Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 11 May 2002
They say you can judge a band by their fans. For fast-rising UK noiseniks SikTh, that means obsessive lunatics and pavement-licking berzerkers... ...
The Libertines interviewed at the 100 Club, Oxford Street, London, October 4th 2002
Interview by Ben Myers, unpublished, 4 October 2002
IT WAS A crisp autumn day when The Libertines arrived back in London to play the penultimate show of a 26 date tour at the ...
Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 15 February 2003
As they headline their first UK arena tour, party monsters Sum 41 insist drugs and sex are off the menu. Happily, gambling, boozing and hanging ...
Live Review by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 22 March 2003
IT TAKES A RARE band to transform a large cavern sucked of all life into something approximating a Saturday night party. Many try, most fail. ...
The Distillers, Peaches: The Distillers and Peaches: When Brody met Peaches...
Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, February 2004
THEY MAY have only met once before but within thirty second of being re-introduced backstage at London's Brixton Academy it's clear that Brody Dalle and ...
The Prodigy: Liam Howlett: Never Outgunned
Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, August 2004
"I REMEMBER being in our rehearsal room and Keith was picking holes in shit and I just thought 'What the fuck, man? What's happened to ...
The Clash: London Calling 25th Anniversary
Retrospective by Ben Myers, Record Collector, October 2004
BY EARLY 1979, to the outside world The Clash were coasting. In their three short years of existence they had signed to Sony for a ...
The Clash: Paul Simonon: London's Most Handsome Man
Interview by Ben Myers, 3ammagazine.com, November 2004
IT'S ALL ABOUT poise. If you don't have poise – definition "balance; a dignified and self-assured manner" – in rock 'n' roll, you're nothing. Paul ...
Billy Corgan: The Pumpkin King Goes Solo
Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, June 2005
THE FIRST thing you notice is not how tall he is or how large his hands look, or the fact that he's dressed like an ...
Muse: Supermassive: The Making Of Muse
Retrospective and Interview by Ben Myers, Record Collector, July 2007
This month's gigs at the new Wembley Stadium confirm Muse's status as Britain's biggest rock band. Ben Myers traces their rise from Devon schooldays to ...
(British) Sea Power: British Sea Power: Rock Needs To Get Back To Nature
Comment by Ben Myers, The Guardian, 20 November 2007
Cities have been done to death. More rock bands should take inspiration from countryside, mountains and rivers - like British Sea Power ...
Retrospective by Ben Myers, The Guardian, 18 June 2009
The "Disco Sucks!" campaign in 1979 had racist and homophobic undertones — and, 30 years on, has proven to be a resolute failure ...
Half Man Half Biscuit: Why Half Man Half Biscuit are wholly terrific
Profile by Ben Myers, The Guardian, 23 July 2009
WITTY AND DRY, sardonic yet never cynical, the lyrics of Half Man Half Biscuit are an undiscovered treasure trove. It's time this great Birkenhead band ...
The Libertines: Confessions Of A Blagger: Carl Barat's Threepenny Memoir Reviewed
Book Review by Ben Myers, The Quietus, 20 October 2010
Carl Barat's new tome doesn't shrink away from embracing ugly self-truth — and according to Ben Myers, is subsequently far worthier of praise than the ...
Talk Talk: How Talk Talk Spoke To Today's Artists
Retrospective by Ben Myers, The Guardian, 28 February 2011
IN HIS WEIGHTY 2010 TOME Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music, Rob Young charted a century's worth of musicians who helped define British folk. In ...
Review by Ben Myers, The Quietus, 23 March 2011
FOLK MUSIC GETS A HARD RAP in the UK. In the US it's different. Far from being the subject of derision, the long standing American ...
Hip-Hop and Festivals: An Awkward Relationship
Comment by Ben Myers, The Guardian, 23 June 2011
When they get it right, rappers can rival stadium rock acts. But a mere gust of wind can expose how few MCs can hack festivals ...
Darren Hayman & The Long Parliament: The Violence
Review by Ben Myers, bbc.co.uk, November 2012
A concept album about the 17th century witch trials of Essex? Yes please. ...
Review by Ben Myers, bbc.co.uk, 2013
Dundee alt-rock trio offers more than just a mirthsome moniker. ...
NOFX: 30th Anniversary Box Set
Review by Ben Myers, bbc.co.uk, 2013
Satirical Californian punks display cockroach-like endurance. ...
Review by Ben Myers, bbc.co.uk, 4 February 2013
Former Gallows singer unleashes his inner arena-rock beast. ...
Review by Ben Myers, bbc.co.uk, 19 February 2013
Young Danish punks create a beautiful noise for the worldwide disaffected. ...
Review by Ben Myers, bbc.co.uk, 1 April 2013
Grunge originators show zero signs of mellowing. ...
Biffy Clyro: Step In The Arena
Report and Interview by Ben Myers, MOJO, June 2013
ON PAPER it's the first day of spring, but Newcastle is begging to differ. Upstairs in the Metro Arena, the three members of the UK's ...
Lostprophets: Rock Music Isn't Evil — it's the rock star myth that creates men like Ian Watkins
Comment by Ben Myers, New Statesman, 18 December 2013
Music journalist and author Ben Myers has been doing some soul-searching on the day the former Lostprophets singer was sentenced to twenty-nine years' imprisonment plus ...
The Comet Is Coming: The Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Live Review by Ben Myers, MOJO, March 2017
West Yorkshire braces for the impact of Shabaka Hutchings' near-Earth trio. ...
back to LIBRARY
