All news by author: Simon Cosyns

IN his prime, Johnny Cash’s chiselled features seemed as if they were hewn from granite.Imagine how great he’d look on Mount Rushmore — if the N

JOHN GRANT is a man of contradictions – a big bearded bear on the outside and a deeply sensitive soul on the inside.His songs veer from serene balla

IN his studio named The Machine Shop, Colin Meloy engineers his outlandish musical creations.Like a madcap inventor, The Decemberists singer and songw

JON BON JOVI was the New Jersey kid who aimed for the stars with no plan B.In a scene from the new Bon Jovi docuseries, Thank You, Goodnight, the fron

LATE last year, Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E, needed a life-saving emergency operation.When the Eels singer had a routine check-up, an aneur

THE First Time Ever I Saw Your Face is a song for the ages.Covered a thousand times in a thousand ways, it captures the overwhelming sensation of love

AMY WINEHOUSE was like a shooting star – she burned bright for a brief moment, then she left us.She only released two albums in her lifetime, her ac

ONLY a handful of people knew the real Amy Jade Winehouse. One of them was Dale Davis.Seventeen years her senior, he became Amy’s band leader and co

When The Black Keys were looking for guest artists for their new album, they aimed high. Very high.First, the duo of singer/ guitarist Dan Auerbach an

OK, so let me explain one of the year’s most attention-grabbing new album titles . . . Happiness Bastards.The “happiness” represents the

“I’M not sure whether I believe in an afterlife,” muses Bruce Dickinson.“I’ve not been there yet. This life might be the only one I’ve got

THE song In A Broken Dream is a curiosity in the momentous career of Sir Roderick David Stewart.The year is 1969 and Rod, already an established singe

IN a fifth-floor room at the rear of Warner Music’s London HQ, two familiar figures are standing by a window, peering down at the urban landscape be

EVEN before he turned up in Africa and was robbed at knifepoint of his precious demo cassettes, Paul McCartney was up against it.Rarely during his sto

AS a bright Cardiff afternoon fades to dusk, Gruff Rhys is pondering the duality of his new solo album.“It’s good to have vinegar on the chips,”

TO borrow from the title of a book he once wrote, 2023 has been “a bit of a Blur” for Alex James.The bassist says the band’s whole reunion exper

LET’S face it, Christmas isn’t just about rocking around the tree, jingling all the way and singing Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! as if t

“I’VE got this song, what do you think?”With that intriguing question from Paul McCartney, so began another magical mystery Beatles adventure fo

IN the far north of Norway, beyond the Arctic Circle, lies the municipality of Hadsel.Snow-capped peaks, turbulent blue seas, windswept beaches, gnarl

RATING: 4 AND A HALF STARS OUT OF 5“KEEP that one, mark it fab.”These are the words of Paul McCartney near the start of Peter Jackson’s short fi

“THE idea of me growing up?” muses Keith Richards, breaking into one of his mischievous cackles. “Save that for later.”As rock and roll’s ul

THE names Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart often crop up in relation to their significant others.He’s been called “Mr Kate Moss” because of his s

“WE bonded over many things,” says Emmylou Harris of her friend, the late Nanci Griffith.Among them were their “crazy love of animals” and the

MARC BOLAN was a shooting star who shone dazzlingly bright for a brief time . . . and then he was gone.As that star reached its zenith in 1972

FOLKOCRACY (noun): A dynasty of renowned folk musicians.If anyone can claim to be a member of a “Folkocracy”, it is Rufus Wainwright.The Canadian-