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
µ-ziq, Orbital: Orbital, µ-ziq: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 25 May 1996
Well-Rounded ...
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 ...
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. ...
Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 4 February 1995
TECHNO PRISONERS ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
The Boo Radleys: Boo Radleys: The Garage, London
Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 21 May 1994
POP'S YOUR UNCLE ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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." ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 – ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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. ...
Macy Gray: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 2 October 1999
CRAZYSEXYCOOL ...
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 ...
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 ...
Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, September 2005
IMAGINE BRITPOP never happened. No Pulp, no Longpigs, no exuberant resurgence in literate guitar pop. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
The Pharcyde: The Forum, London
Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 3 August 1996
IT'S A SHAME ABOUT CABARET ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 17 May 1997
MADRID FOR IT!! ...
Radiohead: Earl's Court, London
Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, November 2003
"Computers are useless. They only give you answers" – Pablo Picasso ...
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 ...
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 ...
Sebadoh: King's College, London
Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 27 July 1996
EMPIRE OF THE DEFENCES ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
Sigur Rós: This Week's Best New Band is... SIGUR RÓS
Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 10 November 1999
STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL SOUNDSCAPES ...
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. ...
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. ...
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: 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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... ...
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. ...
Interview by Ian Watson, Rolling Stone (Australia), March 2004
HOW OLD do you have to be to sing the blues? ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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