Martin Aston
Martin Aston has written for Mojo, Q, The Guardian, The Times, Attitude, BBC Music and many other publications, over the last 30+ years. He is also the author of books on Pulp (Pulp, 1995), Bjork (Björkgraphy, 1996), a biography of 4AD Records (Facing the Other Way: The Story of 4AD, 2013) and Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache: How Music Came Out (2017), the first history of the queer pioneers of popular music.
189 articles
List of articles in the library
Spear of Destiny: World In Action
Interview by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 6 July 1984
KIRK BRANDON is experiencing a new burst of energy with SPEAR OF DESTINY. He braved the mud and bottles at Milton Keynes, he's been playing ...
New Order: Goldiggers, Chippenham
Live Review by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 1 September 1984
A VITAL GLEAM ...
Floy Joy: Into The Hot (Virgin V2319)
Review by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 29 September 1984
BURNING SENSATION ...
Orange Juice: Crystal Palace Bowl, London
Live Review by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 6 October 1984
THE THRILL OF IT ALL ...
John Cale: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 20 October 1984
JOHN CALE comes alive! Or, more to the point, returns to churn out his trussed-up, broken-down rock, his stutter-and-collapse persona resting on the barricades of ...
Felt: The Strange Idol Pattern And Other Short Stories (Cherry Red)
Review by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 3 November 1984
THERE IS A singular atmosphere to Felt's music. Their dreamy guitar excursions are a pure extension of mood, not intent, and as such have no ...
The Go-Betweens: Camden Palace, London
Live Review by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 1 December 1984
GOING GONE ...
The Durutti Column: Without Mercy (Factory)
Review by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 8 December 1984
SO MUCH contemporary music strives to conquer eager hearts and incite itchy feet with bombastic crescendoes and prolific sloganeering, substituting the possible with the obvious, ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 12 January 1985
'Some of you (the Freemason pederasts) may be a trifle confused or even annoyed by the packaging and name of this record. For all your ...
The Monochrome Set: Snakes and Ladders
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 2 March 1985
Martin Aston plays cards with THE MONOCHROME SET currently clambering chart-wards with 'Jacob's Ladder' ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 18 May 1985
Drugs? Paisley shirts? Forget it, say L.A.'s RAIN PARADE, currently in Britain courtesy of friendly Island Records. Martin Aston wades through the beads and patchouli ...
Del Amitri: Del Amitri (Big Star)
Review by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 25 May 1985
IT MIGHT not be such a good idea to delve too deeply into Del Amitri's arresting pop because you might be deceiving yourself. Forcing any ...
The Chameleons: The Meaning of Life
Interview by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 1 June 1985
THE CHAMELEONS have been to hell and back. Or something. Martin Aston nurses them through the agony and looks forward to the ecstasy. ...
The Monochrome Set: The Lost Weekend (Blanco y Negro)
Review by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 29 June 1985
FROM SATIRE to pastiche, vintage sardonic witticism to detached irony. ...
Toyah Wilcox: Toyah: Minx (Portrait)
Review by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 27 July 1985
HAS TOYAH Wilcox left it too late? The removable sticker on the cover — where Ms Wilcox models a nice line in wickerwork baskets on ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, August 1985
The Felt mainman on guitarist Maurice Deebank's departure; what Felt are; the new album Ignite the Seven Cannons; the meaning of existentialism; his lack of interest in the outside world; how he writes; Deebank's contribution; his elaborate song titles; the Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie and Elizabeth Fraser; his dislike of his hometown Birmingham; current label Cherry Red vs. new home Creation; the Weather Prophets and Primal Scream, and being a fan of Vic Godard.
File format: mp3; total file size: 44.2mb, total interview length: 46' 05" sound quality: ****
Big Star, Alex Chilton: Alex Chilton: Alex's Wild Years
Interview by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 2 November 1985
If anybody can really claim to be a living legend, ALEX CHILTON is the guy. From the Box Tops to Big Star to the booze, ...
Review by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, Summer 1985
LIFE has gone full circle for Alex Chilton. Seventeen years old in 1967, up to New York City from hometown Memphis where he fronted the ...
Alex Chilton (1986) [transcript]
Transcript of audio interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1986
This is a transcript of Martin's audio interview with Alex. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees (1986)
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, 1986
Aston and other journos quiz the Banshees about visiting Pompeii and writing 'Cities in Dust'; the album Tinderbox, and taking so long to record it; not looking back, and the myth of Sid Vicious; not having a grand plan; their audience, and keeping their distance from it; the importance of playing live; Siouxsie's look, and influence on young women; the movie Out of Bounds; being on Geffen, and their run-in with Bob Ezrin.
File format: mp3; file size: 43mb, interview length: 44' 50" sound quality: ***
Michael Nyman: Time Waits For Nyman
Interview by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 18 January 1986
Boffin, composer, systems musician, egghead and man with boring trousers MICHAEL NYMAN performed his soundtrack for A Zed And Two Noughts at the ICA last ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, March 1986
Lux Interior and Poison Ivy on their obsession with all things Elvis; Ricky Nelson's weirdness; accusations of pastiche, and rockabilly vs. rock'n'roll; on Gravest Hits and producer Alex Chilton; being on stage; life in Los Angeles and their hatred of suntans; life in Glendale chez the Interiors... and owning paintings by serial killers.
File format: mp3; file size: 60.5mb, interview length: 1h 03' 01" sound quality: ***
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, April 1986
The New York noisesters discuss the chronology of rock movements and their roots in No Wave; deny ripping off the Stooges; explain their name; talk about their guitar collection, their creative methods, how they carry the torch of rock'n'roll and struggle with engineers... and why they covered songs by Madonna and Kim Fowley.
File format: mp3; file size: 46.7mb, interview length: 48' 35" sound quality: ***
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, April 1986
Brian Ritchie talks about the acoustic approach of the trio's first two albums, and about getting more electric with The Blind Leading the Naked; about the instruments they use and the multitude of approaches they take in the studio. Ritchie and Gordon Gano talk about the sound of the new album, about being produced by Talking Head Jerry Harrison; about their previous album Hallowed Ground and their label Slash. Finally, Gano talks about what's important to him, his songwriting... and the existence or otherwise of God.
File format: mp3; file size: 44.7mb, interview length: 46' 35" sound quality: ***
Live Review by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 24 May 1986
AN ODDBALL bunch, Pulp. A National Health-spectacles climbing frame inside a second-hand suit with a blissful deep-throated voice like a dark angel or at least ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, October 1986
From the Box Tops and Big Star to Feudalist Tarts, the Memphis legend tells all the tales: about Chris Bell, drink and "trashy" drugs, Like Flies on Sherbert, the Cramps, trashing Ardent studios, his doubts about his songwriting, cutting out booze and washing dishes in New Orleans.
File format: mp3; file size: 41.2mb, interview length: 42' 55" sound quality: ***
New Order's Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris (1986)
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, 6 October 1986
Drummer Stephen talks about new album Brotherhood: only hearing its flaws; writing in the studio and band democracy; on the three previous albums; lyric writing, on being interviewed; Peter Saville's album covers; drumming vs. drum machines, and relationships within the band. Singer/guitarist Bernard on his dissatisfaction with the new album; music after Joy Division; starting to write lyrics after Ian Curtis' death, and first hearing Iggy Pop and others courtesy of Curtis.
Stephen: File format: mp3; file size: 32.6mb, interview length: 33' 56" sound quality: *** Bernard: File format: mp3; file size: 30.1mb, interview length: 31' 20" sound quality: ***
Morrissey, The Smiths: The Smiths' Morrissey (1986)
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, November 1986
The Smiths' front man on the ins-and-outs of being interviewed; his relationship to Smiths fans; the reference points for his songs; Derek Jarman's videos for the band; his fondness for the '60s; 'Big Mouth Strikes Again', and his self-image; treatment by the tabloid press; Live Aid; the nature of the Smiths' success; The Queen Is Dead; song titles; Patti Smith; camp humour; the consequences of fame, and leaving Rough Trade for EMI.
File format: mp3; file size: 91.9mb, interview length: 1h 35' 42" sound quality: ***
The Jesus & Mary Chain's Jim Reid (1986)
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, Spring 1986
Jim Reid talks about his dislike of interviews; wanting to be pop rather than avant garde; making the Mary Chain's first album Psychocandy; taking the sounds to their wildest level; lyrically being both psycho and candy; replacing drummer Bobby Gillespie; Sigue Sigue Sputnik and the state of pop in 1986; a healthy-looking Johnny Thunders; refusing to explain his lyrics; the nature of showbusiness and the riots at their shows; the good and bad of the Velvet Underground; their difficult reputation... and what’s coming up.
File format: mp3; file size: 57.5mb, interview length: 59' 51" sound quality: ***
Retrospective and Interview by Martin Aston, OOR, Fall 1986
IT'S ALWAYS BEEN a good sign of an artist when he or she can interpret the present, and in doing so, predict the future. Equally ...
Television, Tom Verlaine: Tom Verlaine (1987)
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, March 1987
The former Television frontman on the making of his most recent album Flash Light; his lyrical concerns; his ignorance of current rock; on being a lead guitarist; revisiting Television's Marquee Moon and Adventure; the pleasures of making and listening to music; playing with other people, and his lack of contact with old pals Patti Smith and Richard Lloyd.
File format: mp3; file size: 73.2mb, interview length: 1h 16' 17" sound quality: ***
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, March 1987
The proto-postpunks go through their history: Graham Lewis, Colin Newman and Bruce Gilbert on making debut album Pink Flag; on their development over the subsequent Chairs Missing and 154; on touring with the Tubes and Roxy Music; on their difficulties with EMI; and on re-emerging with new album The Ideal Copy. Graham Lewis (left) answers first, followed by Colin Newman (in shades) and finally Bruce Gilbert (second from left)…
File format: mp3; file size: 44mb, interview length: 45' 47" sound quality: ***
Jarvis Cocker, Pulp: Pulp's Jarvis Cocker (1987)
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, April 1987
The Pulp frontman on why he started the Sheffield group; his urge from an early age to make music; why he writes the songs he writes; refusing to be a judgmental spectator; what makes Pulp different; the attractions of Jacques Brel, Scott Walker and Burt Bacharach; and truth and beauty...
File format: mp3; file size: 29.6mb, interview length: 30' 51" sound quality: ***
Interview by Martin Aston, Underground, May 1987
Jarvis Cocker, diplomat, playwright, crooner and NH spex wearer, this is yer page... ...
The Go-Betweens' Robert Forster (1988)
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, March 1988
The Go-Betweens' co-frontman talks about the band's return to their native Australia: the contrasts between London and Sydney or Brisbane; the lack of a particularly Australian music; his dislike of the London Soho/The Face mafia, and having had enough "edge"; the new album 16 Lovers Lane; the Australian fear of indulgence and artiness, and thinking of hemispheres rather than nations.
File format: mp3; file size: 67.7mb, interview length: 1h 10' 29" sound quality: ***
Review by Martin Aston, New Musical Express, 20 August 1988
IF AMERICAN post-hardcore is the definitive mix of musical sour and sweet – sour, the sound of fractious guitars, melting, and sweet, the coils of ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Auckland Star, 1989
NOT FOR nothing has New York been labelled "the first Third World city in a First World country." ...
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, Auckland Star, 1989
IF PUNK WAS the answer to the broad lack of genuine invention in the musical mid-70s, then the Acid House phenomenon answered those who believed ...
Interview by Martin Aston, OOR, 1989
IN THE WEEK that U2's new video finds them hanging out with blues legend BB King while Simple Minds roam the windswept Spanish hills, Robert ...
Interview by Martin Aston, The Catalogue, 1989
THE PIXIES, in the space of time it takes to skin a Bros, have been hailed as rock's saviours, Those That Will Save Us From ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, January 1989
Lou talks about his new album, New York: getting the right sound; modified guitars and amps; playing with fellow guitarist Mike Rathke; producer Fred Maher, and finding the right studio; his lyrical concerns, and writing and rewriting; having Mo Tucker play on the album; on Andy Warhol, and working on Songs for Drella with fellow ex-Velvet John Cale,
File format: mp3; file size: 27.8mb, interview length: 28' 57" sound quality: ***
Transcript of audio interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages transcripts, January 1989
This is a transcript of Martin's audio interview with Lou. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, 4 March 1989
The Canadian songstress on the making of her album Miss America: how she co-produces her music; her wildness onstage; comparisons with Van Morrison and Patti Smith; disputes with Virgin Records over her recording direction, and being helped by Joe Boyd; her acting career; about herself as a singer; rock critics' views of her, and on her favourite songs on the album.
File format: mp3; file size: 61mb, interview length: 1h 03' 34" sound quality: ***
Review by Martin Aston, Q, May 1989
THE FIFTH full-length and second major-label album from The Triffids will inevitably receive acclaim from the critical ranks as a multi-faceted alternative to Australia's pub-circuit ...
Throwing Muses: Savage housewife
Interview by Martin Aston, The Independent, 23 June 1989
Kristin Hersh talks to Martin Aston about motherhood, madness and rock'n'roll ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, July 1989
The DJ attempts to explain himself; argues he's more a fan than part of the machine; discusses the diversity of his listenership; touches on his kids' relationship with music; holds forth on his paymaster, Radio 1, and what gets played on it; bemoans the poor quality of current UK music; disputes his status as an indie figurehead; and ruefully answers Martin's questions about his commercial voice-overs...
File format: mp3; file size: 52.8mb, interview length: 55' 00" sound quality: ***
Transcript of audio interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages transcripts, July 1989
This is a transcript of Martin's audio interview with John Peel. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Robert Wyatt: Rock Bottom and Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard
Review by Martin Aston, Q, August 1989
NOW ON CD: how Robert Wyatt found beauty in the aftermath of personal disaster. ...
The Sugarcubes: Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week!
Review by Martin Aston, Q, November 1989
THE SUGARCUBES may have plucked their second album title from Wind In The Willows's whimsical pages but the quote has an altogether more serious import: ...
Buzzcocks: The Buzzcocks: Product
Review by Martin Aston, Q, December 1989
LIKE MOST punk escapades, Buzzcocks started with Johnny Rotten, whose "We're not into music, we're into chaos" motto drew Bolton students Peter Shelley and Howard ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, Winter 1989
The morning after a London performance, Ms Lunch discusses herself as a spoken word performer and artist: being censored; confronting issues such as abuse of women; her pleasure at being on the margins; other spoken word performers like Henry Rollins and Karen Finley; how she came to music via lyrics, and about the confrontational nature of audiences.
File format: mp3; total file size: 45.5mb, total interview length: 47' 21" sound quality: ****
Lydia Lunch (1989) [transcript]
Transcript of audio interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages transcripts, Winter 1989
This is a transcript of Martin's interview with Lydia. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Jello Biafra, Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins: Spoken Word: Jello Biafria, Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins
Report and Interview by Martin Aston, The Independent, Winter 1989
ONCE UPON a time, people took to the stage without the blast of music behind them, and people would take them seriously. Poetry and the ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Auckland Star, 1990
"Just what are the East Germans who flock across the crumbled Berlin Wall spending their money on? While champagne and fresh fruit were once hot ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Music Week, 1990
IF BRIAN ENO, Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads, David Sylvian and Tears For Fears have anything in common, you wouldn't instantly think of American avant-garde composer/trumpeter ...
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, The Independent, February 1990
IT WAS the poster claiming The KLF were to play live at a DJ convention in Amsterdam rather than – as they thought – just ...
New Order, Pop Will Eat Itself, Saint Etienne: Football Songs: The Final scores
Report by Martin Aston, The Independent, 16 May 1990
For this year's World Cup, England has its most sophisticated anthem ever. Martin Aston reports ...
Pink Floyd, Roger Waters: Roger Waters (1990)
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, June 1990
The former Floyd man discusses the problems of producing the upcoming Berlin production of The Wall: German Green Party demands that he plants lupins after the show; Soviet co-operation in using the Red Army Choir; trying to get help from the British military but not being allowed to use an army band, and all the headaches involved in such an ambitious production.
File format: mp3; file size: 19.8mb, interview length: 20' 34" sound quality: ***
Roger Waters (1990) [transcript]
Transcript of audio interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages transcripts, June 1990
This is a transcript of Martin's 1990 audio interview with the former Floyd man. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Tim Buckley: Dream Letter — Live In London 1968
Review by Martin Aston, Q, July 1990
FOR ANY ADMIRER of Tim Buckley's unique talent, this double live album taken from his London debut in 1968 (at Queen Elizabeth Hall) comes right ...
Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter, Pink Moon and Heaven Is A Wild Flower
Review by Martin Aston, Q, August 1990
RAISED BY UPPER-middle class parents in the Black Country, educated at public school and Cambridge, Nick Drake's life was never as comfortable as his upbringing ...
Fairport Convention: Conventional behaviour
Report and Interview by Martin Aston, The Independent, 17 August 1990
Martin Aston spoke to the members of Fairport Convention ahead of their anual reunion show at this week's Copredy Folk Festival ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, September 1990
The axe-wielding overgrown schoolboy talks about bunking off and missing his education; the music that got to him in his youth; rock in Australia, and the Australian audience's attitudes; ignoring the standard metal devil worship; the commercial ups-and-downs of the band; the songs on new album The Razor's Edge; rock as a release; the flashy American metal bands, and his avoidance of politics.
File format: mp3; file size: 49.1mb, interview length: 51' 07" sound quality: ***
Daryl Hall & John Oates, Daryl Hall: Hall & Oates (1990)
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, September 1990
The dynamic duo talk about how there are no major points of contention between them; their new album Change of Season; their ex-manager Tommy Mottola; leaving NYC, the change of lifestyle, and moving away from urban dance music; their dislike of Beauty On A Back Street; Daryl working with Dave Stewart and Robert Fripp; the bad moves they've made; the homoerotic Daryl Hall & John Oates sleeve, and not getting into modern dance music.
File format: mp3; file size: 63.3mb, interview length: 1h 05' 57" sound quality: ***
Review by Martin Aston, Q, September 1990
AT THE SUGGESTION of their drummer Gary Leeds, who'd just returned from backing PJ Proby, The Walker Brothers shifted camp from the US to the ...
Van Der Graaf Generator: Where Are They Now?
Profile by Martin Aston, Q, September 1990
VAN DER GRAAF Generator, one or Britain's vaunted bands from the progressive era known for their unusual sax/organ front line. "Can you try and dig ...
AC/DC's Angus Young (1990) [transcript]
Transcript of audio interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages transcripts, October 1990
This is a transcript of Martin's audio interview with Angus. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Cocteau Twins: Heaven Or Las Vegas
Review by Martin Aston, Q, October 1990
"THIS WARM BATH of a record is a sensual invitation to wallow in an opiate haze of drifting melody" – Q's review of The Cocteau ...
Review by Martin Aston, Q, October 1990
IF ANY GROUP seem wholly inappropriate for CD repackaging, then Crass are it, being eight admitted non-musicians who used snarl-toothed punk music as a vehicle ...
Profile by Martin Aston, Q, October 1990
CRASS WERE BRITAIN'S seminal anarcho-punk band, whose communal life and own Crass label epitomised the movement's DIY ethic. Handling everything from mail order, promoting gigs ...
Daryl Hall & John Oates: Hall and Oates
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, OOR, October 1990
"PEOPLE SAY, 'When will the next big thing come?' It will only come when the last big thing's influence is wholly exhausted... we will suck ...
The Replacements: All Shook Down (Sire 7599-26298)
Review by Martin Aston, Q, November 1990
THE MINNEAPOLIS band's eighth album confirms the scurvy garage-band thrill of Stink or 1985's Tim has well and truly passed on. A sharp variety of ...
The Small Faces: Where Are They Now?
Profile by Martin Aston, New Musical Express, December 1990
SHA LA LA La Lee! Pioneers of mod-psychedelia and decisive hair-parting strategies, The Small Faces. ...
Report and Interview by Martin Aston, The Catalogue, 1991
"Let me tell you about life/I got mine, you got yours"... ...
Herman's Hermits: Where Are They Now?
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, February 1991
'I'M INTO SOMETHING Good', 'Silhouettes' and 'My Sentimental Friend' established Herman's Hermits as a top Manchester band in the days when Bez had barely mastered ...
Profile by Martin Aston, Q, May 1991
FAMOUS – OR SHOULD that be infamous? – for their punk-era, terrace-anthem hits 'If The Kids Were United (They Would Never be Divided)' and 'Hurry ...
Pentangle: Where Are They Now? Pentangle
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, May 1991
EVEN BEFORE Fairport Convention had set their wheels in motion, Pentangle were attempting to contemporise and explore British folk music. ...
Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine: Samples of things to come
Interview by Martin Aston, The Independent, 13 June 1991
Martin Aston on Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, at work in the garden shed ...
The Teardrop Explodes: The Teadrop Explodes: Where Are They Now?
Profile by Martin Aston, Q, July 1991
ALONGSIDE ECHO & THE Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes were the focal point for Liverpool's emerging post-punk new wave scene. According to the group's linchpin Julian ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, October 1991
"I'M A MUSICIAN when I remember to be," Robert Wyatt confesses with an earnest tug at his straggly, greying beard. "In fact, I don't even ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Puncture, 1992
WITHOUT DISCOUNTING Sinead O'Connor, we've become accustomed to looking toward North America to feel the cutting-edge of female singer-songwriters – the tense psychoanalysis of Throwing ...
Big in Japan: Where Are They Now?
Retrospective by Martin Aston, Q, January 1992
FEW OTHER groups in the post-punk era can claim to have launched so many successful careers as Big In Japan – The KLF, Frankie Goes ...
Review by Martin Aston, Q, January 1992
FACED WITH MY Bloody Valentine's formative fumblings, few would have predicted that this garage lurch could metamorphosise into the swooning melody crush that constituted 1988's ...
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, Q, April 1992
'NIGHT OF FEAR', 'I Can Hear The Grass Grow', 'Flowers In The Rain', 'Fire Brigade' — The Move were Birmingham's beat-group and psychedelic sensation with ...
Report and Interview by Martin Aston, Q, July 1992
Australians impersonate them; Erasure cover their songs; U2 and Nirvana are on their case; and there's even a box set on the way. Martin Aston ...
Orange Juice: Where Are They Now?
Profile by Martin Aston, Q, July 1992
AS SELF-EFFACING drummer Steven Daly said, Orange Juice were "the smartest band on the island at the time. We had no affiliation with anyone – ...
Adam & The Ants: Adam And The Ants: Where Are They Now?
Profile by Martin Aston, Q, September 1992
"DON'T WORRY – HE'LL soon be a hairdresser in North Finchley." So it was that, with Malcolm McLaren's unprophetic words as encouragement, the original Ants ...
Billy Mackenzie: Outernational (Circa CIR 22)
Review by Martin Aston, Q, September 1992
THE ONE asset Billy MacKenzie hasn't lost sight of in his wayward career is that delicious voice — a sweeter impression of the quasi-operatic croon ...
Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Where Are They Now?
Profile by Martin Aston, Q, October 1992
THERE ARE FEWER more meteoric sagas than that of Liverpool's Frankie Goes To Hollywood – from almost complete obscurity to the hottest, and the most ...
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, Q, October 1992
SEATTLE, IN the top left-hand corner of America, is famous for its once-thriving post-war aerospace industry, for its breweries and coffee, pine forests and clean ...
PJ Harvey: Kicking Against The Pricks
Interview by Martin Aston, Spin, November 1992
Twenty-two-year-old Polly Harvey fronts this year's most raved-over new group, PJ Harvey. Martin Aston gets bewitched and bewildered. ...
Report and Interview by Martin Aston, Q, November 1992
Weird but true. The average unknown band will get more work and better money by pretending to be someone famous than by being themselves. Martin ...
Pink Floyd: Storm Thorgerson: Daily Departures From Reality
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, December 1992
"I LIKE PICTURES that don't necessarily have an explanation off pat," Storm Thorgerson says of the beguiling, often outlandish record sleeves that cemented the ...
Big Star: Alex Chilton and Big Star
Interview by Martin Aston, OOR, Fall 1992
BIG STAR, that most famous of cult guitar bands, named themselves after a chain of supermarkets renowned in their local Memphis; now, nearly 15 years ...
Where Are They Now? Pan's People
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, March 1993
BEFORE POP video, before the miscegenetic raunch of Hot Gossip, before we knew better, there was Pan's People. They were Top Of The Pops' resident ...
Report by Martin Aston, Q, May 1993
AH, THAT FRINGE, and the velvet bow around the ponytail, and the impossibly tight trousers with the suspiciously vulnerable seams. He once warbled his way ...
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, The Independent Catalogue, September 1993
IT'S FOUR IN the afternoon, and Liz Phair is itching to go jogging. But there's plenty of time; this is her first bout of UK ...
Björk Gudmundsdottir's Record Collection
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, October 1993
DOWN THE concrete steps, round the back and to the left, you'll find Björk Gudmundsdottir's comfortably compact and bijou new residence, on the cusp of ...
Sonic Youth: Forever Young: Sonic Youth
Interview by Martin Aston, The Independent, 1994
IN 1991, WHEN Geffen Records signed the New York quartet Sonic Youth, the label couldn't have envisaged the band delivering two accessible albums by its ...
Björk — "I only really grew up two years ago."
Interview by Martin Aston, Select, January 1994
NOBODY WILL DARE SAY 'elfin' again... Few had much time for Bjork and her quirky solo project this time last year. There she goes, they ...
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, Q, June 1994
"POPULAR MUSIC, in all its rich varieties, has milestones." So began the Sunday Times review of David Ackles's 1972 album, American Gothic, which compared the ...
Sutherland Brothers and Quiver, The Sutherland Brothers: The Sutherland Bros: Where Are They Now
Retrospective by Martin Aston, Q, July 1994
ONCE UPON a time, there were two Scottish brothers, lain and Gavin Sutherland, peddlers of particularly earthy soft-rock fare with two albums on Island (1972's ...
Report by Martin Aston, Q, August 1994
Don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington. Better still, burn that Opportunity Knocks application form. Today's child stars are tomorrow's drug addicts, depressives, ...
Jeff Buckley: In At The Deep End
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, August 1994
AWARE HE COULD be unfairly accused of trading on the family name, Jeff Buckley, Tim Buckley's 27-year-old son, has spent the last three years honing ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, October 1994
A CLASSIC glam rock drum beat is quickly interrupted by a whistle of the "OYI! OVER 'ERE!" variety before a majestically bounding punk-pop riff throws ...
Morrissey, The Smiths: The Smiths: Witty, Sad, Poignant, Green…
Retrospective and Interview by Martin Aston, Q, October 1994
If ever a band established a coherent identity, a rallying point for their fans, through their sleeve artwork, that band was The Smiths. Those famous ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, November 1994
"IT'S NOT that I'm sick of hearing praise," Geoff Barrow retorts, "it's just that I can't quite believe it, or even understand it." ...
Robert Palmer: Five Girls for Every Boy
Interview by Martin Aston, Details, December 1994
Robert Palmer's 'Addicted to Love' made his all-girl band into icons. Where are they now? ...
Sonic Youth Clean Up Their Act: Washing Machine
Review and Interview by Martin Aston, Music Week, 1995
TRUST A BUNCH of New York art-rockers to contemplate jeopardising their increasing popularity by changing their name to Washing Machine, but that's what Sonic Youth, ...
Barry White: The Q 100 interview
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, January 1995
HOW THE devil are you?I'm fine. I couldn't be happier. Everything is beautiful in my life. I got a hit album and hit single. I'm ...
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, Q, May 1995
US Geek Rockers inspired by Gary Numan and Jesus Christ Superstar to produce rattlingly fine buzz pop. ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, June 1995
Avonian ingénu Tricky has pulled quite a rabbit from the top hat they're calling "Bristol trip-hop". Martin Aston meets the Number 1 rapper with plenty ...
Guided By Voices: Alien Lanes (Matador OLE 123)
Review by Martin Aston, Q, July 1995
IN AMERICA, as the focus has shifted to the classifiably indie sound of scratchy basement pop, Guided By Voices find themselves in Pavement's commercial slipstream ...
Retrospective by Martin Aston, MOJO, July 1995
IN 1965, THE LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE CHEETAH dubbed three emerging singer-songwriters – Jackson Browne, Steve Noonan, and Tim Buckley – 'The Orange County Three'. ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, October 1995
HAILING – along with the rubber tyre and Rachel Sweet – from Akron, Ohio, Devo's prankful art-pop, deconstructivist theories and matching boilersuits made perfect-imperfect sense ...
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, Q, November 1995
Downpatrick punk-popsters collide with the charts, avoid university and begin diligent career-building ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Attitude, November 1995
"Mis-shapes, mistakes, misfits... oh we don't look the same as you / We don't do the things you do / But we live round here ...
Martha and The Muffins: Where Are They Now? Martha and the Muffins
Retrospective by Martin Aston, Q, February 1996
ONCE, CANADIAN new wavers Martha And The Muffins were "far away in time", via 'Echo Beach', Number 10 in March 1980. ...
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, Select, March 1996
A STANDARD semi-detached on Oxford's fashionably downbeat Cowley Road appears an unlikely HQ for the UK's "hottest new band" (copyright the typically finger-not-on-the-pulse Today newspaper) ...
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, Q, March 1996
"TIM" WAS A familiar name around the Greenwich Village folk scene of the '60s, but one with a tragically portentous ring to it. Tim Hardin ...
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, July 1996
SONGS ABOUT buying armfuls of Kit-Kat from the all-night garage; songs about lying drunk in the grass and seeing a face in the stars ("He's ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, April 1997
They varnish their nails, yet they eat at McDonald's. The singer has a Ziggy-like alter ego, while the bassist likes to pretend he's called Stove. ...
Faithless: Wir Sind Berliners!
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, Q, May 1997
Faithless: in no way Eurosceptic. ...
Jive Bunny: Where are they now? Jive Bunny
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, May 1997
The guy who works down the chip shop swears he's Elvis. And the woman on the M&S tights counter might well be Tanita Tikaram. ...
Report by Martin Aston, Q, June 1997
Dangerous business, rock'n'roll. One minute, you're having hits, the next, you're taking them. Whether as macho prop or tool of the trade, totin' a gun ...
Dollar: Where Are They Now? Dollar
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, July 1997
Once they sat behind the gilt-inlaid desk of success, with the keys to the executive washroom; then, suddenly, they were "downsized". ...
No Doubt: Humungous: No Doubt: Finger Lakes Perfoming Arts Center, Canandaigua
Review and Interview by Martin Aston, Q, September 1997
No Doubt: been there, done that, sold this much ...
Alabama 3: Exile On Coldharbour Lane (Elemental ELM 40CD)
Review by Martin Aston, Q, November 1997
COLDHARBOUR LANE is one of Brixton's infamous thoroughfares, where the great unwashed jostle alongside the black British community. ...
Coldcut, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: You Spin Me Round
Overview by Martin Aston, Q, November 1997
"Two turntables and a microphone," are, says Beck, "where it's at." For more than a decade Technics 1200 record decks have provided the backbone of ...
The Pixies: Hello Goodbye: Joey Santiago & The Pixies
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, December 1997
HELLO – September 1986 CHARLES [FRANCIS] and I were suite-mates rather than room-mates at the University of Massachusetts. Like me, he'd gone to college in the ...
Belle and Sebastian: The Ever-So-Secret Seven
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, January 1998
"IT ALL STARTED at open stage sessions at The Halt Bar in Glasgow," recalls Belle & Sebastian bassist Stuart David. "Drunken Saturday afternoon shambles ...
The Verve: Follow The Yellow Brick Road
Retrospective by Martin Aston, Select, March 1998
The Verve's astonishing eight-year pilgrimage has been littered with drugs, dehydration, mental breakdown and six-month lasagne binges. Now, somewhere over the rainbow, the world belongs ...
Republica: The Spice Of Success
Report and Interview by Martin Aston, dotmusic.co.uk, 17 August 1998
BMG UK chairman Richard Griffiths' streamlining approach to the label's British operations looks fortunate for DeConstruction signings REPUBLICA, whose second album Speed Ballads is set ...
The Creatures, Siouxsie & The Banshees: 10 Questions for Siouxsie Sioux
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, September 1998
Is it true that you split the Banshees because the Sex Pistols reformed? ...
Billy Mackenzie: Tom Doyle: The Glamour Chase – The Maverick Life Of Billy MacKenzie (Bloomsbury)
Book Review by Martin Aston, Q, September 1998
EVERY PICTURE tells a story. In this biography of the late singer Billy MacKenzie, there's a photo, circa 1971, of St. Michael's School's under-15s Football ...
Voice Of The Beehive: Where Are They Now? Voice Of The Beehive
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, September 1998
Fronted by American sisters Tracey and Melissa Belland, Voice Of The Beehive mixed frothy pop, zany threads, girl-power attitude and Top 30 action in 1988 ...
David Bowie, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones: I Was A Pop Star's Arse-wiper!
Report by Martin Aston, Q, January 2000
For as long as there have been rock stars, there have been rock star "support systems", from the Memphis Mafia to "Spanish" Tony Sanchez to ...
Jeff Buckley: They Don't Even Know Me Yet
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, January 2003
In 1992 Jeff Buckley gave his first ever press interview. A decade later, MOJO unearths this incredible, little-seen document. ...
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, Q, April 2003
Arising from the ashes of At The Drive In, here come The Mars Volta ...
Johnny Cash: Cash's Video Adieu
Report by Martin Aston, MOJO, May 2003
It's been on CNN and it made Bono and Rick Rubin cry. Johnny Cash's video for Hurt might be the most powerful music video ever ...
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, March 2004
Prepare to be hit by the "rock'n'roll frying pan" from Norway. ...
Razorlight: Up All Night (Vertigo) ***
Review by Martin Aston, MOJO, July 2004
Debut from NYC-fixated Anglo-Swedish guitarniks. ...
The Police, Andy Summers: Hello Goodbye: Andy Summers and the Police
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, September 2004
From jazz-fusion to pop-reggae, they conquered the world and split at the zenith of their fame. ...
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, November 2004
"Elfish Icelandic pixie" Björk made her first LP at 11, then dived into Crass-approved "existentialist punk jazz". Now, fresh from playing to four billion people, ...
Daryl Hall & John Oates: War Babies
Retrospective and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, December 2005
A Philly soul duo's descent into the "vomit of insanity" ...
Candi Staton's Dandy, Liquor's Licked
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, The Times, 24 March 2006
THERE ARE TIMELESS songs, and then there are timeless songs, those that chart across time itself. Take the Righteous Brothers' revered 'You've Lost That Lovin' ...
Cocteau Twins: Hello Goodbye: Cocteau Twins
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, August 2006
It began with naivety and unbelievable luck, and ended with control freakery and cabin fever. ...
Marc Almond: In the studio this month… Marc Almond
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, August 2006
AS THINGS STAND, Marc Almond's next album will be called My Life. ...
Comment by Martin Aston, MOJO, August 2006
How Radiohead sound like Radiohead, and like none of their influences. ...
Love's Forever Changes Revisited
Retrospective by Martin Aston, MOJO, August 2007
"LOVE WAS THE breakthrough band of the '60s," began journalist Phil Gallo's liner notes to the 1995 box set Love Story 1966-72. ...
Retrospective by Martin Aston, MOJO, Summer 2007
ED SULLIVAN has an awful lot to answer for. It's a delicious irony that the stiff-necked, neo-conservative host of The Ed Sullivan Show, the country's ...
Review and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, January 2008
THE TALE is set in 1900 and tells of a hermit-like man of undetermined powers, misunderstood and shunned by rest of his village, against a ...
Pierre Henry, Spooky Tooth: Spooky Tooth/Pierre Henry: Ceremony – An Electronic Mass
Retrospective by Martin Aston, MOJO, September 2008
Mass Trespass: This month in the landfill of obscurity, a pioneering, random fusion of blues rock and gothic electronics. ...
The Chills, The Clean: Nuns at the Altar of Rock: Flying Nun Records
Retrospective and Interview by Martin Aston, The Guardian, May 2009
"THERE'S SOMETHING about the antipodes that irritates Britain," reckons Martin Phillipps, on the phone from Dunedin on New Zealand's South Island. Almost 25 years ago, ...
Big Star, Alex Chilton: Alex Chilton: Out Of Time
Retrospective and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, November 2009
A Beatles-obsessed quartet of '70s Memphis kids offering power-pop acid-drops for a soul label and a heavy rock public, Big Star were the ultimate misfit ...
Annette Peacock: Buried Treasure: Annette Peacock's I'm The One
Retrospective and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, November 2009
"IN THE '60s," Annette Peacock vouches, "everyone was an individual. Hendrix, Sly Stone, Dylan, Joplin… If you were of your time, you had to find ...
Iggy Pop & James Williamson: Kill City
Review by Martin Aston, bbc.co.uk, 2010
Iggy's most underrated album helped him get back to real life. ...
Professor Green: Alive Till I'm Dead
Review by Martin Aston, bbc.co.uk, July 2010
As fizzy, dramatic and inventive as pop should be without losing his initial grime edge. Stephen Manderson's stage alias echoes the big-band era of jazz giants ...
John Grant's Queen of Denmark: MOJO Album of 2010
Review and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, December 2010
AUTHOR'S NOTE: John Grant's debut solo album Queen Of Denmark deservedly won MOJO Magazine's album of 2010. I interviewed him about the MOJO victory and ...
Review by Martin Aston, bbc.co.uk, 21 February 2011
They successfully hit many of rock's sweet spots on this debut LP. ...
Viv Albertine: Self-Portrait: Viv Albertine
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, March 2011
I DESCRIBE MYSELF as… Vivacious. Vindictive [laughs]. Vain. Vociferous. Someone attempting to be honest but probably failing miserably. Mostly because of all the conditioning that ...
Deerhunter: The Psychedelic South: Deerhunter's Atlanta
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, The Guardian, 10 March 2011
NOTE: In 2011, I flew to Atlanta, Georgia, to spend the weekend with Bradford Cox, frontman of the city's great neo-psychedelic rockers Deerhunter, for the ...
Romeo Void: Altruist and shout: Romeo Void: Benefactor (Columbia 1982)
Review and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, May 2011
Retrieved from the slip road fly-tip of rock, new wave unease and dissent beloved of Queens of the Stone Age. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, June 2011
Four pale, skinny suburban fops, inspired by Bowie and The Smiths, at the start of 1994 SUEDE were British pop saviours, poised for greatness. But ...
Ultrasound: The reformation of Ultrasound: "In an instant, it felt necessary"
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, The Guardian, 8 September 2011
Say what you like about the second coming of Ultrasound – this is one reformation that isn't driven by money. ...
Other Lives: The Prairie Stories of Other Lives
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, The Guardian, 13 October 2011
Inspired by the landscape of their native Oklahoma, Other Lives combine their rustic rock with classical minimalism. Martin Aston meets a band without limits. ...
The Unthanks: The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons
Review by Martin Aston, bbc.co.uk, November 2011
ON THE SURFACE, there is little connection between cherished Brit icon Robert Wyatt and cherished icon-in-the-making Antony Hegarty beyond the fact The Unthanks covered a ...
Retrospective by Martin Aston, The Guardian, 17 November 2011
Its writer refused to record it. Pat Boone almost killed it. Then it was resurrected as a B-side to an indie prestige project. Martin Aston on how ...
Cocteau Twins: An Interview with Robin Guthrie
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, December 2011
One half of indie's most ethereal duo on the eternal quest for "musical finesse and beauty" ...
Review by Martin Aston, bbc.co.uk, 2012
IT'S HARD TO IMPROVE on Bronze Rat's description of their own Gemma Ray as a "torch-singing, guitar-taming, pop-noir maverick". The Essex girl born Gemma Smith ...
Perfume Genius: Put Your Back N 2 It
Review by Martin Aston, bbc.co.uk, 20 February 2012
Music from a bleakly beautiful twilight zone entirely of its own design. ...
Review by Martin Aston, bbc.co.uk, April 2012
EX-FLEET FOXES sticksman gets superbly freaky on a special solo voyage. ...
Review by Martin Aston, bbc.co.uk, 10 April 2012
This Alabama outfit might be the feel-good hit of the summer festival circuit. ...
Review by Martin Aston, bbc.co.uk, 7 May 2012
A well-researched soundtrack piece full of memorable melodies ...
Go-Kart Mozart: On the Hot Dog Streets
Review by Martin Aston, bbc.co.uk, 25 June 2012
There is only one Lawrence, this is his gospel, and roll on the next chapter. ...
Go-Kart Mozart: On the Hot Dog Streets
Review by Martin Aston, bbc.co.uk, 25 June 2012
There is only one Lawrence, this is his gospel, and roll on the next chapter. ...
Review by Martin Aston, bbc.co.uk, August 2012
The stunning return of a prodigal son you never knew existed ...
Review by Martin Aston, bbc.co.uk, 20 August 2012
A second helping of Cyrk, accentuating the dreamier haunts of part one. ...
Dead Can Dance: Restless Souls
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, December 2012
THE PENUMBRAL LEGEND of Dead Can Dance — 4AD's ethno-gothic enigmas — has loomed large in their 16 year absence from the studio. Now the ...
Review by Martin Aston, bbc.co.uk, Fall 2012
Superbly psychedelic second set with a very British-sounding soul. ...
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, September 2013
Twickenham's intense guitar and voice bailaor breathes again with album two. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Martin Aston, The Guardian, 10 October 2013
Little was known about Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, the enigmatic founders of celebrated indie label 4AD, until they were tracked down in the US. ...
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, November 2015
"Gap-toothed, greasy enigma" of indie yacht-rock Mac DeMarco stage-dives in London and Wiltshire, finds his own cool place. ...
Miracle Legion: Cult heroes: Miracle Legion – the band Thom Yorke loved, who could have been REM
Retrospective by Martin Aston, The Guardian, 17 May 2016
EVEN AT THE TIME, in April 1986, I knew it was unnecessary hyperbole on my part when my submitted Melody Maker feature about an emerging ...
Josef K: It's Kinda Funny (The Singles)
Review by Martin Aston, MOJO, June 2016
Sound of Young Scotland post-punks on 45; rounded up on 33. ...
Scott Walker: An introduction to Scott Walker in 10 records
Retrospective by Martin Aston, The Vinyl Factory, 25 July 2017
How one of music's greatest voices forged a path from teen idol to avant-garde combatant. ...
Bauhaus: A post-punk primer on the "founding fathers of Goth"
Retrospective by Martin Aston, The Vinyl Factory, 16 January 2019
BÉLA FERENC Dezső Blaskó, or Bela Lugosi as he is better known, died in 1956, but his reputation and aura not only survive but thrive ...
McAlmont & Webb: The Last Bohemians (Lateralize)
Review by Martin Aston, MOJO, January 2020
Seasoned collaboration "paying homage to the jazz life", Queen and R.E.M. ...
Sigur Rós: After nine years, Sigur Rós return to hit the ground running for LP eight
Report by Martin Aston, MOJO, May 2022
Fact sheet Title: TBC Due: Autumn 2022 Production: band/Birgir Jón Birgisson Songs: TBC The Buzz: "When we started, we thought, Wouldn't it be nice to do ...
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