A passing shower

When the Irish band were a folksy blues three-piece, it was Eric Bell who defined Thin Lizzy on their 1971 self-titled debut and early 70s follow-ups, Shades Of A Blue Orphanage and Vagabonds Of The Western World

Away from his day job as The National’s lugubrious frontman, MATT BERNINGER has reached back into his Ohio upbringing for a ruminative new solo record. But behind the childhood tales of gang fights, drowned train cars and Christmas tree farms lurks midlife melancholy. “I’m writing about trying to understand my own fear,” he tells Laura Barton

Japan’s modern-day shamans weave together past, present and future, via a healthy dose of folky doom

From Ken Kesey’s Acid Tests to extended residencies at Las Vegas’s hi-tech phenomenon the Sphere – and, soon, the storied stage of the Royal Albert Hall – it’s been a long, strange trip for BOBBY WEIR . But the guardian of the GRATEFUL DEAD ’ s legacy still has further to go. “Am I still on the bus now? Yeah, I am,” he tells Nick Hasted

This month…

Having formed in 1975, Talking Heads surfaced from the ashes of New York band The Artistics, with frontman David Byrne and drummer Chris Frantz eventually recruiting (after three auditions) fledgling