CPI Archive July 2008: As he packs his bags for a two week Latvian odyssey, Gorbachov’s Alan Hennessy took five minutes to share his thought on Rage Against the Machine, Waterford and the pressures of being Ireland’s best young band. Words by Andrew Hamilton.
WHEN the Soviets held sway in the east - and the cold hands of Stalin and Malenkov gripped nations beneath the hammer and the sickle, the land, it seemed, was at peace. Held together by fear, the communist nations were silent places - devoid of unauthorised festival and music. When Bethel in west New York, Woodstock to you and me, exploded into three days of music and peace in the autumn of 1969, the communists, for once, had no answer. But much has changed in Eastern Europe since those dark days and festivals like Exit in Serbia and Sziget in Budapest are now among the biggest and best in the world. It is perhaps slightly fitting then that an Irish band called Gorbachov (purposely misspelled I’m told) should now be undertaking a festival mission out east. “We are heading over to the Salacgriva AB Festival which is the Latvian version of Oxygen or the Electric Picnic. It’s great, we have four or five dates in Latvia then over the next few weeks. Fatboy Slim is playing at the festival on the same day we are playing and the Manic Street Preachers are playing the day before. There will be a heap of Latvian bands as well of course,” says Alan.
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