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The first British folk singer to crack the UK pop charts, Donovan made the Top 5 with his first single, Catch The Wind, early in 1965. By the end of that year the ‘British Bob Dylan’ had scored two more hit singles, two hit albums and a hit EP. As flower-power blossomed, so did Donovan as songs like Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman, Hurdy Gurdy Man and Barabajagal soaked up rock and jazz embellishments.

He stepped off the merry-go-round in the early 70s before it turned into a treadmill, and recorded and toured intermittently. After the Happy Mondays sponsored his revival in the early 90s with a track on their Pills ’N’ Thrills & Bellyaches album, Donovan recorded Sutras with producer Rick Rubin in 1994. In 2008, he sat down with Classic Rock to look back over his cosmic journey and some of the larger-than-life characters he met along the way.

Brian Jones

One day in 1964 Brian Jones walked into a basement studio in Denmark Street. He had heard about this new kid on the block. He came in and saw what I was doing.

He had a word with Elkan Allen at [TV pop show] Ready Steady Go. I went on for three weeks – completely live, no pre-recording. And that set me up. Afterwards I met a girl, Linda Lawrence, who would become my muse and wife. She’d had a child with Brian. I didn’t even know this when I met her. There was a very interesting karmic triangle going on. And next year we’ll be celebrating that triangle – the 40th anniversary of Brian’s death.

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Bob Dylan

It wasn’t like you see in the Don’t Look Back film. We had met before, briefly. Folk met rock when Dylan, Joan Baez and myself were together that May in 1965. I’d already had a hit with Catch The Wind, and Bob and Joan, who were both album artists, released singles – Joan had There But For Fortune and Dylan’s was The Times They Are A Changing. It was clear that Bob was going to go electric and I was going to go electric folk jazz. It was also clear what we were going to do with it, too, because a few days later Bob introduced me to The Beatles.

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The Beatles

Martin Lewis, the legendary Beatleographer, told me: “You don’t know this, Don, but you had more social, musical and spiritual contact with these four guys than anyone of your generation.” At the time, of course, we were young and crazy and we didn’t know how long it was going to last.

George and I were closest because of our spiritual paths and the books we were both reading. John was fascinating to be around; he didn’t suffer fools gladly. Paul was full of light and energy and jokes and we would constantly be jiving each other. We tried to write songs together but it was impossible, because every idea I had sparked him off and every idea he had sparked me off.

But the real deal happened in India. George said later that you can hear me all over the White album. We only had the acoustic guitars, and that’s when we really got to know each other.

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Marc Bolan

Marc asked if he could open for me when I played the Royal Albert Hall. That was with T. Rex and they sat crossed-legged on the floor, much like me. But sleeping inside Marc Bolan was a little rock’n’roll guy. We met again on his rise to fame in a funky little flat near Marble Arch. He’d brought two little metal dinosaur toys back from Tokyo and said: “Do you want a battle?”’ We got these two tin T. Rex’s going at each other, and they made all the roaring sounds and out of their mouths came little puffs of talcum powder.

I made a recording with him in Munich about a year before he died, a rock version of Lalena, but it’s lost. I asked his son Roland if it had been found but there’s no sign of it.

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Mickie Most

Mickie Most was the Phil Spector of Britain. He was very experimental. We were introduced by Allen Klein as part of a deal. Allen said: “Here’s your producer.” Mickie said: “I’ll pick the singles and you do what you want on the albums.” And that opened a whole world for me.

The studio became a bohemian painter’s studio for me. And Mickie would say: “I’ll have that one” – Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman, Hurdy Gurdy Man. I didn’t know whether they were popular songs or not; Mickie knew. And he had this instinctive sense: “Take that out, put that in.” And it worked. I wish he was still here. I’d like to make another record with him.

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John Paul Jones

Our initial meeting was a little strained. He’d come in to arrange Mellow Yellow and it had this great New Orleans thump to it. But when I listened to the playback something sounded wrong. I didn’t know what it was. So I’m frowning, and John is glaring at me because he thought he’d done something wrong. I said: “No, it’s just that there’s something… not mellow.” And Mickie Most is going: “Well for fuck’s sake find out what it is.” And then one of the horn players says: “I know what Don means. We gotta put the hats on.” And Mickie goes: “For Christ’s sake, what’s an ’at?” And the main horn player says: “The mutes, Mickie, the mutes.” So they did it again with the mutes and everyone went: “Wow.” Now it was mellow.

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Jeff Beck

When Mickie Most first heard Barabajagal he couldn’t make head nor tail of it. He was working on [Jeff Beck’s album] Beck-Ola at the time and suggested that he bring the band in to see what they could do. So one morning the band troop in, except for Jeff, and I played them the chords. Eventually Jeff ambles in, sits down and doesn’t say a word. Mickie Most says: “Okay Jeff, get your guitar out.” Jeff looks around and says: “Where is it?” The roadies had dropped off the other instruments but not Jeff’s guitar. It was locked up in a van in Manchester. Jeff says: “I suppose we could rent one.” So the call went out: Jeff Beck needs a great Fender Stratocaster. One showed up and we did the session.

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Nigel Kennedy

He played at the Proms, and Jeff Beck made an appearance and they were going to play a song dedicated to me that opens his new album but they ran out of time. Linda and I have been friends with Nigel and his wife, Agnieszka, for years. Whenever I go to his concerts we play an acoustic version of Hurdy Gurdy Man and he plays his wild violin.

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Jimi Hendrix

I saw him at [London club] the Bag O’Nails. Everyone was there: the Stones, The Beatles, The Who, the Kinks. Chas [Chandler, Hendrix’s manager] had invited everyone. He’d put this thing together. He told me: “I’ve got a jazz drummer and a bass player who’s a guitar player.” And it was quite incredible. Such a superb blend of musicians.

I didn’t see him much after that because we all went on the road and we all got famous and our paths only crossed occasionally. But when I wrote Hurdy Gurdy Man I thought of Jimi. I said to Mickie Most: “This is for Hendrix.” And he said: “No it isn’t, it’s for you.”So I said: “Let’s get Hendrix to play on it.” Mickie phoned Chas who said: “Jimi’s playing shows back-to-back.” So we got Jimmy Page. And aren’t we happy about that. Because what came out of that, thanks to Jimmy, Mickie Most and John Paul Jones, was something that was pagan Celtic rock’n’roll, not a copy of American rock’n’roll.

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Shaun Ryder

I was doing a gig in Manchester when my son Julian, Brian Jones’s boy, said: “There’s five guys in a van out the back and they say they’ve come to take you to the Hacienda.” I said: “I remember Manchester but I don’t remember a hacienda there. So not this time, boys.”

I got to know Shaun and his brother Paul later and when I listened to the Happy Mondays. Linda and I realised they were the Rolling Stones of the 80s. You could hear that they were going to be the ones to lead the way. And then Shaun and Paul fell in love with our two daughters. Which was rather frightening at first because we didn’t know how they would take to Manchester madness. But Linda wasn’t scared. Oriole and Shaun fell in love and fell out of love but they produced a beautiful girl called Coco.

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Rick Rubin

He called me up in 1994 and said: “Do you want to make a record?” And I wondered who he was. Then I found out that he was meditating, just like David Lynch and I. And when I went to his house I found that his bookshelves were full of books on spiritual paths and meditation. He is a major talent. He said very little but we made beautiful music and created the Sutras album. It was a pivotal time in my career because I realised that I wanted to continue to make records on this level. I had kind of dropped out a little but I came back with Rick. I’d rank Rick with Mickie Most, George Martin and Phil Spector. Because he listens to the song. He knows the song is everything. He also knows what he wants, but he also wants the artist to come forward and he knows that he mustn’t get in the way.

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David Lynch

David and I are both outsiders within our own art. He’s an outsider in the film world, and nobody can put their finger on what I actually do. That’s given us quite a bond, and we have teamed up to promote transcendental meditation.

Originally published in Classic Rock issue 128, January 2009

Hugh Fielder has been writing about music for 50 years. Actually 61 if you include the essay he wrote about the Rolling Stones in exchange for taking time off school to see them at the Ipswich Gaumont in 1964. He was news editor of Sounds magazine from 1975 to 1992 and editor of Tower Records Top magazine from 1992 to 2001. Since then he has been freelance. He has interviewed the great, the good and the not so good and written books about some of them. His favourite possession is a piece of columnar basalt he brought back from Iceland.

If you like breakdowns, riffs or just sheer manic intensity, we’ve got a hell of a collection for you this week. The sun might be out and Spring in full, erm, spring, but that hasn’t stopped the likes of Left To Suffer, Sodom, Shadow Of Intent and more putting out absolute ragers – and that’s without even considering veterans and breakout stars like Turnstile, Ghost, Katatonia and more.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. First, the results of last week’s vote! It was the battle of the mega-fanbases up top, but we’d got a serious collection of rising stars and heavyweights alike for you to sink your fangs into, and horrorcore heroes Ward XVI nabbed a podium finish with Blood Is The New Black. Above them were breakout metal stars Sleep Token, but when it comes to engaged fanbases few can compete with the might of Babymetal and sure enough they took the crown.

We’ve got a hefty slab to offer you this week, but there are some shades of more mainstream in the likes of Ghost, Turnstile and even Portuguese Eurovision hopeful Henka. As ever, we need you to tell us which songs excite you most, so don’t forget to cast your vote in the poll below – and have a magnificent weekend!

Turnstile – Never Enough

If you’re still wondering what hardcore has to do with metal, we’d like to invite you to join us in the 21st Century (or indeed, any year after about 1982). Granted, hardcore’s big breakouts Turnstile are pushing the envelope with the title track of their new album Never Enough, due June 6. Picking up more of the dream-pop/shoegaze vibe that they explored on 2021’s Glow On, serene but with an insistent thump that shows the band can still clatter.

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Henka – I Wanna Destroy U

UK-based Portuguese artist Henka came within spitting distance of representing Portugal at this year’s Eurovision, earning the most votes in the fan vote but falling at the last hurdle when the jury went in another way. While she might not be competing, the resultant I Wanna Destroy U is a brilliant and vibrant slab of alt. metal with pulsing synths and a gut-rumbling bass that is delightful to behold.

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Ghost – Lachryma

Skeletá – and the Skeletour – is almost upon us! With their tour kicking off in Manchester on April 15, Ghost have teased us with another taste of their upcoming album. In many ways, Lachryma feels like a mid-point between the old school heavy metal of Ciricie and the more arena-baiting efforts of recent years, its pounding riffs giving way to 70s AOR choruses that we’re sure will go down very well in arenas.

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Katatonia – Lilac

There is a schism in the ranks. After 24 years together, Katatonia’s core creative team of Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström have parted ways. Just a few weeks on from from Nyström’s departure, the Swedes have announced new album Nightmares as Extensions of The Waking State, their first album without the guitarist. Given the pair’s apparent split over stylistic differences – Nyström apparently wanting to return more to the band’s death/doom roots – it’s hardly surprising that Lilac continues the melancholic prog stylings of the band’s more recent releases, gorgeous and brittle in equal parts.

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Underside – Love Hate Love

Underside have long been the loudest champions for their home scene in Nepal. With the band returning to the UK in June for Download Festival, they’ve unveiled new music in the form of Love Hate Love. The band’s epic groove metal stylings are still up front, but there’s an added nu metal-ish element that adds a bit of Dope to the mix.

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AlphaWhores – Beautiful Music, Awful Person

Just looking at the title of AlphaWhores’ latest single should tell you everything you need to know about their message. The Panama band’s second album You Can Come Out Now is out June 13 and Beautiful Music…. shows off their lurching, doom-adjacent alt metal in all its slinky glory.

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Gaahls Wyrd – Time And Timeless Timeline

A decade since he first launched the group, black metal legend Gaahl is back with the latest missive from his group Gaahls Wyrd. Taken from upcoming album Braiding The Stories, due June 6, Time And Timeless Timeline captures some of the frosty intensity of black metal whilst adding progressive flavours into the mix that have been front-and-centre in Wyrd’s output, his vocals taking on an ominious, prophet-of-doom quality.

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Warkings – Armageddon

Looking for some chest-beating, full-throated power metal? Warkings have you more than covered on latest single Armageddon. It’s a typically bombastic showing from the European band, all massive hooks and ‘whoah-ohs’ that are cater-made to get massive audiences roaring along. The title-track of their new album of the same name, it’s a brilliant first taste of what’s to come.

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Shadow Of Intent – Feeding The Meatgrinder (ft. Corpsegrinder)

If you’re going to put out some pummelling, punishing deathcore, why not recruit a death metal legend to join the party? That’s exactly what Shadow Of Intent have done with Feeding The Meatgrinder, a thumping, snarling slab of extremity that features Cannibal Corpse icon Corpsegrinder. The first taste of new album Imperium Delirium, due June 27, the band have set the bar exceptionally high.

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Beasts – The Fire Inside

You’ll struggle to find anything that sounds quite like Belgium’s Beasts. Helmed by Antoine Romeo, the band’s debut album The Shearing is set for release next week and The Fire Inside presents a queasy, mind-warping mix of noise, hip-hop, alt. metal and more in an angular package. Think Cop Shoot Cop, Dillinger Escape Plan and Lord Spikeheart in a sonic blender.

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Sodom – Trigger Discipline

They might be masters of Teutonic thrash, but there’s an undeniable element of Slayer to the latest offering from Sodom. That’s by no means a bad thing, of course, pure fury and intensity, Trigger Discipline is the first single to come from The Arsonist, due June 27, and catches the Germans on typically incendiary form (pun very much intended).

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Left To Suffer – Set The World On Fire (ft. UnityTX)

UnityTX came swinging back last week with Heinous and now here they are popping up again with deathcore mob Left To Suffer. You might’ve thought that LTS vocalist Taylor Barber would have his hands full with Seven Hours After Violet tours this year, but Set The World On Fire dispels any notion that the band are taking things easy, all crushing breakdowns, snarls and furious hip hop flows.

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Knosis – Shinmon

Newcomers hailing from Japan, Knosis are helmed by mastermind Ryo Kinoshita and come out swinging with Shinmon. It’s a howling, cage-rattling show of fury that suggests debut album Genknosis, due August 1, will be going straight in at the deep-end of high intensity metalcore.

Staff writer for Metal Hammer, Rich has never met a feature he didn’t fancy, which is just as well when it comes to covering everything rock, punk and metal for both print and online, be it legendary events like Rock In Rio or Clash Of The Titans or seeking out exciting new bands like Nine Treasures, Jinjer and Sleep Token. 

What do you know about Tallinn? If your answer is a guilty “Ahhh, not much, actually…”, don’t panic. I was exactly the same until about ten days ago. It’s not the kind of place you’ll see at the top of many ‘Hot European Destinations!’ lists (not least because it’s really not very hot most of the time). As a music journalist, I can confirm it’s also not a place you hear spoken of very often when people are chatting up the most exciting bands and artists on the scene right now.

Having spent a few days there last week, however, I can absolutely confirm that not only does Tallinn rock, but it’s packing one of Europe’s most vital, vibrant and engaging annual music industry events. Taking place in Estonia’s capital every year since 2009, Tallinn Music Week takes over the city each April with a smorgasbord of gigs, showcases, panels, debates, art installations and a whole lot more. There is a lot going on, basically.

Having enjoyed my first (but defo not last) stay there, I feel it is my duty to tell you why you should sack off whatever you’ve got planned for the summer and head to Tallinn. And then come back again for Tallinn Music Week next year. Here are a few things I learned while out there.

Tallinn Music Week is like a manual for how to platform the local music industry in a productive and engaging way

As soon as you touch down in the city airport (just a fifteen minute drive from the centre of town, by the way), Tallinn Music Week’s presence is keenly felt, with a welcome desk for the event situated in arrivals and posters and leaflets all over the joint. I arrived on the Wednesday evening when things were warming up, but from Thursday morning it was wall-to-wall TMW everywhere you looked.

An opening reception at Von Krahl set the tone for the days ahead: speeches from Tallinn Music Week founder Helen Sildna and city mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski outlined the importance of the event and why it was so vital to Tallinn’s local music scene and standing on the international stage, and from there it was possible to attend panels on everything from safeguarding independent artists to diversity initiatives to the effect of AI on music media. Whatever your priorities are when it comes to the current music landscape, chances are there was a debate, panel or presentation that will have engaged them.

And then there was all the music. Stage after stage in venue after venue: rock, metal, edm, hip hop, punk, emo, indie, pop…but more on that below.

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There is a dizzying mix of music on display

Yeah, I really wasn’t kidding. Wanna jump into the nearest mosh pit? I don’t – I’m nearly 40, let me stand at the back and enthusiastically nod my head – but you can! Rather have a sit and float away on some gentle progressive jazz or fluttery traditional folk music? It’s here. Or maybe you’re saving it for a late-night warehouse rave in the trendy Telleskivi district? Knock yourself out! At times I felt like I was bouncing between so many different gigs and venues in mere minutes that it was like being at an Estonian Glasto. Except I was clean and I could jump on a tram. Lovely stuff.

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Tallinn Old Town is one of the nicest places to have a pint EVER

…or a gin/whisky/juice/water/your bev of choice. Seriously, though, it’s beautiful, filled with incredibly well preserved remnants of the city’s medieval history peering over cobbled streets, quirky pubs, bars and cafes, good restaurants and, most importantly of all, the city’s trademark taverns. Ever wanted to be called ‘My Lord’ or ‘My Lady’ while being served a honey beer? Have I got the place for you! Or places, actually: Olde Hansa, III Draakon and the Headless Chicken are all lovely (if I had to choose one I’d plump for the Headless Chicken because the bar is Middle Earth themed and I’m a big ol’ Tolkien nerd).

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Look, this isn’t going to appeal to all of you, but I’m a metalhead and for me, no city can truly reach greatness without its fair share of dark, murky rooms blasting Mudvayne. That’s exactly what greeted me as I walked into Barbar, Tallinn’s premiere heavy metal drinking establishment, though the likes of Tapper and The Krypt are also worth a visit. If you want something a bit gentler, the Depeche Mode bar is probably the best artist-dedicated venue I’ve ever been to – and I’m a fair-weather Depeche Mode guy at best. Seriously, you gotta go.

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Tomorrow Was The War absolutely ripped

Anyway, back to the music. Estonia’s own Tomorrow Was The War weren’t just the best band I saw during my stay (though shout outs also go to the spunky garage rock of Echolove and the thrumming electro-indie of Bel Tempo). They’re one of the best new metal bands I’ve heard in years. Chugging, riff-laden metalcore with crushing breakdowns hooks to spare? That is absolutely a bit of me, and these lads are simply stellar at it. Go watch the hell out of the Divine Triumph video below. And then go book those flights and tickets for Tallinn Music Week 2026. You’ll thank me later!

Tallinn Music Week 2026 takes place April 9-12 next year. For more info head to the event’s official website

Merlin moved into his role as Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has previously written for the likes of Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N’ Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.