Kris Griffiths

In 1987, seven years after New Order had risen from the ashes of Joy Division, the Manchester band found themselves needing another “Blue Monday”. Their 1983 track had been a global hit and became the best-selling 12-inch of all time, albeit one that lost money with every copy sold thanks to its extravagant sleeve design. Of the five singles New Order had released in 1985 and ’86, only one had charted higher than

As the steep gabled roofs of a fairytale castle loom ahead of us and gravel crunches beneath the car wheels, I get a taste of how The Great Gatsby narrator Nick Carraway felt when approaching Jay Gatsby’s Long Island manor for the first time – awestruck at how the other half live. With the centenary of F Scott Fitzgerald’s seminal novel this year sparking renewed interest in the Roaring Twenties, I’ve come to New York state with

When you first arrive at the craft brewpub on Abu Dhabi’s Al Maryah island and sit down with a cold IPA among other drinkers chatting and sipping beside bare brick walls and stainless-steel brewing vats, you could be in any number of brewery taprooms around the UK or US. What you might not appreciate at first swig, though, is the significance of this

Not only was Absolution Muse’s first UK No.1 album, it hit the top spot in France and top tens across Europe, breaking them fully into the mainstream after the more modest successes of their first two albums, Showbiz (1999) and Origin of Symmetry (2001). But more importantly, Absolution broke them across

Angie Orth welcomes journalist and photographer Kris Griffiths to talk about an important part of Jamaican culture: reggae music. Specifically, the influence of the legendary Bob Marley. As a fan of Marley and his cultural legacy, Griffiths is here to share all you need to know about visiting Jamaica, especially for

August 12 marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Metallica’s self-titled fifth LP, known as the Black Album, which was their biggest-selling and transformed Metallica into the stadium band they remain today. But it was also their most controversial—to this day seen as the pivot on which the band’s trajectory forever changed, for better or worse. To mark the anniversary, here

Many restaurant proprietors, whether they admit to it or not, harbour ambitions of expansion – maybe opening a new branch in another town or city, or expanding further into the rest of the country. For one beloved longstanding yakitoria in Tokyo, however, its third-generation owner decided to uproot the venue and reopen it in another country on another continent.
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Our microguides series is inspired by the slow travel movement, encouraging travellers to relax their pace and take a deep dive into one particular neighbourhood in a well-loved city. Rather than a whirlwind itinerary which aims to hit up every must-see attraction, these compact, close-up guides encourage you to zone in, take your time and truly explore like a local

The tiny island of Aruba might not (yet) have the glamorous reputation of its neighbours, but based on the food alone, it certainly deserves it, writes Kris Griffiths

I'm at a poker festival in an east London casino and with more than 300 tournament players around 34 tables the room is thrumming with the muttering of calls and raises. There is a victory whoop here, a groan of defeat there, and the constant clacking of chips riffled by players contemplating their next move...

We think we know what suicidal behaviour looks like when someone is young, but when they are elderly the signs are often quite different. Kris Griffiths never imagined his father would kill himself, but now realises he missed a number of red flags.

Wrote a chapter in 2019 anthology book on David Bowie: a collection of stories and essays by journalists, musicians and those who knew him. Includes contributions from novelist Paul Magrs, Glass Spider tour performer Victor Manoel and musical artists Adamski, Kristian Hoffman and Jessica Lee Morgan.

The singer Joni Mitchell startled her friends by appearing at a Halloween party 40 years ago disguised as a black man in pimp-like garb. It would be unacceptable today but times were different then, her friends argue. Others disagree. Whichever view you take, her black alter ego was a reflection of her intense identification with black music, writes Kris Griffiths.

A product of the British Empire, with a mixture of Western and Indian names, customs and complexions, 2,000 Anglo-Indians are to attend a reunion in Calcutta. But their communities in both the UK and the subcontinent are disappearing, writes Anglo-Indian Kris Griffiths.

It is a story as old as tourism itself: destinations experience rises and falls in fortune and favour, be they cities, countries, attractions, and even hotels. And it is at one such lone hotel in an untouched corner of the Middle East that we see one of the more dramatic rise-and-falls of the last hundred years. It is also where