Mike Fitzpatrick chats with Danny O’Reilly, singer/guitarist with Irish rock act, The Coronas, who play three shows in New York this week (November 13, 14 and 15 at The Mercury Lounge, tickets available at eventbrite.com), to promote their upcoming album, their sixth, and current single ‘Find the Water‘).
How it’s New York: The band will perform 3 shows at The Mercury Lounge, to promote their forthcoming album, the band’s sixth.
How it’s Irish: The Coronas are from Dublin.
Michael Fitzpatrick: Welcome back to New York, you’ve a few shows lined up for next week?
Danny O’Reilly: Thanks! Yes, we’ve three gigs at the Mercury Lounge. I can’t wait to get back over there. We played in Irving Plaza last year, which was great, and so we decided to come over and play a few small shows, try some new songs and spend some time in New York, which we’re really excited about.
MF: You’re no stranger to New York, how do you feel about playing here?
DOR: It’s such a cool city. We’ve been there plenty of times, and we’ve many friends there. I suppose the ‘busyness’ of Manhattan, going to the different neighborhoods, taking it all in. When you’re in a band, you go to a lot of different cities, but when I go to New York, I always feel like a tourist, there’s so much there, so much to see.
The last few times we’ve been there, we’ve not had much time off. I remember we played Irving Plaza, and we really wanted to go out after and enjoy the city, but we had to go straight away up to Boston. I’m looking forward to this time getting there and having some time off and enjoying the break, between shows. I know the Mercury is away from the total touristy vibe of Times Square and is a really cool spot.
MF: I saw you play a few years back, with another Irish act, Stand.
DOR: I think that was in The Bowery Ballroom. Stand are a great bunch of lads! We’ve had some great gigs here, and we played the Mercury on Saint Patrick’s Day a few years back. Such a cool venue in a great part of town.
MF: So, tell us about the new album.
DOR: Well, we’re almost finished recording it now, we’re about three quarters of the way through. We recorded new songs earlier this year in LA with an amazing producer called Rob Kirwan, then with another great producer in London, George Murphy, so we’ve got about ten songs done now, I think. They’re not all quite finished, then we’ll do another five around the time of our trip to New York. We’re really happy with it so far, it’s going great.
‘Find the Water’ is the first single from the album, and that’s an indication of where it’s going. It’s sort of a natural evolving of The Coronas sound, not amazingly different, I mean, we know what we’re good at. It feels like we’ve progressed over the years, we’re getting older, this is our sixth album, and we have to evolve, as we’re competing now for radio play with younger bands.
We’re not trying to write pop songs as we were in the past, I guess we’re embracing our maturity! It’s been almost, liberating, in a way, to do things this way, and not have to worry about as much. There are so many great new acts coming through, the likes of Picture This, Dermot Kennedy, who’s absolutely killing it, they’re getting lots of play, so, we just looked at it and thought, it doesn’t feel right for us to be writing poppy dancey songs anymore. Let’s just push the boat a little, I mean, we’ll still be a little poppy, we’re never going to be Radiohead, but at the same time, there’s a little more depth now.
MF: Growing up in Dublin, was there ever a defining moment, or an genre, or any particular artists, that may have pushed you towards a career in music?
DOR: Yeah definitely, I mean, I grew up with a musical background, I’d go to a lot of gigs, my mother’s a singer, and I’d see her shows, so I was surrounded with it from an early age. Then later, going to see The Frames, and Damien Rice, and getting into Mic Christopher and Bell X1, The Republic of Loose, all those bands who took off before us, were a huge influence.
I’m still a massive Bell X1 fan, and of Glen Hansard and The Frames, all these guys were the ones who got me going. I remember going to see The Frames one year at The Olympia, and just being blown away by it. I think with the early Coronas stuff you can see that I’ve pretty much just robbed all Glen Hansard’s chords! I used to learn their songs, and Damien Rice, Mic Christopher, we used to busk them, I was so heavily into them, and by that whole scene.
We came along a little after, and never really gigged with them as such, and maybe we were a little bit studenty or poppy for them, but they really inspired us. Then there was another group of bands, we were influenced by, that influenced us a little when we were starting out, not Irish acts, but bands like The Kooks, The Killers, they were starting to take off, then Snow Patrol as well of course, another Irish band, their success certainly spurred us on. Dublin was amazing. I used to go to gigs all the time, from when I was 16, sneaking into gigs! Picturehouse were another band I used to go see all the time.
MF: You mentioned Mic Christopher, he was a big loss.
DOR: Oh yes, such a big loss. Actually, there was an anniversary recently, it would’ve been his fiftieth birthday this year, and there’s a show in November, which I’d loved to have played, but we’re recording in the UK, so I won’t make it. But we played a song of his, ‘Heyday’ at some shows, during the encore. I never got to meet him, or even see him live, but ‘Skylarkin’ was so great, it was an album I’d have listened to all the time in college, I just got into him after he died. That album is so amazing, some great songs, great lyrics, I love Mic. We’ve had some great gigs finishing up with ‘Heyday’.
MF: For you, is there any one artist who stands head and shoulders above all the others?
DOR: Yes! I am a bit obsessed with Glen Hansard and The Frames! They were really the biggest band for me, I’d all their albums, and still wait patiently for their new material to come out. So definitely a favorite. The Beatles too of course, I remember my Dad playing one of their albums when I was about eleven, and me thinking; ‘Wow, what’s this?’, then I’d listen to them and eventually start learning to play them and sing them. So I went to a Beatles tribute act recently, and it was such a great night, that stuff never gets old.
Then, I’m a big Coldplay fan, always was. I love how they’ve evolved over the years, I still probably enjoy their older stuff, but enjoy the new ones too, and like The Frames, buy every single one of their records as soon as they came out. From an Irish perspective though, definitely Glen Hansard is up there, every single Frames album was always on my playlist.
MF: How do you think the music business has changed in recent years?
DOR: I think the best thing in recent years, I mean, there’s a lot of uncertainty as well, you know, when we started off it was all CDs, then iPods and now streaming, is the benefits of Spotify. I’ve noticed after gigs, people coming up to us right away and saying; ‘Oh man, I just heard your new single on Spotify’, you know, right there and then, and they’re telling us that they didn’t know that we had a big backlog of songs, or that we’re Irish, and then we may have been suggested to them because they like other acts, so, they’re not just there shouting for the old hits, they enjoy the new album.
So, it’s a great way to get the music out there, the other thing is that touring has become so important. People were afraid, I think a few years ago, that touring may drop off, because of the way music has (become so accessible), but it hasn’t, and you’ll never replace the buzz of going to a live gig, and that’s really kept us going. We never really made money through album sales, thankfully we have a big following in Ireland and we sell a lot of tickets and people keep going, and it’s been a way to see the world.
MF: You’ve had some memorable live shows over the years, supporting Paul McCartney (2010), and Justin Timberlake (2013) too.
DOR: We got to see Macca before the show, which was amazing, and got to meet him. Just to see his soundcheck, him preparing the set list, him giving instructions to his band, and we’re at the side of the stage, just awestruck, jaws on the floor, watching him. Then the Justin Timberlake one was great, at the Phoenix Park. We’ve been around a while and have done some great festivals, we pride ourselves on our live work, whether it’s at a big festival or a small show.
MF: And you performed for President Obama too.
DOR: Yes, when President Obama came over a few years back, there was a big celebration for him at College Green, so we got to play a few songs, got to meet him, shook his hand, he was lovely. It was one of those moments, where we can tell the grandkids, so thankfully, we’ve had a few moments like that, so when we look back, we can go, wow, that was pretty cool.
MF: How about the current Irish scene, how is that?
DOR: More and more new acts are coming through, the last few years alone. Gavin James, then obviously Hozier’s success would’ve paved the way for a lot of bands, now there’s a a whole new wave of bands coming through, Picture This, Kodaline, Walking on Cars, Dermot Kennedy, as I mentioned. It’s a great time for Irish music. It’s funny, when we were starting off and we were the new kids on the block, there was The Frames, Bell X1, and we’re just happy to be still part of the conversation. We’re enjoying recording and touring, and that we still have something to say, and people are still buzzing off the music and want to hear new music at the shows. It’s not just keep playing the hits, they seem to like the new stuff too, thankfully. We’re very lucky.
MF: You’ve been together sixteen years, quite an achievement, what’s the secret?
DOR: I don’t know! We were mates before. Myself and (Graham Knox and Conor Egan) grew up together, you know, we were friends since we were kids. We grew up with the music together, I don’t know what the secret is. Having a good manager helps.
Being true to ourselves, we’ve been lucky that we’ve never had management and record labels trying to change us. We’ve great families and a crew around us. It’s fluke too, we’ve a great chemistry. Bono had a great quote, he said that individually they were all crap musicians, but when they came together they had something special, and U2 have managed to stay together for a lot longer than us!
MF: I think you’ve been together five years longer than the Beatles now!
DOR: Have we really? That’s hard to believe, that the Beatles released all those albums in a ten year period. It’s mind-blowing, it really is.
