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THE
Coronas, one of Ireland’s most popular new bands and not the
Mexican beer, have however, been leaving their ever-growing Irish
audiences drunk with enthusiasm since emerging with their debut album
last year.
The
Terenure four-piece, who put a strong emphasis on songwriting and an
original acoustic sound, spent 32 weeks in the Irish charts with
their stunning ‘Heroes Or Ghosts’ album.
The
Coronas have risen to the forefront of the Irish music scene in a
very short space of time, receiving rave reviews, massive amounts of
radio-play and selling out venues across the land. With influences
including Jeff Buckley and The Beatles, the past 12 months have seen
the indie quartet appear on The Late Late Show, The Podge And Rodge
Show and Other Voices, as well as being nominated for a Meteor Award.
With
tours now planned for the US and Japan, frontman Danny O’Reilly –
son of Irish music star Mary Black - reflects on The Coronas’ rapid
propulsion towards fame.
“Our
only aim was to make an album we were proud of and we’re delighted
to say that we’ve surpassed our expectations,” says Danny.
“It’s
hard to pinpoint exactly why we have been so successful but we made a
conscious decision to give the music thing a real go after finishing
college last year. We have a really good manager who does great work
for us and we just made a point of making ourselves busy to keep
momentum going. Whether it was playing gigs, doing press interviews
or playing radio sessions, we’ve made sure that every day we were
doing something,” he explains.
“Usually
bands put out a record and it gets critical acclaim and then things
start happening for them, but it was very different for us. It almost
happened the other way around actually. We started building up a
strong fanbase early on and then the record deal and radio-play
sprung from that. By the time things started really happening for us
a lot of people in the industry were scratching their heads asking
where did these guys come out of?”
“Our
music seems to have gone down really well with daytime radio which
has helped us enormously. The album is definitely a reflection of our
journey as a band so far. We never set out to write radio-friendly
songs but that just seems to be the way they come out. Structurally
I’ve always liked catchy pop songs and would try and build the
structure of the songs around verse/chorus, verse/chorus.”
“There
is a lot of music snobs out there who knock us for making catchy and
radio-friendly music. It’s like they feel that they never gave us
permission to be successful so they take a swipe at us. I mean I like
a depressing Radiohead album as much as the next man, but I also like
catchy pop songs. The Beatles album ‘Revolver’ is my favourite
album of all-time and I always loved the way that record is filled
with three-minute pop gems. I don’t see there is anything wrong
with that so our success is a big two-fingers up to the music snobs,”
O’Reilly proclaims.
Formed
as a three-piece in Dublin’s Terenure when they were just 15,
singer/songwriter Danny O’Reilly, bassist Graham Knox and drummer
Conor Egan first made music under the Kirros moniker where their
blend of The Beatles and The Stone Roses laid the foundation for what
would become The Coronas sound.
Changing
their name in 2003, the group began the groundwork in generating a
loyal fanbase through numerous gigs on the college circuit and across
their native city. Live album ‘Live in the Voodoo Lounge’
followed in 2004 before the band decamped to Wicklow to record their
debut EP in 2006.
Since
then the band have stepped things up a gear, adding guitarist Dave
McPhillips in late 2006 and building on an ever-increasing fanbase.
The
Coronas are currently touring Ireland, and with work set to begin on
a new album and tours planned for the US and Japan, the Dublin band
are set to have a very busy few months ahead of them.
“We
have really enjoyed the success of the last year. The whole
experience has been great fun and we’re really looking forward to
the months ahead. This is what we have worked towards since leaving
college so we are delighted things are going so well.”
“We
head off to America for a three week tour on the West Coast in
November which we’re really looking forward to. There is only so
many times you can play around Ireland so we realise that we have to
look at getting the album out in other countries.”
“We
have just been signed by JVC in Japan and we head out there for
concerts in March. Irish bands have been very successful in Japan in
the past so we are really excited about touring out there. It’s
going to be an amazing experience.”
“We
already have five or six songs written for the second album and we’re
hoping to have a few more finished by Christmas. We’re looking at
starting recording the new album in April next year,” Danny
reveals.
Following
their sell-out show in Dolan’s last March The Coronas now return to
the Dock Road venue this Saturday, September 27 for a gig at the
Warehouse.
“It’s
amazing to be playing Dolan’s Warehouse a little less than a year
after we played our first gig in the upstairs venue. We’re really
excited about the Limerick gig, as it’s the biggest show we are
doing on this tour. We’ve no big Dublin show lined up so Dolan’s
is going to be the big one. We always get a great reaction in
Limerick so hopefully there will be lots of people there for this
one.”
Described
by Hot Press magazine as “walking a soulful line between Jeff
Buckley and the Libertines”, the Coronas have most definitely
arrived. Catch them live at Dolan’s Warehouse this Saturday,
September 27. Doors open at 8pm and tickets cost €23.
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