I’ve met the Coronas a few times after the show but never officially for an interview. So I kinda knew what to expect and I was super excited for them to answer my questions. When I arrived they were still sound-checking. To me it sounded great already and they proved it later. Read more about the gig here.
Right after I met Danny backstage for the interview. Dave seemed famished so I let him off the hook and talked with Danny who promised to know Dave’s answers too! 🙂 So let’s see about that:
You’ve been around for quite some time and played a lot of venues. So what would be your favourite or most special venue you’ve played in or want to play in?
Danny: If I could pick anywhere I would love to play in Madison Square Garden in New York because that’s like an historic and huge venue. I went to a Basketball game there when I was really young and it’s just amazing. It’s in the centre of New York but I don’t know why it always stood out to me. That would be cool to get to that stage.
But we’ve been very lucky to play in some amazing venues. In London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire which is a great venue. At home the 3E Arena which is unreal. Just this summer we had this big outdoor gig in Kilmainham which was amazing as well. Our favourite place is a small theatre in Dublin and the Marquee in Cork. West Cork is lovely we always have great shows down there there. We’re lucky that we always have great gigs. But we love travelling and playing small venues like these too. Sometimes a big venue doesn’t necessarily mean a good gig. We’ve had some shows on this tour that we’ve all been buzzin’ after even though they were only 100/200 people at the gig and we have to say to each other that was amazing. The night we played in Hamburg and Freiburg the night after and we’ve never played there before and it was a big venue and we didn’t know if people would be there. It was a really good crowd, they were brilliant! It’s also refreshing to see on this tour so far in Germany it was all locals coming to see us and hopefully tonight in Switzerland too as opposed to Irish. It always is a bit of both but in Germany there were a lot more locals so I think that’s cool for a change. It’s nice to see us making some ground with the locals. So hopefully it’ll be the same here.
I hope so too. You are really good. I’ve been to a few shows and I don’t know why you haven’t gotten much bigger yet.
We’re lucky that we are big in Ireland. There are so many bands who don’t make it. We’re still trying and making baby steps forward. As long as we get to travel and play our music. That’s all we want.
As a fan I noticed quite a few differences in the fan culture depending on which country you’re in. Do you notice it as well and what are the differences?
In Ireland the crowds are much louder and they are up for a party and they are noisy, dancing and sing along. They go crazy. Whereas here in Europe in general but also in Switzerland they listen. They know their music and they are a bit more laid back. It’s cool I love the different crowds. Every country is different. In Australia they go a bit crazy. The UK is sort of in-between. We played in some crazy places in Asia for example in Japan it was so quiet. You could literally hear a pin drop no matter how many people are there. It’s amazing. They have that respect. So it’s different in every country but we love it all.
You just released a new album called “Trust The Wire”. Who were/are your musical influences?
We are influenced by everything, by music or people influence us: relationships, friendships. Everything influences us. Surroundings too. We wrote this album in Dingle, County Kerry, which is in the Southwest corner of Ireland and it’s beautiful. We locked ourselves away and it was beautiful scenery and very quiet and atmospheric. That made a difference to the album as well.
Musical influences I would say the National are big that we love. Bon Iver, James Vincent McMorrow, Bell X1, Glen Hansard loads of different musical influences personally and I’m sure the guys are different as well.
What would Dave say?
What does Dave like? Ohh I don’t know you’ll have to ask him. No he likes James Vincent McMorrow and those bands as well. That answer works for both of us.
What is your way to connect to fans?
We always make an effort to say hello to people who come see us in these venues. It’s nice to be able to do that because at the big shows back home it’s too big to go out and meet people and get that reaction off people. It’s nice to know what they liked about the show or if they’ve seen us before. We like that. We’re quite active but we are trying to be even more active on social media. It’s a great way to stay in contact with people in Twitter and Instagram etc. It’s so important these days and makes a difference. Especially now that we are on tour. It’s nice to put up shots of the tour so people at home can see what we are doing and when we are at home people here can see. It’s a way to keep in contact.
Yes, the Marquee gig I saw.
Exactly!
I have to ask since I am a huge The Script Fan too. How did the cooperation between you two start?
We’ve met them on a TV show long long time ago in Ireland. They were about to release “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” and we just released “Heroes or Ghosts”. We sang both our songs and we met and got along really well. So the guys just said “Do you want to come on tour with us?” And we were like yeah that would be amazing. So we went on tour in Ireland and all around Europe and it was so much fun! I’m saying to Glen you have to get us back again.
Oh yes, I support that!
And he keeps saying yeah we’ll do it sometime. Great guys, great band and so much fun. We learned a lot from them.
You are visiting Switzerland quite often – lucky for me – what do you like most about Switzerland?
Yes, we’ve been here a few times. It’s beautiful but unfortunately we haven’t had that much time off. Every time we’re here we are doing promo and the gig – just in and out. So lots of stuff going on. The lake and the scenery is beautiful. There’s some green and some water. It reminds me of Ireland in many ways. The people as well. Friendly people. We love it here. Every time we come we’ve gotten a great response. It’s cool to see different cities. The people here are maybe a bit warmer, friendlier or outgoing than in Germany but I suppose every city is different.
Now last question is actually about your country. I will be visiting Ireland next year for The Script gig in Dublin. What’s your favourite place or what would you recommend to do?
If you’re going to Dublin for the show I’d say if you go down to Dun Laoghaire, which is on the south side coast of Dublin and maybe 20 minutes from the city centre by bus, with a lovely pier and beach area. It’s really nice with little ice cream places and cool coffee shops and nice vibe. I love Dublin city maybe just walk around there if it’s nice weather – fingers crossed. When are you going?
February.
It’ll probably be terrible and freezing! The Storehouse is good, some good pubs in Temple Bar. Do the touristy things, they’re fun! Hope you enjoy it! I might go to that show myself if I’m around.
See you there then!
Nina, thank you very much, is that okay?
Yes, sure! Thank you very much!! 🙂
Tag: Dave
The Coronas are always good craic
Mainland Music brought the 4 lovely lads from the Coronas back to Zurich! It’s been years since I got to know them as the support of the Script. I immediately fell in love with their music and been a fan of theirs ever since. The thing is they are not just brilliant musicians but also very nice down-to-earth people.
This time Polar Circles a Swiss band from Lausanne got to be their opening act on the whole European tour. I really enjoyed one of their last songs a lot and they seemed like really nice people. I especially loved the red guitar <3
Just a little after 9 The Coronas took the stage at Papiersaal with their new single “Real Feel” off their latest album “Trust The Wire”. “Get Loose” and “Addicted to Progress” were the next two songs they chose to play. The lads went on with a mix of new and old songs. Their songs just get you immediately and within minutes everyone was rocking out. From time to time I was looking at people and they were smiling back! I absolutely loved the atmosphere. Everybody had a good time or how the Irish would say good craic.
For “A Bit Withdrawn” Danny made us close our eyes to fully enjoy the song and it was well worth it. What a beautiful song – especially when you listen to it closely! “Who We Are” woke us back up and was full of energy! In “Dreaming Again” you can hear the Irish influence. It makes you sway from side to side and you can almost feel that you are in a proper Irish pub. From the new album this song “We Couldn’t Fake It” is one of the best in my opinion. “Gut Feeling” was next and it’s time to praise Danny incredibly special voice. The Irish accent and the voice itself is a mix that you just have to love.
My personal highlight of the show was when Danny stepped off stage and into the crowd to sing “Heroes or Ghosts” with us as back ground vocals. 🙂 This song is very old but still one of my favourites. Before the show I was able to meet him for an interview which you can read on my blog too. I took the chance to ask him if he could sing this song in Gaelic. So the 2nd verse of “Heroes or Ghosts” he sang in Gaelic. It was amazing!
Before the title track of their last album “Closer To You” they played “Someone Elses’s Hands” a beautiful rock ballade. In “What A Love” we could prove our singing abilities again before Danny toned it down again for “Give Me A Minute”. Sitting at his keys we enjoyed this wonderful slow song. The last song before the encore was “Mark My Words” which Danny announced like this:
So we tell you that this is the last song before we go off stage and then you hopefully clap as loud as you can and then we come back to play more songs. I’m actually not suppose to tell you this! This is not how it works.
This gave everyone a good laugh and it just shows how incredibly funny and normal they are. As announced they left the stage and we started to shout “One more song, one more song”. They came back on and he said well actually we’ll play four more songs! 🙂 “Look at all the lovers” was the first encore song before they covered “Learning To Fly” to honour the late great Tom Petty. Another of my favourites called “San Diego Song” was next. This song is brilliant but just too short! One last song “Just Like That” and this 90 minutes set was over.
The four Irish lads Danny, Dave, Conor and Graham who are always supported by a 5th unofficial member Jonathan are brilliant musicians and their live shows are top notch. So please visit their homepage for tour dates and check out their new album “Trust the Wire“.
Have you been to one of their shows and enjoyed it too? Let me know in the comments below.