Irish rock band The Coronas recently completed their successful and crowd-loving performance at Lollapalooza on Sunday, Aug. 5, their first performance at the renowned festival. The band is currently on an extensive North American tour, after releasing their five-song EP, Reprise, available now everywhere.
Reprise is the follow-up to their recent full-length album, Trust The Wire, which became their first number one album when it debuted at the top of Irish music chart in its first week of release. The album also received radio airplay in the US with their released singles and music videos of “Real Feel” and “We Couldn’t Fake It.”
While catching up with lead singer and guitar player for The Coronas, Danny O’Reilly, we chatted about touring in the US, their new EP and their upcoming album they’re currently writing material for, and some fun, new things to learn about a fantastic rock band.
You guys just got through performing at Lollapalooza, your first appearance there. What was that experience like?
Danny O’Reilly: It was incredible! We’ve been to Lolla here in Chicago before, just as fans, so to play here was pretty amazing. We got a cool crowd, and we enjoyed every minute of it!
You mentioned that you guys are going to keep touring over here in North America, to continuously build up your fanbase. With that being said, what differences do you notice in attracting fans in your home country of Ireland and over here?
Danny: I think the main difference is that over here our American followers are more into our new stuff than our back catalogue. I’ve had people come up to me after shows in the US saying they didn’t realize that we had more than one album. That’s pretty cool; it’s reinvigorating as a band!
Let’s talk about the EP, Reprise, for a bit…what was it like writing and recording the songs for it?
Danny: It was great. We recorded it in Dublin, where we all now live, and — believe it or not, — it was the first time we recorded at home since our very first album. It’s also the first piece of work that we co-produced, with our live engineer Darren Clarke, who’s demo-ed us for years so he worked very comfortably with us. The songs on the EP were written at different times over the past few years, and, either never got finished, or didn’t fit on either of the last two albums, but we always liked them and wanted to finish and release them.
With the EP currently out, you all are writing material for the next record, to be recorded sometime next year…can you tell us how the writing’s been going for that?
Danny: Really well. We spent a few weeks in May in County Kerry in Ireland, locked ourselves away together and started writing. I was surprised how much we got done, and how easily it came out of us. Some writing sessions are more productive than others, and that one was definitely one of the more productive ones! We probably won’t get around to finishing the songs and recording it until next year with all the touring ahead of us this year.
Photograph by Dara Munnis
Who was your first concert, and who has been your favorite so far?
Danny: REM at Slane Castle in 1995 (I was 10!)
What was your first album on CD, cassette and/or vinyl?
Danny: First CD was The Cranberries, No Need To Argue. Amazing record!
Which five albums or artists would you not want to live without?
Danny:
Radiohead – OK Computer
The National – The Boxer (or any/all of their last 4 albums)
The Beatles – Abbey Road
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Do you have a guilty entertainment pleasure?
Danny: There’s a reality TV show at home called “Love Island,” that I’m ashamed to say I’ve watched a lot of this summer!
The Coronas are:
Danny O’Reilly – lead singer, vocals
Graham Knox – bass
Conor Egan – drums
Dave McPhillips – guitar
