CORONAS SHINING ON THEIR OWN
Irish rockers enjoying the control of making tunes as independents
In their native Ireland, the Coronas sell out stadiums.
Their fifth studio album Trust the Wire flew to No. 1 immediately after it was released last year in their home country.
After forming in school more than a decade ago, the band is at its peak — at least on its side of the Atlantic Ocean.
So one might assume it would be a bit dispiriting for the Irish band to play Canada, where they perform in much smaller clubs and often have the added pressure of introducing their music to unfamiliar audiences. But singersongwriter Danny O’Reilly doesn’t see it that way.
To be honest, the best thing about it is that it has given us time to ... commit to touring in other countries.
“They are completely different, but we love the challenge of doing both,” he said in a phone interview from his home in Dublin. “Thankfully, in Ireland, we built up through the venues at home as well. So we experience playing in every size venue, from the little clubs and pubs to slightly bigger clubs and venues and bigger-capacity rooms to theatres and now arenas.
“It’s great. We have to change the set. The production is obviously different. Even how you interact with the crowd is totally different. With the smaller shows, you can have that moment of intimacy with the crowd. You can chat with them and really connect with them and have moments of natural humour, I suppose. When you’re in an arena, you can’t really do that naturally.”
The Coronas certainly sound well suited to a stadium stage, offering soaring alt-rock anthems that take cues from Coldplay, Oasis, The Beatles and, at least vocally, Jeff Buckley. But the band’s incremental success may have been key to maintaining a healthy work ethic in the quartet, even if they have never lacked in ambition.
O’Reilly is a part of Irish music royalty as the son of folksinger Mary Black. His mother and his father, who managed Black’s career, were supportive of O’Reilly's decision to get into the business. But they also instilled a sense of practicality about the realities of making a living through music.
“They made us realize it’s not an easy industry to make it in,” he said. “Even if you’re really, really talented and have amazing music and are an amazing songwriter and have an amazing band, it’s not guaranteed you are going to make it. You need to get a bit of luck, you need to work hard. When you do get a little bit of a break, you have to be ready to work.”
The Coronas will kick off their latest attempt to conquer North America with the band’s Calgary debut Tuesday at the Gateway.
While they could have certainly cruised on the Irish success of 2017’s Trust the Wire, the band’s work ethic kicked in again when preparing for the six-week tour. It led them to record and selfproduce Reprise, a five-song collection of orphan tunes that didn’t make it on past records. The band released it online and O’Reilly said its success has been a pleasant surprise.
“They were songs that we liked, but maybe didn’t fit into the album that we had and weren’t completely finished or weren’t ready,” he said. “So we just sat down and did a bit of work in January and recorded them. It was really cool. It was the first time we self-produced an EP. We just did it with our engineer and we didn’t have a producer as such. It’s already gotten a great reaction and done more than we thought it would do.”
Starting with Trust the Wire, the Coronas have also flexed their independence by releasing material on their own label after a stint with Island Records, home of superstar brethren U2, among others.
“We have a lot more control,” O’Reilly said. “To be honest, the best thing about it is that it has given us time to make a plan and commit to touring in other countries. We’ve done the most amount of touring in the last three years since we’ve gone on our own label.
“We’re back in North America again for the third time in a year. With Island, our biggest problem with them was that they would say, ‘No, wait and see. Don’t tour. Don’t promote yet. Wait and see how the single is going. See if radio will come on board, let’s see if we can get TV.’ If that stuff doesn’t come, they are less inclined to spend money on touring.
“We spent a lot of time in Ireland waiting to see what would happen with certain releases instead of just getting out there and working it. We’re a type of band that builds from the ground up. That’s what we did in Ireland.”