No place like home for Kodaline
Kodalinemaynot have released an album in over threeand-a-half years, but their fans haven’t deserted them. Proof of that came when 21,000 of them packed in to Malahide Castle in June to see the band from north Dublin play.
‘It was such a big gig to play, almost literally at home. I remember getting quite emotional at one point,’ singer Steve Garrigan says.
‘When we used to play in bars in Swords and Malahide nobody paid attention, so to stand on that stage and hear everybody in the crowd sing back the words of our songs was amazing.’
Sprinkled among such hits as High Hopes, All I Want and Brand New Day were a few new songs from their latest album, The Politics Of Living. Those songs proved the break was well spent. It’s the best album the quartet have made. Yes, you will still hear the influence of bands such as Coldplay, U2 and others, but this is their most diverse sounding collection: risks have been taken and it suits them.
‘We planned it that way, Garrigan says. ‘We’ve brought in more electronic elements this time and worked with a lot of different producers.
‘We’ve spent some of the last two weeks going around doing listening parties,’ the 30-year-old says. ‘We did Tower in Dublin and went to Zurich, Milan, Munich and Paris. Fans heard the album and then we played a few songs acoustically. The response has been amazing.’
On that lengthy break there were also some big changes for the band personally.
‘We toured up until 2016. Then we had to slow down,’ he says. ‘Our drummer Vinny (Vincent May) got married and so did Jay (bass player Jason Boland). We all moved out of our parents’ houses. I think that’s how real life got in the way of the band. The weddings and all that go with them took a lot of time out of everybody’s lives. We found real life as scary as s*** and we wrote about it.
‘We did a few festivals last year and in 2018. We finished the album and then we unfinished it. We wanted to take that little bit of extra time until we were 100% happy with it. Now we’re running away from real life again and going on tour.’
That tour starts in Belgium next week and will take them away from Swords until just before Christmas. Garrigan says Irish dates will be announced ‘soon’.
‘A couple of years ago all we wanted to do was get out and tour the world. It took that for us to realise that we absolutely love Dublin and Swords in particular,’ he says. ‘We’ve played in every corner of the world and in the States loads of times. America is just so vast. Each state is like a different country.
‘The last time we were there, we pulled up to a truck stop in the bus and a guy asked me if I was in a band and I said “yes”. He asked what we sounded like. I said: “I don’t know… Coldplay maybe.” “Never heard of them,” he said. I tried “Kings of Leon?” “Never heard of them.” “U2?” “No, them neither.” Sometimes, in some places, it can feel like people are in a different world to you.’
The fans who are very much on Planet Kodaline will lap up the new material. Brother, Follow Your Fire and Worth It are fan favourites in the making. Another track Hell Froze Over finds Garrigan spitting out lines with a venom that honestly reminded me of Eminem.
‘I’ve never been compared to him before,’ he laughs. ‘But yes, I did want to put a rap in to a song at some time.’
The upbeat Head Held High might surprise some fans as it’s unlike anything they’ve committed to record so far.
‘We don’t have many happy songs or happy-sounding songs,’ he says. ‘The lyrics are about pushing through tough times, staying strong and keeping your head up. ‘You never know what’s around the corner. It’s important to keep your wits about you. If you can do all that then you’ll be happier in
life.’
‘We found real life scary...and we wroteaboutit.Now we’re running away from reallife again’
The Politics Of Living was released on Friday.