{"id":3533,"date":"2018-10-17T16:30:18","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T21:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=3533"},"modified":"2018-10-19T19:33:50","modified_gmt":"2018-10-20T00:33:50","slug":"the-coronas-lead-danny-oreilly-sings-the-praises-of-a-decade-of-hard-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=3533","title":{"rendered":"The Coronas\u2019 Lead Danny O’Reilly Sings The Praises Of A Decade Of Hard Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Brad Balfour<\/em><\/p>\n

From the depths of Calgary, Canada, Coronas frontman Danny O\u2019Reilly makes his requisite interview call. For some musicians, this is a toil that\u2019s dreaded, but O\u2019Reilly doesn\u2019t do it reluctantly; he\u2019s quite enthusiastic to wax philosophical about being in a band, now seasoned by more than 10 serious years of recording and touring. This quintet has slowly but surely built a following throughout the UK, in Ireland, and Europe. Now, they\u2019re making a substantial plunge into North America \u2014particularly throughout the United States. <\/p>\n

As the band makes its incursion in the States this weekend, it had to be asked about fears of not getting an audience but generally he\u2019s undaunted and full of positive expectation. Explains this Corkman, \u201cWe\u2019ve had a great year touring North America, and can see the work paying off with crowds increasing. We plan to keep coming back and building it like we did at home. We were never an overnight success in Ireland, so we\u2019re excited to emulate that process overseas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing I get nervous about is how the shows are selling if it\u2019s a new market. If I didn\u2019t feel that way, that I have to work hard in thanks that made it this night, I don\u2019t think I would pull them in otherwise. I try to distract myself but I always ask the manager how the tickets are going. 99% of the time I get a good answer, but I still always have that little\u2026 We did that thing where we started out playing to venues with no people. But if there\u2019s a crowd there we have faith in ourselves to put on a good show and win them over if they give us a chance, even if they\u2019re not into our style of music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s multi-platinum-selling band launched their latest North American tour at Lollapalooza, and are headed to Manhattan, Friday, October 19th, to headline Irving Plaza as part of their North American tour.<\/p>\n

In anticipation of seizing audience ears and eyes, The Coronas rolled out \u201cReprise,\u201d a five-song EP new music ahead of the tour. A follow-up to \u201cTrust The Wire,\u201d their recent long player \u2014 which became their first number one album in its first week of release when it debuted at the top of Irish music charts. The album snared radio play in the US with released singles and music videos of \u201cReal Feel\u201d and \u201cWe Couldn\u2019t Fake It.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while their sound has been described as a variant of Coldplay\u2019s guidelines, that\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing. Says the veteran performer, \u201cI\u2019m a fan of Coldplay, I saw them last year and it was one of the best shows I saw. When we play bigger venues back in Ireland we use a lot of similar production techniques and I think Chris Martin is an amazing songwriter. We evolved over the course of our albums more than others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was Noel Gallagher that said that if you take a lot of little things from a lot of different people you\u2019ll come up with something original. And so we have our own sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

And however much there\u2019s a clear Corona sound, this two recent productions illustrate how O\u2019Reilly and his co-writers brilliantly craft a substantial, broad-ranging catalog of songs. And not a sound that overtly reveals its roots. \u201cWe\u2019re not the first Irish band to not sound Irish. If you look at U2 and the sound they had, did they sound Irish?\u201d He acknowledges, \u201cThey sound American. These are bands that inspired us. It\u2019s not that we\u2019re not proud of our Irish heritage, we are. I think our music isn\u2019t Irish sounding though.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what they write about, they\u2019re not out to make political diatribes or grand sweeping soundscapes. They really it straightforward and revealing. \u201cOur lyrics have always focused on being honest and I always found the more honest I was the more I put myself on the page even if it was slightly cliche. People relate to those lyrics and its the lyrics I see people singing back in the crowd that I\u2019m proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

These two recordings especially \u201cReprise\u201d are present day Coronas as Danny outlines: \u201cWe recorded it in Dublin, where we all now live, and it was the first time we recorded at home since our very first album \u2014 believe it or not. It\u2019s also the first piece of work we co-produced with our live engineer Darren Clarke, who\u2019s 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\u2019t fit on either of the last two albums, but we always liked them and wanted to finish and release them.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for writing material for the next record, Danny recalled, \u201cWe 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, so we probably won\u2019t get around to finishing the songs and recording all of it with all the touring ahead of us this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what the songs are about, he reflected, \u201cSome people think our songs are about friendships or little stories about how we love what we do. Songs like \u2018Gimmie a Minute\u2019 are about my struggles to be the best I can be. There\u2019s always some relationship songs. There hasn\u2019t been one big scar, but plenty of small ones. I suppose I do [need some fixing]. I think everyone does. Sometimes you bring out the best in someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added an assessment of the songs he felt hit the mark, \u201c\u2018Give Me a Minute\u2019 and \u2018We Can\u2019t Fake It\u2019 \u2014 off the new album \u2014
\nI\u2019m particularly proud of. Of the second album is the song \u201cThe Long Way,\u2019 and the album before that was \u2018Closer To You.\u2019 \u2018Years Ago\u2019 from the first album, we play that live and it gets a great reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"So how does he do it? \u201cOnly a couple of times have I been walking down the street and a melody came to me and that turned into a song. More often it\u2019s a chord I like the sound of first. Just a few chords and then the melody and any words that come into my head. Whatever sounds good with the chord, it could be gibberish at first or a line that doesn\u2019t make sense, but I\u2019ll write around that line. The guys will jam around it and do what they can do it. Dave and I will work on the lyrics together. It\u2019s very collaborative. We look forward to it, we enjoy the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not all Danny O\u2019Reilly on vocals and guitar. As their bio described, \u201cHe and Graham Knox have known each other practically since their birth which was just two weeks apart. Their parents were friends, and essentially the pair grew up together. They met Conor Egan at Terenure College secondary school in Dublin where, in 2001, they formed a band called Kiros with O’Reilly on vocals and guitar, Knox on bass and Egan on drums. Kiros morphed into Corona\u2014the name taken from the Smith-Corona typewriter in Cameron Crowe’s classic film about the music business, Almost Famous\u2014and ultimately, The Coronas. The lineup was finalized in 2006 with the addition of Dave McPhillips on lead guitar.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Coronas\u2019 O\u2019Reilly, Knox, Egan, McPhillips plus Johnny McSharry on keyboards, have five critically-acclaimed albums to their credit\u2014four of them double platinum in Ireland and one on its way\u2014and have spent a decade touring all over the world. Said O\u2019Reilly: \u201cWe\u2019re passionate, we love what we do, we try to get the crowd to sing along and join the show. Above all, we appreciate what we do every night, and never take it for granted and that attitude seems to help get the crowd enjoying themselves too. It\u2019s the best job in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as for the future? \u201cThe more we do it, the more we appreciate it and keep our ambition going and keep improving. We came to the States a few times in our early days but got bogged down, but now we\u2019re getting bigger and bigger and we wanna build up the American market like we did with back home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started the band 10 years ago when we left university. We said, \u2018We\u2019ll give this band thing a go for a year and see what happens\u2019 and here we are now still playing. Five or six years ago we played some big venues at home and our families were very proud of us. But it\u2019s been a slow progress, not an overnight thing, And it\u2019s been getting bigger, slowly, [but it keeps going].\u201d <\/p>\n

North American Tour Dates<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thursday, October 18
\nPhoenix Theatre<\/em>, Toronto, ON, Canada<\/p>\n

Friday, October 19
\nIrving Plaza<\/em>, New York, NY<\/p>\n

Saturday, October 20
\nThe Sinclair<\/em>, Boston, MA<\/p>\n

Sunday, October 21
\nUnderground Arts<\/em>, Philadelphia, PA<\/p>\n

Wednesday, October 24
\nExit\/In<\/em>, Nashville, TN<\/p>\n

Thursday, October 25
\nPurgatory<\/em>, Atlanta, GA<\/p>\n

October 26-28
\nVoodoo Festival<\/em>, New Orleans, LA<\/center><\/p>\n

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