The Coronas Interview

Ireland’s Rock and Indie four-piece, The Coronas, have followed in the footsteps of U2 and The Script to become the country’s newest supergroup. With platinum-selling records under their belt and a Meteor Award for Album Of The Year, these four Dublin boys are ready to explore further afield, and are heading to Australia this February for the very first time. We had a chat with the boys before they head out about their success so far and who inspires them to keep going…

Hey guys, how are you?
Great, thanks.

How has 2014 been to you so far?
Really cool, we had a busy enough December and we were gigging on New Year’s Eve so it was nice to have a couple of days off before we came back to London and back to finishing off the new album. We’re really excited about it… hopefully it will be out by September.

‘Corona’ is Latin for ‘crown’, a plasma that surrounds the sun, and also a Mexican lager; what is it to the four of you?
We’re named after a typewriter called Corona Smyth Deluxe from one of our favourite films Almost Famous.

We haven’t seen you over in Australia for almost four years! What have you all been up to?
We’ve been busy recording, touring, promoting our last record. We’ve been hoping to come back for ages and we’re delighted we could finally make it happen.

What’s the reason behind the Australian tour in February then? Did you miss us?
Yeah we had a great time last time there and we haven’t toured the ‘Closer To You’ album there yet.

‘Closer To You’ was the first example of you branching out of Ireland and releasing in the UK. Did the UK audience take to it differently to your Irish fans? Were you dubious about going into such a competitive market?
We’re very ambitious and we always want to give as many people as possible a chance to listen to us so we were really happy with the release. We also released around Europe too and got to tour a lot of great places. Hopefully the next album will take us up another notch.

Your debut album, ‘Heroes or Ghosts’, was really successful, but ‘Tony Was An Ex-Con’ beat the likes of U2 and Snow Patrol to Album Of The Year at The Meteor Awards in 2008. After such an achievement, was there added pressure heading back into the studio and making a second album that everyone would compare to its predecessor?
Heroes did really well for us, but we knew as soon as we started to tour it, we knew we had another one in us. We were writing loads and thankfully, our follow up ‘Tony Was An Ex-Con’ did amazingly for us.

How do the four of you work together? Do you each have an input into lyrics, music and melodies?
It’s usually different for each song. For the most part we all write the music, I would do most of the melodies, and myself and Dave will do lyrics together. But as I say this changes from song to song. We’re lucky that we’ve a very honest relationship, which makes it easier to write together.

You’ve supported the likes of Paul McCartney, Justin Timberlake and Pink; does the range of acts speak for you as a band, to not box you into one genre?
Yeah I suppose we don’t really pay too much attention to what genre we fit into. I think one thing that the three acts you mentioned have in common is they all write great songs and are amazing live (we’d like to fit into that genre!).

Are any of those you’ve supported live been direct inspirations to you?
Yes Macca especially, we all grew up listening to the Beatles and seeing those songs live was incredible. We’ve also been lucky enough to work with The Script, and those boys inspired us with their live show, songwriting and work ethic.

St Patrick’s Day will be rearing its head on 17th March, what do you all do to celebrate?
No plans yet! I’m sure alcohol will be involved!

It’s a special occasion in Australia, what with all the Irish expats and Irish pubs in the country; has this helped you gain a strong fan base outside of Ireland?
Yeah we find Irish people who have left Ireland feel an even bigger sense of pride in the country and also in Irish music. They definitely spread ye word and make that extra effort to travel to see you.

What do you miss most about home when on tour?
Home cooking and my bed!

Outside of music, what are your hobbies? What do you get up to on tour when you’re not performing?
We like football so we watch a lot of that, and play a little when we’re off tour. We also watch a lot of TV box sets. On tour on our days off sometimes we go bowling.

Thanks for your time and we look forward to seeing you in Australia!

The Coronas Tour Dates:
Thursday 20th February – Hi Fi, Melbourne
Friday 21st February – O’Malley’s, Brisbane
Saturday 22nd February – Hi Fi, Sydney
Sunday 23rd February – Capitol, Perth

By Charlotte Mellor