The Coronas’ success makes front man Danny a reluctant sex symbol
ANNY O’Reilly chuckles self-consciously. “When you’re in a pop band — or whatever you want to call us — attention will inevitably be directed at the lead singer. It goes with the territory.”
The Coronas frontman is contemplating his status as Most Fanciable Man in Irish rock. As anyone who has attended a Coronas concert will testify, a fair percentage of the group’s fans are swooning young women. And mostly, their sighs and coos are directed at O’Reilly, a stylishly scruffy sort with to-die-for stubble. He doesn’t invite the attention. But he recognises it’s part of what rock music is about.
“It’s not something I’m comfortable with to be honest,” he says. “I wouldn’t totally embrace it. At the same time, I still look in the mirror when I leave the house. That wasn’t always the case. With our first few albums, we would wear our hoodies and whatever and not really give much thought to our appearance.”
Did someone have a quiet word? “It wasn’t a conscious decision to pay more attention to how we dressed as we got older. It was something we simply grew into. We began to wear skinnier jeans and all of that. Really, it goes back to The Beatles. I remember a quote from Chris Martin. After Coldplay’s first album, Michael Stipe advised him to get some skinny jeans. Their next single went to number one. Maybe it was all down to the jeans.”
Several years ago O’Reilly became a minor celebrity when he started seeing MTV presenter Laura Whitmore. Their break-up roughly 18 months ago inspired The Coronas’ latest album, The Long Way, which contains some of O’Reilly’s most heartfelt songs yet.
Though he wears his heart on his sleeves as a lyricist, O’Reilly prefers not to discuss his private life. If anything he feels he was too loose-lipped in the past and and went over the top expressing his admiration for Whitmore. Not that he regrets anything he said. However, he understands that, in gaining a reputation as someone willing to talk about their personal affairs, there was an issue of trying to put the genie back in the lamp.
Still, for all the heartache, his split from Whitmore has a happy ending of sorts. The Long Way looks set to be The Coronas’ biggest success to date and may well bring the band the overseas success that has long eluded them. “We’ve just finished a UK tour. The final gig, at Koko in London, was sold out. It’s quite a big venue. Things seem to be going in the right direction. We are very happy with the album. Everyone in the band felt it was our best yet. You never really know how it will be received. We were proud of it. And it got a good from response friends and family — people whose opinions we value.”
“Family” includes Mary Black, O’Reilly’s mother. At the outset of his career, she sat her son down for a sobering chat. She did not want him to go into music expecting an easy journey to the top.
Danny live on stage with Mary in Shepards Bush pic.twitter.com/XbhFP2Eg7K
— The Coronas (@TheCoronas) May 16, 2015
“One very valuable piece of advice she gave me is that I should understand the business is full of amazingly talented people who don’t make it for whatever reason. All I could do was work hard. It’s a really tough industry. That has stuck with us — actually it’s especially useful now, as we try to make it to the next step.”
That next step is the UK, a market The Coronas feel they must break into to for the long-term security of the band (being big in Ireland and only Ireland simply won’t pay, the bills they point out). To that end, they have signed to Island Records, the first major label. Thus far, O’Reilly has no nightmare stories of faceless corporate interference.
“Island come from an independent stand-point. They’ve got people like Hozier, who is admittedly huge, and Catfish and the Bottlemen. Hopefully it’s going to make a difference when the album gets a proper release in the UK. That will to happen this summer all going well. They have a plan to get radio airplay and all of that. We’re crossing our fingers that happens and then it can all start building properly.”
The Coronas met at UCD and initially played exclusively on the college circuit. The first the wider world heard of them was when they sold out Whelans in 2006 with little promotion. Released independently, their debut album Heroes Or Ghosts was a surprise top ten hit and marked their arrival as a major force. In 2010, they underlined their popularity when awarded best album at the Meteors for their second LP Tony Was an Ex-Con, snatching the prize from under the noses of Snow Patrol and U2.
They assumed success in Ireland would eventually lead to interest from labels in the UK and America. Twenty years ago that may well have been the case. However, the industry doesn’t work that way anymore. Before a label takes a punt they expect the band to have already cultivated a fanbase. For that reason, in 2013 The Coronas took the fateful decision of moving to London.
O’Reilly sounds sincere when he says he doesn’t really care what critics think of The Coronas. A pop-rock band is never going to be everyone’s cup of chai.
That said, he has noticed a subtle reorientation in perceptions of the group with The Long Way. No longer are they regarded as of interest only to students and 20-nothings.
“It doesn’t surprise me we were seen as a students band at the beginning,” he says. “We were students ourselves, literally just out of UCD. That is why we would have attracted students back then. Things do seem to have come on — our writing has developed and we are appealing to a wider demographic. It’s been gradual — but it is definitely happening.”
NOT LONG TO GO! @TheCoronas, @LATMofficial, Fri 19 June (Sold Out) & Sat 20 June (Limited tickets available) https://t.co/tyMm4KtegO #LATM15
— Aiken Promotions (@aikenpromotions) May 12, 2015
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