The Coronas: Danny O'Reilly on a new album, and sharing a name with a virus
The Coronas: Conor Egan, Danny O'Reilly, Graham Knox.
For a few scary weeks early in the pandemic, it crossed Danny O’Reilly’s mind that Coronavirus might pose a clear and present danger to The Coronas. His band’s name carried the faintest echoes of the infection that had sent the world into hibernation and in the international press, journalists were having fun drawing a parallel between the two.
Cue lots of articles about The Coronas having the “unluckiest” moniker in pop. As lockdown descended he wondered: was this going to be a thing?
The answer, it gradually became clear, was in the negative. Coronavirus wasn’t going to devour The Coronas.
“After this initial fear of this stupid band name — its unfortunate likeness with the virus…after that passed, I was just like 'Okay, it’s not going to make any difference’. Once the pandemic became so huge —part of everyone’s vocabulary, then those connections stopped. The word took on its own meaning. It didn’t matter. I knew it wasn’t going to be a thing.”
But if Covid was no longer an existential threat to The Coronas — the feelgood guitar trio O’Reilly (37) had led to chart-conquering success since 2007 — the uncanny hush of lockdown nonetheless seeped into songs he was writing. The results can be heard on the band’s seventh album, Time Stopped — a contemplative listen that unfolds like a sort of pop-rock cousin thrice-removed of Taylor Swift’s Folklore.
“Initially, I was like, I'm not going to write about the pandemic or the lockdown. What do I know? Everyone is going to be writing about it. I can’t offer any insight.” The problem was that this didn’t leave him with many alternatives. “What do I write about now? Anything else I tried to write about seemed a bit futile. Why do I care about anything when the world is ending? What I ended up doing was being really personal. What was going on with me, with the backdrop of the pandemic. It might be just one line or verse: ‘and yeah, the world is ****ed up as well’. That felt natural.”
The Coronas are a very Irish success — in that they are huge in Ireland while having a more modest (though still dedicated) fanbase elsewhere. O’Reilly, meanwhile, is Irish music royalty: his mother is Mary Black, his younger sister is the singer Róisín O.
His own ascent was quite rapid. Having met at Terenure College, the group become a name on the student circuit in 2007, breaking through with the early hit San Diego Song. That was merely a launch pad: they would go on to headline 3Arena and, just this autumn, played to a huge Sunday afternoon crowd from the Electric Picnic main stage.
With Time Stopped they are likely to entrench their position as one of the country’s favourite bands. It is a moving showcase for O’Reilly’s expressive writing style, with songs that proceed from a sigh to a sob — while always finding room for a warm-hearted melody.
It also has an autumnal sheen that places it in a continuum of “lockdown” records — though to O’Reilly the biggest influence isn’t Taylor Swift’s Folklore but her producer, Aaron Dessner’s band, The National.
“I was really interested when Folklore came out. I did enjoy it. I wouldn’t say it directly impacted. Whereas The National stuff maybe there was an influence. There is an Australian band I love, who were meant to play Electric Picnic, called Gang of Youths, who I really like. Their last two records are probably a bit of an influence.”
Still, if Time Stopped has a melancholic gloss, sunshine pokes through the canopy. “Thematically, even though a couple of songs, you can tell they were written in lockdown and sound a bit insular…they all do have a hint of optimism,” says O’Reilly. “That was the way I felt. Even at the worst of it, when there were no signs of gigs, I was like ‘you know what — at least I have this [his career and fanbase]. Things could be worse."
The Coronas took a shot at cracking the UK a decade ago when they signed to Island. Things didn't work out, for the usual reasons when it comes to Irish artists aiming for success in Britain. They weren’t playlisted by the BBC; they say their label didn’t show them enough support. With the dust having settled they are glad they tried — and proud that they have carried on afterwards, and picked up plenty of fans in Britain.
“A few years ago I used to think, ‘oh maybe we released the first album [2007’s Heroes Or Ghosts] too soon’. We hadn’t even gigged outside Dublin, never mind outside Ireland. We were barely a band. We had a few songs. We were very raw. I used to say, ‘oh if only we’d waited a little while — tried to sort out management…’. When in fact, we were like, ‘we have these songs — let’s put them out’. Now I see it probably stood to us. We released early and kept releasing. And we evolved over each album.”
To be dropped was a setback without question. However, he is proud that The Coronas dusted themselves down and carried on. It helped that Island allowed the group to release, The Long Way, the LP they had recorded for the label, but which it declined to put out.
“That was the first knock, when they dropped us — sure. We learned a lot from the experience.” Retaining ownership of their masters was crucial, he says. “When we first went into the label we were like ‘we have a following in Ireland, can we have the masters to our album back?’
"And fair play to them, they agreed to that. We weren’t locked into a contract that often times many bands are. We got to take The Long Way and release it. It was one of our biggest releases in Ireland. We were a stat for a major label: one of those nine out of ten bands you don’t hear of. I don’t regret rolling the dice. We came back and started our own label here. And learned a lot from the experience. I wouldn’t change where we are now. There’s no guarantee another path wouldn’t make me happier than where we are today.”
He and his two bandmates, bassist Graham Knox and drummer Conor Egan are all in their 30s now and he is the only member of The Coronas not to have kids. Things change as you get a bit older. And yet the pressures remain the same. He was reminded of those stresses when he read about artists such as Sam Fender and Arlo Parks cancelling their tours due to exhaustion and the need to protect their mental health. The key to longevity is pacing, he says.
“It can be a strange life. There’s no structure. We’re going on tour tomorrow to the UK. Then we’re on the road until Christmas. I’m buzzing for that. But Conor and Graham each have kids. They’ll be gone for over six weeks.”
It’s not just family, he continues. “The structure of being on the road can be tiring mentally. You see gigs and tours being cancelled. Coming out of Covid, you nearly have to ease back into it. I’ve learned over the years to pace myself. People say, ‘oh touring must be hard and tiring. It’s only really hard and tiring if you’re on the piss."
The secret is moderation. “You’re hungover and you’re working. It’s a vicious circle. You go out and do a gig hungover. And you’re like, ‘I’m not drinking tonight’. As soon as the adrenaline of the gig hits you, you’re like, ‘yeah I’ll go again’. It [drinking] is the best hangover cure in the world. You can see how it turns into every day. I’ve learned to mind my voice — to pick and choose when you have a few drinks. And when to take it easy. You have to play the long game when you’re on the road as it can be tiring. But I would never complain because I love to travel.”
The Coronas were never embraced by music scenesters in Dublin and critics have not necessarily been on their side. Early on, that might have rankled a bit. O’Reilly now regards this as a plus. If you’ve never been the flavour of the month, you can’t fall from fashion.
“It’s funny — when we started we were never really critically acclaimed. That is something that is good for me. It gave me a thick skin early on. I could see it was working with punters. I could see the gigs were full. We weren’t getting any critical acclaim. I was like, ‘maybe they don’t go hand in hand’. It’s only the last couple of albums that maybe we’ve got a little. And perhaps we’ve gotten better.” Music trends have changed, too. A decade ago earnestness was frowned upon. Nowadays, singing from the heart — as O’Reilly does — is often perceived as a strength rather than a sin.
“At the time, we were very pop. And now, in comparison to what is being played on the radio, we’re not as pop as we once were. Maybe we’ve moved from commercial to a slightly more left-of-centre over the years. Maybe that’s one reason people are maybe less cynical about the lyrics.”
- Time Stopped is out Friday, October 7. The Coronas will play some acoustic songs and sign copies of their new album in the following Golden Discs stores: Sat 8 Oct, 4 pm, Cruises Street, Limerick; Sun 9 Oct, 1 pm, Patrick's Street, Cork
