The Coronas: 'We could have ended up in limbo'

Irish band talk record deals, touring, and their latest album ‘Trust The Wire’

The Coronas

It must be strange to go from performing to 14,000 people in Ireland to a (sold out) 380-capacity venue in Amsterdam.

But Dublin-based band The Coronas are pros, and apparently enjoy the chance to switch up their live experience and continue to attract new fans from around the world.

At Bitterzoet, a theatre and music venue near the centre of Amsterdam, frontman Danny O'Reilly and guitarist/vocalist Dave McPhillips are catching up after the release of their fifth studio album Trust The Wire, which recently shot to No. 1 in Ireland

They're "mentally scarred" from an incident involving their bus earlier on in the tour but still enjoying time on the road.

"We’re having so much craic, we’ve been doing this for 10 years and we still love it," O'Reilly says. "We are very blessed. The crowd sizes are different to back home but as long as you’re seeing a build, you don’t mind to what scale you’re playing.

"It’s an amazing adrenaline rush, but you can’t get the same connection in an arena. I think it’s good for us to go from both. If you do big shows all the time you can hide behind the production a little bit."

"It’s definitely more nerve-wracking to play a smaller show," McPhillips adds. "You have to think about it more, if you made a mistake you know it’s going to be really noticeable. It keeps your brain turned on."

It's not as though the band jumped straight to arenas back home, though, and there have been a few bumps over their 14-year career – the most being when they were dropped from their label after the release of their fourth album The Long Way,

"We had to pick ourselves back up, have a shake," O'Reilly says. "Everything with the Coronas had been with little baby steps, and then I think what happened with Island Records was our first proper knock to our confidence."

Watch the premiere of The Coronas' video for 'Give Me A Minute' below:

"We were really proud of the album, the live sets were going really well ... so it felt like there were four months of dead air where we were waiting to tour Europe," McPhillips says.

"I think that’s why the Trust the Wire album comes across as slightly moodier, more experienced. It represents where we are now, rather than us trying to do the same album we did five years ago."

"The songs, lyrically, became about that," O'Reilly agrees, "and us trying to refocus and remind ourselves why we’re doing this. If it doesn’t have radio singles on it… who cares?

"We went in with our eyes open, we were quite realistic about it. Unfortunately it didn't work out but we did have a plan B."

"We could have ended up in limbo," McPhillips says. "We’ve heard horror stories of bands being trapped for three years."

Thankfully things seem to be headed in the right direction still, with O'Reilly noting that they were lucky to have a big live following before they were signed to a major.

Trust The Wire was released via their own label So Far So Good records, and was recorded in two segments, without being rushed.

"I think Coronas albums in general have varied sounds, but we're really happy with this one," O'Reilly says. "A lot of the good stuff came towards the end."

I note how pleasing their record label name is and they smile: "Our production company we started was called that and we kept it for the label," O'Reilly says. "That little bit of optimism just to keep you going."

‘Trust The Wire’ by The Coronas is out now. The band play O2 Kentish Town Forum on Wednesday 18 October – tickets here