Big in 2013: Kodaline

Having signed to prestigious label RCA on demos alone, they’ve already received backing from Huw Stephens and Greg James and a ridiculous amount of hits for their rather charming video ‘All I Want’ online.

Last week saw them set out on their first UK headline tour ahead of their debut album being released early next year. Before their set at the Night and Day Café we sat down for a wee chat with lead singer Steve Garrigan and guitarist Mark Prendergast to find out how they’re taking it all in their stride, talk embarrassing moments in front of John Lennon’s son and find out how they feel about all the Coldplay comparisons.

So I believe you’ve just finished a French tour with The Cranberries, how did that go?
Steve: It was really good. We need to work on our French to try and talk to the audience, but it was great!
Mark: We got to play to like thousands of people every night, there were two dates with Lianne La Havas in Brussels and Amsterdam in the middle so that was amazing too.

Tonight’s the first night of your first headline tour, are you looking forward to it?
Steve: Definitely, and it’s out first time in Manchester!
Mark: We’re looking forward to playing to our own crowds as opposed to being a support act, it’s nice to know that people are just coming to see us.

You’ve received considerable support for the video for ‘All I Want’ and all the dates on this tour are sold out, are you surprised at the backing you’ve received already?
Steve: Well it’s a relief! It’s a good start.
Mark: On Vevo the video’s at like 910, 000 so we’re kinda hoping that it pushes to 1,000,000 but it will probably stop at like 999,000 or something.
Steve: We didn’t really expect much, we just released an EP and people seemed to like it.

Radio 1 have also given you a fair bit of air-play haven’t they?
Steve: Yeah and I think it has a lot to do with the video. People really liked it, shared it and kinda introduced us to other people. And then it sort of caught the ear of the people in radio and stuff like that.

You’ve already drawn comparisons to the likes of Coldplay, Elbow and The Verve; how do you feel about that?
Mark: We were saying this the other day actually, you know when like a new band comes out you show your mate and you’re like “they’re sort of like this band”.
Steve: You have to compare a band to give other people an idea I guess.
Mark: It’s definitely not the worst thing. It doesn’t really bother us, I mean they’re Coldplay, we’re Kodaline!

How’s the album coming along?
Steve: It’s done! It’s due out in March, about the 18th I think. We’ve another EP coming out before then and videos, we love doing videos. But yeah the album’s done, just needs to be mixed. We went to the Rockfield Studios in Wales to record it. Oasis recorded there, Bohemian Rhapsody was also written and recorded there.
Mark: When we were there, we were in Studio 2 and The Pixies were in Studio 1!
Steve: There’s a wall there that they call “The Wonder Wall” because Liam sat up on it and sang and recorded from there.
Mark: And you can hear the birds in the trees at the beginning of one of the recordings.

Some impressive company you’ve kept there! Did you find it difficult deciding which songs went on the album and which didn’t?
Steve: We always had out heart set on putting ten tracks on it but the label wanted twelve so we compromised on eleven.
Mark: I mean the last few tracks always get lost when you have loads on there. I think if a band have like 10/11 tracks on there a band has kinda got their shit together. They know what they want.
Steve: Not that we have our shit together or anything!
Mark: Chilli Peppers released an album with like 27 songs…
Steve: Yeah but they’re The Chilli Peppers! We’re happy with the album, as soon as we’re finished with it we just hope we get a chance to do another one.

The infamous ‘difficult second album’?
Mark: We’ve got a lot of songs already actually!
Steve: The way we kinda record and write, we look at every song as a song in itself. We basically just write about how we feel, as clichéd as that sounds, if we feel happy, we write a happy song, if you’re a bit down it’s a thing; everybody’s kinda up and down every day. Whatever you’re feeling really, you sit down at the piano. I mean if you get a bad cup of tea and you’re a bit angry that’ll come through.

Many comments have been made about the strength of your lyrics and melodies, there’s a real sense of honesty in there isn’t there?
Steve: We are really honest
Mark: We spend a lot of time just writing you know, we only got our bassist this year. We wanted the songs to be really great.
Steve: The only reason we kept writing and playing really is because we love it.

One of your tracks was featured in Grey’s Anatomy I believe, how did that come about?
Mark: Yeah it’s in a trailer and in an episode. It was a while ago now.
Steve: We went over to LA for a few days and played acoustically for a few different people, and Julian Lennon actually came to our show and really liked us. We’re huge Beatles fans!
Mark: I had a Beatles lighter, and he came up, and I just thought ‘no this is so un-cool, I don’t want him to see this’. It was a sort of showcase thing and whenever we do that kinda thing we always ask people not to tell us who’s there, so we didn’t know. But yeah I think it came about after that.
Steve: I’ve never watched the show but the music is actually really cool, the compilations and soundtracks are good.

So what kind of music are you guys into?
Steve: As a band it’s all quite different.
Mark: After every gig in France, Vinny the drummer would spend about half an hour just playing songs and he would just pick huge hits from like the eighties, he always just picked the perfect song.
Steve: That’s straight after a gig though! I’m really into Sam Cooke, Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen and old school stuff, but then again I love LCD Soundsystem. If I was asked to give three artists that I had to listen to for the rest of my life and no-one else they’d be like The Beatles, Sam Cooke and Jackson Brown.
Mark: We’re playing a Sam Cooke cover tonight actually.
Steve: He could just sing the phonebook, no matter what, his voice is just amazing.

You’re all from Dublin, what’s the music scene like over there at the moment?
Steve: It’s very small.
Mark: You could tour Ireland in like a week. I mean if there’s a good band there then word travels fast. It’s not a huge industry and everyone kinda knows everyone. There’s a band called The Strypes who are like 15 or 16 and they’re really buzzing at the moment.
Steve: We played a festival in Dublin called Electric Picnic and they were walking around and we just couldn’t stop looking at them.
Mark: They look like The Beatles, it’s like someone just took them from the 60’s, the way they dress and everything.

We’re nearing the end of the year now, what are you hoping for in 2013?
Steve: As clichéd and as cheesy as it is, we just kinda want as many people as possible to hear out music and then it’s kinda up to them to make up their mind obviously. The more people we reach the better and just see how it goes really.
Mark: I think we could be doing a fair bit of touring in February. We did a support tour with We Are Augustines earlier this year and that was our first tour, they just made us feel really welcome and that’s helped.
Steve: We were pretty nervous ya know, just playing and stuff but they were so fucking cool, so down to earth.

Interview: Michelle Lloyd

Read our review of Kodaline at Night and Day

More 'Big in 2013' interviews:

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