Interview: Kodaline

Het tweede album van Kodaline, Coming up for air, is klaar voor de release. De Ierse band brak in 2013 door met hun debuut album A Perfect World en de hits afkomstig van deze plaat; “High Hopes” en “All I Want”. Ter gelegenheid van het uitkomen van de tweede plaat spraken wij met gitarist Mark Prendergast.

Good morning, Mark. How are you doing?

Good morning. I’m good thank you. How are you?

I’m good thank you. So, how did the recording of the new album go? Did it all go down smoothly?

Yeah, it all happened incredibly quickly. We recorded all over the world. Well, all over the world, we did three weeks in L.A. with a guy who’s worked for, like, U2, Tailor Swift and all these big names. We’ve written the first songs there with him and the rest we did between the UK and Ireland, but it all happened very quickly. It took about eight weeks I think, all together. We only finished it two months ago and now the release is next week so it’s kind of scary, but it’s good, really good. I’m really excited.

That’s good to hear. Did anything peculiar happen?  Do you have any fun anecdotes from when you were recording?

Yeah, we were in Surrey in the UK and there was this guy, the engineer of the studio, who had this little motorbike. Our drummer got on the motorbike and he can’t ride a motorbike. He just crashed into a wall and fell off. The bass player, Jay, found this really funny, then he got on the motorbike and crashed into a tree and he broke his arm. (laughs) That was right in the middle of the recording process so he was like “FUCK!” and so we didn’t have a bass player for a lot of it.
And there was one time we were playing a show, while recording in LA. We had all these new songs written and we really wanted to play them so we put up a little acoustic show case. We played for a few people and Sasha Baron Cohen from Borat showed up with his wife to come and see us play our new songs so that was really crazy. Back in the middle of recording the album, getting to meet him, hang out with him. It was very different process from recording the first album but just as enjoyable.

Is there a particular song on the album we need to look out for?

I think, for anybody who is a Kodaline-fan already, there is this song called “Love Will Set You Free”. The last songs of the album. It’s probably one of our favourites. Then there is another song, called “Play the Game”, which is completely different to anything we’ve ever done. That’s probably my favourite, because it’s such a departure from what we’ve already done. It’s something we never would do, but we just kind of had fun in the studio. It’s kind of more of a big Rock song so, that’s my favourite. So they’re the last two songs of the album: “Play the Game” and “Love Will Set You Free”.

What are the main themes on the new album, lyric wise?

Well, this album is not a break-up album, you know? No one’s hearts were broken. We couldn’t make up songs like that. We travel a lot on this record. There are people in our circle of friends who got hit by depression and all that sort of stuff. These are people really close to the band, so a lot of songs are reaching out to these people. It’s not a depressing record at all, but a very uplifting, hopeful record. There is this song called “Autopilot” that I wrote for a friend of mine, that’s going through a really tough time and I didn’t really know how to talk to him about it. I deal with it but I just wrote this song like: “hope you’re okay”. In a nutshell that’s what I say and he really likes the fact that I did that.
Then there is this song called “The One”, that Steve [de zanger] wrote for our friend, Phillip. He recorded both albums. When he got married Steve wrote this song called “The One” for him and his wife and we sang it to them on their wedding day. We decided to put it on the album because it’s a really nice song. So there are all sorts of themes on the album. It changes from song to song.

What were the main inspirational artists? What were you listening to while recording?

We all listen to very diverse music. The bands I listen to don’t generally reflect the sound of the songs that I write. It’s the same with Steve, who writes most of the lyrics. He likes some of the music like Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen and most singer-songwriter people.
My favourite band is probably Taking Heads and The Strokes. I’m kind of into New York for some reason. I’ve listened to a lot of Courtney Barnett, she’s really cool. And I’ve listened to a lot of, do you know Nicolas Jaar? Well he plays in this group called Darkside. They make this really original music. So yeah, we listen to a lot of stuff.

Are there any performers with whom, eider with Kodaline or by yourself, you’d like to work together with?

Oh yeah, I’d love to try write a song with Daft Punk, but I don’t think they’d ever work with us. I love their last album. I love that they work with other people a lot. They did a song with Julian Casablancas of the Strokes and it’s just this song you’d never really hear Julian Casablancas write songs like that himself because he’s collaborating with probably the best dance act of all time. Daft Punk would be amazing.
Oh, and I’d love to work with a rapper. Somebody like Earl Sweatshirt or Jay-Z. That’s cool.

But with a new album a lot of touring will be involved, will there be a festival tour this summer?

Yes, I’d say there will be festivals.

Do you have any good memories, regarding Dutch festivals?

Yah, we played Pinkpop last summer and I think that was one of the biggest crowds we’ve ever gotten at a festival. We were on around five o’ clock in the day; it was our second time playing Pinkpop. We didn’t really know what to expect. We went on stage and the crowd was huge. It’s one of the biggest crows we ever played. I don’t know why but Dutch crowds are just amazing. We played the Paradiso before, we’re coming back, we’re playing there again. We always have a really good time when we play in Holland. It’s kind of the very first place we ever broke into. The first time we played the Paradiso it was the first time we ever played a venue that size and festival crowds are always the biggest in Holland. We actually love it there. It’s probably my favourite place to play and the paradise is probably the best venue I’ve ever been as well, really beautiful.

There are definitely a lot of different festivals out there. In Europe, on the British Isles, in the US. Do you have a favourite one?

Lowlands is great. When we played Lowlands, we found that there is this huge theme park, besides Lowlands. When we came off stage, went into the theme park, ride all the roller coasters and stuff. It was cool go from playing 15.000 people in a tent and then we go and just ride rollercoasters all day. That was a great day. But I think Glastonbury is probably my favourite festival of last year, because the crowd we got was huge. It was overwhelming to play that many people. It was great, enjoyable.

Is there anything in the future that you’re afraid of?

We’re releasing our album next week. It’s kind of weird that it comes out so quick. We’re very nervous if it might sell and people might like it. We love it and we have a lot of faith in it. We think it’s got really good songs on it. So yeah, I’m very nervous about that, but I think that’s kind of natural. We’re afraid what people are going to say about the songs. We’ve taken a bit of a departure sonically. There are a few songs that are seemingly different from the first album. There are a few songs that sound similar to it. We’re nervous about that but I think that, if the album goes well, there is nothing really to be afraid of. I mean that, if people like the songs we can just go and play them for them. We’ll have to wait and see.

Is there anything particular you’re looking forward to?

When I buy an album, for me, it takes me a few months to really kind of acclimatize, just so I know all songs and it kind of sticks to you. I’m looking forward to a few months down the line, when people have listened to the whole album a few times and then live with it. Then we start playing shows and people really connect with every song because we’re going out touring next month and people will be hearing a lot of these songs probably for a first or second time. It’s going to be great that they’re going to hear it live for the first time. I’m looking forward to when the album is out there a while and then, when we come back and tour again and people have connected with it. I’m looking forward to everything. The summer is going to be great, playing a lot of festivals, it’s all good.

Is there something we really need to know about you or Kodaline in general before we listen to the album?

Just that we’re unbelievably excited and thankful that people in Holland let us come over there and play a show. It’s amazing get to play in a sold-out Paradiso. Just thank you for the support and hopefully you’ll enjoy the second album.