WITH three global smash hit albums and sold out tours under their belt, Irish super-group The Script have turned their music into gold. And now they’re using their business experience to give talented Irish people their big break with a €3 million fund from Guinness.
The cash is rolling in for the smart Dublin trio, Danny O’Donoghue, Mark Sheehan and Glen Power. And they’ve been clever not to blow it.
“Right now we’re sitting on a big piece of a big pie thanks to Mark (Sheehan),” singer Danny tells Shuffle.
“We’re a better band because of Mark, who always said, ‘Business is a bigger word than music, we need to keep an eye on stuff. The more control we have, the less streams of revenue will be taken away from us.
“From the very start we paid ourselves a small wage and put the money in the bank. Unfortunately a lot of bands blow their advance money and burn out. Plus, we weren’t paying other people a 20 per cent cut to do stuff because we were doing it ourselves.”
The Script have now teamed up with Guinness to find, fund and mentor creative Irish people with innovative ideas for the world of music. The Arthur Guinness Projects will invest €3 million over three years in people and projects covering music, sport, arts and food.
Mark said: “I studied business to a nerdy level because I absolutely love it, but we wouldn’t be here today if we hadn’t looked after the business side. We would have gone under before we had our first album out.”
Singer Danny chips in: “I was all about the music, so we were lucky that we had Mark keeping an eye on things. With the Arthur Guinness Projects we’re not just looking for a band or a songwriter. It could be someone with an innovative idea for a new streaming service, a new download, a new way of promoting a tour, a music app or even a music label.”
Meanwhile, Danny will be keeping an eye on the progress of his protegé Andrea Begley, following her victory in The Voice UK.
“While Andrea writes fabulous originals, I think her first album will be mainly covers,” Danny reveals. “I expect it will be in the shops for Christmas. She is signed to Universal Music and I will be advising her, but Andrea has got plans of her own as well.”
The Script are heading off on a five-week tour of the States – but they expect to have a new album out by the end of the year.
“We’re going to be living and working on a tour bus with a recording studio as we travel around America,” Danny reveals.
“We’re going back to the place which first inspired our music as we spent 10 years in America before we became successful. It’s the first time we’ve ever tried to write an album on a tour bus, so that’ll be fun.”
And the group will be filming their American adventure, which fans can eventually see on-line.
“We are recording it ourselves because there is no one willing to fund these things anymore for bands,” Danny reveals.
“Live DVDs don’t sell very well anymore, even for the big bands, so if you’re going to do one you have to do it yourself. We filmed our concert at Aviva Stadium because we wanted to have that memory.”
The Script also paid tribute to Christy Dignam and Aslan for inspiring them in the early days.
Danny says: “We’ve always been massive fans of Aslan and we still hang out with Tony McGuinness (their original bass player) everytime we go to Australia, where he now lives. Tony wrote, If You See Kay, on our first album.
“Aslan should have been global stars and Christy Dignam is one of the greatest rock singers we’ve ever had. I’m glad he’s doing well in his battle with cancer.”
Source: Eddie / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net
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