Win a Signed Copy Of #3

Enter our #TheScriptFamily comp HERE: There's signed copies of #3 to be won for the best pics

Source: @thescript

Want to win a signed copy of #3.

1. Follow @TheScript 

2. Tweet us the title of our 1st single with #TheScriptFamily

Source: @TheScript_Danny

The Script - As we wait for 4 let's look back

As we all wait with bated breath for The Script's 4th album, which we are all excited over and can't wait for, let us reflect and their previous albums:

The Script's third album, was appropriately titled “#3,” and contains some of the group's finest music to date, containing 13 spectacular new songs and ­a video giving fans the chance to see the album being constructed. 

Released in the U.K. two years after “Science & Faith,” “#3” has a more fast-paced urban feel than previous releases. Nevertheless, it wouldn't be complete without a few tracks dedicated to the genre the Script first found itself in. These are “Kaleidoscope,” a song rich in guitar chords, and my personal favorite, “Six Degrees of Separation.”

The lyrics sung by Danny O'Donoghue are positively glowing with artistry and flare. Coincidentally, “Glowing” is the name of the fifth track, which contains a beautiful melody that conveys a story. This storytelling quality is sought after by many artists, and has been demonstrated by The Script since their first, self-titled album in 2008. 

Written for O'Donoghue's late father and guitarist Mark Sheehan's parents, “If You Could See Me Now” is a stunning tribute featuring a beautiful chorus. Its emotionally engaging lyrics were taken from a page of Sheehan's diary, inviting fans into the private lives of the band members.

This exquisite collection from Ireland's famed alternative rock band showcases the musical talents of the trio while providing listeners with an array of sensational new sounds. The Script never fails to impress and have done so again here. Danny, Mark, and Glen have created an album filled with tones of pop-rock and ingenious ballads, and they deserve every ounce of credit for their continued success.

Source: The Dublin Weekender / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

Wired Strings - Wired Danny?

Arranger Rosie Danvers and Wired Strings are featured on THE SCRIPT'S new single 'Millionaires'. Wired Strings recorded 6 tracks for THE SCRIPT'S current album in May 2012.

Strings Arranged by Rosie Danvers, performed by Wired Strings, Produced by Danny Donoghue, Engineered by Peter Frampton and Recorded at Sphere Studios, London, 2013.

Danny O' Donoghue was utterly charming and brought everyone in the orchestra a large glass of red wine half way through the evening session!

TOP: We had a surprise addition to our string section, as Danny makes his debut with Wired Strings! 

MIDDLE: Danny O' Donoghue gave us all a large glass of red wine, during the evening session! 

BOTTOM: Danny makes his entrance with the wine!

Source: Dublin Weekender / Rosie Danvers / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

(12th June 2013)

Review: The Script At The Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle

AFTER six years and three top five albums, the indomitable success of Irish band The Script shows no sign of stopping.

The boys have been selling out arenas across the UK following the popularity of their third album, #3, which was released last year and has already produced a number of hit singles, including Hall of Fame, a collaboration with lead singer Danny's fellow The Voice judge, will.i.am.

The number one single showcases the more distinctly urban edge of #3, which features rap segments from both Danny O'Donoghue and guitarist Mark Sheehan, in contrast to the mellower sounds of past records.

The group's world tour stopped off at a jam-packed Metro Radio Arena for a performance long anticipated by hordes of enthusiastic fans.

The Script burst on stage to the uplifting Good Ol' Days, the first track off their latest album, and it was instantly clear to see the changes in the band since they last performed in Newcastle two years ago.

With bold and dramatic staging, and well-executed special effects, the boys' live shows have grown in size and impact along with their success.

However, music was still the main focus of the night, with Danny and Mark, along with drummer Glen Power, playing their own instruments whilst providing flawless vocal performances.

Danny lived up to his reputation as a judge on reality television show The Voice, by blasting through some of the group's biggest hits seamlessly and with a sustained vigour and energy that entertained the crowd throughout.

The set list provided a variety of songs spanning all three albums; from the inspiring Science and Faith from the band's second album, to iconic classics from their debut self-titled album, such as The Man Who Can't be moved, during which the audience needed no encouragement to sing along.

Songs from latest album #3 proved equally popular, including the movingly personal If You Could See Me Now, which recently charted in the UK top 20.

Speaking in between acts, the boys proved themselves to be as down-to-earth as ever despite their sky-rocketing fame, and Danny kept the masses of screaming female fans entertained with frequent audience interaction.

In contrast to the energy of Nothing, sang down a mobile phone to an unsuspecting ex-boyfriend, the beautiful simplicity of I'm Yours captivated the audience on another level.

After a night which took audience members on a relationship rollercoaster, a marriage proposal in the audience ended the night on an optimistic high.

The Script entertained as always with a high energy and emotional concert that once again proved them to be one of the most talented and genuine bands in the music industry.

Source: Chronicle / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

Review: The Script at ECHO Arena

THEIR tour has sold out across the globe and it was easy to see why when The Script took to the stage at the ECHO Arena on Saturday.

The trio, Danny O’Donoghue, Mark Sheehan and Glen Power, raised the roof when they showcased songs from their third album, aptly titled #3.

The audience fizzed with excitement as the Irish alternative rock band delighted fans with hits including Hall Of Fame, Six Degrees of Separation and If You Could See Me Now.

But it was performances from their earlier albums which really captivated the audience.

Breakeven, The Man Who Can’t Be Moved and For The First Time raised the entire audience to their feet as they sang along to the band’s best-loved hits.

The Script, who are arguably one of the biggest bands to come out of Ireland, have enjoyed incredible success since the release of their first album four years ago.

Their UK arena tour sold out in just under a week and their last album spent five weeks in the top ten.

But surprisingly, the trio, who have shifted more than four million albums, appeared in awe of the reception from the Liverpool audience who screamed every time lead vocalist O’Donoghue so much as moved a muscle.

O’Donoghue, who has reached a new level of fame after his appearance as a judge on The Voice, clearly received the most of the attention but Sheehan is a force on stage too with outstanding guitar skills.

If you haven’t seen The Script live then you really are missing out.

The charismatic Irishmen put on a flawless show and had a great interaction with the crowd throughout.

The band even paid homage to the Beatles when they donned colourful military jackets and sang She Loves You – a nice touch which was appreciated if the booming applause was anything to go by.

The staging was simple but their stage presence more than made up for that and the sea of fans offered up a surprisingly mixed cross section of generations, proving that The Script have captured the hearts of many.

As the glitter fell from the ceiling and the lights faded, the Echo was filled with a united feeling that we all had witnessed something special.

Source: 8Electric / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

Fans Followed The Script For A Night Of Laughs And Emotion

SOME hardy souls, had spent the entire afternoon queuing in the cold outside the Arena to see the Script, who were not due on until just before nine.

But these super-fans were rewarded handsomely when lead singer Danny O'Donoghue headed off stage during the first number and down to the front rows to get help with the "ooo-oo" section of vocals on Good Ol' Days.

He was back there again for the next up, We Cry, meeting and greeting and allowing the rest of the packed venue to be subjected to some variable standards of singing as he shared the microphone.

Moments earlier, this sizzling show had started most profoundly with reflections from the astronomer Carl Sagan."The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena," The voice-over declared before O'Donoghue, who also appears as a judge on BBC One show The Voice UK, and band-mates Mark Sheehan and Glen Power burst on to stage.

The enormously popular Breakeven, from their self-titled 2008 debut album, was third up and was enough to get vast sections of the seated areas on to their feet.

An elongated introduction, with more than a hint of U2, preceded Science & Faith, the title track from their second No 1 album. And then we were into whole-arena sing-along mode for The Man Who Can't Be Moved.

O'Donoghue seemed genuinely blown away by the crowd's reaction to this one, so much so that he took a seat on the front of the stage to soak in the adoration for a few moments. "See, that's why we come to Nottingham. Right there. An incredible moment," he declared.

And if he was feeling emotional then, it was tweaked up several notches as the band launched into If You Could See Me Now, off their third album, appropriately titled #3.

This, their latest single, a tribute to O'Donoghue's late father and guitarist Sheehan's late parents, was wrought with emotion.

After rattling through Before The Worst, Sheehan was back to form happily sharing anecdotes of a "messy" night out in Nottingham the night before the gig.

The fun kept on coming, with the inevitable Twitpic posed for with an ironing board O'Donoghue had allegedly stolen from the hotel.

And then O'Donoghue was getting an audience member to ring her ex before borrowing her mobile to sing 'Nothing' down the line to a presumably bemused 'Connor'.

"He hung up on me twice, so I called him back," O'Donoghue laughed.

This was entertaining stuff and the best was yet to come with Six Degrees of Separation and For The First Time taking us towards the encore.

And after deafening demands for the trio to return, O'Donoghue surprised everyone by appearing up in the enraptured stands to belt out You Won't Feel A Thing.

More touchy-feely moments accompanied his walk back to the stage for the predictable, but barnstorming, finale, Hall Of Fame, their collaboration with Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am and their only No.1 single.

Source: Nottingham Post / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net / Getty

#3 Merchandise /US Tour - Available

Buy Now

Source: Firebrand / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

The Script Hit The Road In 'If You Could See Me Now' Video

The Script have unveiled the music video for their new single 'If You Could See Me Now'

The band are seen on the road and playing sold-out arena shows in the clip, which appears below: 

The group revealed that the track, which they wrote in "a couple of hours" one evening, is about the death of frontman Danny O'Donoghue's father and guitarist Mark Sheehan's parents.

'If You Could See Me Now' - out March 4 - serves as the third single from The Script's latest album #3, which peaked at number two on the charts last year. 

The LP gave them their first UK number one with 'Hall of Fame', which topped the charts last August. 

The trio are nominated for 'Best International Group' at this year's Brit Awards, where they are up against Alabama Shakes, The Black Keys, fun. and The Killers.

O'Donoghue recently insisted that he doesn't want to win the prize because it will make them "complacent".

Source: Digital Spy

The Voice, Hall Of Fame, #3, Will.i.am And People pissing You Off.

"If someone really f**king pisses you off, how cool is it to be able to put that into a song and have that played around the world?" asks a happy Danny O'Donoghue, who has returned as a coach on season 2 of The VoiceUK 

Danny returns with all last year’s coaches and his new BFF international music star Will.i.am. It is somewhat surprising after we last saw them bickering over "talent" and tactics on Saturday nights last year. 

"We always have disagreements on the show but it's always about music, it's always about 'try harder', he's a great tactician as well. He says 'I've got tic tacs that stay fresh, oh yeah', which I think is hilarious. 

"On the TV show we are bickering back and forth, but not because I hate him, but because he didn't do something right with his artist. As soon as the cameras are off, he's slapping my hand and having the crack, so he's exactly the same as on the telly but even more passionate," O'Donoghue reveals. 

Danny was obviously thrilled to get the chance to work with and get to know Will - who as part of the Black Eyed Peas has sold an estimated 56 million records worldwide and produced some of music's biggest stars: "What no one got to see him do on the show, which he's best at, is producing and writing. He's a true genius." 

The most surprising part of doing ‘Hall Of Fame’ with Will was after they finished recording. "I thought he was going to produce it but he just gave it to me and Mark (Sheehan) and said 'you guys go and produce it.' I thought 'wow I get the chance to produce Will,' that's a lot of trust, bloody too much at this stage in my career." 

There is no denying that it is an upbeat motivational track that they've created are the The Script getting a bit political? 

“If you look at some of our older stuff you could say the same, ‘We Cry’, and the best example of that would be ‘The First Time.’ That was all about how Ireland was at that time. You could argue that it still is with the recession. It can be any town, any Country anywhere if you look at the world today. So I don’t think we have changed from our roots. We may be lucky doing something we love and God love all our fans for that. The message we wanted to get across was to tell people don’t try to be famous just for the sake of it” 

It's a subject that he clearly feels strongly about: "Work hard, be a politician, be a school teacher, be all these things and the pillars of community that are missing because everyone 'wants to be on the telly'. Be something, and then, who knows, you might become famous in the eyes of people around you." 

Hall Of Fame features on the current album #3 and fans of The Script's trademark break-up songs such as The Man Who Can't Be Moved and Break Even were far from disappointed .Having split from his girlfriend of four years last June, Danny once again poured his heart out on this album. Songs such as Glowing and If You Could See Me Now are classic The Script love songs. Danny says: "Music has always been a way to get away and it's therapeutic to talk about things that go on in your life." 

 

The Script could be accused of being unimaginative with the title for their third album - is there anything deep behind the name #3? 

"We use it as a way to guess people's ages, anyone above 20 is a number 3, anyone below is hashtag 3," he jokes. 

"We recorded the album in studio three, I grew up at Number 3, I live in Flat 3 and there's three of us in the group. We didn't want a big statement like How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. 

"Three obviously is a magic number, part of Irish history and the Holy Trinity, there are a lot of connotations. Adele's record 19 represented her age and ours represents our mental age, three," he laughs. 

O'Donoghue says he's already got what he wanted from the album: "I hope that we bleed on the page," and I've got a feeling The Script fans will get what they want too. 

But for now we are back working on ‘The Voice’ and all our usual fighting and bickering is back and better than ever. 

Source: Dublin Weekender / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

Something For EveryOne In This Years Album Charts

Here’s a full rundown of the albums that turned heads at Playlist Heights over the last 12 months. 

1) Playlist Album Of 2012 - Michael Kiwanuka: Home Again 

DELIVERING on the promise that made him the BBC’s Sound Of 2012 at the start of the year, soul man Michael is effortlessly classy. 

Sounding wise beyond his years, these late-night grooves were timelessly romantic and mark the start of a major new song writing talent. 

Best track: Rest 

2) Emeli Sande: Our Version Of Events 

THE year’s biggest-selling album and one of the best, Emeli’s version of soul was highly eventful. 

From the dubstep-tinged modern classic Heaven to the beautiful Wonder, it summed up why the Aberdonian stole the show at the Olympic Games’ opening and closing ceremonies. 

Best track: Next To Me. 

3) The Script: #3 

FRONTMAN Danny O’Donoghue becoming a judge on The Voice was a risk, but not as bold as his band’s mighty hard-rocking return. 

Danny admitted the songs were inspired by a break-up; rarely has heartbreak resulted in more confident and commanding tunes #class. 

Best track: Hall Of Fame featuring Will.I.Am 

4) Rita Ora: Ora 

RITA arrived seemingly from nowhere when RIP hit No 1, but she’d bided her time singing previously with Tinchy Stryder and Craig David before upgrading to Tinie Tempah and Will.I.Am. 

The eclectic mix - where her jazz and reggae skills were merged with celebratory pop - left Rita with a truly golden aura. The voice behind the best pop album of 2013. 

Best track: Roc The Life 

5) Plan B: iLL Manors 

FILM soundtracks are rarely worth bothering with, but Ben Drew’s return to rap was typical of his perfectionism. 

Even more brutal and brilliant than the film itself, it’s a bleak listen, but worth the effort as he addressed Britain’s problems with an uncompromising vision. 

Best track: iLL Manors 

6) Jessie Ware: Devotion 

HAVING started out singing for underground dubstep acts, the Londoner was inspired to go mainstream by Katy B’s success. 

It paid off, with Jessie’s glossy tunes the equal of her idol in taking pop and dance head first into the future and earning her a Mercury Prize nomination. 

Best track: Wildest Moments 

7) The Vaccines: Come Of Age 

LIVING up to their initial hype after a patchy debut, the title was accurate as the rockers beefed up their sound. 

They may get heavier as their hair gets longer, but they remembered to pack choruses with a wallop every time. 

Best track: Bad Mood 

8) Little Mix: DNA 

SURPRISINGLY living up to their claim that the album would be worthy of Destiny’s Child, the girls proved that winning The X Factor needn’t be the kiss of death. 

Although they took their time releasing it, the goodtime R&B pop meant they got the formula right in the end and they stand every chance of following Perrie’s boyfriend Zayn Malik into One Direction levels of world domination. 

Best track: Change Your Life. 

9) Lianne La Havas: Is Your Love Big Enough? 

THE London soul girl’s songs are certainly big enough, deserving her place on the Mercury Prize shortlist. 

Passion dripped from every note, the fiery ballads the perfect response to anyone who’s done Lianne wrong. Ouch. 

Best track: Tease Me. 

10) Calvin Harris: 18 Months 

HE released six singles before the album finally dropped, yet there were plenty more hits in waiting as Calvin revelled in being the man of the moment. 

Nobody has dominated the charts more in 2012, and these ridiculously fun floor fillers were a fantastic summary of why the Scot is in command. 

Best track: We’ll Be Coming Back featuring Example. 

Source: Daily Star / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

Split fits Script; DAN'S ALL HEART

THE Script frontman Danny O'Donoghue found heartache at just the right time when it came to penning latest single Six Degrees Of Separation. 

Danny, 32, told me: "I split up with my long-term girlfriend and that happened to fall in the period where we were writing an album. 

"I'm still single and I tend to fluctuate between being in a relationship, going out of one, being in a relationship, going out of one." 

The Dublin lad admits that baring his soul in his lyrics is a cheap form of therapy. He explained: "You can always expect The Script to be writing about what's going on in our lives." 

The band's profile skyrocketed earlier this year when Danny became a coach on The Voice but he says the show was by no means a guaranteed hit. 

Danny revealed: "Actually it could have gone really wrong. 

"The Script backed it and I still really believe in the show. 

"I know the ratings kind of dropped off towards the end when people had become familiar with the format but I was excited by it. 

"I'm still excited about going in to do the second series later this month. I feel that we needed it to work. 

"It was an amazing vehicle and I'm blessed the BBC gave me the chance to do it." 

The Script will be performing at the Capital FM Jingle Bell Ball tomorrow, alongside Bruno Mars, Cheryl, Lawson, Little Mix, One Direction, Rizzle Kicks and JLS.

Source: Daily Star

The Script Delves Deeper

The young man as tortured artist is a form as old as the history of pop songcraft. 

So it is hard to knock the Irish band The Script for riding that wave in a career from their self-titled 2008 debut through the 2010 hit Science &Faith and this bit of a wing stretch #3. 

As always, the front of the sound is the pliable and distinctive tenor of Danny O'Donoghue. 

 The bedrock is mid-tempo pop with occasional R&B spice driven by Mark Sheehan's guitar, O'Donoghue's keys, and the work of drummer-multi-instrumentalist Glen Power. 

Some of the wing stretches are stylistic - a move of O'Donoghue into rap and spoken word on several of the album's tracks. As on the predecessor Science &Faith, there is a collaboration. 

This time, O'Donoghue duets with rapper (and fellow coach on the television show The Voice UK) will.i.am in "Hall Of Fame," the album's hit debut single. 

However, this album also contains several more songs where O'Donoghue's spoken word is at the forefront on, at least, the stanzas. 

The more significant wing stretch is in subject line. 

Disposable pop about relationships in progress or disarray - the raison d'être for the Script until now - is stretched out here with some real-life reflections. 

O'Donoghue and Sheehan share songwriting duties. The death of Sheehan's parents during his childhood and O'Donoghue's dad in recent years is the spark of the lead single "Hall of Fame," while the dissolution of O'Donoghue's longtime relationship with model Irma Malu is the direct spark behind the pop anthem with hooks "Six Degrees Of Separation." 

The band of men now in their early 30s starts to look at the years that will come ahead with the rose-coloured view of youth in the album opener "Good Ol' Days." 

Elsewhere, they deepen themes of faith and questioning that have marked some of their previous work in tracks like "Give the Love Around," "Broken Arrow," and "Millionaires." They also traverse familiar terrain in themes of love treasured (Glowing) and sought ("No Words," "Kaleidoscope"). 

The Script: #3 - Epic/ Phonogenic/Sony 

Source: The Daily Gleaner

The Script Discuss The Making Of #3

The Script just recently concluded a stint of shows in the states in support of their latest album, #3. The release marks the band’s third record since 2008 and has already produced the U.K. number one single, “Hall of Fame,” featuring will.i.am. 

With already two successful albums to their name, The Script was feeling at ease and confident when heading to London to record the new LP. In only four short years, the group has toured relentlessly, scored big with hits such as “Breakeven” and “For the First Time,” and made multiple televised performances. Needless to say, the pressure surrounding the group prior to recording wasn’t as high in comparison with previous years. In addition, The Script benefited greatly from working tirelessly on the record while spending many hours (and sometimes days) in the studio at a time. 

“It was really easy actually,” said guitarist, Mark Sheehan, when talking with Alternative Addiction. “Instead of spending six months on the record, we only spent four this time around. We had all these ideas and we tried not to think about anybody else so we just locked ourselves away and thought to ourselves, ‘do we like this? Is this something we would listen to and buy?’ And we have this thing in the band where if we can’t play it live then we don’t want to put it on the record. So we made sure we played through all the songs and made certain we really liked them; so it felt like a much more organic process. Not to say that the last two records are not my favorites; I actually really love them, but I just feel this one was a little bit more accomplished.” 

During recording sessions, lead singer Danny O’Donoghue was actually preoccupied filming the U.K. version of the hit TV show, The Voice. The show, which has become a commercial success in the United States, is a more or less a spin-off of the American Idol series and is seen by some music fans as a bit superficial and overdone. For these reasons, the group was initially skeptical about having O’Donoghue participate as a judge. Ultimately though, the Dublin trio decided it was the right move to make and to some degree, it’s difficult to argue with them; for instance, just take a look at Maroon 5 frontman, Adam Levine. After signing on to be a judge for the show in 2011, the singer soon became a household name and Maroon 5 started to receive more exposure than ever before – The Script were clearly hoping for similar results.

“Our lead singer, Danny, was doing a show in the U.K. called The Voice where he was a judge. That was a nice decision for us because we never put our faces on our albums before and we have always stayed away from that stuff. But we just felt we’re getting to a point in the modern day music industry where we really needed to put a face to this band and had to push our group forward and be shameless about it. So Danny doing that show really helped us in a way but he was working throughout those shifts and coming in right from doing the TV show. I’d be producing the record all day so once he’d come in, he’d produce it with me. We just tried our best to carve out what we felt was a really strong Script album. But we didn’t see daylight for a long time, I think my skin changed color; I feel like I look like a Simpson character now.” 

Considering Mark and Danny’s friendship dates back to their childhood, the two clearly have a great understanding of each other both as musicians and people. Undoubtedly, this has benefited the group immensely in the studio when band is working on new material and especially when the two collaborate behind the sound board. And though Mark noted he and Danny are quite different individuals, the reality is they seem to have the perfect yin and yang relationship that enables the group to make great music. 

“We work well because we pick up each other’s slack. He’s quite a melodic guy while I’m very much focused on the rhythm and the feel of a song. So we do clash an awful lot when it comes to ideas. But despite the fact we’re so different as people, our songwriting style really falls on good ears because musically I totally understand him and he totally understands me…we do fight all the time but we’ve been friends since we were kids. Sometimes you can’t see eye to eye but music brings us together all the time.” 

Because The Script’s debut album was released in 2008, some listeners may not realize that the group has actually been together since 2001 and seen their fair share of hard times. Because of this, it’s been rather easy for the group to stay grounded during all of their recent success and if anything, their newfound notoriety is only motivating the group to work harder and make even better music. 

“We’ve been unsuccessful for way longer than we’ve been successful. So when you’re used to it raining on you all the time and then suddenly the sun starts to shine, you can’t help but to look up and wait for it to rain again. For me, as we go through this I’m constantly looking up to see if it’s going to rain on us again; you know will people start walking out of our shows or will the rug just get pulled out from underneath us as at any moment? But I also think it gives you a sense of urgency and an appreciation for where you are and what you want to do. And the fans know that and they know when it comes to shows, we hang around after every performance and try to spend as much time with them as we can. We always try to give back; we feel that karma is reciprocal and when you give what you can, then that love comes back your way.” 

Now established as one of the premiere musical acts in both Europe and the U.S., everyday life has changed dramatically for the guys of The Script. O’Donoghue and Sheehan have become celebrities in their home country of Ireland and as Sheehan expressed, while he’s flattered by the admiration, all the attention has also been a little strange – especially when you take into account only a short while ago O’Donoghue and Sheehan were sacrificing everything just to make it into the business.

“It was a crazy journey. Right now we can’t go home much anymore because everyone knows us wherever we go. That’s a little bit strange to deal with but it’s all part of what we really wanted in life…so while on one side of your life you really appreciate it, you also can’t help but think it’s f*cking weird. I feel like Forest Gump in those moments where you see him with the President or with Elvis; he just shows up at all these important events and occasions and he’s saying to himself, ‘what the f*ck am I doing here?” 

The Script plan to promote #3 throughout the rest of 2012 and will continue to do so in 2013. Also the song, “Good Ol’ Days” has been recognized as a fan favorite during the group’s most recent tours and could be selected as the album’s next single in the near future. 

Source: Alternative Addiction

J-14 Hot Band Alert: The Script

J-14 is scouting out the hottest bands around... and this week's pick is Irish alternative rock band The Script. 

Here are five things you need to know about The Script whose latest album 3 is out now! 

1. Formed back in 2001, Dublin's The Script consists of front man and keyboardist Danny O'Donoghue, guitarist Mark Sheehan, and drummer Glen Power. After two hit albums 'The Script' and 'Science & Faith', the trio released their appropriately titled third album 3, this fall. "Studio 3 was also where we recorded the album. We just remembered the 3 on the door and we were messing around with the 3's on the album," Danny explains to J-14. "The basic same shape of a 3 is also an E and it was funny because when we sat to delve more in to it, E and that shape is the most used shape in language." 

2. Though they've been making music for over a decade, The Script doesn't feel that their music has changed much throughout the years. "We try to write better songs that's all. We've tipped our hat a little more to r&b and hip-hop on this record. I think that's grown a little more but I think it's confidence more than anything else in our songwriting," Mark says. "It seems like on this album we've got that perfect melt of rock, pop, r&b, hip-hop," Danny tells J-14. 

3. The new album is full of positive songs including their new single "Hall of Fame" and a track they've opened their tour with called "Good Ol' Days" which they describe as "a rowdy, rhythm-driven song about living in the here and now, rather than basking in nostalgia." 

4. "Hall of Fame" was the perfect anthem for the Summer Olympics though it took on a heavier meaning for The Script. "We were just working on this song and this idea that wouldn't it be cool if you were sitting down to say to your son or your daughter, words of wisdom where you're bending down eye to eye with them. That's how it started but it ended up reminding Mark of when he had seen a bunch of people raising money for cancer research and they were in the middle of a marathon running like they were in the Olympics," Danny explains to J-14. "There's no songs out there like that anymore saying 'you can', saying 'you can be more than your parents', you know? It's basically saying be something other than famous. Do something. Get out in your community." 

5. The Script just finished their US tour and will be heading overseas in 2013 on an arena world tour. What's it like on the road with these three? "It's a rollercoaster ride. It's ups and downs and left and rights. You miss home, you miss family, but you love going on stage. We're honestly very grateful and blessed with what we do," Mark says. "The best part of it is going on stage and meeting the fans afterwards." 

Source: J-14

Third time’s a charm for the Script with their new album #3

 The Script have had so many hits on the radio that it seems like they’ve been around for decades, but the reality is that they’ve only been at it for about four years.

Their self-titled album spawned one hit after another -- "We Cry," "Breakeven" and "The Man Who Can't Be Moved.”

They sold millions of records, played stadium shows with music heroes U2, Take That and Paul McCartney, and penned the monster hit “Live Like We’re Dying” for American Idol winner Kris Allen.

They defied expectations by avoiding the dreaded sophomore slump with last year’s Science and Faith, a brilliant album that showed huge growth in song writing quality.

More radio hits ensued, including “For the First Time,” a melancholy tune about tough times that was the right song at the right time as the globe tried to shake off a recession. 

With their third album, #3, the band deepens their trademark soul-pop sound and are poised for another round of world domination.

#3 opens with “Good Ol’ Days,” the antithesis of the tough times that were documented in “For the First Time.” “We’ll remember these nights when we’re old and grey ‘cos in the future, these will be the good ol’ days,” sings a cocksure Danny O’Donoghue over a playful beat. 

Danny’s voice has a lonesomeness to it that enables him to sell a song of desire like “Six Degrees of Separation” to the teenage girls and their moms at the same time, a key ingredient to their success.

“Lost my heart and I hope to die/seeing that sunlight hit your eyes/have the kind of time you dream about/if God came down he could take me now,” he sings on “Millionaires,” his falsetto peppered with ache and desire.

His sharp phrasing comes in handy on tracks like “If You Could See Me Now,” where he takes on rapping -- always risky for a white boy from Dublin, yet he pulls it off both admirably and masterfully. 

Like U2, the Script formed organically when three old friends from Dublin – O'Donoghue, guitarist Mark Sheehan, his best mate since the age of 13, and drummer Glen Power formed a band. Time has made them more seamless than ever; you can hear it in the hairpin grooves throughout the disc. 

They are currently rocketing up the charts yet again with the spirited “Hall of Fame,” a hip-hop lite duet with will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas. O’Donoghue met will.i.am at the judge’s table on the U.K. version of the popular singing competition The Voice.

"He's a producer and a songwriter and that's what we are," says O'Donoghue in an interview with Billboard.

"And I think we connected on that level first, more so than anything else. It was never one-upmanship, and on the show he wasn't saying things just to diss me. It was all for the better of music, and the same vice versa."

With his moonlighting gig on The Voice and his high profile breakup with a fashion model, O’Donoghue is regular tabloid fodder in the U.K. He has grown accustomed to playing the big gigs and will continue to do so as the band embarks on an arena headlining tour to support #3.

This has been a long time coming for Danny. I remember interviewing him over the years as a member of the defunct Dublin boy band My Town and as a behind the scenes producer and songwriter selling songs and sounds to the music industry.

He has brought his band through clubs and theaters, winning fans one at a time, and he deserves every morsel of limelight and success that he has now. Fair play to the fella, this couldn’t be happening to a nicer guy! 

#3 rocks harder, keeping the band’s rock credentials intact with soaring guitars on songs like “Kaleidoscope” while maintaining a radio-friendly vibe.

The deluxe version of #3 on iTunes also includes a trio of songs from their back catalogue that was recorded in a triumphant homecoming at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.

“Falling to Pieces” and “For the First Time” become Super Bowl-sized sing-alongs in this open-aired environment, proving what longtime fans of the band have known all along -- the Script can hold their own as the biggest thing to come out of Dublin since U2. 

The band begins their headline tour on the West Coast this week before coming to the East Coast in November with a show at the Susquehanna Bank Arts Center in Camden, New Jersey on November 10

Source: Irish Central

Q&A: Danny O'Donoghue of The Script

The Script frontman Danny O'Donoghue will give anything on this day to get over his birthday hangover. Nevertheless, he's up for doing interviews to push "#3," his band's third album, which hit stores this week. 

The Script released its self-titled debut album nearly four years ago, cracking the U.K. and U.S. markets, then moving on to worldwide success. With just "The Script" and the sophomore release "Science and Faith," the band sold more than four million albums and nine million singles. Songs like "The Man Who Can't Be Moved," "Breakeven," "For the First Time," "Nothing" and "If You Ever Come Back" showed fans the band's magical storytelling technique. 

O'Donoghue, guitarist Mark Sheehan and drummer Glen Power are an inclusive operation. The trio generally writes, plays and produces every song by itself, but for "#3," it loosened the reins and allowed the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am to help produce the hit single "Hall of Fame." 

O'Donoghue recently spoke to SoundSpike about the number "3" and why it's important to him, the melancholy new song "If You Could See Me Now" and why he could stay on the road "forever." 

I love your new album "# 3." I don't know if you'd agree, but it seems to be a bit darker. 

Danny O'Donoghue: [Laughs] Yeah. It's definitely a little bit darker. I definitely think it's not as rose-tinted as the other two, I guess. We're very, very confident with the sound. We're very comfortable going places that a lot of other bands wouldn't go. In pop music, it's very, very easy to skim the surface of how everybody's feeling but I think we go that little bit extra. We go that extra mile. It's showing a little bit I guess, a darker side to The Script. I feel like when I'm playing the chorus, the feelings and the emotions are still there, but I guess we're just doing a different thing now. 

"If You Could See Me Now" is a great song. I lost my dad as well. It's a very emotional song. 

We didn't know if that song was going to make the album or if we should even put it on there or whatever because it was such a personal song. Like every piece of art, you shouldn't ever think about the consequences of what you're doing, when you're doing it at the time. That was one of those songs that we just said, "Look, we have to write this. We have to get it down, particularly the verses." People are like, "You rapping now?" No, it's a poem put to music that I can say I definitely wouldn't be able to sing those lyrics. It just seems like a better fit to talk to him the way I talk to my dad, you know? When we'd given birth to the song in the studio, it was one of those moments where you're looking at other songwriters in the room and you kind of all look for those moments when there's four of you in the room but there's something else there, too. It's almost like a tangible person, the song itself. That one, again, I pulled my experiences from losing my father and Mark pulled his experiences from losing his mother and father. But there's also another guy in the room, too, that has both of his parents and he was crying to the song over the fact that he may lose his parents one day and have to feel the way we do now. We were all in these various different stages of grieving and then one that hadn't at all. But we all felt the same way when the song was written. That was like, "Whoa, that was like magic just passed through the room there." It was hard to write, but it would have been even harder not to write it, in fairness. 

On a lighter note, how was it to work with fellow "The Voice UK" coach will.i.am on "Hall of Fame" 

Amazing. He's a true genius. In modern-day pop music, there isn't any bigger compliment than to have him come in a room and, not only does he want to work with you, but he wants to produce the song, which I thought was very brave on his behalf, considering everything he touches turns to gold. We were very lucky to secure his services. As a coach on UK The Voice, it seemed like a natural thing for me to do, to play him music and demos of the songs and tracks and stuff. He ended up loving "Hall of Fame." The song is a massive song. We wanted that as the first single. He's like, "No, I want it for my record." "No, you can't get it." We had a happy compromise, with both of us [being on the record]. Line by line, we swap out the lines. I guess it's a testament to the song. He didn't want to just come in and go, "Yeah, yeah." as so many collaborations are these days. He's actually line for line a proper, proper duet. 

What was the songwriting process like? You mentioned you worked with other songwriters? 

No, see, the heads of our labels are also producers. When we have "label day," when you have to submit your music to the label, the label was already involved with the recording of the album as well. It makes the whole process a lot easier. They really trust us as far as producing and songwriting goes. When we kind of feel like the album's coming to a close, we ask all our friends to come jump on board and make sure all the Ts are crossed and Is are dotted, as far as production goes. We have Andrew Frampton and Steve Kipner, who are the heads of the label, as well. They oversee the project. If there was ever a time when we were going to hang ourselves, they would save us and take the noose from our necks. [Laughs] 

What was the easiest song to write on "#3"? 

Um, the easiest song was probably "Good Ol' Days." It's a really fun song. It opens up the album. It opens up our set. It's an incredibly fun song. A song like that flows from the top of your esophagus. It was really, really easy. 

I understand that the title of the album means more than the third record. 

There's a lot went into it. I was born the third of October. We recorded it in studio three. This is our third album. There's this energy. I live in flat three. The symbol three if you turn it around, it's an E and E's the most commonly used letter in the English language. It's a crazy symbol. We changed all the Es to 3s on our album sleeve. We said, "Oh my god, they're everywhere." 

Are you looking forward to your U.S. tour? 

Of course, seven weeks back hitting the road again. I love being out on the road. I think I'm the only lead singer in the world who would stay on tour for the rest of his life if he could. I just love the life. I've spent a long time now kind of gearing up and being ready for it the first two years. I guess we were scared we we're like deer in headlights not knowing what to expect. But I know what to expect now and I'm excited about it. 

What can we expect from your live show? 

Expect what you always get. Even on days where we shouldn't be giving as good of performances as we are, we always do. We always play even a smaller show like a 200-seater like we're playing a stadium show. We're not going to hide behind our instruments. There's a lot more crowd interaction, in fairness. I'm a very tactile lead singer. I get down in the crowd a lot. There are a few moments in a few songs where we change a perspective and we start the songs in different areas in the crazy club. What I didn't really notice before, when I was watching back to one of our shows that we did recently, I couldn't believe how many singles we have in the set. We have three album's worth of material and you can really pick the best of the best and give a great show whereas on the first album, we only had the first album to choose from. Second, we have first and second, obviously now we have a big back catalog that people know and people are familiar with. 

Source: SoundSpike

The Script find a voice

The reviews of his band might be dire – but so long as the fans love them, Danny O'Donoghue says he doesn't care 

The Script's ebullient frontman Danny O'Donoghue is brandishing a professional camera. He took up photography two years ago, he says, casually flicking through his pictures – arty shots of the view outside his London home, self-portraits, nature. "I love shooting graveyards", he says enthusiastically. "There's so much atmosphere." 

The 32-year-old has become used to being the figure in front of the camera as well as the one behind. In the past four years he has gone from little-recognised frontman in pop-rock band The Script to celebrity after a stint as judge on the talent show The Voice, alongside Jessie J, Will.i.Am and Tom Jones. Overnight he watched his Twitter followers rocket to thousands. 

"I had to turn off my phone. It was a constant stream of messages, marriage proposals and nonsense", he gushes, Irish-accented words spilling from him. "But I'm being mobbed for the right reasons – right now there's a big outpouring of love for The Script. It could have gone the other way. You never know what way I could have come across on television". 

He's brought his band up with him. Now celebrating their No 2 album entitled #3, their first chart-topping single, and preparing for their biggest arena tour to date this March, they can still recall the disappointment of playing to just 26 people in a 250-capacity venue, most of whom were their own family. A few years later, less than two miles down the road, they were playing to 60,000 fans. 

"Four years. That's nothing, that's the length of a relationship. Crazy", says O'Donoghue, who this summer ended a four-year relationship with a model, and is now "free and single". 

Not that the band have ever struggled for commercial appeal with their speciality blend of crowd-pleasing rap and emotive arena-soft-rock anthems such as their hit "The Man Who Can't Be Moved". Loved by their multitude of fans, critics have been less charmed, but O'Donoghue is far more concerned about his fans' opinions. And wouldn't anyone be, when their band's record sales total more than four million, and both their 2008 debut album and 2010 follow-up were No 1s? 

He tells me a sentimental story of a man who, separated from his sister since they were children, gave her their song "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" when they were finally reunited after 30 years apart. "Who cares if you don't get great reviews in newspapers? That's the shit I live for. That's what I'll be telling my kids, not 'Here's a shit review in NME'." 

That the band managed until recently to remain fairly unrecognisable while achieving chart-topping albums was intentional. "It was very much our choice", says O'Donoghue. "We didn't have ourselves on the front cover [of our albums] because we didn't want people to get the wrong idea about this band. It's very easy for a record company to package a band as extremely pop, a band that could be really easily confused with a McFly. We didn't want to be perceived in any way other than the music and creativity." 

You can see how being anonymous would be preferable to the horror of being perceived as a manufactured boy band. After all, The Script formed organically, three old friends from Dublin – O'Donoghue, guitarist Mark Sheehan, his best mate since the age of 13, and drummer Glen Power. For O'Donoghue, who grew up surrounded by music – his father was a musician who played with Tom Jones and Roy Orbison, his mother a dancer – it was a way of life. 

"Growing up I used to sleep in a place called the music room and there was a mattress on the ground and a piano in the corner. Friday, Saturday, Sunday it was party house in our house. I remember my dad told me a story about he and my mum waking up and Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy was in the bath. They didn't know if he was dead. They'd been having a session playing." 

His two older brothers play in bands back in Ireland to this day. You might think that music was always going to be the chosen career path of O'Donoghue, the youngest of six children, but he didn't pick up the guitar until he was 14 or 15. "No, I ran the other way," he states. "My Mum always used to miss my brothers when they were away on tour so I'd say, 'I'm never going to leave you Mum'. I wanted to be an artist. I was drawing morning, noon and night." 

Family features much on The Script's third album. On Valentine's Day 2009, O'Donoghue's father died suddenly at 63 from an aneurysm. He now has a big rose tattoo on his arm, to remember him. A few months earlier, Power's mother had died from cancer. 

It took until this album for the pair to write about their grief, on the song "If You Could See Me Now". Both knocked back some whisky, then Sheehan took one end of the room while O'Donoghue took the other, and the pair wrote alternate verses. 

"It was an incredibly hard song to write… As soon as I started writing the lyrics, I started crying. We're men, we're 30 years old, and there's not a lot of people out there that would be open enough to say it in the same way as The Script. That song was more important for Mark than it was for me because I'm very open about my emotions, but he's not at all, so to hear him sum up in one verse what I've been waiting for him to say to me was an incredible moment. That really is the power of music." 

Now, of course, being able to blend in with the crowds is no longer an option for The Script. O'Donoghue remembers how when he took on the role in The Voice, his bandmates teased him that he would be harangued by fans – and chuckles at how they, too, are no longer anonymous. "It's gone up a whole other level for them." 

Aside from celebrity status, that's about all that's changed for O'Donoghue who is still wearing the quintessential rock star black skinny jeans and still living in the same London bedsit. "The boys have all moved, but I'm still in the shitty bedsit. This isn't going to be forever so why would you say, 'Oh, I've got a bit of money now, let's go live in The Hamptons'? A lot of my friends don't have money, and I would hate to lose touch with all of my friends and family." He surveys the plaques and platinum discs lining the walls of his publicist's office. Is this what his bedsit looks like? "I don't have any plaques on my wall; I'm not into it at all. When you're dead and buried, that's for other people to celebrate your life. I'm living it." 

Source: Independent

Crossing genres

Danny O'Donoghue is lying in bed. He figures if he has to talk to the Australian press at an un-rock'n'roll hour well before lunchtime, that's the most comfortable place to do it.

The singer for Irish rock trio the Script is, funnily enough, discussing the hard work ethic which has brought the band to their third album, called #3.

O'Donoghue says this one was all about fun mingled with liberal lashings of hard work. Plus given all the songs the 31-year-old says he's actually written this should be about album number 13.

After making waves with their 2008 self-titled album and 2010's Science & Faith, the Script outing is a mix of music for the head, heart and feet. Across a compact 10 tracks the award-winning trio has crafted meaningful songs brimming with thoughtful messages set to melodies and beats which straddle a number of genres, from pop to hip-hop.

"The Script has been heartbroken for a long time and you can hear that from the records," O'Donoghue says. "This one allowed us to experiment with different styles and genres and push the envelope.

"This has more of our hip-hop roots in it, which is sometimes difficult to see being an Irish band who love hip-hop, rap and R&B. We also decided to go a little more rocky, which goes back to one of our original intentions."

O'Donoghue insists he is far happier than he was four years ago, despite the fact that the album features the break-up song Six Degrees of Separation and If You Could See Me Now, which deals with the deaths of O'Donoghue's father and guitarist Mark Sheehan's parents. The latter contains the haunting line: "Music was the home for your pain."

"It's about the fact that our parents would be happy with what we are doing, even if they were going to tell us we probably drink too much," the singer says. "It's the first time we've been able to say it and we've needed to do it for a long time."

During the recording of #3, O'Donoghue appeared as a coach on The Voice UK. He says it was very much a group decision for him to go on the music talent show which more than anything stemmed from wanting to make a difference, rather than being a grab for increased publicity.

That said, the natural increase in profile appearing on the show alongside Tom Jones, will.i.am and Jessie J, helped more people put a face to the Script frontman.

"People know our songs but they didn't really know me so that was a great way to show that people in bands, not just solo singers, can be part of a show like this," O'Donoghue says.

"If it wasn't me, I would have suggested they put on someone like Kelly Jones from Stereophonics to represent this part of the music industry. As a band we felt it was important to be up there."#3 is out now. The Script play Perth Arena on April 3. Tickets from Ticketek.

Source: au.news