Phoenix concerts: One Republic & The Script will play Phoenix June 1 at Ak-Chin

Hugely successful bands One Republic & The Script are joining forces this coming summer when they bring the 2014 Native Summer Tour to Phoenix, June 1 to Ak-Chin Pavilion.

Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster, livenation and the venue box office.

Tickets are priced at $26 - $75.50

In a recent press release from Live Nation, the promoter shared that OneRepublic released their debutDreaming Out Loud in 2007 that featured the incredibly popular and much-played single “Apologize.” The band’s sophomore album, 2009’s Waking Up, produced three singles: “All the Right Moves,” “Secrets” and “Good Life.”

OneRepublic released their third studio album, Native, in March, including “If I Lose Myself,” “Feel Again” and new single “Counting Stars,” which is currently No. 3 on Top 40 radio. They will no doubt play these and other favorite bands tunes when they bring their show to the Valley in June.

The Script, one of my favorite bands of late, released their eponymous debut album in 2008, and achieved worldwide success. The single “Breakeven,” went to #1 on the US charts after a record-setting 36 week ascent went on to double-platinum sales. What a brilliant song this is—nearly perfect in every way.

It was followed by Science and Faith in 2010, which debuted at #1 in the UK and Ireland. Their third album, titled #3 spawned the smash hit "Hall of Fame." The band has sold over eight million singles in the US and has played stadium shows with Paul McCartney and their mentors, U2.

This band is a tremendously talented group of guys and puts one an amazing live show. I am frankly continually amazed that they are second bill to various bands on tours like this one.

Source: Phoenix Examiner / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

The Script: success tinged with guilt

Back in 'The Good Ole Days' of 2010, it was good for The Script but was bittersweet as the Irish economy plunged into crisis. (24th Novemeber 2010)

The Script found global fame after a very long struggle – just as Ireland’s crisis began,

Good news is in short supply for Ireland. But as the nation goes down the tubes, its people could perhaps draw some small cheer from the international success of the country’s favourite band. And no, I’m not talking about U2.

The local popularity of Dublin trio the Script saw them beat off the claims of U2’s blockbuster 360 tour to win the Best Live category at Ireland’s Meteor awards this year. They drew a bigger crowd to last year’s Oxegen festival than co-headliners Oasis. Their current album, Science And Faith, spent five weeks at number one in the Irish charts. “The nation is behind us,” says excitable, charismatic singer, Danny O’Donoghue. “I’ve seen things at Script gigs I never thought I’d see, grown men climbing on each other’s shoulders, singing along, tears in their eyes …”

But it’s not just Ireland. Science And Faith entered the UK charts at number one and has notched up over quarter of a million sales. Their 2008 self-titled debut, meanwhile, scored over two million sales worldwide and shifted 2.5 million singles. So the Script are doing rather well. But it wasn’t always thus and they feel for the plight of their countrymen.

“I’m looking at people fighting and nearly rioting on TV and it breaks my heart,” says Mark Sheehan, the Script’s intense, talkative guitarist. “As a bum musician with no job, I’ve had to deal with my own personal recession. I’ve been broke for 15 years, living and leeching off my sisters, sleeping on couches, living in studios, all this shit. All I ever had was music. That’s been my lifeline.”

The Script’s songwriting duo hail from the tough, working-class James Street area of Dublin, where they met as teenagers. “I grew up stealing cars, the usual trouble, but music gave me a way out,” says Sheehan. They were not drawn to typical Irish rock and folk influences, but instead shared an obsession with American hip hop and r’n’b. “At that time, MTV only came on in Dublin after midnight, it was the fuzzy channel, and black culture looked the most fun. It wasn’t about gangs and guns, it was singing and dancing.

Source: The Telegraph / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

The Script are happy to break even;

THE SCRIPT's fame may lend to comparisons between them and U2 but their bank balances are incomparable.

Drummer Glen Power says the Breakeven trio are anything but wealthy and insisted reports of their riches greatly exaggerated - even though they're halfway through their fourth studio album. 'We made a little bit of money but not millions,' he told me. 'Everybody thinks we're millionaires. I read somewhere that Danny [lead singer] was worth (EURO)20million.

'If he is worth that, he can give me (EURO)2million. Because I don't have a million. When I come home from touring and I meet my old friends they are all telling me I am rolling in it. I can openly tell you I am not worth a million.

'I would like to have that cash and I am confident that if I keep going I will get there but the bonus is that I never did it for the money.

'If it ended tomorrow I'd still be playing music, be that with another band or on Grafton Street busking. I never did it for the money or the fame. If anything I tried to sidestep that end of the business.

Source: The Dublin Weekender / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

The Script star Glen: if I hadn't stopped drinking, I would be dead

  

GLEN Power wasn't usually nervous before gigs. Admittedly, this was a big one: The Script were about to go before 16,000 screaming fans at Birminghman's LG Arena. But that wasn't the reason he was shaking and sweating.

The drink had done that. It was March 17, 2011, and Glen - the hit band's drummer - had started the St Patrick's Day Party early. The night before, in fact. His booze marathon had careered on through the night until 6am. Now, as he took to the stage alongside bandmates Danny O'Donoghue and Mark Sheehan, he was in no phyisical state to perform at all.

Hungover, sleep-deprived, shaking and sweating, Glen didn't know if he'd make it through the first song - never mind an entire concert.

'I had been up in my hotel room drinking red wine on my own until six in the morning,' Glen, 31, remembers. 'I was hungover to bits. I couldn't eat anything all day. We went down to the venue and I felt so unwell that Danny called me aside. I was so sick looking; I was as yellow as one of the Simpsons.

'Suddenly, I got really nervous and I started feeling something I had never felt before: real pressure. I hadn't eaten or slept and I was going out there to play in front of 16,000 people. I'll always remember the lights going down in Birmingham. I walked up the steps to the drum kit and I could barely sit down. When I got to the third song, I literally started seeing stars and felt I was about to pass out - my body was shutting down. I was seconds away from fainting and I was breathing deeply and barely hitting the drums.'

 

Glen shudders as he thinks of the scene he came so close to causing on stage that night. 'My drum technician was asking me what was going on. I called him over at the end of the song and said: "I am going to pass out."

He came back with a bucket of ice and some towels, and at the end of each song I would put my head into the bucket and hold the towel around my neck. I thought I would collapse and people would take pictures, and the front pages of the newspapers would have pictures of me passing out on stage. My family would think I was on drugs and I would be ruined. I managed to struggle to the end by praying to everyone I knew that had passed on.'

When Glen came off stage, he collapsed on a couch and swore to the band, his managers and, more importantly, himself that it would never happen again. His drinking had escalated in the previous months while The Script were on tour in America, when Glen had started staying up all night, engaging in drinking competitions with barmen.

Too many mornings he woke up with no memory of the night before - an $80 taxi receipt and half-eaten fast food his only clues to what had transpired. 'I used to suffer terribly from the booze blues,' he says. 'That led to crippling anxiety and I would take a Xanax for that. Then I would throw in some beta blockers to slow the heart down because of the anxiety that came after the blues. Then throw in a little dash of depression just for good measure and mix it all up and you have a car crash just waiting to happen.'

After that near disaster Birmingham, however, he swore that was the end of his heavy drinking. His promise of sobriety lasted all of 72 hours.

'Three nights later I was in Bournemouth and I was visiting my cousin. We went back to the hotel and I was in the bar until 6am again. We were drinking top-shelf bourbon, brandy - the whole shebang - and I was in the same condition again the following night for the gig. I was sitting there on stage wondering: "How the hell did this happen again? I swore this wouldn't happen." I managed to struggle through that gig and a few others. By the time we got to London and the O2 there, my appetite had gone and I wasn't sleeping.

I knew I was coming near the end.' To get himself through the sell-out London gig, Glen fortified himself with a double vodka before taking to the stage to face the 20,000-strong audience. It was TheScript's biggest career high to date - and yet Glen says he felt empty inside.

'I was on stage at the O2 in London and I was looking out at 20,000 clapping fans and thinking: "Why am I so miserable?" I was trying to understand why I felt so bad and so low when this was everything I had worked so hard to achieve. I was at the top of the mountain and I hated the view. Something was seriously wrong. If I had kept going I would have been dead within the year. My close friends and crew, who love a jar, said to me that I was on a different planet altogether. Thank God I didn't do drugs. If I had done drugs it would have killed me faster.'

It was the night after the O2 gig that Glen had his epiphany. 'I was standing at the bar of the K West hotel in London about to order another drink and go on another session and the weirdest thing happened. I literally had a moment. Something clicked and a voice in my head went: "It's over dude, you can't do this any more."

'Do you know the movie 127 Hours?' he says of the James Franco film where a trapped rock climber is forced to hack off his own arm in order to survive. 'There's a moment when he is down in the crevasse and he knows that if he is going to live he has to cut off his arm. It is going to hurt but in order to survive he has to cut off his arm. I had a moment like that with alcohol.'

Today, the Dubliner has been sober for more than two years and says he has reclaimed his life and is a new man. However, he says that making the landmark decision to quit drinking was the easy part; what followed afterwards were the toughest six months of his life.

As The Script continued to tour, he started going through severe withdrawal symptoms which made him physically ill and left him incapacitated by migraine headaches. 'I got sicker for about six months; I got violently ill. I didn't realise I was so far into the woods until I was frighteningly ill. I think I went mad for those six months. I would come off stage and get into the tour bus, close the curtains in my bunk and put the iPod on and just isolate myself.

'I still get the migraines. When we arrived in Australia earlier this year I had such a bad headache that I had to get a bucket of ice delivered to the room, take painkillers and close the curtains for 40 minutes, with the ice tied around my head in a towel.

'Sometimes the migraines are a three day affair. I'm training in the gym, I'm changing my diet and eliminating MSG. I have done another MRI scan. It's not my brain but the doctors think that it is as a result of quitting drink. It is the body healing itself.'

' Looking at Glen, it's easy to believe his declaration that sobriety has also saved his life. He shows me a picture taken of him in 2010 next to one of him today and he looks leaner, healthier and more alert.

He is single but spends most of his free time in Ireland with his teenage son. Family, he says, are so important and all of them including his son are supportive of his new lifestyle choice.

'It's a funny thing to call it alcoholism or ask whether I am an alcoholic,' he muses. 'I'm allergic to alcohol and if I drink, it makes me sick. I don't use the word alcoholic. Some people say that an alcoholic is someone sitting on the street drinking out of a brown paper bag. That's not right, either. If you have an allergy to something and you take it and you get sick, you won't take it again. That's how I feel about alcohol.

It is really that simple to me. The lads in the band asked me if I wanted them to stop drinking around them, but I said no. I am not trying to be a poster boy for not drinking, I really don't want to be that. I just want to help people and be useful. I had to learn a new way of living.

'I have done it, I feel so good about my life and I feel blessed. I have a 14-year-old son and he asks me why I am not drinking. I am upfront with him about it and I tell him that I am allergic to it and I don't drink any more. And he is great. My brother and my dad have a few jars and it is all great. I have nothing against it.'

We're interrupted by a fan who lost her husband last year to cancer: he was a big Script fan. Glen chats to her for ten minutes and recommends a book which may offer some comfort. He promises to post her a copy.

He leaves the café to meet with the band. They have eight tracks recorded and mixed and they are preparing to finish the new album. Glen is thankful that, after he came so close to ending his career - and maybe his life - that night in Birmingham, he is still around to be part of it.

Source: The Dublin Weekender / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

Danny O'Donoghue & Glen Power speak to Sunrise August 2012

Once again we go back to "The Good Ole Days" of  August 2012

 Okay, not back too far but far enough...

Source: DannyODonoghue.Net / Sunrise

"I'm a weirdo" - Indiana talks about her music, The Script, The Queen & Danny O'Donoghue

In just 18 months, Indiana has gone from playing her first gig as an unknown in the Old Market Square, to signing a major label deal and performing for the Queen. This week she released her first single for Sony which has been playlisted by Radio 1. Simon Wilson caught her at home just before she headed off to Los Angeles to start work on her debut album...

IT'S one thing singing for the Queen when she's sat just eight feet away from you in a small radio studio but to have deliver the line "and I will be Queen"...

"I was told not to look at her when I sang that line," laughs the 26-year-old at her home in Long Eaton. "But I was so focussed on not looking at her, my eyes were darting around the room and they hit her a couple of times."

She was performing a cover David Bowie's Heroes with Irish band The Script, a random gig that was arranged at the last minute to show Her Majesty the new Live Lounge at the Radio 1 studios at the official opening of the BBC's new Broadcasting House in London.

After the performance, screened live on BBC News 24, Indiana was introduced to her.

"She's well sweet and little," says the mother-of-one in her home studio, where she's been working on tracks for her much-anticipated debut album.

"She reminded me of my grandma Mary. I was still proper scared though. I was so glad I didn't mess it up."

They had a quick chat about Glastonbury – where Indiana, real name Lauren Henson, was due to appear on the BBC Introducing Stage, part of which was seen on BBC Three's coverage.

Indiana was championed by The Script when Danny declared her as a new and upcoming singer. Anyone who listened to her beautiful and haunting voice will find it reminiscent of Bo Bruce, Danny's protege on series one of The Voice.

"Sometimes it feels like ages ago," she reflects. "So much has happened. I want to say I never dreampt I'd get this far... or some other corny line, but the truth is, as soon as I realised this was what I wanted to do, I dreampt big."

But she admits: "I've still got a long way to go."

This week her debut single for Sony, Mess Around, was released and was placed on the playlist at Radio 1, a station that has supported her for months.

Her music has been compared to everything from Portishead to Sinead O'Connor and The Cranberries. It's electronic-based and lyrically dark – surprising for an apparently happy, warm personality.

"People often say I'm not what they expected after listening to my music but I am drawn to darker things. I wanted to be a forensic scientist growing up.

"A lot of the time it's just the way it comes out when I'm writing. Last week I set out to write an Arabian love story but I ended up with a song about a zombie army. It's called Sleeping Nation.

"I'm a weirdo," she laughs.

As well meeting the Queen, Indiana has said that since playing with The Script things have just taken off. Danny offered me so much advice. He's a nice and genuine guy, he really cares and you can hear it when you talk to him he talks to you as a real person, a person in your own right. Not a big star giving a newbie a tiny tidbit that MIGHT help them. 

Source: The Dublin Weekender / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

Glen Power Makes Public Appeal to Change the Script for Brain Injury

Speaking at Headway’s annual Art Exhibition at Dublin City Civic Offices, Wood Quay in Dublin’s City Centre, Glen Power, drummer with internationally acclaimed rock band The Script appealed to the public to fundraise for vital services to help support the 30,000 people living in Ireland with Brain Injury.

Speaking openly of his own head injury and his journey to recovery, Glen said, “I was just out having a good time with friends, the next thing I was in a hospital needing to learn basic skills again. I guess we all think ‘it will never happen to me’, but it can – and does – happen to thousands of people each day”.

“ A brain injury challenges nearly every aspect of you” he continued – “walking, talking, thinking and feeling – for some people the losses can be multiple, severe and permanent. It might mean losing both the life you once lived and the person you once were. I know I didn't feel the same when I left the hospital and almost had to relearn how to play in a way. I had no idea how devastating a brain injury could be.”

“I’m lucky to be where I am today,” he continued. “I was really worried I would be different and never the same again but over time, it all returned," Glen continued.“My music played such an important role in my recovery so I understand how important it is for people to have Headway’s art programme to regain some or any of the deficits they may have incurred as a result of whatever happened to them. “

Glen appeals to the public to support Headway, “I’m proud to be associated with Headway for the last three years. At Headway, the staff use insight, care, humour and infinite patience to help survivors to regain some quality of life. I want to appeal to people today to please support Headway so can continue to provide services for people living with brain injury, to give them a future worth living for.”

Brain Injury Info & Support Line: 1890 200 278

Source: HW / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

Script star Glen realises their next album must be great so they can get another record deal

Glen Power: 'If we don't produce a good record then we'll be finished... they'll drop us like a hot cake'

They are one of the biggest bands ever to come out of Ireland – but The Script know that everything is riding on their next record.

At the minute Danny O’Donoghue, Mark Sheehan and Glen Power are working towards album number four in a Dublin studio.

And as the new collection of tunes is the last in their current contract with Sony, Glen knows how important it is that the band come up with the goods.

He said: “We are between Dublin and London and it’s going well – we have the beautiful thing that we have never had before, which is time.

“In the past it was always a rush job but this time around it has been nice to take a bit more time with this one because of the way the touring cycle fell.

“Realistically speaking it might be the middle of next year when it comes out – that’s what we are hoping for.”

For a band who worked hard to be so successful, the lads have seen other acts come and go and they know that they have to make sure they’re as good as they can be.

 

Glen said: “It is exciting and scary – if what we do is no good then we’re gone. We have to be realistic – if we’re not doing the numbers, we’ll be dropped like a hot cake.

“But it is exciting for us as it will open up a new chapter in our careers. I have no doubt we will come back strong with the music but it is a really interesting time as we have no idea what’s around the corner. Until we have an album and music in our hand to barter with it really is anyone’s guess.”

Glen took time away from recording to launch the annual art exhibition for brain injury charity Headway.

The charity is close to his own heart as the drummer, 33, almost died when an afternoon in the pub ended in disaster.

He said: “I was out with my mum and dad in my local pub and I slipped in the toilets and hit my head.

“I thought I was fine but my dad Gary made me go to the hospital.

“And that was what saved me – I thought I was fine and I didn’t want to go.

“But if he hadn’t made me go then I would be dead.

“I had a fractured skull and there was a blood clot on my head – time is of the essence when you have an injury like that.

“Because my dad brought me to the hospital I was waiting in the emergency room to be checked and it was only then that I began having fierce pain in my head.

“I started screaming sitting there – my nose started bleeding, I started swallowing blood, my right ear was blocked up as the blood clot was so bad it was pushing into my ear.”

Doctors operated straight away to save Glen’s life and he was left with 30 staples all down the side of his head.

Glen said: “I fractured my temporal lobe and I had an epidermal haematoma.

“I felt lucky just to have survived what happened to me and I feel if I can raise awareness in any way at all then I will do my best to help.”

Glen’s accident happened six years ago just as The Script’s career was taking off but it all came back to him when Liam Neeson’s wife Natasha Richardson died after suffering the same injury.

Glen said: “She was in a skiing accident and it was the same injury that she had – exactly the same – but she sent the ambulance at the hotel away as she said she felt okay. When I heard that it really affected me because it was an epidural haematoma I had too – and if she had gone to hospital maybe she would be alive.”

Glen spent nine days in hospital and it was playing his guitar while he was too weak to get out of bed that helped him recover.

He said: “The power of music and art and what that does for your brain really helped me.

“Headway’s arts programme which is what they are raising money for now gets people who have suffered an injury to use both sides of their brain and that helps them improve brain function.

“For me I needed to get back playing music and when I did that everything else started to return.”

Even so it took two or three months for Glen to get back to normal – something he feared would never happen.

He said: “I couldn’t walk straight, my balance was gone and I couldn’t hear properly. It took two or three months for me to recover properly. The lads used to have to stand behind and catch me getting onto the tour bus as my balance was gone and I was desperately depressed for about a month as I thought I would never be the same again. But I have been very lucky.

“The only thing I get sometimes is when I lie down, I get a little bit of dizziness or vertigo.”

Glen has been teetotal for over two years but it wasn’t the accident that made him quit – just the fact that he wanted to feel better.

He said: “I think everything has a shelf life and I think I just used up my beer vouchers.

“We did a show in the O2 in London in front of 20,000 people and that should have been one of the highs of my career and I was just feeling unwell.

“I remember standing on the edge of the stage looking out at all the happy people in the audience and I was miserable.

“I felt I was after spending the whole of my life trying to get to the top of the mountain and there was something wrong with the view.

“After the gig we went back to the hotel and I had a drink but when I went to get another one something in me just went click and it was over. And since that day drinking was over and the magic began.

“I wanted to see what it would be like to do things differently and it has changed my life – it has made me a more content person, I am healthier in every way. It has affected every area of my life in a positive way and now I know that I wish I had done it earlier.

“I am two and a half years off the gargle now – the first year was tough as you are learning a whole new life thinking how am I going to do this and that. But come year two you realise you can do more than you ever did before, you have all this time, you’re not sick, you’re getting up early.”

Glen is looking forward to spending Christmas in Dublin with his family – as for a love life he will only admit there’s something in the background.

He said: “It’s a little bit complicated but I am very happy in myself.”

He’s going to enjoy some down time for a couple of weeks before getting stuck into the work again and now that Danny has left The Voice, Glen says there’s no stopping The Script in 2014.

He added: “Danny wants to concentrate on the album and the band and be 100 per cent with us.

“It is an important time and we need to come back strong and be on our game – sharp, fresh, ready and hungry.

“If you lose your appetite and rest on your laurels it will be taken away from you.

“We always thought we weren’t worthy of what we had, even though we were working hard for it.

“It’s only in the last two years that we have felt we deserved what we have but we are still very nervous.

“As artists even when you raise the bar high enough with a song that it touches people, you’ve set yourself a target for the next time. When it comes to album time there are always nerves as we remember what it was like to struggle at the start. And I don’t want to go back to that.”

Source: Mirror / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

Arthur’s Day 2010 Interview: The Script

23rd September 2010 in Dublin

So you’re playing Arthur’s day 2010 at Vicar St tonight, what does that mean to you?

It’s our first time. We’re excited and nervous. It means a lot to us to be invited we’ve been a fan of it [Guinness] for a number of years. It really means a lot to us, we’ve been wondering when they were going to ask us and I think finally we built up enough points to get asked to do it. We’re delighted. I was wondering when they were gonna ask, throughout our career all we’ve ever done is talk about Guinness. Around the world, in Australia or the US people ask us about our Irishness and when we see a pint of Guinness with the words “St. James’s St” we are reminded that’s how it all started, we recorded our debut album on St. James’s St.

What did you do for Arthur’s day last year?

We were actually in Australia. We just got to have a pint and then back to work. We did the usual and found an Irish bar, sure what does any paddy do when he’s away? Find an Irish bar!

Was ‘Science & Faith’ the clichéd difficult second album? or was it a pleasure to make?

Our first album was the difficult album. It was tough to come up with a new sound, a sound that you feel comfortable wearing. The second album was just a continuation of that sound , we recorded the first album then went our on tour but were still chomping at the bit to get back into the studio again. I guess we didn’t really re-invent the wheel with the second album we didn’t want to come back as some Indie-Electrco band or re-invent the wheel because it took us so long to invent the wheel in the first placer. But no it wasn’t difficult at all.

I saw in 2008 you dueted with Kelly Rowland for the Stevie Wonder number ‘Part-time Lover’? Any more plans for some more collaborations?

That was a lot of fun but came along on a whim. There was just a knock on the door asking us if we’d like to do a song with her. We only got to rehearse it once but had a lot of fun. We never have plans like that it’s purely spur of the moment. It’s great because all that nervous energy ends up going into the performance and it’ll either hit or miss. But that day we hit.

Anyone else you’d like to work with?

Bob Marley, but we’d have to resurrect him. Elvis, but he’s left the building too. David Bowie he’s still alive, that’d be interesting. It’s a weird one for us because we all write and produce separately when we come back and record it’s like we’re all collaborating with each other at all times. I think that thirst is always quenched with us we never really think about other people at all.

Which is your favourite side of the Atlantic to play?

[Hahaha] a gig’s a gig. You’re asking us on home soil? [haha] you gonna put me on the spot like that? A gig’s a gig, but there’s something about an irish crowd, and only certain parts of the world have this and Ireland’s certainly one of them. Where we buy a ticket and we actually buy the ticket to go and enjoy ourselves. We dont go to judge the band, we dont fold our arms and watch the band. But in this country it generally doesn’t happen. People let their hair down. We see that reflected in our shows in the US, Irish people in the US come out to see us because we’re Irish. It’s a great time to be Irish and be in an irish band it opens so many doors for us in terms of being a non-threatening country to just come and entertain people. and then of course there’s the accent which people seem to love.

You had a record deal as MyTown what made you keep at it?

It was only two of us that were in MyTown at the time myself (Mark) and Danny. Glen was doing other things. What keeps you going is that you have no idea about this industry when you’re a kid and there are so many ways to get into this industry. We were in many different things at the time but that was one thing that got a light shone on it. When it failed because it failed for us you have that blind faith that you will do something else. So, we went into producing and writing and learning our craft a bit more because we lost control over that thing when we were kids, but with the 10 years experience that we've built up we can come back and make music that people love. Because we persevered and went out to get a record deal is how things worked. Hitting your head off a wall and walking away because you’re bleeding is the worst thing to do, you figure another way around. Go over the wall, go under the wall, tunnel but there’s always another way.

What makes you appeal to such a wide audience, my little sister (15) all the way up to my mum (44) love you. How do you appeal to such a large demographic?

It’s just the music, we take ourselves out of it. we don't put ourselves on the covers, we just come out as a live band and play songs that we can connect to, and music that we like. Because we like going to bars and listening to chart music or sitting at home and listening to albums by our favourite artists it’s all very much within this genre. From the Police, U2, Coldplay to Kanye West. That’s the stuff we like. We do it in a very honest way and people relate to that, I don't think it’s us that people like it’s more the music.

For a band used to playing Shea stadium, Croker etc What’s it going to be like playing a small bar tonight?

It’s going to be brilliant to be honest we've been playing the small bars at longer than the big stadiums. We’re going back to what we know best. Our manager said not to get used to it now, because we prefer those shows. It’s more of a challenge because people are so up close. There’s no barriers its stripped down. It’s a real test. The first gig is acoustic tonight. At the height of the first album in the us we were still playing small bars in America. We left Croker and played to a gig playing in front of 10 people in the States. So we’re well used to it.

If you were not playing tonight who would you be seeing at Arthur’s Day 2010?

Paolo Nuitini for sure, love what he’s doing with music these days. Oh and the Manic Street Preachers, we’re loving the new album.

Script play Vicar St tonight and a surprise gig elsewhere in the city – Arthur’s day 2010

Source: Culch.ie / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net 

Rock trio from Ireland enjoying the much-earned fruits of their musical labour

DUE TO THE SCRIPT BEING IN THE STUDIO WORKING ON THE 4TH ALBUM THERE IS OBVIOUSLY NOT MUCH NEWS. SO HERE ON DANNYODONOGHUE.NET WE WILL BRING YOU OLDER INTERESTING NEWS, VIDEOS, VARIOUS LITTLE FUNNY THINGS AND INFORMATION.

**THESE WILL BE CLEARLY MARKED**

Interview with Suite 101 from 'The Good Ole Days of' May 27, 2011

It’s no secret that Ireland is responsible for some of the world’s greatest rock acts: U2, Van Morrison, Snow Patrol…the list goes on.

Right up there in musical talent and ever-growing popularity is Dublin trio The Script. Made up of Danny O’Donoghue, Mark Sheehan and Glen Power, the lads were friends first, a songwriting and production team shortly after, and eventually (and inevitably) a full-on band.

The Birth of The Script

Drummer Power recalls their interesting and somewhat unconventional formation as a band.

“I first met Mark when I was a singer-songwriter,” he says. “We started to play together and wrote three songs in a week. Mark then invited me to join them on a trip to Los Angeles (where he and Danny often worked in production for other artists), and people thought we were a band. Mark was asked ‘How long have you guys been a band?” and he answered ‘About six months’, totally bluffing. He then called me and said ‘Hey, they think we’re a band and want to sign us! What do you think, do you want to do this thing?’ And that’s the truth of how we became The Script!”

Sound like something of a Cinderella story? Perhaps a little. But the boys have worked hard to get where they are.

“What you don’t hear about is all the crappy clubs I’ve had to play!” laughs Power. “And weddings! I have played literally thousands of weddings…I’ve lost count! And café gigs, where it was just me and my guitar.

The Music

After being signed by Sony Music, The Script’s first impact as a band came in April 2008 with the release of their debut single We Cry; a track that hit #13 on the UK charts within a month.

Since then, there have been two full-length albums, a self-titled in 2008 and this past January’s Science and Faith. Both are rich with heartfelt tracks that display a ringing sense of poetry right down to the albums’ liner notes.

Touring

And then there have been the live shows. Since 2008 The Script have toured extensively across Europe and the United States, playing such events as Oxegen, Ireland’s biggest music festival, and venues like New York’s Citi Field, opening for Paul McCartney.

Of the many highs, Power definitely has his favourites. “When we supported U2 in front of 80,000 people…that was pretty awesome,” he remembers of the July 2009 show at Croke Park, Dublin. “I just wish I could have enjoyed the actual experience more…I had built it up into this huge monster! But I can still feel that energy, even now as I’m talking about it.”

For three guys with families, the many tours are a big commitment. “Our families are so supportive,” says Power. “But it’s definitely the hardest part of what we do. There is a price to pay for this lifestyle, and a big part of that is being away so much. I was talking to a fan the other day, who said ‘Thank you for all the happiness you are bringing into the world’. It was such an amazing compliment; but it is a double edged sword. The trick is to pace yourself; I honestly believe that if this is what you truly want, it can happen and you’ll take to it like a duck to water. It was hard at first, but we’re in great shape now. The band is stronger than ever.”

What About Canada?

Noticeably absent from the live shows are gigs scheduled in Canada. The threesome played Windsor, Ontario back in 2009 and have their first Toronto show on Tuesday, May 31. “I know, I know,” laughs Power. “We do want to come back to Canada. Our plan is to get there and rock it and see how things go…see if the demand is there.”

At present, the demand definitely seems to be there. The Toronto show has been sold out for weeks, with just as many people on Kijiji looking to buy tickets as sell them.

True Irish Talent

And with good reason. Their vocals are solid, melodies beautiful and lyrics wrought with passion. After all, music is in their blood. “Coming from Ireland, we were swept up in the songs and stories around us and were definitely influenced by them,” says Power. “At every event as we were growing up, like a funeral, someone was a singer and someone was a musician. There’s that tradition of storytelling and music in Ireland; everything has a message and a moral. Music is all around us and has been a lifesaver for us personally.”

Source: Suite 101

In a taxi with… The Script

Back to 'The Good Ole Days' of November 2008 and an interview with 

The Dublin Weekender

The Dublin pop trio have hit the number one spot, but they’re still not millionaires – yet…

From left: Glen, Mark and Danny

We’re picking up the Script from Dublin airport. They’ve flown in from playing a German festival the previous night, and as they get into the cab, the trio – singer and keyboardist Danny O’Donoghue (26, raven-haired, intense), guitarist Mark Sheehan (28, shaven-headed, ebullient) and drummer Glen Power (29, be-shaded, droll) – are exhausted but elated. 

As well they might be; their self-titled debut album, full of ringing-but-funky anthems described as ‘Timbaland meets U2’, and ‘Maroon 5 meets the Police’, has just entered the UK album charts at number one.

‘It’s surreal,’ says Mark. ‘Yesterday someone asked us how it feels to be millionaires. We’re not millionaires at all.’ He grins. ‘Well, not yet, anyway.’

This is a kind of triumphant homecoming; the Script are Dubliners to a man, and are here to perform on Eire’s legendary TV institution The Late Late Show – which means, says Mark, ‘that our parents will know we’ve made it’. 

They believe the spirit of their native city has infused their sound, so much so that they call it ‘Celtic soul’.

Our cabbie, Gerard, is going to take the band on a quick tour of some old haunts. We head for the run-down James Street area, dominated by the Guinness brewery, where Mark was brought up. 

This is where he set up a studio in his garden shed as a teenager, and first met Danny, who lived nearby: ‘I was looking for more equipment,’ he says, ‘and was put in touch with Danny.’

‘We were both into hip-hop and R&B,’ adds Danny. ‘I ended up sort of moving into the shed.’

While still at school, the duo set their sights on becoming a songwriting/production team (their ambition reinforced by an early, unsuccessful stint in a boy band called MyTown). U2 manager Paul McGuinness heard some of their songs and helped them get work at studios in Florida, and later Los Angeles, where they spent six years honing their craft. 

‘It was a real apprenticeship,’ says Danny. ‘We were making tea, programming, doing session work, living in places that were infested with flying cockroaches and where you’d hear gunshots down the block at night.’ 

‘We felt like giving up more than once,’ says Mark. ‘But we would buoy each other up. Then we got to remix a Justin Timberlake track, and that led on to work with R&B legends like Dallas Austin and the Neptunes. It was amazing.

‘We were told our career options were to be electricians or tradesmen – if we were lucky'

It was three years ago, with the arrival in LA of Power, a friend of Mark’s and something of a prodigy in Dublin (he’d been playing pubs and clubs since he was 15 with the blessing of his musician father), that the idea of a fully-fledged band took hold. 

But the recording of their album was interrupted when Mark’s mother became ill, and the trio returned to Dublin. She died ten months later; four months after that, Danny’s father died of a heart attack. 

‘It was an intense period,’ says Danny. ‘We used that time as a sort of therapy session in the studio, getting our thoughts out.’

‘That’s why the songs are connecting with people,’ insists Mark. ‘They’re full of raw emotion. “The End Where I Begin” is all about my ma. When she was dying, she’d say, “Look, don’t let this stop you.” Every end is a beginning. 

'It’s a paradox, because it’s so sad that the two of them aren't here to see our success, but we wouldn't have made the album we did if it hadn't all happened. And coming back to Dublin was a big part of it.’

As we head out of James Street, the band reflects on how far they've come. ‘What’s great is that we've injected an option into our lives that was never here before, of making something of ourselves,’ says Mark. 

‘At school we were told that our career options were to be an electrician or a tradesman of some kind – if we were lucky. You’d be laughed at if you wanted to be a musician.’

‘My careers teacher put me in with a psychologist because I said I wanted to be in entertainment,’ laughs Danny. ‘He thought it was certifiable. I guess now we’re number one, a few words have been eaten. But it still doesn’t feel quite real.’ 

There’ll doubtless be more reality checks to come as the Script conquer new territories. For now, they’re just delighted to be back on native soil for the next couple of days (all three are now based in London: Mark with his wife Rina and their new baby, Danny and Glen enjoying pop-star singleton status). 

‘Oh yeah, coming home is like recharging your batteries,’ enthuses Mark. ‘Speaking of which,’ adds Glen, ‘isn’t it time we got ourselves a pint of Guinness?’

Their album The Script is out now on RCA. The single ‘Breakeven’ will be released tomorrow

Source: The Dublin Weekender 8th November 2008

Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

We fear Scots shows jinx after In:Demand Live injury, admit The Script

This is not so much as the 'Good ole Days' as Bad Moments from the Good Ole Days

THE Script have admitted their last performance in Scotland was thrown into chaos after singer Danny O'Donoghue hurt his ankle in rehearsals.

THE Script have admitted their last performance in Scotland was thrown into chaos after singer Danny O'Donoghue hurt his ankle in rehearsals.

The boys played at In:Demand Live at Glasgow's SECC last weekend, but Danny said he hid the pain after he strained a ligament before the show.

"Something always goes wrong every time we play," said Danny. "I'm still recovering from a small ankle injury.

"I always try and get among the fans. I wanted to get down to everyone but I sprained my ankle.

"It's an old football injury and it inflamed, so I couldn't do it for the show."

Despite the gig being an alcohol free zone, Danny said he numbed the pain with a beer.

"It was a nasty pain but I had a beer to help it. There was no alcohol in the hall itself, but we brought our own on the tour bus."

The Irish hitmakers, who soared to the top of the charts with The Man Who Can't Be Moved, have played with Paul McCartney and Bono in recent months.

However, they revealed they had been nervous before their Scots gig as it was the first time they'd played new songs live to a big audience.

Drummer Glen Power said: "We've been surrounded by pop our entire lives, so In:Demand was a big deal for us.

"It was a nerve-wracking experience as we got to roadtest the new single for the first time in Scotland."

The boys have spent the last few years gaining new fans and playing with rock's greatest musicians.

Danny explained: "U2 are our heroes. Supporting them in front of 82,000 people had a kind of gladiator effect. As a musician, you feel alive."

Of playing with Macca, Danny said: "It was a defining moment being asked to support Paul in New York. He was amazing and came into our dressing room for half an hour."

The Script are ready to launch their new single For The First Time on September 5 and album Science And Faith a week later.

So now that they've sung with two of the greats, begun to crack America and have their new material coming out next month, who would the boys like to work with now? "Jedward", they say in unison.

Danny winks: "I know they're busy but if we could be squeezed on to the tour it would be great."

This is from 10th August 2012 / The Daily Record

Jamie Scallion - from Rocker to Writer.

I've been in bands for a very long time. My dad was in a band, my brother was in a band. You could say it is in my blood. I love writing songs. Coming up with a strong concept and working on telling that story in three or four minutes is a consuming passion.

It felt like a natural progression to write a book. It has very different disciplines of course, a marathon not a sprint. Muscles I didn't know I had were needed in the pursuit of writing my novels. I wrote four novels before I felt like I was getting somewhere.

I started touring with 'The Script' in early 2008. We were both supporting a bigger band at the time on a four week UK tour. We got on like a house on fire and our friendship was built on four cornerstones: laughter, creation, inclusion and innovation. Laughter because they made me laugh, creation, because each of their songs is a vignette, songs like 'The Man Who Can't be Moved' or 'If You Could See Me Now' have a storytelling flair that really appeals to me. Inclusion because I was drawn to the way they treated their fans; with respect and affection. 'The Script' isn't an exclusive members' club, it's a party anyone can join. Innovation because I had never seen a band so focussed on thinking outside the box and striving to create an experience that pushes boundaries.

After that first tour the lads started to get pretty big, pretty fast. They began to invite my band on the road with them more and more and the friendship built. When I mentioned I had written a novel that drew from my experiences in a band Mark and Danny asked to read it. I sent them a PDF and they read it in a matter of days.

"What if we brought the band to life with music!" they said.

This was a crossroads moment. I saw it very much as a choice between traditional publishing and some kind of enhanced self-publishing. By applying the same ethos 'The Script' lived by I felt sure the books would have a good chance. Decision made, we started to work up a model that concentrated on using talented friends to help build the book and design the world it would live in. The tour bus became our office. Our shop front would be the World Wide Web. We wanted to harness the power of social media to create the buzz. Despite Mark and Danny being behind it we didn't want to over use 'The Script's' clout to gain superficial followers. We wanted to engage people, to get people reading sample chapters, listening to excerpts of the songs we had written. We were meticulous in our plans. Our mantras were "don't run before we can walk" and "if we don't know something, let's ask someone who does".

On the music side we were savvy of course. On the literary side, not so much. We took meetings with literary professionals, many of whom were positive but constricted by traditional practices. Some didn't understand what we were trying to do at all. One even suggested we re-write the story and base it on three Irish lads from Dublin. But Amazon got it! They were enthusiastic from the moment we explained our idea, saw its scope and had exactly the place for us to house the book. KDP Select was the only outlet where we could maximise the potential and could help us to spread the word in the most effective way. We retained our independence and ability to act quickly whilst at the same time having the added benefits such as the Kindle Owners' Lending Library allowing us to extend our reach even further and build on our positive word of mouth.

I love being in control of my own destiny and I love the direct contact with our small but very engaged fan base. It's already been the most empowering and exciting thing I've ever done in my life. Whatever happens next, we are immensely proud of what we have achieved so far. 

-- Jamie Scallion

Get The Rock 'n' Roll Diaries: Kindle

The Script talk on 'Today' (USA) 2010

Back in 'The Good Ole Days' 
(10th Decemeber 2010)

The Irish rockers talk about being compared to U2, working with Bono’s daughter and the buzz about their highly anticipated new CD, “Science & Faith.”

Source: Today / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

Script frontman O'Donoghue turns heads on cover of Cosmo (2008)

The Good Ole Days

Danny O'Donoghue attends/performs at the launch of SonyBMG and O2's new music service at The O2 on August 7, 2008 in London, England

Dublin rock star Danny O'Donoghue is fast becoming a worldwide object of desire after landing a full page photoshoot in Cosmopolitan.

O'Donoghue, who fronts the massively successful rock group the Script, has been given a complete style overhaul by the internationally renowned glossy mag.

The self-confessed casual dresser donned a dapper suit for the pictorial and, as our exclusive pictures show, he looks every bit the pop star.

"I love it. The last time I wore a suit like this was at my sister's wedding! But I'm into experimenting and I've never been afraid to try new things, even if it's something I wouldn't normally wear," Danny said.

The rock musician admitted that his own look is a lot more casual.

"Battered, vintage leather jackets. I own five second-hand ones in brown and black, and can't help but feel like a cool rock star when I put one on," he explains.

Dream

Even rockstars have their fashion faux pas, but it seems Danny had an unusual favourite as a teenager.

"I was well into shell suits -- I had one in every colour," he said.

Danny is one of six celebrity men who has taken part in the men's fashion shoot and will feature beside T4 presenter Rick Edwards and TV star, singer and all-round showman, John Barrowman.

According to Tracy Ramsden, who wrote the accompanying feature, Danny could well have a career in modelling if his singing career falls through.

"He was an absolute dream to work with and was happy to go along with whatever we asked him to do," she said.

"We wanted to give him a different look because he usually likes to dress down in jeans and T-shirts, so we put him in a blazer and tie ensemble and he looked fantastic.

"He was a natural at modelling and followed direction very well. We all fell in love with him to be honest because he was just so down to earth and friendly -- there was nothing diva-like about him at all," she added.

Hectic

And while Tracy said Danny thoroughly enjoyed the shoot, he definitely won't be leaving the airwaves for a career on the catwalk.

"He said he'd love to do something similar again but he's pretty busy at the moment with the band and that's where his priorities lie.

"He has a hectic schedule so we were lucky to get him," she told the Herald.

Source: Lorna Nolan 10/10/08 / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

MARK SHEEHAN of The Script - Rocking Sounds!

About Mark Sheehan

Mark Sheehan (born Marc Anthony Sheehan, October 29th, 1981) is the guitarist and co-founder of the Irish indie-group “The Script”. His overdriven and highly reverberated guitar-sound is a key element in the group’s musical expression.

If ever there was a script for making it in the music industry, Mark Sheehan and his band colleagues Danny O'Donoghue and Glen Power, seems to have stumbled upon it. Based on sheer speculation, that script would tell the story of two childhood friends growing up in Ireland dreaming of one day being discovered by a major music label, touring all over the world and opening shows for Paul McCartney or U2.

Of course all of this is speculation – We’ll never know if such a script exists. We can only take notion of the fact that the two friends dream came true.

Sheehan and O'Donoghue – who have been friends since the age of 12 – became a songwriting and production partnership in the mid-90s, and worked for a while in Los Angeles as songwriters and producers, but later moved back to Dublin, where they recruited Glen Power for their new band “The Script”. The Script's eponymous debut album was released in 2008 where it went.

straight to the number one spot on the UK's album charts, mainly due to the success of the two singles "We Cry" and "The Man Who Can't Be Moved", the latter reaching number 2 in Ireland, Denmark, and the UK. 2009 became a busy year for the band, touring all over the world and being the supporting act for Paul McCartney´s three concerts at the New York Citi Field, before releasing their second album “Science & Faith” in September 2010.

The Scripts´ latest album from 2012 simply bares the title “#3”, and contains their biggest single hit to date; "Hall of Fame" (here at TC that title really reverberates *wink, wink*). The single has been certified 5x Platinum in Australia, Platinum in Italy, 2x Platinum in New Zealand, 6x Platinum in Norway, 2x Platinum in Sweden and 2x Platinum in the US. The song also peaked at number 1 in the UK, Scotland, Ireland, Europe and Austria, and charted in over 30 countries.

The group is not intimidated by their own popularity though. They are still writing and recording everything themselves – as they always have.

 

Source: tcelectronic / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

The Script Proud To Take Part In Arthurs Day 2013

The Script edit from the main Arthurs Day Celebrations video

Source: Guinness / DannyODonoghue.Net

The Script's Mark Sheehan talks Irish bars, living in Florida and Halloween bonfires (2010)

Here is another interview from 'The Good Ole Days'  

(Tampa Bay Times October 28th 2010)

On Jan. 28, weeks before he became Public Twitter Enemy No. 1, John Mayer tweeted the following: “Every band with a single this year has a mission: beat 'Break Even’ by The Script. Oh, yah... good luck.”

Well, here we are, almost in November. And Breakeven (which is actually the correct title) still stands as one of the year’s strongest singles, a bouncy lamentation on breakups (“I got time while she got freedom / ’Cause when a heart breaks, no it don’t break even”) that became a hit around the world. It’s also helped make The Script the most popular Irish rock band since a little outfit called U2.

But even if they don’t end up owning the world like Bono and company, The Script are well poised to follow in the footsteps of radio-ready rock bands like Train, Maroon 5 and The Fray. Their new album, Science & Faith, comes out in January — although it’s already out in the U.K., so the band’s current concert setlist mixes hits like Breakeven with new songs that many U.S. fans haven’t heard.

You were just in Florida in March — you did an acoustic set for a radio station here. Do you have any recollections of the area?

I have lots of recollections. I lived in Orlando for about 3-1/2 years; so did Danny (O'Donoghue, vocals).

Really? How did that happen?

My wife is from Texas, and she lived in Orlando prior to us getting married, and of course I was fancying her, and courting her, and I went to Orlando to make music and write some songs, and try to get to know her a little better. We started getting some work there — we were just trying to keep the lights on, really. And we stayed there.

What were your impressions of the state of Florida when you first moved here?

I loved it. I’m a huge fan of America in general, so as a kid, I’ve always grown up dreaming of living in America. Florida really is a great place, and a great port of entry for any international person coming over, because it really represents America very well. It’s very clean, a very nice place, and there’s lots and lots to do. It’s a very outdoorsy place.

What kind of stuff did you do for fun?

I’ve gone to the beach a few times. We’ve done the parks a million times. We quite enjoyed the SkyVenture — you know, the thing you can go in and fly? We did that a lot, because we wanted to get good on that. We’ve done tons of stuff, from shooting to bloody driving, to everything.

Next spring you’re going to be part of the VH1 Best Cruise Ever. What are your expectations of that cruise? Do you tan well? Do you swim?

We’re Irish, so the second you put sun on us, we’re like snowmen in hell — we just melt. The boys are not too bad with the heat, but I’m a fair-skinned, red-headed Irishman, so I tend to not work well with the sun, but just protect myself as much as possible.

I’m sure there are a lot of American fans who know nothing about Ireland except Irish stereotypes. Do people insist on doing their Irish accents for you?

Mmm-hmm. We get lots of funny ones. What a lot of people don’t understand is that every part of America feels a little like a new country for us. Texas, for example, will be totally different from Florida and California, and so on. And they just want to make you feel welcome, so what they think is best to do is take you to a local Irish bar. (laughs)

I can’t think of anything more insulting! Give me your read on American Irish bars — I’m sure you’ve never seen a good one, right?

No, there’s some great ones. For example, I believe it’s in Cincinnati or Portland or one of those areas, one of the guys had flown in all the wood from Ireland to make it look as authentic as possible, because he’s from Ireland. Yeah, there’s lots of Irish people over here that do get it right. I think when it becomes a little bit commercialized, that’s when you lose what an Irish bar is all about.

When I lived in Florida, I had an Irish friend of mine who knew that nobody in America really gets Irish humor, and he was asked to do a voiceover for Bennigans. And in the voiceover, he said, “The food is the bollocks!” Which is really funny, because it’s so rude. I’m sitting in Bennigans, listening to his voiceover, and they obviously didn’t check it with anybody. They thought it was so authentic, but it was like, “You gotta get rid of that.”

I’m always curious about what it is that makes some things succeed in the United States but not the United Kingdom, and vice versa. Do you have a read on that? Why do you think that is?

It’s something we have spent about 11 years studying. There’s a clear difference in music from Europe to America, and I’m talking a sonic difference. We tend to go for traditional storytelling, very much so, from our culture. It tends to come from folk music, things like that. But it seems like America is very driven by radio, mostly. I guess when you’re in a car, they quite enjoy bass, and they quite enjoy drums and rhythm. So you tend to get an awful lot of rhythmic music over here. We’ve found that the best thing to do is combine those two worlds, try to bridge that gap between America and Europe. Our music is mixed and blended in a very American approach, but written in a very European way.

You guys have enjoyed a lot of crossover success with Breakeven. But next year, you’re touring arenas in the U.K., and you’ve already sold out a date at O2 Arena.

Yeah, O2 and and Wembley (Arena), both nights.

Is it weird for you to be playing smaller venues in America on this tour?

I think we’re on a bit of a mission with America, because what we feel every time we come over here is that it really resets the clock and makes you feel like you’re a new band once again. We quite enjoy that it’s not a huge production here. It’s just us with the local lights and the local sound, instead of us bringing the big production with us. It’s great because you get to see the whites in everybody’s eyes, and you get to relive some of those things you started off doing. So we started in America playing to like 400 people, 200 people, 800 people, and we’ve built that up now to nearly 2,000, 3,000 a night — in New York, 5,000. We’re really seeing our music work. It’s motivating us to come back and know that the hard work is actually paying off.

It’s Halloween weekend. Are there cultural differences between Halloween in Ireland and Halloween in the United States?

I think in some parts of the United States they do it, but we do a bonfire. We would collect wood for a month or two leading up to Halloween, and the locals would help us store it. And then we would pick an area where we could light it really high — we’re talking a giant bonfire here. And all the kids would trick-or-treat and do the usual things they do here, but at the end of the evening would finish with us all sitting around this giant fire. It’s loads of fun. It brings the community together that way. You’ve got a couple of hundred people around this fire, which is really cool.

You don’t have a concert on Halloween night — are you going to any parties?

No, unfortunately, it’s a travel day for us. We’re traveling from, I believe, St. Petersburg to Norfolk, so we’ll be on the bus for most of the day. But there’s normally costumes on the bus, and craziness happening, because you get kind of cabin fever. I’m sure we’ll go out that night once we park in Norfolk.

And set a bonfire.

That’d be good. The bus may arrive on fire. Who knows?

Source: Tampa Bay Times 2010 / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net