Fresh from the success of their hit single “San Diego Song” which has spent a staggering 16 weeks in the Irish top 40, the Coronas are back with their new single “Grace, Don’t Wait!” which is taken from their stunning debut album “Heroes and Ghosts”.
Profile of Irish band The Coronas
Fresh from the success of their hit single “San Diego Song” which has spent a staggering 16 weeks in the Irish top 40, the Coronas are back with their new single “Grace, Don’t Wait!” which is taken from their stunning debut album “Heroes and Ghosts”.
A recent string of gigs in the Village, two sold out shows in The Button Factory, and appearances on the Late Late Show, The Podge and Rodge Show, and Other Voices saw this indie four-piece take the Irish music scene by storm in 2007, culminating in their nomination for a Meteor Award.
With influences including Radiohead and the Beatles, their album “Heroes or Ghosts” has enjoyed rave reviews and has been lodged in the Irish charts since its release in October.
Described by HotPress as “walking a soulful line between Jeff Buckley and the Libertines”, the Coronas have most definitely arrived and it seems that if “Grace, Don’t Wait!” is any indication of what’s to come then it is inevitable that they are set for even greater things in 2008.
Band History
When Danny O’Reilly (vocals/guitar) met Graham Knox (bass) for the first time, O’Reilly was only two weeks old while Knox had barely escaped his mothers’ womb. All their lives they were surrounded by music but it wasn’t until O’Reilly began writing songs at the tender age of 13 that they decided it would be cool to start a band.
They recruited Terenure College school friends Conor Egan (drums) and another close friend to form Kiros and performed their first gig on a Saturday afternoon in a run-down pub in Dublin’s city centre to about 10 friends.
The lads were all of 15, already hooked. Their adventures as Kiros, however, were short-lived as the band broke up before they turned 18. O’Reilly, Knox and Egan, however, continued to create music but soon they began to miss the thrill of live gigging and, calling themselves Corona, they decided to start playing to anyone who would listen.
They recorded a live EP in 2004 entitled “Corona – live at the Voodoo Lounge” and to this day they still get people requesting songs that they played that night as the EP began to get burned and passed around the Dublin college scene.
In 2005, they recorded their debut EP in a house in Wicklow and although it was well received and contained some songs that the band still play today, they knew that something was missing from the band’s sound.
Shortly after its’ release they met a young man from Monkstown called Dave McPhillips (lead guitar), in a frat house in Vancouver, of all places, and were so impressed with his guitar-shredding ability that they asked him join the band. They locked themselves away in a house for weeks creating their sound and began gigging around Dublin, creating an ever-growing following.
In December 2006 they sold out two shows in Whelan’s purely from word of mouth and this led to the band being signed up by independent label 3ú Records.
2007 saw them change their name to “The Coronas” (due to an Italian dance act already called Corona) but this did not hinder their success as they began to take the Irish music scene by storm with their debut single “Decision Time” which reached no.8 in the retail charts in January ’07. Another top 20 single followed entitled “The Talk” which resulted in the band being signed to UK agency Marshall Arts.
Their hit single “San Diego Song” spent a staggering 16 weeks in the Irish top 40 and the release of their debut album “Heroes or Ghosts” in October was met with rave reviews and has been lodged in the Irish charts ever since.
“The album is definitely a reflection of our journey as a band so far”, says lead singer and the bands main songwriter Danny O’Reilly. “Our only aim was to make an album we were proud of and we’re delighted to say that we’ve surpassed our expectations.”
Heroes or Ghosts is out now in all major stores and on download. Their new single “Grace, Don’t Wait!” is set for release on the 1st of Febuary 2008.
