I don’t know about you, beloved Forte reader, but it felt like yesterday I was saving up my $1.69 to buy The Script’s ‘Hall of Fame’ on iTunes. That song just celebrated 12 years delighting fans across the globe.
Since then, The Script have celebrated many hit albums, support slots with artists like P!nk, and plenty more. The group recently dropped a new record, Satellites, and announced a mammoth Aussie tour. We caught up with vocalist Danny O’Donoghue to chat about it all.
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“It just feels great to finally have the music out,” O’Donoghue notes. “I knew I was happy with the music, if you know what I’m saying. There’s always some albums you’re kind of like, shit you know, there’s one or two spots on the album that maybe that could be better.
“It’s always nerve-wracking to release music because every album is an opportunity for you to have lost the plot and be so far off the map.
“I’m just super proud of the band for getting at least to the point where we were able to release an album., I didn’t think this was possible last year and now it is possible.”
Last year saw the death of co-writer and original band member Mark Sheehan, O’Donoghue noting this record helped deal with a lot of the emotion surrounding it, and Sheehan still has his energy over the music The Script make.
Catharsis and The Script have long gone hand-in-hand, fans across the globe connecting with their strong lyrics, and finding solace in tough times.
“It’s the reason why I do it. It’s the reason why I spend so much time in my day thinking about lyrics. I try to put as much effort into the thinking of it so that if anybody ever got this tattooed on their body, would it make sense?
“Mark [Sheehan] was brilliant at distilling down something into something that almost sounded like a nursery rhyme, but it was full of punching power.”
Everyone on the planet has a lyric that connects with them. But how does that happen? O’Donoghue explains how some lyrics are able to carry an emotional punch and connect with people.
“Listen to what people tell you during the day. Normally the most interesting things are the ones that are emotionally impactful, they normally work really well over music, right?
“When you listen to somebody saying something meaningful or even hurtful because it might be a truth that somebody’s not telling you, like ‘Why do you love your job more than me?’.
“Lyrics are just words, I find this massive wisdom in the things people don’t even know.
“A friend of mine, he’s actually quite a prominent songwriter, but we were sitting down over dinner, and he was like, ‘well, mate, the thing that never changes is things are going to change’. I was like, that’s genius!
“That emotional impact normally punctuates a chorus for me, whatever that was, if it’s a good feeling, bad feeling.
“It’s the same as a joke really. A joke is all about timing, but then what’s the punchline? Then how you set up that punchline so it has the most impact. But there’s an emotional way too.
“There’s a way you can do it for hilarity and get people to laugh, but there’s also a way most emotively that you can do it and get people to feel the weight of that.”
The journey of a song from The Script has taken a lot of different avenues over the years, some ideas coming immediately, others taking weeks.
“A song called ‘If You Ever Come Back’ took us maybe half a day to write. But something like, ‘No Good in Goodbye’ took us weeks because of the turns of phrase, because we had to think of so many (rhymes), ‘So where’s the good in goodbye? Where’s the nice in nice try? Where’s the us in trust gone?’
“It was like a science project, it took us weeks to do it. It didn’t make it more impactful than the other one, it’s just smarter.
“It’s like a fine wine. Some people just want to get pissed. Other people want to taste the fucking region and the tannins. So they’re different levels, but both of them get you drunk.
“So, but what’s a bit more effort went into. The other one is a bit more expensive, and the other one’s cheaper and gives you more of a hangover. They still do the same job.”
The journey of a song also takes some element of discovery, O’Donoghue noting that some of their songs are found.
“‘Hall Of Fame’ came to us in five minutes, as quick as that, and that’s our biggest song. But we didn’t stress over the lyrics. It was already there, if that makes any sense.
“It’s like the equivalent of an archaeologist. Here’s dust and just seeing the skeleton like, ‘oh shit. I found a fucking Stegosaurus’ or whatever. You found this way to say something with words that have already been there.
“They’ve been floating out in the world, but nobody’s ever put them together like this. That’s when I get a weird spiritual vibe on songs too.”
Before coming down to Australia, the group have been hitting the road over in the EU and the US, debuting tracks from Satellites to adoring crowds.
“Home is Where The Heart Is’, I can’t wait to play live. From what we’ve rehearsed of it, it fills a bit like The Killers, and I fucking love them.
“Another song we have called ‘Inside Out’ I really love. It’s quite mellow, and lyrically orientated, but I feel like live, we can switch it up and give it huge fucking energy, and Mumford and Son the shit out of it.
“But there’ll be songs that I didn’t even think of [on Satellites] that end up being favourites and huge live moments, and I can’t wait for that.”
The Script have a bit of a love affair with all of us Down Under — visiting us pretty regularly since 2008. This tour will be the group’s first in summer and will see them veer off the capital city circuit for some shows in regional spots, including Mt Duneed in Geelong. O’Donoghue notes his admiration for our country and all the killer bands we produce.
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“We’re going to places where we haven’t been before. Not just going to your Sydney’s and Melbourne’s, we’re going to some more regional places as well, which is great.
“Honestly, if Australia was closer, I’d probably have a house there, you know what I mean? I love the people down there. You guys don’t take shit too seriously, which is very, it’s so Irish,” O’Donoghue adds with a laugh.
“Australia to me in fairness has always been a place where I’ve drawn inspiration from. Like I really love Thirsty Merc, their first record was actually quite influential on The Script, I thought it was cool as hell.
“The alternative scene in Australia is amazing. I look forward to coming down and finding some bands that I don’t already know of.”
Satellites is available now. The Script hit Aussie stages this summer for A Day On The Green. Buy tickets here.
