Day 13: Favorite interview

I have 2 favorite interviews and here they are:

15 Minutes with The Script

by Dani Javier, Candymag.com Correspondent
photo courtesy of Sony Music
April 14, 2011 02:00 pm

The Script's guitarist Mark Sheehan talks to Candymag.com Correspondent Dani and shares what we can expect from their concert this weekend!

• The Script goes around the world. They kicked off their tour in their hometown Dublin, Ireland. After which, they headed off to visit the main cities in the UK and Scotland. They recently finished touring around Europe, heading over to Australia after. Of course, they will swing by Asia, visiting countries like the Philippines and Hong Kong. Finally, The Script would fly over to the United States for their last stop.
• The Script leave their “hearts and souls on the stage.” The concert-goers are in for a real treat because the band pours all they've got in their live performances. They consider each show as their last, so they make sure to rock out real hard.
• Science and Faith was “a bit of a continuation of the first album.” The Script wanted to create an album which prolonged the thought of the first album. The tracks from their debut album The Script and Science and Faith have continuing thoughts and are linked with each other. It has the same theme and can be considered as a development of the first album.
• They sings about heartbreak, not falling in love.  “If you listen to the lyrics of "Breakeven," I don’t think it’s very romantic. They’re actually broken up songs.” says Mark. “All our releases talk about heartache and break up because of what we’ve been through in the past. But we’re happy lads now.” He jokingly adds. Their songs are sincerely heartfelt since they wrote it all based from the Irish trio’s life experiences.
• They consider their success a wild and crazy ride. “Sometimes the press gets crazy. Sometimes the fans get crazy, it’s a bit of a crazy journey for us.” as Mark recalls. And their passion for sharing their music to the world definitely brought them places. “All we really wanted was to hopefully get our music played on national radio on Ireland, or maybe do some shows. But we never expected it to be this successful, you know? We’re just trying to enjoy every minute of it.” 
• On touring with the band. “I think the three of us always make music, even when we’re on tour. We enjoy playing our instruments.. Chilling out.” Mark adds that “getting on stage every night has to be the best part because that’s the front line… that’s where everything makes sense. People come to see us and the reason why we go to a country is for us to see them and for them to see us.”
• Valentine’s Day with their fans. The band celebrated hearts day with their fans in Lisbon, Portugal. “It was very difficult to do anything (but) other than play for people. So, that’s what we did. Unfortunately, all we can do was send presents. We’ll make up for it when we get home.” How thoughtful!
• They’ve been to Manila before, and they have a lot of Filipino friends, too! Mark and Danny apparently went on a vacation in Manila 10 years ago! According to Mark, they had fun and enjoyed during their stay. “We’re no experts, but we know that you guys really enjoy music, and like to let your hair down and enjoy yourselves. That’s very Irish and we like to do that too.” explains the lead guitarist. In addition, Mark also shares that the Script “have worked with a lot of Filipino artists in America over for the past 10 years.”
• They’re just here to bring music. “We’re just gonna continue making our music, and just tackle the world with this music because, it’s the first time that it’s really working everywhere around the world” Mark elaborates that the group doesn’t “cover some weird political or religious stunts, we stay away from those things. We just talk about, I suppose, the politics of the heart.”
• The Filipinos on Twitter have been heard! “[Filipinos] have been tweeting us on Twitter all the time, and we’re so happy that they have pushed and pushed and pushed to get us there.” Having caught their attention, we Filipinos can finally see The Script live! Mark assure us: “We’re gonna [come there] and put on our best show that we can possibly put on.”

SOURCE: http://www.candymag.com/correspondents/15-minutes-with-the-script/

Beautifully Script-ed FUNFARE By Ricardo F. Lo The Philippine Star Updated March 12, 2011 12:00 AM

Funfare interviewed guitarist Mark Sheehan (center and inset), with fellow Script members Danny O’Donoghue (vocals/keys, left) and Glen Power (drums) A brief backgrounder furnished Funfare by Sony Music, Inc. which is the local distributor of the group’s CDs: In two years, The Script notched up a handful of hit singles, including We Cry, Breakevenand The Man Who Can’t Be Loved. Their 2008 eponymous album went to No. 1 (with over two million sales worldwide) in the UK and Ireland where the three guys are from: Danny O’Donoghue (vocals/keys), Mark Sheehan (guitar) and Glen Power (drums). They played stadium shows with music heroes U2, Take That and Paul McCartney. They performed a triumphant homecoming set at Ireland’s Oxegen Festival before 78,000 fans and won Best Live Performance at the 2010 Meteor Awards (beating their mentors U2). And to top it all, Breakeven became one of the slowest climbers in US pop history, eventually hitting the top of Billboards Adult Pop Song radio airplay chart after 40 weeks on release, selling over 1.7 million downloads in the US alone. On April 16, Filipino fans will have a chance to watch and listen to The Script “live” at their concert at the Araneta Coliseum. Funfare recently did an exclusive phone interview with Mark Sheehan (calling from London). Excerpts: Is it your first visit to Manila? “Yes, it is for the Script but not for me. I’ve taken a vacation with Danny in Manila a long time ago, 11 years ago, and we really enjoyed ourselves. I remember that the food was amazing, the weather was amazing, and the people were absolutely fantastic. It’s probably why the band is looking forward to going back.” How much of the country did you see? “We went to three islands. We flew to Manila from Australia and we had fun. Why did we include the Philippines in our itinerary? Well, I guess if you come to Europe you should include Ireland because it has so much to offer. So if you tour Asia, the Philippines is a ‘must-visit’. Like Ireland, the Philippines has a great tradition and history, and Filipinos have great musicians.” What have you heard about the Philippines since then? “Well, that there has been a surge in music and there has been a lot of concerts, and people are loving ‘live’ music. Very much like Irish people — you know, have a drink and enjoy themselves while listening to music.” Have you worked with any Filipino? “Yeah. While we lived in California we worked with a couple of Filipino artists based there.” Some of your songs are sad, based on your experience, such as For The First Time which was inspired by how Ireland has sunk into a devastating economic crisis, one of the hardest hit European countries following the credit crunch. “We were writing about Ireland but actually the rest of the world was in the same situation. We realized that only when we went back to Ireland. The End Where I Begin is a bittersweet song inspired by the death of my mother and that of Danny’s father while we were recording our debut album.” The Script’s rise to stardom is described as a “rags to riches, glory ride, an emotional roller-coaster, an all-action, all-star blockbuster.” I’m sure your life has changed dramatically. (Laughing) “Hmmmm, our lives have really changed since then. Now, we are able to pay our bills. We don’t have to worry when we go to a restaurant because we are sure that we can pay. We’ve been broke musicians for such a long time that we feel we’ve been successful longer than we actually are. We cherish the position that we are in now and we try to enjoy every minute of it. These things don’t happen all the time.” The Script has been used playing little clubs and when you played big theaters you said it was “shocking.” Why? “Oh, I called that shocking because while you dream a dream you never actually know that your dream will come true. We played small clubs to 60 people. Now, we are playing venues to an audience of 60,000. It’s a little bit of a jump and I found it strange to accept that reality. So, isn’t it shocking?” You will playing big venue when you come to Manila on April 16, the Araneta Coliseum. “Yeah. What’s the capacity?” Around 15,000. “Do you think a lot of people will be there?” I’m sure. Anyway, your song Nothing is quite popular among your Filipino fans. It’s about “a drunken, broken-hearted phone call to a lost love.” Is it inspired by your experience? “Yeah. I think that’s very much from experience. I think being Irish, what we tend to do when a friend has issues about affairs of the heart is we get really drunk, thinking that the problem will go away. But as we all know, the alcohol only complicates the problem. It makes you call the person that you shouldn’t be calling in the first place.” Has it happened to you, being broken-hearted and getting drunk? “All the time. It also happens to Danny and Glen. We are the same. We get drunk when we are broken-hearted.” You also write songs for other artists (Beyoncé and James Blunt among them). What’s the difference between writing a song for Script and writing a song for somebody else? “When we write a song, it’s usually based on our own experience. So when somebody else sings the song, they do it with the emotion drawn from their own experience.” The three of you said that you were incredulous when Paul McCartney personally asked you to support him at a series of shows in the US. How was the experience? “When you perform with somebody as big as McCartney, all you can think of is the historical value of the person. Thankfully, McCartney is such a nice guy who doesn’t make you feel that he’s that big. He’s such a humble person.” The message of your music is very positive…it’s about hope and healing, and a bright new day. “That’s the point. While our songs may sound bleak sometimes and there may be a dark message in them, generally we try to inject feelings of hope into them.” Please briefly describe the Script guys. “I don’t think I can fairly describe Danny and Glen. All I can say is that they are amazing persons and amazing artists. Me? I’m a pretty complex guy.” By the way, why did you call your group The Script? Does it imply that your lives are scripted, beautifully? “No, it’s quite the opposite. The only thing that’s scripted is our music. Everything else is not.”

SOURCE: http://www.philstar.com/funfare/Article.aspx?articleId=665368