SUNSETS And Full Moons is a deeply personal album about loss, friendship and losing yourself that gave The Script their fifth No1 when it topped the charts in November.
When singer Danny O’Donoghue lost his beloved mum, Ailish, to a brain aneurysm on February 14, it hit the singer hard.
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“I went off the f***ing rails and I needed my friends to pull me back,” he says. “I wrote about it and it’s all on the album. It’s raw and honest.”
While O’Donoghue was grieving the loss of his mum, the band’s drummer Glen Power also lost his dad to pancreatic cancer.
Power says: “It was all very sudden. He got diagnosed and six weeks later he’d passed away.”
For O’Donoghue the death of his mum came 11 years after his father, Shay, passed away — while the band were recording their debut album.
O’Donoghue adds: “The loss of a parent is devastating. My father was my role model and so it was heavy but when you lose your mother, it’s a different loss. You are connected to your mother emotionally and physically, once through the umbilical cord, so losing my mum, the foundations shook even further. And they are still shaking — I have up and down days.”
We meet at Dublin’s Trinity College where the Irish trio, O’Donoghue, Power and guitarist Mark Sheehan are playing a special gig for The World’s Big Sleep Out — a charity event which took place in more than 60 cities throughout the world, to try to end global homelessness.
‘WE ALL OVERLOOK THOSE LITTLE THINGS’
It’s a wet night but even the rain can’t dampen the spirits of the band as they perform a short set of hits to their fans who are preparing to sleep out all night.
“Hats off to each and every one of you who are camping out tonight,” says O’Donoghue to the crowd.
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It’s been an emotional visit to Dublin for the singer who visited his late mum’s house when he arrived the day before. He says: “It’s exactly the same way as my mum left it — just without my mum.
“It still smells of her. And I try and embrace it because I do miss her. I went into her bedroom and her dressing gown is there, her lip balm is still there.
“It’s like she is still there and in the bathroom.”
Run Through The Walls is a song written just a week after his mum’s funeral when O’Donoghue was at his most fragile.
It’s a song which recognises the importance of friendship at painful times.
“My father also died of pancreatic cancer — the same as Glen’s dad, so I know the pain they’re going through,” says Sheehan.
“And, family isn’t just about DNA, it’s about support and love you have for people you care for.
“The song is about being thankful for all of your friends around you. Irish people are really good in grief. They are not afraid to come around and cry and drink with you. Run Through Walls is a celebration of friends and being grateful for your mates around you. We all overlook those little things.”
When something comes that is so deep and heavy, you flip out for a bit until that first song
The Script
Something Unreal, the track that opens the album is about the self-destructive way O’Donoghue was dealing with his grief.
He says: “That was the song that started the album and the lyrics of the song tell how I was staying up all night, drinking too much and just not looking after myself.
“I was trying to find myself. I’m not married and don’t have children and have all that to come so that was a loss too and I wanted to articulate just how I was feeling.
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“It’s not a cool subject to write about but something people need to hear. Grief and mental health need to be talked about and it’s real.
“All this penetrates through all of the social media b******s. It’s a real feeling.
“It’s not a fake feeling or life that social media encourages people to post about.”
Sheehan adds: “It was so important that everything on this record was honest and real as the internet is allowing us to have forgotten sensationalism.
“It can happen today and it’s gone forever. It’s like a toilet, flushed down and gone. Everyone can forget about it because we are so hungry for the next thing.
“Each song had to be based on reality or people won’t relate to it. They are not interested in actors anymore.”
If you don’t like my band, at least say it to my ****ing face
Danny O’Donoghue
O’Donoghue was aware he was self-destructing and losing his way.
He says: “I was aware that I was going into a dark hole. My body wasn’t in good shape, I was eating s***e food, drinking too much and not working out.
“But I was able to sort myself out. I knew I was vulnerable and broken. I found exercise — I love kickboxing and like every good child I work well in a routine.
“So, a routine of kickboxing allowed me to get rid of a lot of aggression, mental anger and pain.”
The Script have sold more than 20 million albums yet despite this success, the band remain down to earth never taking success for granted.
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“We see every release as a comeback,” says O’Donoghue. “We are very blessed to have a No1 with this album. Every album released is another year in the music industry and it gets more difficult to sustain that level. So we never ever expect to be No1.
“We’ve won awards, we’ve met the Queen, we’ve played for Paul McCartney but fans still going out to buy our albums and tickets for our shows is what matters.
“It’s been ten years now and so fans have grown up and now come to shows with their kids.
“We’ve been the soundtrack to their lives for ten years as they’ve had their first break-up, first wedding, baby, divorce or whatever.
“A lot of contemporary bands don’t get to that level. We’ve been a band for 12 years and we are selling more records and concert tickets than we ever have. You can’t argue with the stats.
“We’re continuing to grow. That is why there’s a song on the record called Underdog — that’s how I see us.”
All three say they have learned to deal with critics and negative press as the band got more successful.
‘MUSIC HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY THERAPY’
O’Donoghue says: “The hilarious part is, I’ve not met anybody to my face who doesn’t like this band.
“If you do not like this band, say it to my f***ing face. No one has ever said it to my face but I’ve read stuff but it doesn’t bother me.
“How can anyone critique someone who came first? That’s what I say.”
Sheehan adds: “People ask us what is the recipe for success, we don’t know that but what we do know is the recipe for failure — that is trying to make everybody happy — you can’t.
“You cannot please everybody that is just not the way it works. We’ve learned to please ourselves and our fans. Just come to a Script gig and see the love we get.”
In February The Script embark on another sell-out arena tour across the UK, Ireland and Europe.
“We are stripping everything back and focusing on the songs rather than the show,” says Power.
O’Donoghue adds: “We call it “care-aoke’ where everyone cares about the songs you are singing about. Our fans always leave singing every word.”
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Sheehan says: “We are going back to basics. It’s all about the big sing-a-long moments.
“I admit we had imposter syndrome for a few years. But we don’t feel that any more. After so many years of doing big shows, we’ve realised that we actually deserve to be up here.”
With 15 minutes to show time, it’s time to say goodbye to the Script as they grab jackets and instruments and do some last-minute warm up vocal exercises.
“Making this album was mentally a high bar that I needed to jump over,” O’Donoghue says. “And I finally got over it.
“But then music has always been my therapy. You get thrown into a swimming pool and you are treading water, then all of a sudden you get used to the water.
“Music was always there for me to put my problems into. But when something comes that is so deep and heavy, you still flip out for a bit until that first song. I found the writing so cathartic this time.
“Music is so unifying with family and friends but being able to write your deepest, darkest feelings in a song and have it played on radio to seven million people is special.
“That is a talent. It’s a big gift we are lucky to share.”
- Sunsets And Full Moons is out now. To see The Script’s live dates go to thescriptmusic.com
