search
date/time
Yorkshire Times
A Voice of the Free Press
frontpagebusinessartscarslifestylefamilytravelsportsscitechnaturefictionCartoons
Graham Clark
Music Features Writer
@Maxximum23Clark
2:51 PM 24th May 2018
arts

Interview With The Script's Mark Sheehan Ahead Of Scarborough Concert

 
The Script
The Script
The Script are one of the biggest bands to come out of Ireland in the last decade. The 3 piece released their latest album Freedom Child last August which was followed by an arena tour with sold out gigs in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool.

The act are due to play Scarborough Open Air Theatre on 21 June. I spoke to Mark Sheehan, guitarist in the band about their visits to the north and the Scarborough concert.

THE SCARBOROUGH GIG SOUNDS LIKE IT WILL BE A SPECIAL GIG, DO YOU HAVE GOOD MEMORIES OF YORKSHIRE?
We always love coming to Yorkshire, the fans there have been very good to us. We are expecting a good time and I'm sure it will be a good sing along: like going down to the pub with your mates. We played the Spa in Bridlington on the tour we did of smaller venues last August and the response was amazing.

One of the things with outdoor gigs is that we hope it doesn't rain but I'm sure everyone will still have a good time.

WAS IT A CONSCIOUS DECISION TO PLAY THE SMALLER GIGS LAST YEAR?
We had to take time out after Danny (O'Donoghue) lost his voice and had to have surgery. We felt we couldn't just return and play the bigger venues and just drop in like we had never been away. We enjoy playing the smaller venues such as the Spa in Bridlington as you are a lot closer to people and we thought it was the best thing to do - it felt like reintroducing ourselves. It was a great tour, we didn't know if the love was still there, we appreciated it and never take anything for granted.

THE BAND SEEM TO ALWAYS HAVE A BIG CONNECTION WITH YOUR FANS.
We do, it's part of the nature of who we are. We all answer individually our social media messages, it is not someone in an office doing it for us, we all take time out to do it. When people then come to see the concerts it is like seeing your best mates on stage and it helps us put on a better show.

YOU HAVE BEEN ON TOUR NOW SINCE LAST AUGUST, HAS THERE BEEN ANY MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES?
The whole UK arena tour earlier this year was memorable but we also got to play a gig recently in Indonesia. It was a fan driven event, a fan contacted us via social media and asked the band to play a gig there, they found a local promoter to put on the gig and we agreed to do it. The concert was rammed with the fans, the local promoter didn't think we would turn up! He was so happy that we did and he said to us afterwards that the money he made promoting the gig would pay for his wedding!

We played Taiwan and Hong Kong too on the same tour and they were great as well.

WERE YOU WORRIED ABOUT THE BAND RETURNING WITH THE LAST ALBUM AFTER A 3 YEAR ABSENCE?
It is only hard in your own head, you can be your worst enemy. We have been unsuccessful for longer than we have been successful. We are always coming back between the albums and the tours but we have a strong following and people have been good to us. It is always a bit unnerving though especially when we returned this time with a social message with Freedom Child.

YOU EVEN TRIED A BIT OF REGGAE WITH NO MAN IS AN ISLAND ON THE NEW ALBUM.
We like to try different things, we would get bored if we didn't have variety, we are now on album number 5 so you have to have variety to sustain an audience and keep their attention for the 1 hour 45 minutes we are on stage. It is always about challenges - playing festivals is different to playing to your own audience who have come to see us at one of our shows.

HOW DO YOU RELAX AFTER A SHOW?
A couple of glasses of red wine is my tipple. The adrenaline is in you and it is difficult to calm down and you have to give it time. We meet the fans like we always have done. It would be hard just to go to bed after a show with all that adrenaline inside you.

IS IT HARD TO COMPILE A SETLIST?
The hardest part is not what to play rather than what we want to play. We like to connect with the audience and try to keep in the songs that everyone expects us to perform, but we also like to add in a few surprises too. I'm sure that there will be a few surprises at the Scarborough gig!

The Script play Scarborough Open Air Theatre on 21 June 2018.
Tickets from £35.00

www.scarboroughopenairtheatre.com