An acoustic session with Kodaline

Last monday I had the opportunity to meet Kodaline at the headquarters of Sony Music Belgium. I discovered Kodaline thanks to Leila from Smosblog. She showed me the video of the beautiful song “All I want”  and I was immediately hooked. I have to admit that this song makes me a bit emotional. The video is so moving and sends out a great message to the world. Don’t forget to check it out later. Our great day at Sony turned out different than expected. After Kodaline’s performance we were told that we could have a chat with them to ask some questions. This made my day perfect.

   
The acoustic session took place in the lobby of Sony. A select group of people had the chance to hear two of their new songs and the well known “In a perfect world” and “All I want”. The band opened with “High Hopes”, this is one of the tracks from their new album which will be released in March. This beautiful song is one of the favorites of the lead singer and songwriter Steve Garrigan. He told me during the interview that every song has a story in it that is linked with real life experiences of the band members. This is something that you felt during the live session. It’s obvious that they all have a connection with each song. Acoustic sessions always give me goosebumps and this one was really great. The guys from Kodaline created so much depth in their songs just by using their voices and some basic instruments. Nothing more. This performance was so personal that the crowd was moved by every song. This shows that you don’t always need fancy light shows and stages to give your audience a great experience. Great music creates positive emotions. In my video you can hear the live version of “In a perfect world”. I prefer the acoustic version over the original one, what do you think ? 

During my little chat with the band members it was immediately clear that these 4 irish guys are really down to earth. They love what they do and don’t make a big deal out of their success. Steve explained that their songs are a way for them to think about their past experiences and relive those moments. They try to live as much as possible in the present so they can create new songs in the future. What a great way of living. I have some good news for the fans as well. You guys might know that a lot of artists don’t control their own social media, well Kodaline does. They check Twitter and Facebook on their smartphones and try to reply to all your shout-outs. Even if you give a bad comment, they might retweet it if it’s funny. The band tries to stay away from reviews and just keep on making music they love. This is probably the only way to stay true to your sound nowadays. Good news for those who like their music videos, they are gonna keep on working with the same team that created “All I want”. I was glad to hear this because I love their work.

Of course I had to take a real groupie photo after their acoustic performance. For those who are not familiar with the band, from left to right. Jason Boland (bass guitar), Mark Prendergast (bass guitar & piano), Steve Garrigan (singer, guitar & piano) & Vinnie May (drums). I have some great news if you want to see this great band live on stage during a summer festival because they are coming to Pukkelpop and Lowlands this year!

I hope you liked the video, Britt and I are going to try and meet up with more artists in the future, so we can bring back some music and inspiring bands to Strutter View.

Cheers,

Julie

ps : Check out Leila’s post on smosblog if you want to hear the live version of the new song High Hopes.