True Love Waits is the sixth release of Irish rock band, the Coronas. Their first as a three piece but that definitely does not mean that the album packs any less of a punch. With catchy hooks and roaring riffs, ‘True Love Waits’ is possibly the band’s best album to date.
A particular highlight for me is the third track on the album, ‘Lost in the Thick Of It’ which features Gabrielle Aplin, its a dreamy melancholic track – no less than you’d expect from this pairing, with lyrics such as “I’m good for a little bit, just a bit low spirited.”
I got to find out more about how the Coronas were coping with music industry life in lockdown, and having a global pandemic pinching their band name….
– How have you been coping with life in lockdown?
Overall I’ve been in great form. I’ve had a couple of low moments, like a lot of people – the isolation blues, but I’ve been ok. I’ve tried to keep busy, but also not put too much pressure on myself to be productive. I need to remind myself that it’s ok to just do nothing and binge on Netflix if that’s what helps you get through it.
– You opted to push the album release back a few months, like so many artists have been, understandably, doing – was this an easy decision?
To be honest it was. Initially when we all went into lockdown, there was so much uncertainty and concern out there, we all knew it wasn’t the right time to self promote and release new music. Once things settled down a little bit and we realised that people had a hunger for new music and that no one could really be sure when live gigs would come back anyway, it felt right to release the album
– It’s finally being let out into the world at the end of July; does this release feel particularly different to your previous five albums?
Absolutely. For one, it’s our first album as a 3 piece (our guitar player Dave left the band amicably, last year). Also, there’s still an ongoing pandemic happening, not to mention the virus’s unfortunate likeness to our band-name! But in general the world feels different. It’s a crazy time right now, for numerous reasons, but thankfully people still need music. We’re so proud of the album and excited to get it out
– What tracks are your favourites?
Cold and Lost In The Thick of It at the moment but this tends to change quite often. Once we start playing them live again it will probably change as well
– What was your writing process with the album? Did you all write together or do you all bring different ideas to the table?
With this album I co wrote about half the songs with different talented songwriter friends of mine. When I got a good idea, melodically or a little hook or something that I liked, instead of going and finishing the song myself like I would have done in the past I brought the little spark to others to see if we could light the fire a different way. Conor and Knoxy were also heavily involved as always sonically, and arrangements etc as well.
– Gabrielle Aplin features on track ‘Lost In The Thick Of It’ – which I absolutely love – how did that come about?
Gab is a friend of ours and I visited her and her fiancé Alfie Hudson Taylor in Brighton last summer for a weekend to just chill and possibly write a little. We didn’t put pressure on ourselves to be too productive, just hung out and played some music. ‘Lost in the thick of it’ came out of that session and the song didn’t change too much from that original afternoon. It was very organic and we were so happy when Gabrielle agreed to come and duet it with us
– You were on tour in Dubai just before the start of lockdown – what’s it like touring so far away from home?
We love touring, love travelling, seeing the world, meeting people. I already miss it so much. Hopefully it will come back sooner rather than later
– Are there plans to do an album tour run later on, once it’s safe?
Yes for sure, we just don’t quite know when that will be. That’s what is most frustrating about the whole thing, the not knowing when we’ll be back
– What are you most looking forward to playing live once we’re allowed back to gigs again?
True love waits has an epic ending that will be fun to play live. We got back rehearsing in Dublin this week and it was so hood to be playing music again
– What are you doing to celebrate the release?
We’re trying to organise a socially distancing launch in Dublin, but we’ve also got lots of different promo ideas. I think in this climate you’ve got to think outside the box and try promote your music in different ways, seeing as touring isn’t an option. We’re also gonna play the album start to finish live and put it up on our YouTube channel so I’m looking forward to that.
True Love Waits is out now, and you can stream it below!
gigs & glitter. 