It was great to catch up with Danny O’Donoghue the other day when he came in for a radio interview. I hadn’t seen him since his friend and bandmate, Mark Sheehan, died a little over a year ago. That news came as a shock to all of us so I can’t imagine how his family or band members have handled the terrible and premature passing of their loved one.
I’ve known The Script (a little bit) as they appeared on TV as my guests over the years and they never failed to impress. Professional, talented and simply lovely, they were always a joy to chat with and watch in full flight. Danny has brought the (extended) band back together again with himself and Glen Power front and centre, with a sparkling and very emotional new album released recently and a European tour kicking off in November.
When we sat down to talk, Danny was as personable as ever, but he was also very reflective and thoughtful about where he is in life and how he has to process his grief in a very public way. The honesty about giving up booze and returning to daily Mass-going was refreshing and not preachy in any way. Danny has found his answers in churches around the world.
He was laughing about the reaction his tour manager gave him when he started asking about the nearest church to whatever venue they were touring in! But it’s working for him and he seems very grounded and comfortable in his new (and not so new) habits. There was a major development this week when photos emerged of Danny down on bended knee as he proposed to his girlfriend Anais Naing. I couldn’t be happier for one of the good guys in the business who deserves all the best in life as he enters a new phase both professionally and personally.
I’m at an enormous event in Hampshire called Carfest this weekend. It’s an event that came from the brilliant mind of Chris Evans, left. Essentially it’s a family festival that has raised millions for children’s charities.
Obviously, there are lots of beautiful cars but there are also performances from the best bands and DJs around. Elsewhere, you can get stuck into cookery classes, mindfulness seminars and author interviews. I’ve been doing my bit by interviewing different authors around the place while The Happy Pear have also been representing Ireland here with their inimitable take on healthy living! I’ve heard Chris talking about the event for years so it was a total pleasure to be invited not only to present my radio show from here straight after his on Friday, but to actually hang out and get involved.
As a voracious reader of crime fiction, I also love a quality crime drama on TV. I devoured Love-Hate when it came out but for some reason I had only ever seen a few episodes of Kin without paying enough attention, so it is with great (if a little late) pleasure that I can tell you I am loving it. It’s stylish, moody and dark and it takes all the time it needs to breathe and tell the story properly.
Clare Dunne is outstanding (and easily one of the finest Irish actors of this generation, up there with Jessie Buckley and Saoirse Ronan as I see it) and the rest of the cast shine too, especially the always formidable Ciarán Hinds and Aidan Gillen alongside Emmett J. Scanlon and Maria Doyle Kennedy who are all tremendous. Dublin looks like New York in Taxi Driver and the story moves along at a clip (excuse the pun) to such an extent that I was trying to save episodes for another day rather than binge-watch in two sittings.
I have Season 2 ready to go (available on Netflix) and, to echo the thoughts of a listener this week, here’s hoping there’s a Season 3 to come..
