We still can’t get over the night Kodaline made our hearts felt like it was summer during Good Vibes Festival 2017! The 4-member Irish band played in Malaysia for the first time when the rain was pouring down which didn’t stop the fans from singing along to all of their biggest hits such as ‘High Hopes’, ‘One Day’, ‘All I Want’, and more. And the band helped out with a proposal on stage too during an acoustic performance of ‘One Day’, which you can view here.
Originally known as 21 Demands, the band changed their band name to Kodaline in 2012 and is made up of Jason Boland (Bass Guitar), Vinny May Jr. (Drums), Steven Garrigan (Vocals), and Mark Prendergrast (Guitar). Kodaline’s breakthrough hit, ‘All I Want’ from their first studio album, In A Perfect World which was released back in 2012, appeared as a background tracks for the Grey’s Anatomy and Vampire Diaries series, as well as soundtracks for The Fault In Our Stars and Love, Rosie movie.
I was internally fangirling as I met the band for the first time a few hours before they perform their set on stage and they were really friendly too! I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as I ask the band about their thoughts about Malaysia and their music journey.
1. How do you feel about Malaysia so far and did you get to explore the any of the famous spots here?
Mark: It’s great! We were in the dressing room and we’re thinking, wow we’re actually playing in the middle of a pine forest in Malaysia for the first time and we’re staying right in the middle of the city so it’s beautiful. We hope we can stay longer when we come back since we’ve only been here for 24 hours. We went to Skybar too which I think it’s one of the hotspots in town.
Steve: Malaysia is amazing. We’ve been doing acoustic videos so any chance we can go out into the city, we’ll play some acoustic songs. We did one in Jakarta recently and the people were just amazing, they were clapping and cheering along as we stroll past along the busy market streets. (P.S: I think they filmed something special on a rooftop somewhere in Malaysia so we’re really excited for it.)
2. What are your music festival must-haves?
Steve: It changes depending on the kind of festival but a pair of wellies (wellington boots), bug spray because I get eaten alive and suncream.
Mark: Yes, a pair of wellies is important and a ticket.
Jason: At Irish festivals, there’s always rain so wellies is a must-have.
3. Which song do you have the most attachment to and why?
Jason: We’re still travelling the world following with ‘All I Want’ which is the first song we released and whenever we play it, the crowd just sings along.
Steve: I think the most special song for us is ‘All I Want’. Doesn’t matter where, all around the world, everyone just connects to it as it’s such an emotional song and everyone sings along to it.
4. Is the dog from the ‘All I Want’ video the same dog from your acoustic performance in the streets of Paris?
Steve: Actually no, it was just a random dog in the streets and we didn’t even plan that but we’re all dog lovers so we just had to include him in. The dog from the ‘All I Want’ video is the director’s dog and the director himself played as the main character in the video. The dog is part of the band, he tours with us.
5. Which Kodaline song do you think is the ultimate festival song? What songs do you think your Malaysians will enjoy the most?
Jason: We have a new song called ‘Brother’ which has only been out for a month and we played it in Jakarta during We The Fest Music Festival and it was insane when the crowd sang the whole way through which is nice because, with new songs, we’re always nervous whether the crowd would connect to it and sing along. That was a great moment for us.
Steve: I think any song that the crowd sings along to and share a connection to is the ultimate song, lucky we have a few such as ‘High Hopes’, ‘All I Want’, and now ‘Brother’. It kind of changes such as in Italy, the crowd went crazy for ‘Love Like This’. We don’t really know actually.
6. So what songs do you predict your Malaysians fans will enjoy the most?
Kodaline: Hopefully all of them!
7. What can your fans expect from your new album and when will it be released?
Steve: We’re very excited, we almost finished it and it’ll be out…soon. We have done 7 songs and there are 3 or 4 more to go. We’re really proud of it, there’s a little change in sound but it’s very much Kodaline so we can’t wait to share it with the fans.
Don’t forget to check out the other highlights of Good Vibes Festival 2017 at the link below.
Read also: #Scenes: Top 8 Highlights From Good Vibes Festival 2017 At The Ranch, Gohtong Jaya
