Wild Youth’s Conor O’Donohoe has been working pretty hard writing in a West London studio lately and we thought we’d catch up with him!
I sat down with Conor over a coffee in a West London Pub a few days ago and chatted about Wild Youth’s new single ‘Can’t Move On’.
Tell me about your single ‘Can’t Move On’?
C- Sure! ‘Can’t Move On’ is essentially a breakup song. We’re emotional guys but we aren’t a ‘ballad’ type of band and it’s actually from a real experience of an ex. I think everyone’s experienced something where you’ve broken up with someone and you go out and you might still be talking and there is still something in the back of your head thinking you might get back together but then you see them with someone else. It’s the real kind of end of the book I guess and that’s what it’s about and how I struggled to deal and come to terms with it.
You guys have also recently released a charity single to raise money for charities in Ireland, How did that come about?
It’s a company in Ireland called Woodies and the PR company got in touch with our manager and they always pick upcoming bands from that year and bands that they like and they asked us to do it this year. My mum did a lot of work with the charities involved so when this opportunity came up I was extremely happy as I felt a special connection and we immediately said yes! It was an unbelievable day and we rearranged the Foo Fighters song a little bit and put our own Wild Youth twist on it, they had a choir come in and the kids from Down Syndrome Ireland came down, It was amazing! A very special day
Last time we spoke, we talked about how the band name came about but can you recall the moment you all realised you wanted to make music together?
C- Dave and I have been friends for years so we’ve always been making music together like when we were kids and we would go to my backhouse and play covers. When we met Cal, our drummer, he was very immediate and he came in and within an hour we had just clicked and it was like we knew each other for years! And when Ed came, it was the same! We started writing and everything just worked. You can imagine if you put four people in a room, not everyone could get on and especially in a creative world, people can be very passionate about what they believe but we’re all pretty similar so I think that’s why it works so well.
How do you think your hometown in Ireland has affected you and the music you create?
C- I think the great thing about our hometown Dublin and even the areas we’re from is that I find Irish people are incredibly modest and they’ll never ever let you believe that your band is on a high so you find yourself constantly working harder and I think no matter what happens, we want to make sure we remain super grounded and be polite to everyone. I also think Irish people have a really good work ethic and that something I’ve seen from my brothers, it’s a real get up and go attitude! You can never sit and bathe in your ‘glory’ and you can’t walk around like you’re somebody special. You just have to get up the next day and try and work hard, I think that’s one of the great things about Ireland! People are also so supportive and they really want to get behind us and see us succeed. I think how it’s influenced our music is from previous Irish bands and even watching people play in bars or pubs, there’s a really good music scene in Ireland! You could go out every night of the week and there’s a gig on somewhere! It could be a band you’ve never seen but there’s so much talent in Ireland and then you’ve also got the likes of The Script, U2 and Dermot Kennedy and it’s so inspiring to see those people doing so well.
How does 2018 compare to last year? How differently did you approach this year than you did in 2017?
C- we’re definitely a lot busier this year! Last year in May we released ‘All or Nothing’ and it was good, it was really nice to put music out finally and we spent a lot of time away writing and getting a collection of songs together! When you hear your song on the radio or get people coming to your gigs, it feels amazing! Obviously, since we had ‘All or Nothing, there’s been ‘Lose Control’ and now ‘Can’t Move On’ and it’s getting unbelievable support and we have amazing people backing it! I find that this year we’re working every minute of the day
You guys are finally coming back to London in September playing at The Lexington, what can fans expect?
C- a lot of energy and new songs! We have our own headline shows in Dublin and London, we’re probably going to announce some more dates pretty soon and I’ve been here in London writing for a while so we’re going to have a big catalogue of new music and the first time we’ll play them will be those two shows!
Strangest thing a fan has ever given you?
C- There have been a few things but it’s usually something really nice! We’ve been brought Wild Youth hoodies and drawings of us, chocolates! I remember once I was staying in a hotel and I tweeted that I would really like some doughnuts and we got to the hotel somebody had dropped in a box of 12 doughnuts so that was really nice! We done a show with The Script and one of the shows, a fan had flown in from Belgium to come and see us and I really love chocolate and she brought a load of chocolate which was really cool
