We challenge Kodaline to an arcade game and chat stag dos and A-list encounters
WE challenge the Irish band Kodaline to an arcade game and chat stag dos and A-list encounters.
Where: Las Vegas Arcade Soho, London
Growing up, did you hang out in places like this?
Mark: We spent our youth skateboarding, but one of my first memories of Steve was him coming into my class at school to sing a cappella.
Steve: A teacher used to take me around school to sing.
Mark: With a gun to your head. Dance, monkey, dance!
Vinny: I remember the day Mark and Steve said they’d formed a group. We went to the community centre, set up and jammed. A few years later, Jay joined.
Did you ever have a plan B?
V: We all had s**t jobs before the band. I worked in a computer shop.
S: I worked as a petrol pump attendant and a door-to-door salesman. It was soul-destroying.
Jason: When I was 14 I was a golf caddy.
M: I worked in a call centre for a broadband firm. You know how annoyed you get when your internet’s not working? I got numb to people telling me they hated me.
How did Courteney Cox end up directing the video for your single Love Will Set You Free?
V: We were working on the song with her fiancé Johnny [McDaid, of Snow Patrol] in her house in Malibu, and she kept catching glimpses of it. She said: “I love it, I’d love to shoot a video for it.” We never thought it would happen!
Which other stars have you hung out with?
M: We supported Ed Sheeran a couple of years ago. At the after-party with him and Jedward we sang and drank Guinness till 7am. Jedward sang Under Pressure.
S: Once we were in a recording studio in LA and U2 were next door. We ended up going in and they played a whole show for us, even unreleased songs. Bono had his arm around Vinny, saying: “All this could be yours!” Then Steven Gerrard and Robbie Keane walked in.
J: I didn’t know who they were.
Vinny and Jason, you both got married recently (to long-term girlfriend Carina and childhood sweetheart Etaoin). Any stag do goss?
V: Mine was in Las Vegas. On the second day I fell over a sunlounger as I was about to get sprayed with champagne, and I split my head open. Jay’s stag was in Amsterdam, which was equally as crazy.
M: We Sellotaped two dildos to his hands.
J: But I could still hold my beer!
Do you ever argue?
S: Only over songs. When you’re being creative everybody wants to go in different directions, but the song usually wins.
J: I just sit back and let things happen.
M: Jay is so chilled-out – unless you wake him up.
V: Jesus f**king Christ. Never interrupt Jay when he’s sleeping.
Is having a No.1 album in the UK your end goal?
S: The end goal – and if any band says any different then they are lying – is to be playing arenas and stadiums.
V: The charts aren’t hugely important to us. We may not sell millions of albums, but we sell out tours and big venues. We’re extremely lucky.
BTW: Did you know?
- The word 'Kodaline' has no meaning. It was thought up after a night on the beers.
- Mark took his shoes off for our interview to properly relax.
- Steve won a Super Mario toy from the claw machine.
- Kodaline play four UK dates this December ().
- Thanks to Las Vegas Arcade Soho ()
