The Thrills The Irish Keep Gatecrashing (Behind the Scenes)
Windows Media
Real Media
The Thrills The Irish Keep Gatecrashing
Windows Media
Real Media
The Thrills Live
Windows Media
Real Media
The Thrills Whatever Happened To Corey Haim?
Windows Media
Real Media
Thrills Interview Feb 04
Windows Media
Real Media
The Thrills Don't Steal Our Sun
Windows Media
Real Media
The Thrills Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)
Windows Media
Real Media
Glastonbury With The Thrills, Turin Brakes, plus
Windows Media
Real Media
The Thrills The Making Of a Debut album
Windows Media
Real Media
And so it came to pass that The Thrills relocated to San Diego for a four-month vacation. ‘It was just a brilliant summer for loads of reasons,’ says Daniel. ‘We rented this tiny place right on the beach. There were two little rooms with us and four of our mates crammed in. We found these two big couches outside the house, and a Lay-Z-Boy we found in a skip. We just dragged them onto the sand and completely lived it up.’ When you’re The Thrills, living it up is done to a backing track of Frank Sinatra, The Band, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder and good-natured bickering over which Carole King sleeve rules the most. ‘Everything had changed when we got back to Dublin,’ says Daniel. ‘The way we felt was completely different. We knew this was what we had to do.’ A follow-up trip to San Francisco in 2000 only strengthened their resolve. Back in Dublin, they spent months locked away, transferring the sunshine vibe they’d soaked up in America on to demos, and signed a deal with a tiny local label Supremo in 2001.
The Thrills were on their way. Things didn’t quite work out with Supremo and they parted ways. But by the summer of 2002, word was getting around. (Luckily it hadn’t reached their parents, the boys had told them that superstardom was just round the corner when – oops – they didn’t in fact have a deal). All the major record labels started throwing money about, but last year The Thrills settled with Virgin, simply because the ‘vibe was right.’
So far, so easy. But the best was yet to come. After being tipped off by a mutual friend, the famously reclusive Morrissey bestowed his royal approval by turning up to a Thrills rehearsal. Though he nearly wandered into an empty room. ‘Our manager said ‘you’ve got a special guest coming to see you practise.’ When I found out it was Morrissey we planned to keep it to ourselves and give the rest of the band the shock of their lives,’ Daniel says. ‘But then the rest of the band phoned the night before and said they were going to cancel rehearsals and I had to tell them.’ Morrissey came, tapped his foot along to The Thrills sound and asked them to support him on tour. ‘It was amazing,’ says Daniel. ‘At that point, nobody had seen him for years.’ Did they hang out? ‘Yeah, we went out for a meal. It was basically us quizzing him for two hours. We’re all massive Smiths fans. The funny thing was, he couldn’t stand any of the other music we’re into. Then we mentioned Phil Spector and, thank God, he loves Phil Spector.’ But? ‘But then someone mentioned how great Spector’s Christmas album is and Morrissey said ‘I hate Christmas.’’
Still, they didn’t let that come between them and in September 2002 they wound up opening for him at the Royal Albert Hall. Not a bad start – it took Robbie Williams ten years to play there. After that, it was only natural that the band should record their debut LP in Los Angeles, with Tony Hoffer, the producer behind great works by Air, Beck and The Smashing Pumpkins.
Protection - we do a lot of it these days. Sun cream for our skin, sunglasses for our eyes, condoms for you know where - but do you remember to protect your hearing?
Click to find all the information you need to look after your hearing now so you can enjoy music for years to come
The Raft has discovered The CarbonNeutral Company
They help business, government and individuals to tackle their contribution to climate change. In addition to forestry projects, their work includes carbon emissions reduction, renewable energy and biomass schemes, as well as carbon management and risk consulting
