Kodaline have been hovering around the U.K. rock scene for several years. They used to exist as 21 Demands, but changed their name in 2011, and added bass player Jason Boland to round out the group.

 

Now, they're working on a second record, Coming Up for Air, which is due Feb. 9.

 

There are other important matters, too. Namely, the fact that they keep getting compared to Coldplay. The Irish boys recently sat down with Digital Spy to address the issue.

 

People seem to like comparing you to Coldplay. Do you find that frustrating?

Mark Prendergast: "We haven't got any on the new songs.

 

Steve Garrigan: "The thing is right, I'd say us and 500,000 other bands get compared to Coldplay because Coldplay are so massive. We're Coldplay fans, so it's cool."

 

Boland: "That's the music that was on the radio when we were growing up, that's the band we grew up on. U2, Coldplay and Snow Patrol. It's hard not to take in what's around you."

 

Garrigan: "I think the goal for any band is to just get to the stage where they just sound themselves ... I don't know how long that takes. To us we're just who we are, we don't necessarily sound like anybody else. We don't try to rip anybody else off, we just put our own personalities into our music and the end product is our music."

The takeaway: Kodaline like Coldplay, but they don't want to be lumped into the same sonic category.

 

"We've never really found a sound as a band," Garrigan said. "We write per song — we never really think of an overall sound. If there's a riff that's really funky, it's going to end up being a funk song. That's the way we look at it, we don't think about sounds."

There's still hope for a specific identity, though.

"Maybe, touch wood, the next album we might find a sound — or maybe we already have."

I'm a fan of Kodaline too and while there's a similar spirit to Coldplay, it's definitely not the same end result. It's definitely understandable that they get compared though. They're quite a young band too, as said in the interview, i think it's normal they don't have a distinctive identity yet. I mean I'm sure that when Coldplay were done with Parachutes and about to release AROBTTH, everyone still called them some kind a pseudo-soft-Radiohead-rip-off, am I right or am I right?

 

In any case it makes me melt to read them praise Coldplay like that :cheesy:

I had put this article in the Kodaline thread yesterday too :kiss:

I like Kodaline, but their music feels similar but diferent overall to Coldplay's or any band

As a Kodaline fan I definitely hear some similarities with Coldplay, especially with Kodaline’s first album. Which is a nice thing for me and I believe that being compared with such an amazing band as Coldplay must be flattering for them anyway. I’m glad that Kodaline don’t mind such comparison with other band though. They seem like nice, down to earth guys :)