They’re called The Script an Irish trio (Danny: vocals, Mark: guitar, Glen: drums) and, because their music is rock but a little bit rhythmical and their singer has a soaring, declamatory, Bono-esque voice they’ve been described as “Timbaland Meets U2” and “Van Morrison Remixed By Teddy Riley“. The Script are actually in a good position to achieve this fusion of opposites, having spent time in Los Angeles working with the kings of the oddly accentuated rhythm: Rodney Jerkins, The Neptunes, Teddy Riley and Dallas Austin. “We basically want to try a different approach to a pre-existing formula of music. It’s taking a bit of hip hop, a bit of rock and rap, a bit of this and that.”
Now, it’s not entirely clear what exactly “working with” entailed – some reports suggest they worked with the producers on a number of tracks, others that they swapped samples with the legendary beat-meisters, others that the cheeky young scamps made the tea in the studio – but the fact is, that having supported the Hoosiers on their recent UK tour, The Script are due to go on tour with N¤E¤R¤D at the Brixton Academy, 14 June (More details can be found at brixton-academy.co.uk ) while their forthcoming single, We Cry, sounds vaguely like what might happen if one of those dreary post-Coldplay bands like Keane or Snow Patrol got the Pharrell Williams or Timothy Mosley treatment. Pharrell is always banging on about how much he adores Coldplay while Timbaland loves that brand of pseudo-profound piano-led pomp-pop so much – fearing, like Williams, that R&B is vapid and lacking in depth – that he collaborated with the American Keane, One Republic, on their global hit, Apologize.
What’s this I hear about y’all working with Timbaland, Teddy Riley and The Neptunes? We were taken under the wing of an Irish manager, Paul McGuiness (who manages U2), and he introduced us to people. But the reason we ended up in the bigger scenarios is because Mark is a hustler. He knocked on Teddy Riley’s studio door and just talked his way in.
How did you hustle Pharrell?
It was the other way round. He heard that Paul McGuiness had these proteges. One day at our hotel, there was a guy hovering around dressed all in denim. It was Pharrell Williams. He was a hustler back then, like us. He was like: “Psst, psst, you guys from Ireland?” And he gave us a tape. Obviously, this was before The Neptunes blew up.
*thelondonpaper.com
*myspace.com/thescript
*thescriptmusic.com
The Script – We Cry
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7fv5dlozk8[/youtube]