Mark Prendergast’s day job has occupied him since he was just 15. As a songwriter and guitarist in massive Swords act Kodaline, he’s experienced the highs and the lows of the music industry, touring the world with his friends. In Man Alive, he’s taking a step out into the solo world.
With the new project comes a distinctly personal sound. In debut EP ‘Colours’, he explored heartbreak, Follow up ‘Hiding’, recorded in a more toned-down way closer to his live offering, explores Prendergast’s post-tour antisocial periods.
“It’s a little bit about social anxiety, a little bit about just not wanting to be bothered by anybody,” he says. “I just wanted to enjoy my own company, but I ended up working on the song. When I’m going through something, songwriting is one of my favourite things to do. It always comes out in the songs.”
“I’ve been playing to maybe 100 people in London and Dublin, and it’s very hard,” he continues. “You get used to big crowds. It’s a buzz, but it’s so much easier. In a small room, you pick out people, and when someone goes to the bar or the toilet you’re very aware of it. But the intimacy that comes with it I do love. Looking at a blur of people is different to making eye contact and wondering if someone’s having a good time.”
“I played a gig in my house, my first solo thing with friends and family, unveiling Man Alive. I was really nervous, looking out at my family. It was one of the most intense nerve wracking gigs I ever did. It’s sobering. I’ve decided to just do things alone, and the buzz of it, the adrenaline rush is a new feeling. I’m really addicted to that feeling of scaring myself out of my comfort zone. I feel great after the shows.”
“At the moment, with babies and weddings in the band, there’s a lot of life to be done. In those times, I don’t think it’ll come to picking between Kodaline and Man Alive. Kodaline will be a priority, as there are other people involved. I don’t know if there will be more Man Alive when Kodaline’s next session ends. But they’re a welcome mental break, one from the other.”
“It can be very obvious if what I write is for me or the band. Of course, I’m not the singer in Kodaline. I think there’s a general feeling of a Kodaline song, and a few songs for Man Alive felt like they could be Kodaline songs, so I kind of put them away. I’ve got a song bank that came from not trying to write Kodaline songs.”
“I would class myself as an extreme extrovert. It’s funny that the conversation around this song is about struggling to come out of my shell, because it’s only in that time after six weeks with the same 13-14 people on a tour bus in bunk beds, which I love, but after a six week tour, you just want to be left alone. Your social battery is dead, and you need to sit on the couch, order food and vegetate.”
“The person who I’m describing in the track ‘Miles Away’, I’m not that person a lot. I love hiding away and disappearing for a couple of days. What I’ve enjoyed the most about the project is being in the studio and experimenting, to see if I can make music myself and release it. Doing whatever I wanted was quite liberating.”