After an extremely successful journey on ‘The X Factor,’ whereby they made it to the Live Shows and went on to appear on ‘The X Factor Live Tour,’ alongside several other contestants from the series, Sean and Conor Price – a brotherly duo from Blessington, Ireland – are currently embarking on their debut headline tour around Ireland. Earlier this year, they released singles ‘Be Like You’ and ‘Get Lost,’ with their third single out later this month.
Here at CelebMix, we had the opportunity to exclusively speak with Sean and Conor about their time on ‘The X Factor,’ musical influences, their ‘Be Like You Tour’ and more. Keep reading to check out our interview!
Going back to your time on ‘The X Factor,’ what is the stand-out memory from the whole experience?
Sean: ‘The experience was mad and the whole year was just mental, but making the friends with all the contestants.’
Conor: ‘Also, the Live Tour was insane, to be able to go around and play arenas all around England. It was an insane experience for us.’
What was your favourite performance while you were on the show?
Conor: ‘I think ‘Freedom.”
Sean: ‘Well actually probably the audition song, because we’d been busking on Grafton Street (Dublin) singing that song for like a year and every time we did it, we’d do something different with it. We had it perfected for the audition. The response that we got from the Judges was second to none. We did not expect that whatsoever.’
What is your life like now, after ‘The X Factor’?
Conor: ‘It’s been different. Just getting noticed in the street walking, it’s hard to wrap your mind around, but it’s great to see that everyone is supporting you and everyone is still following you after the show, because that’s a big thing. Usually, maybe some contestants lose some after the show, but it’s still been going strong for us and this tour has been insane. Meeting all the fans has been crazy.’
Looking back on the whole ‘The X Factor’ experience, do you have any regrets?
Sean: ‘Not really, no.’
Conor: ‘I’m having a good think about this.’
Sean: ‘If we changed anything when we were there, it could have went differently. Looking back, you can’t say ‘we should have done this,’ when it could have gone differently.’
Conor: ‘I couldn’t say a bad word about the whole thing. To have two young lads go through that experience, it doesn’t happen every day. We were just riding the waves and it was the best thing we could have done at that time and it’s led to where we are now.’
Do you still keep in touch with any of the other contestants from the series?
Sean: ‘Definitely. We’re still really good friends. Especially from the Live Tour, we formed a family that we’ve gone travelling with around the UK and Ireland. I was actually talking to Rak-Su yesterday, so we’re all still in touch.’
With the new series starting in a few weeks, will you be watching?
Sean and Conor (Joint): ‘Definitely.’
Conor: ‘I’m going to be very intrigued.’
Sean: ‘I’m going to be like ‘I wish I was there again.’
What do you make of the new Judges line-up for the show this year?
Conor: ‘It’s different. I feel like it’s always good to change things up.’
Sean: ‘It’ll pull in the viewers. Obviously Louis Tomlinson knows what he’s talking about, he’s been on the show.’
If you were on the show this year, apart from Simon, what Judge would you like to have as your Mentor, and why?
Conor: ‘Maybe Louis Tomlinson, because he kind of has the same kind of age group as fans, so he gets it.’
What would be your advice for anyone on the show this year?
Conor: ‘You just have to try it. We didn’t expect anything. We went in for the audition and it was great fun, but we didn’t think anything was going to come from it. You’ve just got to throw yourself in.’
Sean: ‘Go for it, don’t doubt yourself and just be yourself. If you’re being someone you’re not, then it can be hard to keep that up.’
Have you been out on the road and performing your own original music at venues around Ireland?
Sean: ‘Yes! It’s been unbelievable. We did ‘The X Factor Live Tour’ in February, but to actually do our own headline show, where people are paying to see us and we get to do our own music, people are singing our lyrics back to us is unbelievable. It’s a great feeling.’
Conor: ‘It’s mad.’
What is your favourite thing about touring?
Sean: ‘It gets addictive every night, going out and everyone screaming.’
Conor: ‘You might see on social media, there are fan accounts, but to see their faces in real life, the people behind the account, it’s amazing.’
What is your favourite song from your set-list?
Sean: ‘One of our favourite songs to perform is probably our own song called ‘Dreamer.’ It hasn’t been released yet, which is mad, because people know the words. We’re releasing that with our up-coming EP at the end of the year, and that’s probably our favourite song.’
Conor: ‘That’s probably my favourite song too.’
You have your new single ‘Quit’ being released on August 17. Does the single have a previous sound to previous singles ‘Be Like You’ and ‘Get Lost’?
Conor: ‘It’s a slower song. It’s more serious, it’s a piano song.’
Sean: ‘With ‘Be Like You’ and ‘Get Lost,’ it really showed the two of us off. We’re fun, two young lads, but we want to show that we’re musicians as well. This is stripped back and a nice, slow song.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th9KmAQVSjw
When it comes to your music sound, do you ever clash, or do you find you have a similar music direction?
Conor: ‘We have different musical tastes. Not too different, we still love all the same type of music. Sean might venture more on folk music. You like a bit of that, don’t you?’
Sean: ‘And you’re a bit more dance music.’
Conor: ‘I just like all music.’
Sean: ‘We don’t clash though. It’s two different tastes.’
Who are your musical influences?
Sean: ‘So many. When I was younger, all I listened to was Eminem. That was it!’
Conor: ‘And Michael Jackson.’
Sean: We listen to so many acts, but especially Irish acts, like Hudson Taylor, Kodaline.’
Conor: ‘Gavin James. They are all great inspirations to us.’
Sean: ‘All singers and song-writers.’
Is there a message that you want to be conveyed through your music?
Sean: ‘Especially with ‘Be Like You,’ be yourself. You see everyone is enjoying themselves when we are playing that song, and it’s just great to know that you’re telling people to be themselves.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ0zpu7javc
Conor: ‘Be yourself and don’t change.’
You’ve mentioned the release of an EP – will that be coming later this year?
Sean: ‘We’re planning to have the EP released either the end of September or the beginning of October. We’re nearly finished the recording on it. I think we’ve one or two more days in the studio and then we’re finished, nearly ready to go. We’re really excited to release that. It’s going to be a six-track EP. It’s going to be good.’
Conor: ‘It’s exciting.’
What are your plans for after the tour? We’ve seen on Twitter there has been some speculation about a potential UK tour later this year?
Sean: ‘We will definitely be going over to the UK. Whether it’s one show, two shows, or a whole tour, we’ll see.’
Finally, do you have a message for your fans?
Sean: ‘Just thank you so much for supporting us, because we couldn’t do any of this without you.’
Conor: ‘We’re living our dream at the moment, and it’s because of everyone who supports us. So thank you.’
Here at CelebMix, we want to say a big thank you to Sean and Conor for taking the time to speak with us.
Their new single ‘Quit’ will be released on Friday August 17 and is available for pre-order from Monday August 13.