The Script hit the top in UK

Irish band The Script have gone straight to top of the UK album charts with their second album Science & Faith.

The announcement was made by BBC Radio 1 this afternoon and confirms the band’s status as one of the biggest international acts to come out of Ireland in recent years.

The band faced competition from American hard rock giants Linkin Park, The Killers’ singer Brandon Flowers’ solo album and Phil Collins’ first solo album in eight years.

Guitarist Mark Sheehan said the news was broken to them by their manager Simon Moran this morning.

“It is really crazy. It just goes to show in a climate where a lot of records are not selling, we are still selling. The album charts is what we really care about,” he told The Irish Times.

“It first went straight into No.1 in iTunes which gave us all an inclination that something was happening. Then the mid-weeks came in and we were looking like we were in competition with Linkin Park who are a huge band.

“We thought, ‘we’re not going to get this’ but to wake up this morning to find out we are No.1 was an incredible feeling. We were up against fierce competition.”

Science & Faith is already No.1 in the Irish album charts where it has gone platinum and the single For The First Time is also No.1

The band has announced three Irish dates next year, the Killarney INEC on Saturday March 5th, the Belfast Odyssey Arena on March 7th and the O2 in Dublin on Friday March 11th. Tickets go on sale on Friday.

It has been a remarkable rise to fame for the band from The Liberties who only formed five years ago and released their eponymous debut album in 2008 which sold two million copies and spawned radio-friendly hits Breakeven, We Cry and The Make Who Can’t Be Moved. In their short time together, they have also played support to Paul McCartney and U2.

Sheehan and singer Danny O’Donoghue worked as producers and session musicians in the US before forming The Script. “We have been unsuccessful longer than we have been successful, “ he said. “We spent so many years struggling and trying to understand the music business. We are working class lads. These years in our existence are very embryonic and short in the grand scale of things. We appreciate where we’re at.”

He hoped their success and the success of other Irish musicians such as Imelda May would give Irish people a little respite from the bad news at home.

“It has shown another side to Ireland. We are very open-minded positive lads and we really want the youth to understand that by having that positive outlook you can change so much for yourself. Unfortunately we come from a country that does not believe in itself enough. Yet people like ourselves and Imelda May can come of very normal areas and making a name for ourselves.

The new album makes reference to the recession in Ireland in the debut single which is about a couple who rekindle their relationship in hard economic times.

“We are socially conscious people. We try to stay away from politics and religion. In these times people want to have their spirits lifted a little bit. The song is about a couple who realise that in having nothing, they still have each other,” Sheehan said.