MANILA, Philippines?Sadness can be uplifting.

The Script, a new band from Ireland, writes songs filled with grief and melancholy ? but which don?t leave the listener depressed. The music, an inspired blend of soul, hip hop and anthemic pop-rock, is boosted by the soaring vocals of Danny O?Donaghue, 25, who also plays keyboards. Mark Sheehan, 27, referred to as the production whiz, plays guitar and while Glen Power, 28, described by his bandmates as ?the funkiest white man in Dublin,? handles the drums.

Danny and Mark earned their credentials by coming over to the US and hooking up with A-list record producers/musicians Teddy Riley, Dallas Austin, the Neptunes and Rodney Jerkins. Through sheer guts, Danny and Mark found work as a songwriting and production team, till they met Glen and decided to form The Script.

?Our name is like a catchphrase,? explains Danny, who came with Glen as presenters and guest performers at the 2008 MTV Asia Awards in Genting, Malaysia recently. ?In LA, people would talk about work by asking, ?What?s the script?? It was like saying ?Wassup?? and it stuck in my head. We thought it was a good name for a band. It?s nice to pronounce, too.?

Onstage at the Arena of Stars where the show was held, The Script played with a stand-in for Mark, who had to stay in Dublin because his wife was due to give birth. Still, the band?s performance of ?The Man Who Can?t Be Moved,? a bittersweet song about love and obsession, drew applause ? Danny appearing to have gained new fans with his boyish appeal and vocal resemblance to Sting.

Before the show, The Script?s record label, Sony BMG, set up Danny and Glen for interviews with Asian broadcast and print media, including the Inquirer.

Some of the questions dwelled on how much influence Ireland?s greatest music export, U2, has had on The Script. ?We?d be lying if we denied having been influenced by U2,? Danny replied. ?When I met Bono, I got so drunk that I fell from the stairs of the pub. He laughed so hard.?

The first thing Danny said to us was that he was in Manila when former President Joseph Estrada was leaving Malacañang. And Glen said that he and Pinoy pop composer Vehnee Saturno were friends.

What was it about black American music that got you excited?
Danny: I didn?t know at [first] what soul music was. But when I heard Stevie Wonder, he was so expressive, painting beautiful pictures with his words and his voice ? It was vocal acrobatics. He could sing so high, higher than a girl, and lower than the lowest baritone. Soul is always [related to being black] but Bono has soul.

Glen, you were said to be a music prodigy at 15 years old. What kind of session work did you do?
I did a lot of session work with various singer-songwriters in and around Dublin. I also played with Don Baker, an Irish harmonica player who was in the movie, ?In the Name of the Father.? I also played on commercial jingles. Do you know Vehnee Saturno? I?ve also written songs with him, I don?t know if one of them will be released next year. I also got to do some work in Europe.

Danny, how did you hook up with Teddy Riley?

I think it?s the gift of the gab, as we say in Ireland, which means we can talk our way into anything. Mark and I went down and knocked on Teddy?s door. It?s something that a lot of people would?ve shied away from but we had mutual friends who let us know that Teddy was in the studio. I was trying to set up a meeting.

Where did it happen, in the States?

Yeah, Virginia Beach ? We went to the US as a production and writing team. We wanted to be the next this and the next that ? just childish dreams, you know ? so we set off, the usual story, not much money in our pockets ? This mutual friend told us that Teddy was in his studio at the time and I was trying to set up a meeting but wasn?t getting that far ? We got the guitars on our backs, went down, knocked on Teddy?s studio. Teddy and his group were watching ?The Sopranos.? The security guard let us in. Teddy?s group sat back and said, ?Play.? We ended up playing a CD of stuff that we produced. Teddy liked the stuff, liked how brash we were and said, ?These guys have an ambition.? We ended up working that night on some songs.

You said that the songs in your debut album took shape in your darkest moments. Any references to what happened to Mark's mother and your father?

Danny: Yeah ? ?The End Where I Begin? was basically about ? the darkest times ? When my dad died, I thought that was the end of me. We wanted to come up with a lyric that meant a rebirth. We drew inspiration from my dad and Mark?s mom ? they?d want us to do nothing else but what we?re doing now.

How did you develop the song ?We Cry??

The story ? wrote itself. It?s about walking down a road in Dublin called James Street. You see everybody, from a girl who should be in school, to a drug dealer who could?ve made something of himself. The song is reflective of how we felt, ?cause we don?t feel like we?re any better than these people... we?re all broken inside in some way. But as long as we?re here together, we can cry together, find some comfort.

There seems to be a certain beauty in the sadness of the songs.

Danny: I think there?s something beautiful about being honest and letting somebody know that we?re human. I am human.