When the thrill has gone

From chronicling the rise of The Thrills to witnessing the meltdown of their second album, Danny O'Connor captured the highs and lows of the Blackrock band

Is it important to like the people you film?

Not really. Respecting the scenario and seeing the potential - and not in a tabloid sense of looking out for the scurrilous events - is important. There has to be a story, there has to be something to tell.

If, as with The Thrills, you have five charmingly eccentric versions of Ireland - an Ireland, despite my Irish background, that I was never party to - I was absolutely intrigued in terms of their sense of humour and their music and how they make it. With them it was very much liking them as people and thinking the topic was interesting. They're smart, too, and can hold their own. They're a refreshing twist on all things Irish.

When you're working with bands and coming up with various ideas of who to work with, do you have to like the music before you invest time and effort?

You don't have to; with Stereophonics I'm not an obsessive fan, but I'm interested in them as people, and I'm as thick as thieves with them. The liking of the music is secondary. It helps if you enjoy it because you're out and about with them a lot.

How close do you get to your subjects?

Too close is the honest answer - we're very familiar with each other. It's not all love and laughter in the garden, let's put it that way. You can't help but to get to know each other if you're spending four years in each other's pockets. That's not deliberate, though. I knew Stereophonics, for example, before they became famous. You can equally be cursed and blessed with the familiarity thing. We don't demand that we live with our subjects for five years.

Do you put anything of yourself into your films?

I've never really thought about it, but yes has to be the answer. While they're not journalistic diatribes or opinion-led, one would hope there is a certain amount of the self in them. For me, there's a certain amount of the 15-year-old who is obsessed with REM, and thinking all the time what is it that intrigues me. So many bands see themselves on DVD in slow motion walking out to the front of stage and that's the way they'd like to keep it, but the voyeur in me comes out. I'd like to think that the Stereophonics and Thrills DVDs have a lot of heart. We're not cold-hearted film-makers and are very much into celebrating the human condition.

What are the key ingredients in making films?

As with anything, you need a strong narrative and a decent team of people. My films are only as good as the gang I've got working on them. There is a good argument for saying that if you've got the Rolling Stones and a room full of groupies then it doesn't matter which way it's shot - it's still going to be intriguing. But I disagree with that. I'm surrounded by some genius people.

The Thrills: The End of Innocence DVD will be released in the summer