Grian Chatten’s face lights up for a moment, as he looks over the top of my head on his laptop screen, and out at the back garden of his London home.

“My missus has put out loads of our clothes on the washing line, and they’re drying in the sun,” he says over Zoom, filling me in on the view. “There’s something about even that act that’s making me feel very emotional, in the scale of things: her putting out our washing to dry, while everything is going on in the world. We get on with it, in our little ways.”

Whether his partner finds doing laundry quite as romantic is hard to say – but it’s these relatively minor acts of humanity and love that Fontaines D.C.’s vocalist is being moved by most at the moment, in the face of tragedy, chaos and emotional numbness around the world.

“I’m starting to like people more and more as I get older,” Grian says of this newfound inspiration. “I’d be more drawn to the little things, and the little generosities – like little acts of kindness on the street. All those things are starting to really impact me.

“I don’t know…” he smiles. “Maybe it’s time I have a kid?”

Grian’s appreciation for the little things in life is an understandable response to being in a band who continue to be thrust to the opposite end of the spectrum: the biggest stages, festivals, outlets, awards and – when it comes to conversations about the best bands in the world right now – the biggest buzz.

From the plucky post-punk propulsion of 2019’s Dogrel and 2020’s A Hero’s Death (scoring Mercury Prize and Grammy nominations, respectively), the Dublin-formed, now-London-based five-piece expanded their sonic horizons on their chart-topping Skinty Fia in 2022, leading to a prestigious BRIT Award for International Group the following year.

As a result, these past few years have seen Fontaines D.C. officially graduate from familiar faces in Dublin haunts, to heads more likely to pop up on the red carpet at Cannes Film Festival, or as a cameo in a pop star's latest music video. The venue capacities have jumped up considerably too – with two sold-out 3Arena headliners this December, and their biggest show to date, at London’s Finsbury Park, taking place next summer.

But the group’s growing platform and celebrity status hasn’t left them in a creative lull, or resulted in safe, stick-to-the-script music. In fact, speaking to the individual members of the band in the run-up to the release of their fourth album, Romance, I’m faced with a group of men who appear more quietly confident than ever – armed with a fresh focus, and an engaged, adventurous approach to their craft.

The album arrives after a period of time off from band life, which the members spent focusing on personal projects and milestones: including Grian releasing his Choice Music Prize-nominated debut solo LP, Chaos For The Fly, and guitarist Carlos O’Connell welcoming his first child.

Despite being apart from one another, the band also began delving further into electronic production, and experimenting with drum machines and samplers.

As bass player Conor ‘Deego’ Deegan III notes, it was time to “completely re-approach how we make music.” But there were also other, even more “fundamental changes”, that they were eager to bring about following that time off.

A Dogrel-Shaped Box

After recording all three of their previous albums with Dan Carey, Romance finds Fontaines D.C. joining forces for the first time with producer James Ford, known for his work with the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Depeche Mode and The Last Dinner Party. It’s also the band’s first project released through XL Recordings, having parted ways with their previous label, Partisan.

“We wanted the message to be communicated differently from the get-go,” Grian elaborates. “Two of the main parties that communicate your message are your producer and your label. So we just wanted to change that.”

Having spent years setting up “a methodology for making music with Dan Carey,” as Deego describes it, working with Ford provided an opportunity to start from scratch.

“Someone was saying to me recently that the producer is like the bus driver,”  the band’s Co. Monaghan-raised guitarist Conor Curley reflects. “You all get on, and describe where you’re trying to go. It’s down to him, then, to drive you there – the most scenic way, or the most efficient, depending on what you’re doing. He was amazing at that.”

This fresh start also served as an opportunity to finally draw a line under some of the unwanted genre descriptors that have dogged Fontaines D.C. from their early days. In other words, they wanted to make something that “wasn’t able to fit into a Dogrel-shaped box,” as Grian says.

“The whole post-punk label was something we wanted to shake from day one,” nods drummer Tom Coll – one of two Co. Mayo men in the band, alongside Deego. “That was such a media thing, with so many bands coming out at that time – even though us, Shame and Black Midi sounded very, very different.”

But the media aren’t the only ones who’ve put Fontaines D.C. in a box in the past. As part of the roll-out of Romance, the band revealed a playfully boundary-pushing new look, complete with hair clips, big retro sunglasses, and Grian’s Simone Rocha-designed leather kilt. It initially proved divisive among fans.

“I definitely didn’t expect it to be so shocking to people – to have lads wearing clothes that they never wore before,” remarks Carlos. “It’s a rock ‘n’ roll band, we should be allowed to do whatever the fuck we want! It’s meant to be counter-culture – but then, suddenly, all these people are shocked by something breaking a mould. That, to me, proved that it was necessary to do it. It proved that there’s a mould that shouldn’t be there.

“I was really bored of bands feeling very conformist, and very centrist – and just following the most common narrative,” he continues. “It’s so shallow. You can only say a certain amount of things, and you can only look a certain way. It feels so against what the music is meant to be.”

Big Industrial Landscape

In another notable departure, Romance finds Fontaines D.C. zooming out from their ruminations on Irish identity, to explore a new fictional world.

Described by Grian as “a big industrial landscape, full of smoke”, the dystopian, futuristic universe was inspired by the likes of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner.

“We were definitely getting a lot more into film – and watching a lot of anime, like Cowboy Bebop – on the road,” Curley notes. “So we wanted to use our imagination more, in terms of what we were writing about.”

There’s also real vulnerabilities behind the album’s characters – and despite being set in an imaginary world, Romance feels like one of the band’s most inherently authentic projects to date.

“The album is so theatrical, and fantastical, that it kind of reminds me of the Oscar Wilde quote: ‘Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth,’” Grian reflects. “Creating that fantasy world allowed me to feel more comfortable when expressing myself, vocally and lyrically.

“Also, doing the solo record beforehand, and using my voice in a softer, more intimate way, allowed me to discover aspects of my voice that I actually really liked.”

But the sense of doom at the centre of Romance’s fictional world is also informed by very real concerns, from the dark side of technology’s omnipresence in our lives, to climate anxiety.

“Climate anxiety, Gaza, and everything in the Congo… it’s difficult to think about it, and then revert back to having a conversation about music, or watching The Bear,” Grian remarks. “The record is about that tension between escapism, and the harsh overwhelming reality.”

As Grian points out, social media’s amplification of certain issues can leave today’s young people with a “sense of being overwhelmed that might feel stronger than previous generations – because it’s a bit more inescapable.”

That feeling, combined with other frustrations, can also turn into political apathy.

“Obviously you never really feel sure about who you’re voting for,” Grian reflects. “But it’s getting very difficult to have any trust in any establishment now – it feels like everything is full of holes and brown envelopes.”

But Grian isn’t hopeless – and he’s not looking at hope in vague, passive terms either.

“Hope is engagement,” he stresses. “If you’re hopeless, then you have the luxury of denial – and you’re allowing yourself to just give in. But if you believe in something, that’s when the fight, or the struggle, begins. It all starts with belief.”

It’s a timely point. Fontaines D.C were among the 11 signatories of Love Music Hate Racism’s recent statement against far-right violence in cities around the UK in August. Our conversation is also taking place the same week as anti-immigration clashes in Dublin.

“I was thinking about Dublin there as well,” he nods.

“But the worse it gets, the more easily touched you are by little pockets of niceness,” he adds – bringing us back once again to the image of the clothes drying on the line. “One of things I like about living in London, or even being on tour, is that you get exposed to such a massive amount of diversity. I’ve seen so many little acts of kindness on the street, between two people from two different ethnic backgrounds. People who haven’t met each other before, just being nice.

“That’s where the sense of hope comes in.”

You’re Not Jim Morrison

When it comes to political and social issues, musicians in 2024 tread a thin line between providing escapism, and using their platform to engage with problems. Fans and fellow artists alike have slammed acts for not speaking out about crucial causes, especially the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

“My view is that they should just use their platform, to be honest,” Grian states. “It’s maybe an ugly thing to do – to point and put pressure on each other like that. It’s not a pretty aspect of change. But this is a change that far outweighs the ego of the people that are being pointed out by other artists.

“It’s time to let the stats affect you, and become more important to you than putting up a mysterious, obscure video of yourself jamming out a new riff in the dark,” he continues. “It’s not the ‘60s. You’re not Jim Morrison. We all have social media.”

At the end of the day, speaking out about these issues works, he says: “And the fact that it works means that you should do it. And that’s it.”

“Silence itself is actually a very political thing,” Deego adds. “It’s a political decision. When artists don’t use their platform to speak on an issue, it speaks volumes as to where their values are in life.”

Fontaines D.C. have made their own solidarity with the people of Palestine clear, from teaming up with Massive Attack and Young Fathers to release the special vinyl-only 12” ceasefire, in aid of Médecins Sans Frontières’ emergency work in Gaza and the West Bank, to recently cancelling an Istanbul concert, after it came to their attention that the BDS movement was calling for a boycott of the venue.

Earlier this summer, Carlos joined the likes of Brian Eno and Michael Stipe in the Voices For Gaza initiative – which featured well known figures reading out letters penned by Palestinians.

“Doing it was really hard,” Carlos says of the reading. “It hit me way harder than anything I’d seen. A few years ago, we would’ve said ‘an image is more powerful than a thousand words.’ But things have changed now. Images don’t mean anything – because we don’t believe images anymore. So when you read the words of someone – words that are true and honest of their real experience – that’s much more powerful.”

Just Like Children

Fontaines D.C.’s own personal experiences also continue to guide their work. Grian incorporated the feeling of a real-life panic attack he had in London’s St Pancras station on the album’s lead single ‘Starburster’, with the chorus punctuated by sharp gasps for air.

In conversation, he’s also been open about his experience with ADHD, having received a diagnosis earlier this year.

“Knowing that I have ADHD has allowed me to forgive myself for my inability to make friends when I was very young – and to not criticise my younger self too much,” he reflects. “It would have been nice to have known that just because I couldn’t do certain things, it didn’t mean I was stupid. I definitely thought I was stupid for a long time.”

He’s found that talking to other people with ADHD has been particularly helpful.

“I called Carlos, and interviewed him for like an hour-and-a-half about how it’s made him feel, since his diagnosis – because he has it as well,” he resumes. “I asked him to tell me how the diagnosis had changed his relationship with creativity, and his art. And what the meds are like, and if they numb him at all – because you hear these horror stories about meds turning you into a zombie. But he reassured me, and the next day I just went for it.”

Speaking of Carlos – the half-Irish, half-Spanish guitarist found his own personal life sparking international headlines in 2023, when it emerged that he was taking paternity leave from the band, ahead of the birth of his child with French actress/singer Joséphine de La Baume.

But balancing first-time fatherhood and band life has actually felt “normal and natural”, Carlos tells me.

“It works quite well, having my baby along with me,” he says. “At the end of the day, we’re people who make a living out of playing – we’re just like children. So a baby suits the environment.”

He’s also expanding his creative world in other ways this year. After learning that director Andrea Arnold wanted to use Fontaines D.C.’s music in her upcoming film Bird, starring Barry Keoghan, Carlos reached out.

 

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“I asked if I could come down to the set, just to be there, and see the magic happen,” he tells me. “If I can be anywhere that’s inspiring, I’ll go there. I didn’t even ask to be a part of it in any other way. But Andrea’s amazing. She was like, ‘Why don’t you come in, and I’ll write a part for you.’ And she kept calling me in for more. It was a nice thing to be inside of – seeing the way all these different people work.”

The Hype And The Relentlessness

Carlos isn’t the only band member who’s been trying on multiple hats of late. As well as playing a behind-the-scenes role in organising Féile MOTH in London this year, Tom joined the Pogues – a colossal, long-time influence on Fontaines D.C. – onstage as their drummer for the festival’s Red Roses For Me anniversary gig (a second edition of which is coming to the 3Arena in December).

Last November also saw Tom and Grian joining forces with KNEECAP, on the Belfast trio’s single ‘Better Way To Live’. The two Irish acts’ worlds also collided in cinemas this summer – with Fontaines D.C.’s music featuring in the lauded new KNEECAP film.

“There’s a scene in the film where they’re listening to one of our tunes [‘Liberty Belle’] in their flat, and that really hit me – the idea that two aspiring musicians would be listening to our music together,” Grian tells me. “KNEECAP have talked to me about our music being important to them, but I felt like I was really presented with that idea as a fact for the first time – seeing it, as a fly on the wall. It really touched me.”

Grian tells me he can “see a lot of similarities” between himself and the trio: “Even in terms of how they’re dealing [with their new level of fame] – and how they’re along for the ride…"

“There’s an energy that comes around your doing your first album – the hype and the relentlessness of it,” he reflects. “But I think they’ll be alright. Most of them are actually older than me, so they probably have better heads on them than I do now…”

As the media leaned heavily into Fontaines D.C.’s early image as pub-dwelling bowsy poets, it was easy to forget just how young the band were when they first became the country’s most buzzed-about outfit around 2018.

“I wish I enjoyed the part at the start, with more of a youthful gaze on it,” Carlos remarks. “I was a lot more serious when I was younger. I look back now and feel like I could have been a bit more playful – when there were less consequences to anything. I could’ve done with more late nights!”

Grian, on the other hand, wouldn’t have minded a little more maturity in those days: “If I was the age I was now, when I started, I think it would be a good thing, to be honest.

“But I think I would’ve ended up doing something else,” he resumes. “My favourite job I’ve ever had was working in Eason’s in Swords. I left there after about ten months, but I think about it all the time. If I’m ever wrecked on tour, I’m like, ‘Fuck it, I’ll just quit and go back to Eason’s.’ What I liked about it was that you were surrounded by books, but it wasn’t like one of those bookshops where you walk in and someone’s peering at you over their spectacles, and asking if you’re lost because you’re looking at some poetry or whatever…

“I don’t know if they’d take me back though,” he shrugs.

Have A Bowl Of Cereal

Grian’s talent and passion has been evident from the get-go – but in the past, he always appeared to be a somewhat reluctant rock star.

“I used to feel overwhelmed, and probably nervous,” he says. “For a while there, I’d walk out onstage, and no matter how many people were there, I’d walk off-stage and kind of delete it from my memory – because I was so afraid of it changing me, or turning me into a wanker. So I really suppressed it. That led, ultimately, to struggling with it, when I was confronted with it.

“I’ve just started to accept that it is my reality,” he adds. “It doesn’t scare me so much going forward. I also think I’ve thicker skin now, and I’m a bit more secure and proud of what we’re doing. I don’t need everyone to love me anymore.”

Acceptance has been similarly important to Carlos, when it comes to dealing with Fontaines D.C.’s current reality.

“Just accepting it as this thing that we’ve built, and accepting that it exists, feels healthier than questioning it all the time, and being shocked by it all the time,” he reasons.

“That thing where people wake up and say ‘I’m so grateful…’ – that sounds exhausting!” he laughs. “Just wake up and have a bowl of cereal! That to me is much more powerful and spiritual than paying attention to every single breath I’m able to take. I’m way happier paying attention to a nice bowl of Krave...”

At the same time, as Deego points out, the thought of having major career highlights “become normalised is terrible.”

“When are you going to have your happy moments then?” he resumes. “We have to make sure we still appreciate those things. I’m not exactly pinching myself all the time, but I am trying to practise gratitude.”

Fontaines D.C. credit IDLES as one of the bands that offered key support and advice in their early years as a touring act – though these days, Grian admits that he’s generally “a bit adverse to hanging out with too many musicians and famous people.”

“It wouldn’t really be my cup of tea,” he says. “Some people have suggested that I change that about myself, just so I can talk to someone who knows a bit more about what I’m going through.

“I had a good chat with Damon Albarn about this kind of thing last week,” he adds. “He was really good to talk to about it, because he’s been doing it for so long, and he’s still just as obsessed with the creative process. I feel comfortable being around someone whose life is all about the songwriting, like him.”

For Tom, soaking in the free gigs and sessions around Dublin was a crucial part of his own preparation for band life.

“I used to go see Mik Pyro and the Blues Cartel in the front bar in Whelan’s, every Sunday,” he recalls. “That was just an absolute masterclass of how to actually perform live. Mik’s such a talented person. And there was something so special about it being free in – it was like a weekly pilgrimage. We all went as much as we could.

“That period of musical exploration in Dublin was insane,” he continues. “In Arthur’s there was an acoustic blues session on a Sunday, and then you’d either go to the Foggy Dew for the ska, or up to see Mik in Whelan’s. It was such an important musical education.”

Realms Of Rock ‘N’ Roll

It’s refreshing to hear that – despite being regularly exalted as one of the greatest bands in the world right now – Fontaines D.C. are still open to learning, and considering new perspectives. Touring with the Arctic Monkeys last year, and “being able to see the kind of outfit that they run, seven albums in,” was especially motivating, Curley says.

“They’ve never once compromised their artistic integrity,” Tom concurs. “So seeing such a credible show in such a huge setting was really inspiring. They showed us that you can put out challenging, artistic music, and still be a huge band.”

Although Fontaines D.C. have embraced an arena-ready alt-rock energy on Romance, they’re also a bit of an anomaly on the modern scene. Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis recently told The Telegraph that, when it comes to putting together festival line-ups, “there aren’t a lot of new rock acts to choose from”.

“I don’t think there’s a shortage of guitar music – in fact there’s so much out there at the moment,” Curley states. “But I do think that the road from being a bigger rock ‘n’ roll band, to getting to play main stages, is a longer road than it’s ever been.

“That’s just because the shine and sheen of the stuff that does end up there costs a lot of money to put on,” he adds. “And that’s not really the goal for a lot of people who are really serious about guitar music, or serious about keeping within the realms of rock ‘n’ roll music.”

Fontaines D.C.’s journey to get to those stages has been longer than some might realise. Although they only released their debut album in 2019, this year marks the tenth anniversary of the band – with footage recently emerging online of the then-BIMM Dublin students covering The Strokes’ ‘Reptilia’ at a 2014 student show.

“Yeah, it’s been ten years since I properly met Carlos,” Grian smiles, “and saw Just Kids hanging out the back of his pocket, and his fucking pirate earrings – and thought, ‘What the hell is this?’ That seems like aeons ago, for sure.”

Although Romance has only just burst into the world, the next decade of Fontaines D.C. is already beginning to unfurl rapidly before the band – and there’s “a few cheeky conversations”, as Curley describes it, already underway about what’s next.

“It happens in a very cyclical fashion for us,” Tom concludes. “We write a record, get really excited about it – and then we’ll be six months into touring it, and we’ll really have an itch to do the next thing. We’re easily bored, I guess! So I’ll give it a few more months, and see what we’re up to…”

• Romance is out now. Fontaines D.C. play the 3Arena, Dublin, on December 6 & 7. See their full list of upcoming dates at fontainesdc.com