The song itself is just about a doomed, paranoid relationship with influences of alcohol, drugs, and paranoia. Picture by Ellius Grace/PA. Then I checked out Baudelaire, and discovered that he was very urban, a man about town with a fractured take on modern life as they would put it today. I think its interesting in this world where its incredibly important to be good, it just makes it very, very alluring to write from the perspective of somebody who doesnt want to be good or doesnt feel the need to pretend to be good. I think he just felt kind of consumed by the spirit of [Nabokovs] writing and wanted to relay that musically. [21][22][23] They also received grant funding from RT 2fm. It was popularised by William McGonagall and later Ogden Nash. He had this piece of music and the title, and then I wrote the lyrics more or less in one go. Absolutely. Words: Patrick Clarke The coffee that comes out of a big keg, like black beer. Im in a position there where Ive made something of a career from trying to connect with and render the culture and country that I come from and try and express it and in turn and in doing so, understand it myself and help other people understand it. Aside from what you bond over what do you and your bandmates disagree about? In 2015 they were going to release their debut with music journalist John Robb's Louder Than War label. He didnt want to see me mugged off. He was a modern guy, a city dweller, a bit louche, something to aspire to! Send us a tip using our anonymous form. How much of Ireland is still out of tune? You, the band, the music, this whole thing? Chatten's dense, chewy lyrics, rich with allusions to the modernist poets the band first bonded over while at music school, hinted at a world trapped between history and modernity, where cabbies,. I dont really like to get in the spotlight too often which is obviously contradictory to what I do. His name isnt Paddy, but that doesnt stop bullies from calling him that. Ive read Joyces poetry and it just doesnt stand up to Yeats at all for me. Chatten is the frontman of the Irish post-punk band Fontaines D.C., recently described by NME as "the new heroes of the rock resurrection." The members of the group met while attending music college in Dublin and initially bonded over a shared love for Irish . The new record broadens the groups sonic palette. 13th November 2020. After making waves in Europe, Fontaines D.C. are taking their first crack at America; first in New York, then SXSW, followed by an American tour opening for Idles. It worked. I recently married my soul mate in the middle of a pandemic. Instead, I'm talking to the disembodied voice of Grian Chatten, down the phone line from London. [2], They released music videos directed by frequent collaborator Hugh Mulhern. Carlos [OConnell], one of our guitarists wrote the lyrics and he wrote the main riff and everything like that. Three albums later, the parameters have changed. He wrote the song I Love You for Ireland, saying: Ive moved from that country. Tour diary: The Muckers, Anemone, Chai, and Rubblebucket @ Treefort Fest. I think everything gets lost in inauthenticity. Copyright 2017 ALT CITIZEN. His friends Martyn, Timmy, LDShadowLady, NettyPlays, Tomahawk, Bigbst4tz2, Mini Muka, Taurtis and SystemZee started their journey together, with PearlescentMoon joining in later. "Televised Mind" did not enter the Irish Singles Chart, but peaked at number seven on the Irish Homegrown Top 20 chart. interview, A lot of the album is built upon that experience, that feeling. Share your email for news, gossip and more, Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten has blasted England as a country that doesnt really welcome people who are Irish and one where youre mocked and told to go home., Outspoken Grian lead singer with the internationally successful group said his experience as an Irish immigrant in London is that the country "still considers people from Ireland not to be trusted, and threatening., He told how the bands new album Skinty Fia is built on that feeling, describing it as something weve experienced a lot over here.. There was a little courtyard and across from the courtyard, there was a really old couple. Sometimes when I think about Yeats I well up in tears. I cant believe Ive still got this accent; Ive been living in Essex for the last thirty years! The pressure to get a good sleep in those three or four hours became too much for me. At one point, he went a full week without hitting the hay. Grians marriage to his wife typified the type of wedding ceremonies we see these days small and intimate, with guests smiles hidden under protective masks. Im sure I want to prove something to my mom and my da. Ive moved from that country. It doesnt jar the way it looks at all, it just fits it. Shop now, Free standard delivery to United States. Spanish-born Carlos had moved to Ireland with a Spanish girl, and when that relationship ended, it was Grian, and his family in Skerries, who helped Carlos through it, and got him out the other. Home, family, kindred spirits, Michael D., Jimmy Fallon, Derry Girls and his beloved dog, Kizzy, are all on the menu as lead singer GRIAN CHATTEN talks to Hot Press about Fontaines D.C.'s . If she drops something, shed say, Ah, skinty fia. It roughly translates as the damnation of the deer. I dont know, it sounds like mutation and doom and inevitability and all these things that I felt were congruous to my idea of Irishness abroad. Youre checking in to a hotel at 4.00am in between two cities and you have to wake up at seven or eight to do the rest of the drive. But what we did have instead was the music hall. But he gave me something to prove, like yours did. Its a celebration of that flipping, from it being a bad thing into a positive thing. Oh man, Id have to say Yeats. She was an old woman who died and when she died her family wanted to commemorate her Irish heritage. He said if I learnt a poem and recited it to him off by heart, hed buy me a pack. It felt very structured or something like that, and easy, Chatten says. Hes someone who never had any diminishing returns for me. T&Cs apply, Words by Mr Niall Doherty | Photography by Filmawi, The worst thing anyone could say to Mr Grian Chatten is that hes not really Irish. When it rains in Dublin it kind of reveals Dublin the way it is. Before he was a rock'n'roll frontman, Grian Chatten was a sporty lad in Ireland seeking a weirder, wilder identity. It would hurt me a lot because I draw so much from it, he says over Zoom from his flat in Kentish Town, north London. Its that sort of pseudo-knowledge. Met Eireann has pinpointed a two-week period where 'weather warnings or impactful weather are possible'. I think one of the main reasons I dont think of it as that anymore is because of people like John. "Boys In The Better Land" did not enter the Irish Singles Chart, but peaked at number 18 on the Irish Homegrown Top 20 chart. Latest weather models confirm that a bitter cold snap is on the way for Ireland. [27], The NME said that "Dogrel proves that early-days pinning as punks next great hope was perhaps premature there's far more to Fontaines D.C. than your typical thrashed-out, pissed-off young rebellion. I think they should really all be the beginnings of different songs, and I think I just get lazy and compile them all into one song.John: What a great idea! "Fontaines D.C. Live at Kilmainham Gaol" did not enter the ARIA Albums Chart, but peaked at number 19 on the ARIA Top 20 Vinyl Albums Chart. I feel like Ive abandoned Ireland to some extent. Please try again. The musicians' knowing immobility helpfully focuses the attention on livewire vocalist Grian Chatten, who - after initially struggling with fame earlier in his career - stands fetchingly tilted. Im very sad about whats going on over there. Theres no hope without tragedy and all that. I feel guilty for having left. Kojaque is really good. Stay in the loop with the latest style news and get an exclusive 10% off when you subscribe to our emails. Especially when youre in a group of young Irish people living in London, it can be a great social adhesive between youse. In May 2020, he helped raise money for a food drive in South Africa. One of the main reasons I dont think of poetry as an elitist pursuit anymore is because of people like John.. I went to the library and got everything Edgar Allan Poe had ever written, then I started reading about his life and I discovered that this poet, Charles Baudelaire had put his own work to one side to translate the entire canon of Edgar Allan Poe into French. ", Fontaines D.C. on the Mutated Irishness of Their New Record Skinty Fia, Brianna Gheys Vigils Have Become Protests But to Friends, She Was Just Bri, Rupert Grints Terrifying Personal Connection to Knock at the Cabin, Woman Who Allegedly Scammed Holocaust Survivor Out of Millions Previously Posed as Psychic, Jason Derulo Pens First Book 'Sing Your Name Out Loud', Wizkid More Love, Less Ego Tour Postponed to Fall 2023, A Year After Brain Injury, Amy Grant Sets First Solo Musical Return in a Decade, Blink-182 Postpone First-Ever Latin America Tour Dates Following Travis Barker Finger Injury, Raye Relives Her Sexual Assault in Harrowing 'Ice Cream Man' Video, How to Watch 'The Mandalorian' Online: Stream Season 3 Now, Alex MurdaughCalled 'Family Annihilator' by Prosecution in Murder Trial. I realized that that was an interesting place for me to go on the next record., The rest of the album took shape back in London during dreamy night sessions at the bands rehearsal space. Cait ORiordan from the Pogues is coming tonight. How Cold Love Is Is there any American crossover in Ireland? It was just one of those things, he says. With the Irish twist that you have, what do you think youre going to reveal to America that it doesnt already know about itself, as outsiders and non-Americans? Does Dublin feel like an ex-lover that you broke up with to see the world? As frontman and chief lyricist of the Dublin post-punk quintet Fontaines D.C., Chatten has channelled life growing up in Ireland into his band's music, songs that take in themes of mental health, corrupt governments, religion and community. "[28] The Guardian gave the album a five-star review, hailing it as a "perfect debut", and commending Chatten for embracing the Dublin accent. Fontaines D.C. are one of the most thrilling guitar bands to emerge this century. The shocking part, which Ive left to the end of the story for dramatic effect for you, is that this is two years ago. It was the final straw for Grian Chatten and his adopted home city of Dublin. Ireland is like that. I kind of feel like its in two parts. Lo and behold, it turned out to be another song about Ireland, he says. As frontman and chief lyricist of the Dublin post-punk quintet Fontaines D.C., Chatten has channelled life growing up in Ireland into his band's music, songs that take in themes of mental health, corrupt governments, religion and community. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. Please, A fresh breath: Chatten says the bands second album is like the exhalation after Dogrels inhalation. Whoever hasnt written anything for it yet has to find something that suits that feeling or has to dig or sympathize with that feeling. Its like the most normal title ever. Its very reassuring when that happens, I find.Grian: When you say you hear echoes of different people in what I do, thats why that doesnt upset me. He was in love with 19th-century poetry and he conveyed this enthusiasm to the rest of the class which became this hothouse of poetic activity. I dismantle them, put them back together. Theres nothing about it that is exclusively Irish, apart from the accents and the vocal delivery or the stories that they tell. The government is driving the country into the ground, keeping a lid on previous scandals. We have noticed that there is an issue with your subscription billing details. Changed your mind? My moms British and I was born in England and I moved over [to Ireland] when I was like two months old, and my dads Irish so its like Im made up of two halves. A lot of the lyrics are about stories I identify with but arent necessarily personal. Grian: I worked in this awful upmarket clothes shop where I had to sell sunglasses. Spiritually, there are two parts to it. So I think its very easy as an outsider to come in and point things out to people, but also I think if you take an element of one society or one culture and you put it in the pool with another one, both societies become nuanced against each other, like differences, and they become more intensely aware of what they are. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. Sam Fender, Grian Chatten and Conor Deegan III attend The NME Awards 2022 at the O2 Academy Brixton on March 2, 2022 in London, England. See more at: https://www.rte.ie/culture/GRIAN CHATTEN - THURSDAY APRIL 23RD / RT ONEHailing from Skerries in North Dublin, Grian Chatten is the lead singer . Yeah to an extent. Do you feel the need to be romanticized? You want reminders of the fact that youre part of this group of people that are still sort of mocked and told to go home. Something weve experienced a lot over here in London. Im sure I want to prove something to the people that inspire me who are often dead. [20], Fontaines received tour support from Irish Arts Council which allowed them to tour internationally. I was basically too bollocksed all the time and the idea of a bed started to scare me more and more, he says. Its partly because of figures like John, Grian says, that he thought he could make a career out of writing and performing in the first place. He was born on August 9, 1993, in England. Theres a kind of great sadness to that. If a band has a good message on paper but is too fashionable, too concerned with fashion, its just very difficult for me to listen to them because I cant take them seriously. I wondered about these things going in and realized during our talk how much they all made sense. Grian and his wife had planned to travel a lot before getting married, but the coronavirus pandemic forced them to postpone those plans. I think if we all got caught up on what the future is without looking at the past, then were going down a very, very dark road. Grian and his long-time girlfriend got engaged in August 2019. I read that one thing that really brought you guys together was a mutual love of the Beat generation and you named yourselves after the Godfather character, Johnny Fontane. [40] Toronto's Spill Magazine praised Skinty Fia as "an important album, perhaps the most important album of the year", hailing it as a strong contender for 2022 album of the year. Fontaines D.C. performing at Loose Ends festival Amsterdam, 2019. Its expansive and loose where their first two records were tightly wound. I was really into a tune by her called "Never Get Old," off The Lion And The Cobra. Thats kind of what I was interested in. John Cooper Clarke: If I might start this off, Im a late convert to your work, Grian! Please, The subscription details associated with this account need to be updated. In this episode, Grian Chatten reads "The Windhover" by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Look no further! And the people blatantly telling him: Go home., These experiences cant help but make their way into the music of Fontaines D.C., the band Chatten fronts specifically on the bands third album, Skinty Fia, out April 22. People tend to think they know everything, obviously when theyve had a few pints in them. Those are kind of the themes I wanted to explore in the album. [9] Stereogum, who premiered "Chequeless Reckless" in early 2018, described their sound "a synthesis between post-punk, garage rock, and a kind of gritty, urbane sense of rhythm and narrative" and naming them a 'Band To Watch'. His family and relationship history, Who is Ovidio Guzmans wife? We've created a brand-new newsletter to help you stay on top of the latest celeb news and gossip, from Hollywood to Ireland. RELATIONSHIP DETAILS BELOW He was previously part of another YouTube channel called CraftedMovie before deciding to go solo in 2014. Recently I was in a pub with my da in my hometown and a fella came up to us outside the bar, outside the jacks (Irish slang for toilet) and he just turned around to us and he said Hey fellas do you need any advice? She was an old woman, she was called Margaret Keane. In New York when it rains and you see puddles, you see the gasoline and iridescent colors. Well I think almost all music comes from a working class background and then it gets commandeered by the upper classes. Despite the four decades between them, Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten and longstanding punk poet John Cooper Clarke have much in common. Like if Shane MacGowan told me that he liked one of my tunes I think I could just retire. The rain swiveling and careening through the cobblestones on any street thats slightly steeped, its beautiful. As featured in the November 2020 issue of DIY, out now. To consider Irishness as inherently sort of linked to the IRA or terrorism, or anything like that, its just deeply upsetting to hear, he told music magazine Rolling Stone. Not that it cant survive fine without me, but I feel like Ive taken all this crap from it creatively, and then Ive just left. Apart from entertaining his followers, Grian uses his platform to raise money for charity and to sensitize his fans on various causes around the world. Now, were sort of like, if we just keep going and we dont fuck it up, maybe I could raise my kid on this. He says this rise in expectations doesnt interfere with his writing. Im saying goodbye to Dublin. Its the only song in the album whose lyrics I didnt write. An intense, independent-minded conversationalist, he talks with staccato passion about art and music, class and politics, culture and creativity, fame and money, identity and integrity. [16][26] The record was recorded live on tape. Like if you go to Boston, that expression of Irishness. You can follow Fontaines D.C. on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Dogrel is out April 12th via Partisan Records pre-order the album here. 894646. It becomes contrived and superficial. Theres always the nitpicking, but were all so well versed in one anothers idiosyncrasies that it comes as no surprise when somebody annoys you. Yeah, nine months out of the year its drizzling there, I could imagine Ireland is very similar. After meeting while attending music college, and bonding over a common love of poetry, the band began self-releasing singles and performing live regularly, signing to Partisan Records in 2018. Grian (real name: Charles Batchelor) is a British YouTuber who specializes in posting Minecraft gaming videos. This interview should have happened backstage at a Swiss music festival last summer. Fontaines DCs A Heros Death is out now via Partisan. Something went wrong, please try again later. Having now lived away from Ireland for almost two years, Chatten says he still loves the Emerald Isle, where he first moved shortly after his birth in the U.K. to an English mother and Irish. These are the Thursday horoscopes. It becomes a lot less interesting. Am I really being influenced by that anymore? Im not going to name the country, but I think thats interesting because I definitely fell in love with the whole concept of that country and the difference of culture. Grian: Ive got about four songs which are essentially just lists of lines Ive written on a night out or something when Ive had a few pints. I dont necessarily mind being talked about. Is Grian married or single, and who is he dating now? Do you know your Kourtneys from your Khlos? That dont give a fuck attitude is not so much a part of some rebellious image as it is a reflection of a deeply inquisitive soul. Big Shot Stories play a big role in your songwriting. 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