Hats off to Fontaines DC, a leading contender for the title of “the greatest rock band in a moment in history where we’re generally short of great rock bands.” In this month’s print edition QOlivia Ovenden caught up with the Dublin-born quintet in France and found them celebrating the release of their upcoming fourth album romantic— a collection of furious, steamy and cool songs about anxiety and apocalypse — in true great rock band fashion: reading Rimbaud in the park, drinking a few beers, and insisting that the critics (who have long Fontaine, who have been classified under the vague category of “post-punk” for a long time, have no idea what shit is. A key data point shows that, in a rock-and-roll sense, this fivesome was really about that life: “There wasn’t a moment,” Ovenden reports, “where anyone wasn’t smoking or smoking.”
You can read Ovenden’s feature story here. romantic dropped shortly after Qhas remained close to the band, garnering rave reviews (many of which used the term “post-punk” – the battle continues.) But rock critics aren’t the only ones currently attracted to Fontainesmania.
“They just get in your head and never leave,” says actor, fellow Irishman and Q Cover star Paul Mescal said in an interview for the Ovenden article. Mescal describes singer Grian Chatten as “a poet and like a total rock god” while noting that he “writes with a very Irish voice”. According to Mescal, one example of Chatten’s proudly unique Irish roots is a reference to Ireland’s two main political parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, in the 2022 song “I Love You.”
“It’s just something you hear growing up,” Mescal said. “It’s like, ‘My dad was Fine Gael and my mom was United Irish.'” You know when you hear a song and it’s just language you hear in passing and all of a sudden it’s in the song , making thousands of people scream? I always find it ironic that you can see a bunch of young people at a gig in London screaming these lyrics without really understanding what it means. I think that’s what great art is, I think that’s [Fontaines] What we’re doing is – fundamentally, this can mean different things to different people.
Mescal noted that he had met Chatten briefly but said he would not say “no” to a pint of beer for the entire band. “I’m sure they had a lot of fun on the night out,” he said.
