Interview: Fontaines D.C.'s Grian Chatten on their 'Romance' era.

At every opportunity, Fontaines D.C. have utilised their platform to support Palestine - from broadcasting the messages "free Palestine" and "Israel is committing genocide - use your voice" at Primavera Sound 2025, to designing a football shirt fundraiser for Medical Aid For Palestinians (which Greta Thunberg recently wore aboard her Freedom Flotilla mission to Gaza), and in their absence, asking Irish-Palestinian artist Róisín El Cherif (who recited part of a poem from Palestinian poet Samih al-Qasim) to accept their 2025 Irish Album Of The Year award for latest album, 'Romance'.

"If you create art that deals with pain or conflict or struggle or anything like that, then you have a responsibility to address it," emphasised Fontaines D.C. frontman Grian Chatten in conversation during a recent U.S. tour-stop in Indianapolis.

Coup De Main met with guitarists Carlos O'Connell and Conor Curley, bassist Conor Deegan III, and drummer Tom Coll earlier this year in Auckland - speaking to Chatten more recently, as he had been suffering from a herniated disc while in New Zealand.

COUP DE MAIN: Hi Grian, how are you today?
FONTAINES D.C. - GRIAN CHATTEN: Not too bad. Yeah, pretty good. Yourself?
CDM: I just woke up, so I feel like you have probably had a way more exciting day than me so far.
GRIAN: It depends, I suppose, on what dreams you had last night and how they left you feeling. I haven't really had much of a day yet either - just went for a walk down the street and got a coffee and came back, really.

CDM: Have you had any particularly vivid dreams lately?
GRIAN: I did, yeah... let me think. Last night, I had a big one where basically I got a booklet/mail from Lana Del Rey with loads of unreleased lyrics in it that she'd written.
CDM: She's releasing a new album this year, so maybe the cosmos was sending it to you in advance.
GRIAN: You won't believe what it's about!

CDM: True or false: you were inspired by Lana Del Rey when writing 'In The Modern World'?
GRIAN: Very true. Probably musically, as well, but I mean in a kind of muse sense - in that I imagined her somewhere in that world of the song as a kind of character.

CDM: Are you a big Lana fan?
GRIAN: I am. She releases music so frequently that I find it difficult to keep up to date when I'm on the road and stuff - I don't have a phone, or Spotify, or anything, so I'm not really as plugged in as I should be, but yeah, I'm a massive Lana fan. I've been a fan of her music since her first record, and I think she just keeps getting better.
CDM: Well, soon you'll have new Lana songs to listen to.
GRIAN: Amazing. Can't wait.

CDM: Congratulations on Fontaines D.C. turning 10 last year! How did you celebrate?
GRIAN: Oh, we didn't celebrate! Did we turn 10? Yeah, I guess we probably formed 10 years ago. That's probably right, yeah, we were playing shows definitely in 2015 in Dublin. We didn't celebrate. We were probably on tour when it happened, and we were probably just doing a show and probably going out for pints anyway, so probably it just let itself in the back door there.

CDM: Are you feeling better? I highly respect that you still played the Auckland, New Zealand show, but I was very stressed for you.
GRIAN: Yeah, I'm feeling better now. I went straight from Mexico Airport to London Airport to a hospital in London. I got an injection into my spinal column, which is basically full of painkillers and steroids, and that's still helping at the moment, so it hasn't worn off yet. But that's how I'm able to continue touring right now.
CDM: Look after yourself. We need you for at least another ten years of the band.
GRIAN: Yeah yeah, I will.

CDM: What do you think your younger self would say if you told them that in 2025 the band would be turning 11 and have 4 albums released?
GRIAN: I'd probably say: "That's not good enough, Grian. You've got to write more."
CDM: Well, that's what you'll be doing for the next ten years.
GRIAN: Exactly.

CDM: When you look at all four of your albums together as the shared history of the band, how does it make you feel?
GRIAN: I suppose, sentimental. I'm not joking. I really do feel like it's the tip of the iceberg. I really feel like we've only begun. We've only really begun saying what we're trying to say creatively. I just always feel like we're starting out. I suppose the moment that I don't feel like we're kind of starting out is probably the moment that I get complacent creatively, and I'm not looking forward to that day, so I guess I still feel young in that sense.

CDM: What do you want the band to say creatively?
GRIAN: I don't think I could describe it in the English language. It can only be described through the actual musical output itself. That's the kind of language that these feelings and experiences take from you - it's the very ineffability of these moods and feelings and notions that make writing necessary for people such as myself.

CDM: If there was a museum exhibition for the band's 20th anniversary, what are five items you would put on display?
GRIAN: There's got to be a pair of shades in there somewhere. We can't fucking move for the amount of pairs of shades we have backstage now. Most of them are just petrol station shades, but it's become a real obsession, so there's got to be a pair of cheap gas station shades. Five things... There's got to be some Vitamin C tablets, for sure. There's got to be a can of tuna. We all kind of went through a big phase where basically all we ate was tuna out of the fucking can.
CDM: I absolutely hate tuna, so that's really gross, but whatever makes you happy, I guess. 
GRIAN: Really?!
CDM: Yeah, I hate it, but good for you.
GRIAN: I think we're eating enough for 25 of us anyway, so don't worry about it. It's probably not great for the environment as well. There'd also be a book. I want to put one book in there that represents the whole kind of feeling. I want to say 'Stoner' by John Williams. It's just something that we've all read. And the taxidermied head of our manager, Trev. I mean that in a nice way. <laughs> I'm just trying to find a way to turn Trev into an object that we could put in a museum.
CDM: You're honouring him - not murdering him.
GRIAN: Yeah, he died of natural causes in this dream scenario.

CDM: Elton John has said specifically in his praise of Fontaines D.C. that you have "changed and changed". How important do you think change is to the evolution of a band?
GRIAN: I think there needs to be certain amount of creative energy in order to complete an album which from beginning to end is something that you're proud of. And I think that change is kind of like the reassembly of the lenses through which you write. I think that it creates a catalyst that sees you through the whole writing process. It can be an arduous process to write a record, especially if you have lapses in inspiration. But if you engage with change, or adopt change from the outside, I think that the whole project becomes something that's more interesting, challenging, and therefore, kind of inspiring.

CDM: In the latest album's title-track you say, "Maybe romance is a place." So, if romance is a place, what does it look like?
GRIAN: It might be boring now because I think I've said this in interviews before, but I always imagined the inside of a snow globe, kind of like Whoville in 'The Grinch'. I see the place that I describe as Romance as this kind of utopia, and any version of utopia I've ever seen rendered on-screen or otherwise, is always something that's a little bit frightening in its own realness and in its unattainability as well. The idea of heaven is something to me that's kind of nasty and overwhelming, and it's probably just because I'm not picturing it right, but that's what it is to me nonetheless.

CDM: That's interesting that you picture a snow globe - because you're trapped inside a snow globe.
GRIAN: Exactly, and you can kind of see the outside world and wish for it - it's got a real grass is greener sense to it. You can be outside looking inside an idyllic rendering of the world in a snow globe, and then you can be inside that perfect picture and all you know is the fact that you cannot access outside of that - and that in itself is a torturous feeling, I think.

CDM: Is there a specific lyric in 'Starburster' that feels most true to you about your life right now?
GRIAN: Randomly, I feel like saying, "Like the light when it's dark." When I'm on tour, I feel like a moth drawn to a lack of flame. Do you know what I mean?

CDM: That's valid. Tour is its own world. Looking back on this album era, what has been a core memory for you?
GRIAN: There was a time when we were supporting the Arctic Monkeys in the States, when we had started to kind of collate a few demos and really rough ideas together. And it was kind of at that stage where it felt like everything we touched turned to something exciting - I mean, there was just that kind of spirit amongst us, you know? That wasn't necessarily true, I'm sure, but it was just that kind of excitement where everything seems possible. And that's when being in a band to me is really, really worth whatever it comes with. And anyway, we put all the demos on one file, and obviously, they're all really rough, like we'd just made them that day, or yesterday or whatever. There was a kind of golf buggy that they have in some of the bigger venues, and obviously it was a bigger venue because we were supporting the Arctic Monkeys, so we hopped on the golf buggy with some of our crew and we drove around the car park blasting these tunes out of a Bluetooth speaker. I was asking the crew what they thought and whatever, but that was just a really silly, fun way of contextualising the album before it was even a card up our sleeve.

CDM: 'Desire' opens with the lyrics: "Deep they've designed you / From cradle to pyre / In the mortal attire / Desire / Desire." What was running through your mind while writing that?
GRIAN: That lyric to me is about how we're conditioned to feel a spiritual hole within ourselves, that you know can never be filled by materials, or by romantic endeavours, or conquests, or whatever. You are conditioned to always be hungry in a spiritual sense, and so that's what that means, that hunger will kind of always remain. "They've designed you / From cradle to pyre / In the mortal attire / Desire." Mortal attire being desire - the clothes that we all wear, and therefore kind of a great leveller as well.

CDM: You also say: "It's high to be wanted / But haunted is higher / And the change requires." How have your thoughts on fame changed as the band has grown and become more high-profile?
GRIAN: I'm lucky enough that it hasn't been a juggernaut overnight kind of thing. There have been times where it's felt a bit speedy, but it hasn't been an overnight Billie Eilish kind of massive change, which I can imagine is probably an incredibly tough thing to go through. So I'm just about keeping my ability to handle it up with the growing success of the band. And I think what we're getting better at as well, is understanding each other as individuals, and not so much as a kind of hive mind - a rickety van of five people sharing one idea. We're getting better at respecting each other, individually, in that sense.

CDM: I find the concept of promises interesting - especially broken promises and how people don't always mean what they say with a promise. What does a promise mean to you?
GRIAN: I guess it changes a lot. From the ages of 16 to 21, it became something of a kind of religion to me, only because I'd seen promises broken. I kind of got exposed to the fallibility of human beings and how there's maybe a liar in each of us, even if we don't want to be like that. You can get wrapped up in the early pursuit of sainthood when you're in your adolescent years, and I realised after, that it's okay that human beings are fallible and inconsistent. So in a good way, I'm not holding people to such high standards anymore, but I like people more than ever for that reason.

CDM: Do you personally find it easy, or difficult, to keep a promise?
GRIAN: I suppose it depends on what the promise is. I find it difficult to break a promise, like I have a lot of guilt when it comes to that. I probably find it difficult to break a promise, yeah.

CDM: Has your brother spoken to you about 'Motorcycle Boy'?
GRIAN: I think we had a few pints one night a good while ago and spoke about it, but I don't think we've talked about it since.

CDM: "Did you know / I could claim the dreamer from the dream?" in 'Favourite' is among my favourite lyrics that you've written. What did you mean with that line?
GRIAN: I can't rob that from you now that you've told me it's one of your favourite lyrics that I've written. I can't. I can't!
CDM: But I want to know!
GRIAN: I don't want to explain that away from you!

CDM: In an Instagram post about the 'Favourite' video, Deego said about the band that you "are not afraid to come of age again, holding on to romance in a sometimes trying world." I love that sentiment, and I love the Charli xcx song 'Everything Is Romantic', and the idea that romance is everywhere. What does romance mean to you?
GRIAN: Probably like a necessary delusion that is no less real for that. It's a blurring between the idea of the world that we create within ourselves and the reality of the world without - like outside of ourselves. And I think it's a kind of blurring of that line between those two.

CDM: I love that you and Jade from Little Mix make cameos in each other's music videos, and that your 'Starburster' character has also appeared in other videos too. Is there going to be a continuation of these cameos?
GRIAN: I hope so. She's a legend, she's a Geordie, she's down to earth, she's cool as fuck, she just gets it, and she's got a good head on her shoulders. I buzz with what she does and I think it's reciprocated. That whole kind of breaking into each other's universes was the idea of a director that directed both our videos, Aube Perrie, a French guy, who's a bit of a genius - one of the geniuses that we were lucky enough to work with on this album - and so that was his idea. And yeah, permission granted, I'd love to keep doing that.

CDM: What were your first thoughts when Curley brought 'Sundowner' to the band and it was decided that he would sing lead vocals on the song? 
GRIAN: I was really excited. He's always been one of the best singers I've known, since I met him. He used to sing 'A Change Is Going To Come' by Sam Cooke, and he used to sing 'Take Me Home, Country Roads', and always, nobody wanted to follow him up when we were passing a guitar round back in the day. So I'm glad that he has the confidence to sing in front of thousands of people every other night. I think it's great. He's one of my best friends / my family, so I'm just buzzing for him.

CDM: You got a tattoo of the word "romance" before you released and recorded the latest album... what's the next album title you are going to manifest with a tattoo?
GRIAN: Only God can judge me. <laughs>

CDM: Have you started working on the next album yet? 
GRIAN: We never stop writing. It's kind of more when a series of songs present themselves as having something in common with each other, we realise that there's a thread to pull. I don't know if that's there yet, but the writing is constant, and the appetite for the next record is definitely there. The only thing is that I think 'Romance' is such an episode for us - there's such an aesthetic world to it, and a lot of thinking and conceptualising went into the record, so it's kind of difficult to let go. In order to do the next thing, you have to kind of let go of the thing that you just did to some extent, but we're still inhabiting that. We're still on the 'Romance' tour, and so I don't know if I'm ready to let go of being 'Romance' Fontaines D.C. enough just yet, in order for us to realise what the next album is.

CDM: What do you want the legacy of Fontaines D.C. to be?
GRIAN: Idiosyncratic and flawed, and I want to remain vulnerable. We've been working with really, really great producers who produce a lot of high fidelity music, but I want to keep a vulnerability there. Like, I don't want to get loads of singing lessons, or anything like that - I want to always sound like people.

CDM: I really respect how at every opportunity, you've continued to use your platform to bring attention to Palestine and Gaza. What would you say to anyone that is feeling apathetic about showing support or speaking up?
GRIAN: I'd echo the words that one of my good friends said to me once. He said: "How can you, or anyone who creates art that deals with pain, ignore or not speak about what's going on in Gaza? How can you not use your platform?" He said that to me a good while ago, and when he said that to me then, I really felt the weight of his words, and the fact that I do have a voice and a platform. It shouldn't feel like pressure from other artists, it should feel like pressure from within, I think. So yeah, I'd just say what he said: that if you create art that deals with pain or conflict or struggle or anything like that, then you have a responsibility to address it.
CDM: That's very empathetic of your friend.
GRIAN: Think so, yeah.

CDM: Would you ever consider publishing a poetry book?
GRIAN: Yeah, I used to think about it all the time. I've been thinking about it a bit less recently, but it's something that I really do want to get ready to do, and I really want it to be a legit poetry book as much as it can be. I don't want to be like 'musician puts pen to paper and tries to write poetry' - I want it to feel like I've done the work, so I probably need to set aside some time because I've atrophied in the way of poetry over the last couple of years, and just been focusing on lyric writing and music writing.
CDM: I look forward to it. 
GRIAN: Cheers.

CDM: Thank you so much for making time for me today. And thank you for naming a song after me, 'Sha Sha Sha'.
GRIAN: <laughs> You're absolutely welcome. Míle buíochas.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Carlos, Curley, Deego & Tom photos by: Karen Ishiguro
Grian photos/polaroids by: Dillon Matthew
All other Instax photos by: Coup De Main

Fontaines D.C.'s latest album 'Romance' is out now.

Watch the 'Favourite' music video below...