BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition September 2019

MUSiC
The most
important thing is
to take yourself out,
and to serve the
song and not serve
the musician.
Carlos O’Connell,
Fontaines’ guitarist
Fontaines D.C.
Dublin post-punkers’
quest to become the
biggest band in the
world
By MELISSA VINCENT
It’s 7:30 pm in Dublin when Carlos
O’Connell, one of two guitarists in the
universally buzzed about Dublin post
punk band, Fontaines D.C, answers the
phone from the aptly named Garage Bar
in the city’s East End. It’s a familiar spot
for the band, one that they would meet at
frequently when their early poetry chapbooks
were in the genesis stage, and
now has become a familiar reprieve in
between their lengthy international tour.
“We found all our music tastes in here,”
O’Connell says over the clink of a pint in
the background.
It’s far from a surprise that the band
would select this location to chat with
writers the world over. When it comes
to memorializing the reality of life in
contemporary Dublin, few bands have
become such ardent archivists of time
and place like Fontaines D.C. Since rising
to attention in 2017 with their single
“Liberty Bell,” they’ve been in direct
opposition to the failure to launch myth
that’s populated contemporary rock. Now
with a late night performance on Jimmy
Fallon under their belt and a nomination
for the esteemed Mercury Award in tow,
Fontaines D.C. are part of the newest
group of artists, alongside bands like
London’s Shame and Bristol’s Idles,
tasked with revitalizing the newest era of
rock erupting out of the United Kingdom.
“One of the things we said from the
start is that we want to be the biggest
band in the world. I think that’s the thing
that we still want to be,” he says. When
asked why, O’Connell’s answer is an even
mix of depreciation and ambition. “Probably
we’re just deluded to be honest,” he
laughs. “But I think there’s nothing wrong
with that. I think I’ll probably hate it. But I
want to know if I will.”
Ambitions of grandeur aside, what
makes Fontaines D.C. stand out is their
devotion to a sonic approach that yields
to clarity. Through cutting their teeth on
a blend of asphyxiating social commentary
with a smart ear for sprawling,
scrappy melodies, perhaps unintentionally,
there’s a ragtag elegance to their seismic
debut Dogrel. Album opener “Big”
is a turbulent and unnervingly catchy
declaration of ownership that demands
rapt attention, and “Too Real” toys with
galactic off-kilter galactic synths, before
a precise, metallic bass line serves as
a necessary form of ground control.
“Checkless Reckless” adds its spin on a
parched and swampy kind of grindhouse,
and “Dublin City Sky” is a cerebral ballad
CONTINUED ON PG. 14 k
SEPTEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 13
DANIEL TOPETE