{"id":670154,"date":"2026-09-03T09:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T09:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/670154\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T09:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T09:10:09","slug":"they-arent-obsessed-with-likes-one-of-fontaines-d-c-s-ex-teachers-on-what-drives-the-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/670154\/","title":{"rendered":"‘They aren’t obsessed with likes’: One of Fontaines D.C.’s ex-teachers on what drives the band"},"content":{"rendered":"

FONTAINES D.C. ARE on the cusp of making history as the third Irish act to headline at Slane Castle<\/a>, following in the footsteps of Thin Lizzy and U2.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll be only the second band to play two nights at the famed Co Meath venue in the same year, following on from U2\u2032s run of gigs back in 2001.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long journey for the four-piece, who began playing together over 10 years ago while students at Dublin\u2019s own \u2018school of rock\u2019, the BIMM Music Institute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tickets for their two-night run at Slane next summer are due to go on general sale later this morning, after pre-sales were opened in recent days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Journal after the announcement of the band\u2019s first date at Slane earlier this week (the second was announced on Wednesday due to \u201coverwhelming demand\u201d) one of their former teachers at BIMM, Alan Cullivan, said the Fontaines\u2019 potential was clear from the very start.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cullivan, who is now Dean of BIMM, has been with the institute since its inception in 2011. He taught the group Music Business during their time at the Liberties college.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey clicked, had a shared goal and knew what they wanted to create,\u201d Cullivan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The band, made up of Grian Chatten (vocals), Conor Curley (guitar), Conor \u201cDeego\u201d Deegan III (bass), Tom Coll (drums), and Carlos O\u2019Connell (guitar), formed at BIMM in 2014.<\/p>\n

They auditioned for various BIMM college gigs and performed at its Francis Street spaces, similar to other students. From there, they branched out playing gigs at small venues in the city centre such as Workman\u2019s and supporting other artists in larger spaces.<\/p>\n

They continued to hone their sound in Dublin\u2019s music scene, blending elements <\/a>of post-punk, poetry and themes of Irish culture.<\/p>\n

Maintaining a grassroots, DIY approach to the business, the band signed with independent label Partisan Records in 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their debut album, Dogrel, was released in 2019 to widespread critical acclaim<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They followed it with A Hero\u2019s Death<\/a> in 2020, which earned the band their first Grammy nomination.<\/p>\n

Since then, Fontaines\u2019 albums have continued to top charts in Ireland and in the UK.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their last album Romance broke America, appearing on the US billboard 200 chart<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rolling Stone<\/a>\u00a0dubbed the album \u201cthe band\u2019s finest hour\u201d, describing it as \u201ctransformative and brilliant\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The band spent the summer touring Europe\u2019s festival circuit, headlining Reading and Leeds in the UK as well as the Electric Picnic in Stradbally last weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fontaines DC<\/a> \/ YouTube<\/p>\n

Cullivan attributed much of Fontaine\u2019s success to \u201cputting creativity first\u201d, rather than focusing on marketing themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey put the songs first. And I think that\u2019s what stood to them. A lot of young bands can get obsessed with how many likes they have or how many posts they have and that kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fontaines D.C. has released four studio albums, with a fifth, Dopamine Chamber, coming this October.<\/p>\n

Cullivan said this was down to the band\u2019s relentless approach to songwriting and their refusal to \u201crest on their laurels\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just pushed and pushed and pushed. And they\u2019ve continued to do that all the way through\u201d, Cullivan said.<\/p>\n

As personalities, Cullivan said the group had always been great to deal with and remain \u201csuper nice guys\u201d.<\/p>\n

The band maintains a strong connection with the Dublin college, which offers a scholarship in its name.<\/p>\n

Fontaines helps to select the recipient of the\u00a0\u20ac12,000 scholarship<\/a>, covering four years of the BA in Commercial Modern Music.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been great friends to the college ever since they left\u201d, Cullivan said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FONTAINES D.C. ARE on the cusp of making history as the third Irish act to headline at Slane…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[283013,434,18,117,76750,19,17,138647,6318,283014,48013],"class_list":["post-670154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-bimm","tag-celebrities","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-fontaines-d-c","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-music","tag-rock","tag-slane-bound","tag-slane-castle"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117206333934867827","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}