Fontaines D.C.: A Case Study

"When they played the Forum, I said to the band that night they'd sell out the venue within a year" - Dan Roberts, promoter, DHP



Words: Linn Branson 

It is a measure of one's success when you get your band featured as a festival entity as an example of what it takes to "break" an artist.

Fontaines D.C.: A Case Study panel discussion held at last week's Great Escape festival was led by four of those who have played a role in bringing the Irish quintet - Grian Chatten, Conor Deegan, Carlos O'Connell, Conor Curley and Tom Coll - to, if not worldwide dominance just yet - though that could well be on the cards before too much longer - then certainly to being on the lips of tastemakers and in the ears of multitudes in not just the UK and Ireland, but now across in the US where they are on tour with IDLES. [This necessitating their being unable to perform at The Great Escape, after having been one of the first 50 announced last year.]

Taking part in the AIM House presentation were (pictured above, from left to right): Greg Wells, founder, Ghost Promo; Jeff Bell, Partisan Records EU label manager; Ellie Rumbold, Partisan Records international product manager, and Dan Roberts, concert promoter, DHP Family.

"They're a very special band," said Jeff Bell, about the Dublin punks. In discussing how they formulated the band's campaign, the word that frequently came up amongst the four panel members was 'strong': Strong product, strong visuals, strong support.

"I saw the band for the first time at this festival (The Great Escape) a year ago," recalled Greg Wells. "Their live show is incredible. We had had support from people like Steve Lamacq, and it was very much about building them up for what comes next."

Credit: Daniel Topete

In May 2018 at the time Wells first saw them, Fontaines D.C. had already released their debut single, 'Liberty Belle' through their own independent Trigger Party Records in June, 2017.
This was followed by 'Hurricane Laughter' (October 2017), and 'Boys In The Better Land'/'Chequeless Reckless' (February 2018). So by the time Partisan Records signed them in late May 2018, the band had grown a small following and had a healthy cluster of songs already behind them.

'Too Real' came in November last year and was the first release that saw the label push behind the product, and resulted from the sessions they had started on with producer Dan Carey. 'This album," said Bell, alluding to 'Dogrel' released this past April, "was only recorded nine months ago. By September...October... they'd got a finished record."

"When we started talking to the band and they didn't have much of an idea of what they wanted to do in terms of identity, logo, etcetera," said Ellie Rumbold . "Just before Christmas all the talk started for the vinyl and shows in April."

"The whole process was quite organic," she added. "We announced the seven-inch in September, and 'Too Real' was from the Dan Carey sessions, so fans were hearing the real, professional record. The band were out supporting Shame, then they did a few regional shows..."



"When when we brought out the single, we announced a whole bunch of April (2019) shows. A strong visual campaign was the next step, and that turned out really strong," Bell continued. "Making a strong album, adding really strong visuals, the tour in April, tickets selling. Out there - people were talking."

Indeed they were. Like every artist who employ those to push their product through, the press - national and regional print, as well as online press and websites - will up the ante with a long lead up with a by-the-week almost, drip-drip effect of news bulletins, a new track here, a video after that, then possibly new tour dates, then another album track dropped... Slowly, but surely by the time they played London's Forum on November 30, they were already the tastemakers' band of choice, and their fan base had grown exponentially.

"When they played the Forum, I said to the band that night, they'd be selling out the venue within a year," recalled Roberts, promoter with DHP. "The April 2019 tour sold out just after, in December." Furthermore, Roberts has proved to have prophetic insight, as when the band return to the same venue on November 27 2019 - just under a year to the day - a sell-out show is guaranteed; in fact, it is sold out now - more than six months in advance.

With the critically acclaimed 'Dogrel' released last month, the concerted campaign effort seems to have paid off, coming in tandem with an already sold out autumn tour, TV appearances in America, and even other artists quoting their lyrics to fans, as Sports Team's Alex Rice did during their recent Live At Leeds set, asking the crowd after one song, "was that a bit more rock star, porn star, superstar for you?"

"We were thinking top 25 for the album - it ended up charting at number 9. And that is incredible for a first time band," concluded Bell.

Where next for Fontaines D.C.?Frontman Grian Chatten proclaimed on 'Big', how "My childhood was small / But I'm gonna be big." Right now, he and his band are just about the hottest property on the planet. Will they suffer 'difficult second album' syndrome? Can they continue at the creative pace they have set, without burn-out setting in before they even have a chance to fade away? We will just have to wait, watch and prepare for "the next big fix" from Dublin's lauded sons.



If you're a rockstar, pornstar, superstar / Doesn't matter what you are / get yourself a good car, get outta here