Been Stellar caught up with NME at Lollapalooza 2024 and to tell us about Fontaines D.C.‘s inspirational evolution, touring with The 1975 and Dan Carey’s words of wisdom.The New York indie rockers and former NME Cover stars spoke to us backstage at the annual Chicagoan music bash, shortly after performing their debut set on the IHG Hotels & Resort stage.The group – comprised of frontman Sam Slocum, guitarists Skyler Knapp and Nando Dale, bassist Nico Brunstein and drummer Laila Wayans – released their debut album ‘Scream From New York, NY‘ back in June and have been on a run of summer festivals including Truck, Tramlines and Latitude.Their LP was produced by Dan Carey (Foals, Geese, Fontaines D.C., Wet Leg) who gave them some treasured advice that they now live by. “It was quote that he would say to us before we started doing the live tracking,” recalled Knapp, “which is ‘Shock them into focus with clarity of intent’.
I think about that every time before we play.Knapp also revealed that for their next album, the group are focusing on a different temperature and sound. “We feel like everything we’ve released so far, has been kind of cold-weather music,” he said. “It feels very cold to us so we’ve been talking about making things that sound like they’re hot, hot, hot.”A post shared by NME (@nmemagazine)Been Stellar will be serving as opening support former touring buddies Fontaines D.C.
later this autumn. Speaking about the ‘Skinty Fia’ rockers’ evolution, Slocum shared: “We really respect it. For a band that is four albums in, it’s cool to reinvent what people think of you as a group.
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