Fontaines D.C.’s Deego on ‘Romance’, new music and the “witch hunt” against Kneecap

NME

Fontaines D.C.’s Deego joined NME on the 2025 Mercury Prize red carpet to reflect on ‘Romance’, tease where the band could go next and discuss the “witch hunt” against Kneecap

Transcript

00:00Hello Digo, welcome to the Mercury Prize. How are you doing?

00:03I'm doing good, yeah, I'm chilling.

00:04Great. You're nominated for Romance tonight,

00:07and you've just kind of come to the end of the campaign for that album.

00:10If you look back on the last couple of years where you've been touring and record,

00:13how has it been for you?

00:14It's been an amazing experience, honestly, you know.

00:17I think that we made an album that we really wanted to push things out there with,

00:21and for our fan base to not turn on us, it was great.

00:24To just be able to still go to those places,

00:26and not for them to just not turn on us,

00:27or just be patient with the new work, like sometimes happens.

00:30To actually really get it. That was amazing.

00:33And, you know, travelling around America, getting to go to Japan,

00:37and all this stuff was great.

00:39Yeah, it must be nice to have a night like this to kind of celebrate it one last time

00:42before you kind of move on, I guess, properly.

00:44Yeah, absolutely. Just put some kind of full stop on the whole thing.

00:47Yeah. Have you already started thinking about what you're going to do next?

00:50Any new ideas that you've been working on, or is it too early for that?

00:55I don't know.

00:56I mean, like, we have been working on little bits of ideas individually.

00:59We're supposed to go back in together again soon enough,

01:01and share what we've been working on.

01:03Yeah. Is there anything that's been particularly influencing you,

01:05or inspiring you, would you say?

01:08Recently, I've been getting really into UK hardcore.

01:11Okay.

01:12Myself, personally.

01:13On this album, you did play a lot of really massive shows.

01:16When you do come to kind of touring again, what are the ambitions?

01:19People have kind of suggested that you could do a Reading headline,

01:22Glastonbury headline, maybe.

01:24What's in your heads in terms of that?

01:27Just to enjoy the shows as much as we can, really.

01:30Just to enjoy it more and more.

01:32Yeah.

01:32A band that you guys are close with and played with a lot over the summer is Kneecap.

01:37What do you make about everything that's been happening with them and Mo Carver

01:39in terms of the government's case against them,

01:42and the government kind of appealing against the result of that court case?

01:45Well, I stand in solidarity with the boys like Johnny.

01:51Yeah.

01:51I think it's amazing what they stand up for.

01:54I think it's a very, very difficult situation for any young to be put on the line in that way.

01:57But to not waver as well, to really stick with those beliefs.

02:00I think that it is a witch hunt.

02:03You know, they're trying to make an example of them clearly.

02:05There's videos I'm seeing recently of people going down to the Palestine Action Marches

02:11and just saying satirically, I support genocide.

02:15Saying this kind of thing, I support genocide.

02:17They could please do nothing.

02:19So it's a really crazy thing that you can say, I don't support genocide.

02:23Yeah.

02:23Just keep my situation.

02:25Yeah, exactly.

02:26Well, thank you so much.

02:27Have a great night and good luck with the awards.

02:29Thanks very much.

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