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.”
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. It is really cool to see a band do that.”
“If you’re not challenging your fans, in some way, you’re gonna kind of end up being very stagnant. So I really respect that they’re able to do that,” added Knapp.
Earlier this year, the band joined Matty Healy and co on the European leg of their ‘Still… At Their Very Best’ tour. When asked about what shocked them the most about their fanbase, Knapp said: “They’re all very interested in music in a really authentic way. The jaded part of myself was kind of expecting them just to like pop music but a lot of them were challenged by what we were doing because obviously it sounds very different than The 1975, but they really gave us the time of day and they tried to like it which I really respect so good on them.”
Opening up about the misconceptions about both bands that they were able to debunk, Knapp shared: “The biggest thing that people might not expect is that they’re very focused, and they have the same sort of mentality that a band just starting out would have as far as being nervous before each shows and getting in the zone, there’s no complacency with those bands.
“If you were to talk to them, you wouldn’t be able to tell how successful they were. That was a very inspiring thing because that means that they’re going to keep doing cool shit, if they feel like they have an uphill battle to their careers. That’s very exciting and means that they’re going to continue making very good music.”
Been Stellar will be on tour across the US with Fontaines D.C. while on their ‘Romance’ tour. Tickets can be purchased here. Following that, they are set to embark on a UK and European headlining tour with tickets available for purchase here. ‘Scream From New York, NY’ is out now
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