Fontaines D.C. are really ‘The Boys In The Better Land’. The Irish indie rockers are booked at many festivals, while they also score tonnes of airplay. A rare combination nowadays…
The latest ETEP results show that Fontaines D.C are by far the most booked live act emerging from the ESNS Festival. Their total reaches 18 festival bookings, twice as much as their nearest contenders: British rock act Black Midi and British rapper Flohio, both with nine bookings. They are followed by British electronic act Elderbrook and Dutch indie rock singer Pip Blom, both counting eight bookings.
But none of those four contenders of Fontaines D.C. appear currently in the Music Moves Europe Artist Charts. A combination of relentless touring and their debut album Dogrel filled with catchy rock songs did the trick for the Irishmen. After their Groningen gig, they played Germany, Poland, Scandinavia, France, Belgium Switzerland and the UK. Just coming back from a month-long U.S. tour, another U.S. tour looms in September, followed by another UK tour, before playing two homecoming gigs in Dublin in December.
Meanwhile, European radio embraced their singles like Big, Boys In The Better Land and Chequeless Reckless (all PIAS), and six other tracks. This means Fontaines D.C. this month climbs to #20 in the Music Moves Europe Artist Charts on the combined airplay results of those nine tracks. Only British rock acts Sam Fender at #13 and Jade Bird at #14 have currently more points in the chart in the same genre.
At the top, it’s still British-American dance producers duo Silk City, but they amassed this month only 15 million impressions. June was an excellent month for Italian dance outfit Meduza, whose Piece Of Your Heart (Universal) at #5 claimed 190 million impressions. Also, British singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi had a great month, rising to #3, mostly on the strength of Someone You Loved (Universal), reaching another 175 million more listeners.
Also on the rise, climbing ten notches or more this month are Swedish pop producers Decco at #33, Irish rapper Barrie Moore at #49, British rapper Pinty at #51, Dutch electronic world music act Altin Gün at #52 and German rapper Dardan at #71. What you call all together a mixed bunch…
Highest new entry this month at #82 hails like Fontaines D.C. also from Ireland: a new rock band called Inhaler. Their singer is the son of U2’s singer Bono, and their latest self-released single My Honest Face crosses over to Italy, Finland, Estonia, Belgium and the UK. Also new at #83 is The S.L.P., a new project from Sergio Lorenzo Pizzorno, the guitarist of British rock band Kasabian.
At the lowest end of the chart we welcome also two newcomers. First up at #97 is Blu Samu, an urban singer from Belgium, whose self-released Goose is making inroads in Portugal and Switzerland. And at #99 German rapper Fero47 from Frankfurt on Sony is crossing over to the other German-speaking countries. Meanwhile, Dutch actor-became-singer Merol is enjoying a re-entry at #84, because in Belgium they understand her new self-released single Geen Reet, which translates to ‘no ass’…
Menno Visser
Music journalist and radio professional from The Netherlands