Top band with Mayo connections misses out on Grammy award

By Tom Gillespie

IRISH band Fontaines DC, with two Mayo members, missed out in their Grammy nomination in Los Angeles on Sunday.

The band are named after Johnny Fontane from The Godfather and the initials of Dublin City.

The Mayo musicians, members of the punk-rock band, are drummer Tom Coll, from Crimlin outside Castlebar, and Conor Deegan (bass guitar) from Castlebar.

The other members of the group are Grian Chatten (lead singer), who is half-British - his mother is English and his father is Irish - and was born in Barrow-in-Furness, England, but grew up in Skerries, Conor Curley (guitar) who is from Emyvale in Co. Monaghan, and Carlos O’Connell (guitar) who grew up in Madrid.

In 2019 the band released ‘Dogrel’, a remarkable combination of punk energy and poetic lyricism that captured the spirit of Dublin as it balanced historic weight with economic transformation.

Then last year came ‘A Hero’s Death’, which was nominated for the Best Rock Album award at the 63rd Grammys.

However, they lost out to The Strokes on last night.

In a statement, Councillor Ger Deere said: “Huge congratulations to The Fontaines D.C.

"This was a brilliant achievement and Castlebar is especially proud as two of the members, Conor Deegan (bass) and Tom Coll (drums), are from the town.

“Well done lads!”