Chilli Jesson and Carlos O'Connell discuss Dead Dads Club and Fontaines D.C.

2 months ago7 min read

In a quiet corner of a London studio, the air thick with the scent of old vinyl and new ideas, Chilli Jesson is talking about ghosts. Not the spectral kind, but the ones that live in guitar amps and drum fills, the lingering presence of a father’s influence.Jesson, the former Palma Violets firebrand, has formed Dead Dads Club with Carlos O’Connell, the Fontaines D. C.guitarist known for his textured, cinematic sound. This isn't just a new band; it's a shared language forged in loss, a conversation that started in the shadow of grief and found its rhythm in the studio.Jesson speaks of the collaboration with a reverence usually reserved for sacred texts, telling NME he “could not imagine doing it with anyone else,” a testament to the rare creative alchemy that occurs when two artists meet at a similar emotional crossroads. O’Connell, stepping from the post-punk poetry of Fontaines into a producer’s role, brings a different kind of intensity, sculpting soundscapes that feel both intimate and expansive.They weave tales of fatherhood, absence, and the strange inheritance of memory, their music less a eulogy and more a living, breathing document of moving forward while carrying the past. And what of O’Connell’s main gig? The conversation inevitably turns to Fontaines D.C. , the Irish band that has soundtracked a generation’s angst.While details are held close, 2026 looms with the promise of new chapters, suggesting that the same restless creative energy O’Connell channels here is also fueling what’s next for one of rock’s most vital acts. This is more than an interview; it’s a glimpse into the engine room where personal history is distilled into art, where a club no one chooses to join becomes the foundation for something powerfully new.

#featured

#Dead Dads Club

#Chilli Jesson

#Carlos O'Connell

#Fontaines D.C.

#interview

#fatherhood

#grief

#music collaboration

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