Grian Chatten plans lively solo album after Dopamine Chamber
With Fontaines D.C. minded to step back after their fifth album, the frontman is already sketching a second solo record built for higher energy and open-air stages.
Grian Chatten is planning another solo album, one he has described as "a lot more lively and a bit more kind of festival-ready". The Fontaines D.C. frontman set the idea out in an interview published on 15 October 2026, framing the next solo work as a clear shift in temperature from what has come before.
He also said that after the release of Dopamine Chamber, the band think the best place to go is "away for a while". The fifth album from the Dublin group has already drawn wide coverage; the remark points to a deliberate pause rather than an immediate return to the studio or the road as a unit. No title, label or release window for the solo set has been named beyond the intention itself.
From Dogrel to the fifth album
Fontaines D.C. took shape in Dublin as a quintet in 2017, after Chatten met Conor Curley, Carlos O’Connell, Conor Deegan and Tom Coll while studying in the city. United first by music and poetry, they put out early singles — Liberty Belle, Too Real, Boys in the Better Land among them — before the debut album Dogrel arrived in 2019 on Partisan Records. That record fixed them as a sharp new voice in contemporary indie-punk, with Chatten’s lyric writing and delivery at the centre of the sound.
A Hero’s Death followed in 2020, then Skinty Fia in 2022 and Romance in 2024. Live, the band built a reputation for brooding, trenchant shows across Ireland, the UK and Europe, with festival slots at Electric Picnic, Hard Working Class Heroes and Other Voices, and support bills that included Girl Band, Franz Ferdinand and The Lemon Twigs. A further single, It’s Amazing To Be Young, appeared in 2025. Dopamine Chamber now stands as the fifth full-length in that run — the latest chapter in a catalogue that has kept the group at the core of the post-punk conversation without locking them to a single mode.
Chatten was born in Barrow-in-Furness in 1995 and raised in Ireland from infancy, later settling in Skerries before moving into Dublin. His role as frontman and principal lyricist has defined the band’s public voice from the first pamphlets through to the present cycle. The decision to step "away for a while" after Dopamine Chamber reads as a conscious break in that sequence rather than a full stop.
The solo path and what comes next
Chatten’s first solo album, Chaos For The Fly, arrived in 2023, with The Score among its singles the same year. Further solo credits have followed, including Flags and the soundtrack piece Puppet, both in 2026. The project he is now sketching would be a second album proper. His description — livelier, more festival-ready — suggests a different cut from the more intimate colours often linked with his side work to date, and a record shaped with open-air stages in mind.
For Fontaines D.C., the talk of distance after Dopamine Chamber leaves the next band move open. Nothing has been set out on dates, a sixth album or a return to the road. What is clear is the shape of the pause: the group have completed a fifth album cycle and see space as the right next step, while their singer is already turning toward a solo set built for higher energy.
That parallel path has always run alongside the band rather than against it. A livelier solo album, if it lands as he describes it, would give listeners another facet of the same voice; the band’s choice to step back for a spell would give that voice room. Fontaines D.C. remain a fixture on playlists and stages. How long the break lasts, and when Chatten’s next solo record takes firm shape, are questions still ahead.
Tour dates
OCTOBER 2026
15 – London, Roundhouse
NOVEMBER 2026
20 – Liverpool, M&S Bank Arena
21 – Manchester, AO Arena
22 – Glasgow, OVO Hydro
24 – Leeds, Leeds First Direct Bank Arena
25 – Birmingham, Utilita Arena
27 – London, The O2
JUNE 2027
26 – Co. Meath, Slane Castle
27 – Co. Meath, Slane Castle
29 – Cardiff, Blackweir Fields
JULY 2027
1 – Newcastle Upon Tyne, St James Park
3 – Manchester, Heaton Park
4 – Manchester, Heaton Park
6 – Glasgow, Glasgow Green
9 – London, London Stadium
He also said that after the release of Dopamine Chamber, the band think the best place to go is "away for a while". The fifth album from the Dublin group has already drawn wide coverage; the remark points to a deliberate pause rather than an immediate return to the studio or the road as a unit. No title, label or release window for the solo set has been named beyond the intention itself.
From Dogrel to the fifth album
Fontaines D.C. took shape in Dublin as a quintet in 2017, after Chatten met Conor Curley, Carlos O’Connell, Conor Deegan and Tom Coll while studying in the city. United first by music and poetry, they put out early singles — Liberty Belle, Too Real, Boys in the Better Land among them — before the debut album Dogrel arrived in 2019 on Partisan Records. That record fixed them as a sharp new voice in contemporary indie-punk, with Chatten’s lyric writing and delivery at the centre of the sound.
A Hero’s Death followed in 2020, then Skinty Fia in 2022 and Romance in 2024. Live, the band built a reputation for brooding, trenchant shows across Ireland, the UK and Europe, with festival slots at Electric Picnic, Hard Working Class Heroes and Other Voices, and support bills that included Girl Band, Franz Ferdinand and The Lemon Twigs. A further single, It’s Amazing To Be Young, appeared in 2025. Dopamine Chamber now stands as the fifth full-length in that run — the latest chapter in a catalogue that has kept the group at the core of the post-punk conversation without locking them to a single mode.
Chatten was born in Barrow-in-Furness in 1995 and raised in Ireland from infancy, later settling in Skerries before moving into Dublin. His role as frontman and principal lyricist has defined the band’s public voice from the first pamphlets through to the present cycle. The decision to step "away for a while" after Dopamine Chamber reads as a conscious break in that sequence rather than a full stop.
The solo path and what comes next
Chatten’s first solo album, Chaos For The Fly, arrived in 2023, with The Score among its singles the same year. Further solo credits have followed, including Flags and the soundtrack piece Puppet, both in 2026. The project he is now sketching would be a second album proper. His description — livelier, more festival-ready — suggests a different cut from the more intimate colours often linked with his side work to date, and a record shaped with open-air stages in mind.
For Fontaines D.C., the talk of distance after Dopamine Chamber leaves the next band move open. Nothing has been set out on dates, a sixth album or a return to the road. What is clear is the shape of the pause: the group have completed a fifth album cycle and see space as the right next step, while their singer is already turning toward a solo set built for higher energy.
That parallel path has always run alongside the band rather than against it. A livelier solo album, if it lands as he describes it, would give listeners another facet of the same voice; the band’s choice to step back for a spell would give that voice room. Fontaines D.C. remain a fixture on playlists and stages. How long the break lasts, and when Chatten’s next solo record takes firm shape, are questions still ahead.
Tour dates
OCTOBER 2026
15 – London, Roundhouse
NOVEMBER 2026
20 – Liverpool, M&S Bank Arena
21 – Manchester, AO Arena
22 – Glasgow, OVO Hydro
24 – Leeds, Leeds First Direct Bank Arena
25 – Birmingham, Utilita Arena
27 – London, The O2
JUNE 2027
26 – Co. Meath, Slane Castle
27 – Co. Meath, Slane Castle
29 – Cardiff, Blackweir Fields
JULY 2027
1 – Newcastle Upon Tyne, St James Park
3 – Manchester, Heaton Park
4 – Manchester, Heaton Park
6 – Glasgow, Glasgow Green
9 – London, London Stadium
