Interview: The Fratellis

Indie rock band The Fratellis will headline Rochdale Feel Good Festival this summer when it returns on Saturday 13 August.

Since winning the Best British Breakthrough gong at the BRIT Awards, the multi-platinum Glaswegian three-piece have enjoyed huge success, with 5 top 20 albums and 5 top 40 singles. The Fratellis first album – Costello Music sold more than one million copies in the UK alone.

While they’ve enjoyed a string of hits, including Whistle for the Choir, Henrietta and Mistress Mable they are best known for the anthemic Chelsea Dagger, which remains a playlist staple at sports stadia, clubs and bars worldwide.

They have gone from strength to strength winning a new generation of fans thanks to 2018’s top 5 album In Your Own Sweet Time, followed by 2021’s acclaimed Half-Drunk Under a Full Moon.

Style caught up with Jon Fratelli ahead of the band's return to Rochdale this summer...

Style: Going back to the start, where did you all meet?

Jon Fratelli: Our origin story is a thing of mystery and always has been, but we are very close friends and brothers in arms who get to go out and play music we love together, to people who also love the songs back. What does the beginning matter when the present is like that?

You’ve got a busy year ahead - you must be very excited to get back on the road again after so long without live music events?

Yeah, it’s been difficult, as of course it has been for everyone. I know how lucky we are and how much so many people have suffered, but losing the chance to go out and play live to people has genuinely affected us all.

We are using it as a positive where we can, channelling all that loneliness and frustration into excitement about these shows. So if you’re coming along, you’re going to see the results of two years away from the stage bursting out of us. It’s maybe made all of us appreciate what we have a little more – the fact we get to do this has never been lost on us, but if anything I think we now know that even more.

We will certainly never forget how lucky we are to have our fans there night after night signing our songs back at us. That was what I really missed.

You’ve headlined Rochdale Feel Good Festival once before in 2016 - are you looking forward to returning this August? What can festival goers expect?

It’s a great festival and one we are looking forward to getting back to. Summer and festivals just go hand in hand, and that’s another thing that made the last couple of summers feel just wrong. This chance to be back reconnecting is priceless. We have changed things up quite a lot, so I think there will be a few surprises for people who haven’t seen us for a while – we have added to the band and really rounded out the sound in a very new and exciting way.

I’ve rearranged a lot of the songs and I think the new versions really breathe new life into the classics in a lot of ways. If you saw our streamed performances last year with the brass and the girls backing us, then that gives you an idea of what to expect. It’s certainly brought new life to those songs for me and I’ve fallen in love with a lot of them all over again, so I think – I hope – it will be the same for a lot of fans.

What did you guys get up to over lockdown?

Lockdown was rough, as of course it was for the whole world – again I want to stress I know how lucky we are. We’re all here, apart from anything else. And we are now back doing what we love. Re-arranging all the back catalogue to make a whole new live show was very time consuming but completely worth it.

I love what we have done and I can’t wait to take it out and show everyone. Apart from that it was writing, making plans and just trying to focus on family and life as well.

You released a new album last year (Half Drunk Under A Full Moon) - for those who haven’t heard it yet, how would you describe it?

I think it’s our best record. It brings together a lot of our loves, from that beautiful big 60s pop sound to the cinematic feel. It’s one we are very proud of and it played a big part in shaping this new direction too. Going back to rearrange the old songs was quite a monumental task, but it was completely worth it. 'Need a Little Love' from that album for me really is a good summing up of where we are right now as a band.

Do you still enjoy playing Chelsea Dagger as much as the crowds love hearing it?!

Of course. We will never be one of those bands who drop the hits to play B-sides – we’ll play the hits AND the B-sides. Especially now when times are so tough financially and just in life for people, the whole point of coming to a show is to hear music you love and escape from it all for a little while. That’s what we will always try to give to the people who come see us play. And it gives us an amazing escape too. If we all feel that together then I am happy.

Do you have an all-time favourite track?

The one I have just finished writing is usually my favourite. Until I write the next one!

Where do you find inspiration?

Musically I am inspired by so much, from everyday life to records I hear and fall in love with. Films can inspire a lot too.

Highlight of your career so far...

I think just to still be here, and about to head off on a tour, with plans for international dates and things, has to be the highlight after all of that being taken away for two years. It’s not about the money, it’s about that connection and that feeling of being on stage and with people who love our music.

You’re working towards making The Fratellis one of the first fully climate positive bands in the world…

Yes, we all have to think about this stuff – it should be important to everyone, whatever scale that is on – if you’re doing one little thing, that adds up, so think about it.

We are starting with looking at carbon emissions as that is the most obvious thing to address. So our carbon footprint will be calculated, we will reduce what we can and offset the rest.

We’re looking at so much other stuff, from using sustainable materials to produce merchandise, to some crazy ideas I can’t share just yet. It’s a big part of our future and I’m really passionate about it.

We are working with Melinda Woolf of the Future For Humanity Foundation who is involved with the United Nations Global Goals, so it’s incredible having someone like that as part of the team trying to genuinely change how we do things as a band, and personally. We need to do what we can, we all do.

Tell us one thing people don’t know about The Fratellis?

We're all gutted that Neighbours has been cancelled!

Finally, we have so many aspiring musicians and new bands here in Rochdale - what advice would you give them?

Keep going. It will seem thankless and impossible at times but keep going. Enjoy it whatever level you’re at because at some point you will look back on the simpler early days with nostalgia.

Write songs, have fun playing them with your friends and hopefully other people will enjoy them too – that’s when it starts to get really fun.

The Fratellis play Rochdale Feel Good Festival on Saturday 13 August. Tickets and more details at: rochdalefeelgoodfestival.co.uk

Ruth Parkinson