Kneecap at Reading & Leeds 2024 on winning an Oscar and partying with Fontaines D.C.
NME's Andrew Trendell caught up with Irish rap pioneers Kneecap backstage at Reading 2024, where they spoke to us meeting Noel Gallagher and Paul Mescal at Glastonbury, the success and potential Oscar nomination of their new Michael Fassbender starring biopic, plans for new material, and partying backstage with Fontaines D.C.
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00:00Hi, I'm Andrew Trendall. You're watching NME. We're here at Reading Festival 2024, once
00:10again with kneecap. Hello, it's hot then. Good to see you again. We're back again, everybody.
00:16Is this your first Reading? I've been to Reading before. I went to Legoland when I was in Reading
00:25once. I don't know if that's in Reading, is it? Legoland? It's Windsor, isn't it? Legoland?
00:29Fucking great spot. But your first time on these hallowed grounds? Yeah, definitely first time.
00:35People keep asking us, what does it mean to play Reading in Leeds?
00:38And I just, I'm stumped for them. I actually don't have an answer because I don't really
00:41think about it that deeply. It is definitely our biggest stage we've ever played on.
00:47It is our biggest stage we've ever played on, ever. That's huge. So hopefully we get a good
00:53turnout. Everyone seems pretty young here. I don't know if they're in their Irish language,
00:59hip hop, yet. If they're of that age, yeah. But we'll find out soon enough.
01:04But it's a perversely early set again. Not as bad as Glastonbury, half 11 in the morning. I
01:11think it's going to be very hard to beat that slot, ever. Half 11 in the morning.
01:16Up until, well, I saw you at two in the morning,
01:20it got leery, to say the least. The atmosphere definitely changed somewhat.
01:24Yeah. So you had Noel Gallagher, you had Paul Metzcal, right?
01:30Yeah, I met Paul, he met Paul. I mean, I met him very briefly. It was just a quick interaction.
01:35He seems like a fucking gentleman. But Noel Gallagher was, yeah, that was one of the mad
01:40moments, obviously, at Glastonbury. So we come off the stage and come down the steps and the wee
01:45white tent sort of opened and fucking Noel Gallagher come walking through like some kind
01:49of angel. And I was like, is that fucking seriously Noel Gallagher? And he just said
01:53he enjoyed the gig. His mate Norfie or something brought him. And yeah, sat, had a smoke with him.
01:58Just fucking, he was very complimentary. Yeah, actually, when he came backstage,
02:04we didn't believe, we weren't believing that he was there to see us. We were just like,
02:09what are you doing here? Anything but going to see us, because we wouldn't actually think Noel
02:13Gallagher would be going to see us. We were like, are you seeing somebody? Are you going,
02:17are you gigging? He's like, no, no. Are you going to see, are you going to play with someone here?
02:21He's like, no, no, no. Came to see yous. Came to see you guys play. And I was like, oh,
02:26fuck that. And then, as XY, I prefer Noel over Liam way more now. Never liked, never liked,
02:33never liked Liam, actually. Never liked Liam. Future collab, make it happen. Oh, yeah.
02:41Wonderwall. Well, there's rumours of an Oasis reunion tour next week. Maybe you can get yourself
02:45on that support slot. Everybody's saying that. That's going to be hilarious as well. That would
02:50be a couple of billion pound tour. See Taylor Swift had two billion for her heiress tour. She's
02:55just hit two billion in sales. What would you do with a billion pounds? I'd be dead in a week.
03:00Is a billion pounds the same in euros or is it more in euros? I think it's probably a billion,
03:04a billion pound or a billion euros. A billion pound is more. Yeah, a billion pounds more. Either
03:08way, I'd be dead. So it's easy to become a billionaire in Ireland. It's fractionally easier.
03:13Well, not with our government, though. I mean, I feel like moving to like
03:19Budapest or something, become a millionaire there, that easier.
03:28Hungarian millionaire. Might try that. But the set today, anything to kind of
03:33live up to the history of Reading and Leeds? Give a little bit extra or you're just going to do what
03:36you normally do? I actually don't know anything about the history of Reading and Leeds. Reading
03:41and Leeds. I keep saying Reading and Leeds. Reading and Reeds and Reeds and Reading.
03:47No, I don't even know what the set list is, to be honest. I'm sure there is one, though.
03:52R1? R1, yeah. No, I don't know what it is. It's the same. We've only got 35 minutes. So it's
03:55like it's really hard. Usually if we're doing shows in Belfast, it's our show or whatever we
04:00do, like an hour and 15, hour and 20. So it's very good to have like you come out, you sort of start
04:04somewhere and then you kind of come down a bit and build it up towards the end. It's just kind
04:08of going to have to be just madness from the get go here. I don't know how that's going to go down
04:11with all the 12 year olds. How many people can you offend in 35 minutes? Do you want to bring
04:16one of them clickers, remember? Links? I think you have to be able to understand what we're
04:20saying to be offended. I don't know if these kids... That's the beauty of it. The BBC are just
04:24like, question them. I think it's going to be on TV, though, apparently. They're going to record
04:30a ring and they're going to pick like a song or two and stick it on the BBC. The BBC? I made the
04:34BBC, so I'll be the first Queen's English. Yeah, they're going to very early in the morning to catch
04:39me on the BBC. So first time on the TV. I want to shout out to everyone back home in Ireland,
04:45everyone back in the BBC, everyone all about the place, you know what I mean? Thank you very much.
04:49And happy film release day in England. It's been out in Ireland and the US for a bit, right? But now
04:57everywhere else. Yeah, I mean, I think it still has to come out. If you're in Germany, it doesn't
05:01come out until January. Nice, that can soon, everybody. I'd say by the time January comes,
05:13I don't think anybody will want to watch the film anymore. But yeah, it's class. It was coming out,
05:20you know, we obviously had the film in America, first of all, and it was cool. But I don't think
05:24they got maybe all the jokes, like him being chased by the Orange Order. I think that was
05:29lost in a lot of Americans. They found it funny. But I think they just thought it was like a load
05:33of fellas just came out of like a disco gig. And they're all wearing orange jumpsuits and
05:37he's Dutch lads. Yeah, he's Dutch disco dancers chasing him. But so it's nice to have the screen
05:45in Glasgow and Wales and all these places that really resonates with them. They get the jokes,
05:50they get what the ethos of the films about the language, the culture and the madness.
05:54So it's nice to have it out here. And that's it. There's a really touching bit in the film where
05:59I can't remember if it's a promoter or a girl backstage says that she's been learning
06:02Irish. I mean, have you had much of that since people picking up Duolingo?
06:05Yeah, I mean, definitely loads of that there. And I think that is a massive honor for us,
06:12for the film, if it has that impact on people. And I got a message off a girl I was friends
06:18with years ago. And she's sending her daughter to primary school this September. And she wasn't
06:23sure about going to the Irish school or English school. She doesn't speak Irish. None of her
06:26family speak Irish. And after seeing the movie, she decided that she's going to send her daughter
06:31to the Irish school. And that's like a massive honor for us as someone who will now be bilingual,
06:37he'll speak Irish. And that's the way we'll change things in Ireland. And that's how language will
06:41progress when we make these make these jumps and make his parents, DJ Probie's parents,
06:47they never spoke Irish. They sent their kids to an Irish school and look at them now.
06:52Yeah, I feel like, I suppose, the main, I'd say for me, anyway, the main
06:59sort of goal of a band is to have some kind of effect on a future generation, I would say.
07:05And obviously you had the Stone Roses who then had Oasis coming through because of it.
07:09And like to find the moment. And if our if our legacy or if our goal is that the next generation
07:15start learning almost extinct language, I'll take that all day long.
07:23Well, it's I don't know how to put it.
07:27It's fantastic.
07:31Because Romance came out today, I started to say, right, it's Romance summer.
07:35Today as well?
07:35Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:36Oh, nice.
07:37Well, it came out last night in the car by the time we were getting home.
07:40Oh, yeah.
07:41So I was going to say, but like it is like the summer of Irish music, isn't it?
07:45Like you had Electric Picnic the other day. It was like the dominant force at Glastonbury.
07:48It's a raw summer.
07:49Yeah, raw summer. That's way better than what I had, yeah.
07:53Yeah, I think just for a long time, Ireland has looked elsewhere for inspiration,
07:59for art, for creating music. I think now we're looking inwards. We're kind of actually
08:05giving recognition to the standard of artists we have and what we can provide to the world.
08:10Like Fontaine's, you have the Mary Wallabers, you have like, what else do we have?
08:16What? Langham, Mary Wallabers.
08:17Langham, C-Mat, like there's so much.
08:19The Gurriers.
08:20The Gurriers, the Cardinals.
08:22Cardinals, yeah, saw them in Norway last week.
08:23Like there's just so much different genres, so much things happening. And it's cool because
08:27Ireland's so small that we're all friendly together. We're all gigging together, making
08:32music together. And it creates, there's a lovely atmosphere in the music scene in Ireland.
08:37I think everybody's feeling that buzz and everybody's feeding off each other and everybody
08:42wants a piece of it. A beat, a beat, a beat. I can't speak German there, but I can't even
08:45speak German.
08:46It's German summer. Yeah, it's ja summer.
08:50It feels like, yeah, it feels like there's almost like a competition or something with,
08:54especially hip hop in England or something. It's all about trying to be better at each other.
08:57I feel like in the Irish music scene, it's very, everybody wants to get on,
09:01everybody's being friendly. Every time I see someone, we're always talking about doing a
09:04fucking song together. It's all very collaborative and everybody wants to see another band do well.
09:10So whenever you see a band and you see them, like if we see a band somewhere and then next
09:13year we're playing a different festival and we're getting bigger crowds, it's always very
09:16complimentary to each other. And I feel like that's, it's a cool thing to be a part of.
09:20Does that mean it's going to be more if you guys, you're going to the Oscars, right?
09:24Well, I can't confirm nor deny.
09:29We'll do anything. No, I want that fucking goodie bag with a Rolex on it.
09:34No. So I think most countries get like a nomination for, yeah, they pick a nomination
09:39to represent the country and the Oscars and we were Ireland's nomination or something.
09:43So Ireland has picked us to represent them in the Oscars, but that's like, we're the long,
09:48long list, long, long list. So if we have to make a long list and then if we make the
09:53long list, it's like a hundred films and then they get down to 15 for the shortlist
09:58and then down to five. So there's a long way to go. I'd be very surprised. Hopefully bravery
10:03works. I'm trying to work out who to brave. Has anyone ever worn a balaclava to the Oscars
10:06that you're aware of? I'd be very fucking surprised. Maybe one with a wee dickie bow.
10:14Yeah. And if you get through, I mean, well, if you win, it'll be Michael Fassbender's
10:18first Oscar. So you can be like, oh, thank you. You're welcome.
10:20I think someone, it was an hour ago, it was like his highest rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes.
10:28Maybe it's dropped by now because it's more people have seen it.
10:33But yeah, I mean, the fact that the movie's gone, it was in like hundreds of cinemas in America.
10:39It's coming out here, Australia, all around Europe. It's like, it's just a bonus to us.
10:44We just made that film because we thought it was a cool story to tell. It was our story,
10:48the story of the Irish language in Belfast. And the fact that people enjoy it, that it resonates
10:54with people from other cultures, other indigenous languages, is just a bonus for us. And we've seen
10:59people from Basque people or Native Americans who, you know, it makes them reflect on the
11:08relationship they have with their own language. And I think that's something that's a very special
11:12thing, considering that every 40 days there's an indigenous language lost. And I think the more
11:17of them languages we lose, the less kind of different perspectives we have on life, because
11:23every language has a different outlook on life. And when you lose that, it's gone forever. So
11:28hopefully the movie has that impact that people then go inwards and relearn and reconnect with
11:34their own native culture. It's nice that JJ probably taught Fassbender a thing or two about acting.
11:41Oh yeah, he was very nervous all the time. He was starstruck, wasn't he?
11:47Prove it, Fassbender. Go for it. I know Fassbender begged us to be in the film.
11:54He really did. His agent was on to us constantly and stuff. And we finally gave him. We're like,
11:58all right, Fassbender, just this once, we'll give you the big break.
12:02And then other stuff coming up. You've got massive shows at the end of the year,
12:05especially some big ones in Ireland, a couple of nights at the Forum in London.
12:08Then you're doing that Finsbury Park show next year.
12:13I'm on the Sniffers. Love them as well. It's a fucking iconic gig. I think it's
12:18going to be once in a lifetime. All this line up. There's more people to be announced as well.
12:24Any clues?
12:25Any clues? Not sure, actually. Not sure, not sure. But it's going to be an Irish bonanza,
12:29I'd imagine. As the trend is going now of how Irish bands are going, I could imagine that there
12:35will be a good, strong representation of Irish people there.
12:39How do you foresee backstage? Tea and cake?
12:42Backstage at the Fontaynes. I think we'll all be reading Flannel Brown books,
12:46The Third Policeman, chapters of that. Ulysses, maybe. We'll have a James Joyce off.
12:57I think it will hopefully be good. The last time we were backstage at the Fontaynes a few times,
13:02a lot of tequila was drank. I don't even like tequila. Can we get something else, please?
13:08Do you think you'll seize the day? Maybe buy some more new material,
13:11another sequel to the film? Or are you just going to ride out?
13:17We've already started. We're working on different collaborations and doing different things,
13:22working with different genres, different people, different languages. Going back to the music now,
13:29because we've been doing the movie for the last six months. Talking, talking, talking, talking,
13:35talking. We don't mind talking to you, though. Well, we spoke quite a lot.
13:38You're a good talker. You're good at the talking.
13:42Thanks, that's really sweet.
13:43No, I genuinely know it makes a difference, but talking about music and stuff, we don't mind.
13:47The movie has been very strenuous. We want to go back, make music,
13:51have a bit of crack in the studio and get back to our roots.
13:55Definitely want to do acting, though, in the future. I don't want to close that side
13:59of things off, but we're definitely ready to just go back in the studio,
14:04away from everybody, and just do music again for a while.
14:07Nothing sounds better at the minute. That's enough cameras and talking shit, I'd say.
14:12Well, I won't make you talk any more shit.
14:15I didn't mean you. But what a segue. See, that's why I pay him the big bucks.