Fontaines D.C. have described recording a Sinead O’Connor cover for the new ‘HELP(2)’ charity album as a “unique and life-affirming experience”.
Read More: Fontaines D.C. live in London: surreal, powerful statement from future Glasto headliners
The Dublin band created a studio version of their take on O’Connor’s 1990 protest song ‘Black Boys On Mopeds’ for the star-studded album, which will arrive on March 6 in aid of War Child.
They have previously performed an acoustic rendition of the track in Nashville, Tennessee, in October 2022, according to Setlist.FM.
Yesterday (Monday January 26), Fontaines D.C. took to social media to recall contributing to the forthcoming ‘HELP(2)’ compilation.
“We have recorded a cover of Sinéad O’Connor’s ‘Black Boys On Mopeds’ which will feature on the upcoming collaborative album ‘HELP(2)’ out 6th March 2026,” the post began.
“It’s a real privilege to have been asked by [producer] James Ford to contribute to this record.”
They continued: “Our time in the studio for this project was a unique and life affirming experience. In a moment of serendipity, Carlos [O’Connell, guitarist] was unable to join us due to the birth of his own child.
“Now more than ever it is vital that we all support the work of War Child.”
Fontaines D.C. also attached the full tracklist for ‘HELP(2)’, which opens with Arctic Monkeys’ new single ‘Opening Night’.
Other big-name contributors include Olivia Rodrigo, Pulp, Blur‘s Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon, English Teacher, Depeche Mode, Foals, Wet Leg, The Last Dinner Party, Wolf Alice‘s Ellie Rowsell, and many more.
Fontaines frontman and soloist Grian Chatten will join Albarn on the collaborative track ‘Flags’, too, alongside Kae Tempest.
In 2022, the Irish band played a tiny London show as part of that year’s BRITs Week for War Child.
‘Black Boys On Mopeds’ is a political song written following the death of the 21-year-old Black British man Colin Roach in 1983. Though the lyrics don’t reference Roach directly, the track addresses police brutality. The cut appears on O’Connor’s 1990 second album, ‘I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got’.
The track opens with a line about then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and has previously been covered by Phoebe Bridgers and Sharan Van Etten.
Fontaines D.C. live at Reading 2024. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
In 2020, O’Connor released a cover of ‘Trouble Of The World’ to benefit Black Lives Matter charities. As The Nation notes, the late Irish artist was “one of the music world’s earliest and most ardent supporters of the emerging Black Lives Matter movement”.
Fontaines D.C. previously told NME that their standalone 2025 single ‘It’s Amazing To Be Young’ had been inspired by the birth of Carlos O’Connell’s baby: “It started life in the presence of Carlos’ newborn, and it’s just a message for her, you know.
“It was really heartwarming. Sometimes as people we can be a bit cynical. The world around us can make you that way if you’re paying attention it. Sometimes optimism feels like a necessary delusion, but with the birth of a new child, we were introduced to a really pure and deep beauty and hope that can’t be debated away by anyone jaded or even by ourselves.”
Meanwhile, James Ford has revealed that some artists refused to be involved in ‘HELP(2)’ as they thought it was “too political”. The project – inspired by the landmark 1995 ‘HELP’ record for War Child – was recorded through “a close collaboration with Abbey Road Studios”, mostly during one week in November 2025.
Fontaines D.C. are set to make their debut headline appearance at Reading & Leeds 2026 this summer, and will also top the bill at Ireland’s Electric Picnic.
O’Connell recently told NME about progress on new Fontaines D.C. material. “We’ve been writing, it’s been fun,” the musician explained. “We’re at [Reading & Leeds] and there are a couple of shows before that. I think if the music is there, it could get busy.”
When asked if any new tunes could make their way into the R&L setlist, O’Connell replied: “I’d say so. If there is stuff written, then I would say so, yeah. That’s what we used to do all the time, play the new stuff live – songs that weren’t even finished. It’s a good way to test the songs.”
The guitarist was speaking to NME alongside former Palma Violets frontman Chilli Jesson about the pair’s self-titled debut album as Dead Dads Club. Jesson has toured with Fontaines D.C. as a live multi-instrumentalist since 2023.
O’Connell was questioned on whether any of the visual elements of the ‘Romance’ tour could remain in place at Fontaines’ 2026 dates, too. “I think ‘Romance’ was so intense in every [way]… the visual, the production, the setlist […] It wasn’t just about the music,” he told NME.
“It’s almost a bit of the identity of the band now, but I guess that’s the decision to make. Does that become the identity of the band, or actually, it’s just a phase and you reinvent it? I don’t know.”
He went on: “I personally like the idea of revisiting some old stuff at Reading & Leeds, making the setlist maybe a bit more ‘Dogrel’-heavy. I’m excited about that. I’ve been listening to music like that much more. This morning I was listening to Sonic Youth. I want to go [in] that direction, but we’ll see, because anything could happen now – literally anything.”
‘HELP(2) will be released on Friday March 6 via War Child Records – pre-order/pre-save here.
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