Fontaines D.C. talk "life affirming" experience covering Sinéad O'Connor for HELP(2)

28 January 2026, 11:43

The Dublin rockers have opened up about their contribution to the War Child album, which is released this March.

Fontaines D.C. has opened up about their contribution to the HELP(2) album.

The Irish rockers cover Sinéad O'Connor's 1990 track Black Boys on Mopeds for the upcoming charity album, which will be released via War Child Records on 6th March 2026.

Sharing a post on Instagram about their cover, Grian Chatten and co shared: "It’s a real privilege to have been asked by James Ford to contribute to this record. Our time in the studio for this project was a unique and life affirming experience. In a moment of serendipity, Carlos 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.

See their post below:

View this post on Instagram

The track, which is taken from O'Connor's second studio album - I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got - isn't the only contribution the band have on the charity album. Their frontman has also collaborated with Kae Tempest and Damon Albarn for track two on the record with a song entitled Flags.

Last week saw the release of the album's first single, Opening Night, which marked Arctic Monkeys first slice of new material in for years.

Listen to it below:

Opening Night

Read more:

• Fontaines D.C. play milestone gig at London's Finsbury Park: setlist
• Arctic Monkeys & Fontaines D.C. lead artists teasing new War Child project

HELP (2) includes also contributions from Anna Calvi, Arlo Parks, Arooj Aftab, Bat For Lashes, Beabadoobee, Beck, Beth Gibbons, Big Thief, Black Country, New Road, Cameron Winter, Depeche Mode, Dove Ellis, Ellie Rowsell, English Teacher, Ezra Collective, Foals, Graham Coxon, Greentea Peng, Grian Chatten, King Krule, Nilüfer Yanya, Olivia Rodrigo, Pulp, Sampha, The Last Dinner Party, Wet Leg and Young Fathers.

See the artwork for HELP(2) here and pre-order the album at https://store.warchild.org.uk/pages/sign-up.

See the full HELP(2) tracklist here:

1. Arctic Monkeys - Opening Night
2. Damon Albarn, Grian Chatten & Kae Tempest - Flags
3. Black Country, New Road - Strangers
4. The Last Dinner Party - Let’s do it again!
5. Beth Gibbons - Sunday Morning
6. Arooj Aftab & Beck - Lilac Wine
7. King Krule - The 343 Loop
8. Depeche Mode - Universal Soldier
9. Ezra Collective & Greentea Peng - Helicopters
10. Arlo Parks - Nothing I Could Hide
11. English Teacher & Graham Coxon - Parasite
12. Beabadoobee - Say Yes
13. Big Thief - Relive, Redie
14. Fontaines D.C. - Black Boys on Mopeds
15. Cameron Winter - Warning
16. Young Fathers - Don’t Fight the Young
17. Pulp - Begging for Change
18. Sampha - Naboo
19. Wet Leg - Obvious
20. Foals - When the War is Finally Done
21. Bat For Lashes - Carried my girl
22. Anna Calvi, Ellie Rowsell, Nilüfer Yanya & Dove Ellis - Sunday Light
23. Olivia Rodrigo - The Book of Love

HELP(2) is available to pre-order here.

HELP(2) was inspired by the landmark release of the 1995 album HELP, which included contributions from Oasis and Friends, The Boo Radleys, The Stone Roses, Radiohead, Orbital, Portishead, Massive Attack, Suede, The Charlatans vs. The Chemical Brothers, Stereo MCs, Sinéad O’Connor, The Levellers, Manic Street Preachers, Terrorvision, The One World Orchestra (Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty), Planet 4 Folk Quartet (Andrew Weatherall and David Harrow), Terry Hall and Salad, Neneh Cherry and Trout, Blur and The Smokin’ Mojo Filters (Paul McCartney, Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher).

War Child works with local communities and governments to help protect and educate children, and support them to heal and learn, for a safer, brighter future. Because one child caught up in conflict is one child too many.

War Child understands children’s needs, respects and stands up for their rights, and puts them at the centre of everything it does. War Child boldly campaigns on the root causes of conflict and helps to amplify children’s voices, so that it can advocate for change on the issues that matter to them.

Together with its partners, War Child delivers vital work in 14 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.

Every day, its local teams are in communities and refugee camps creating safe spaces for children to play, learn, and access psychological support. War Child also specialises in responding rapidly to emergency crisis situations as they happen, offering immediate and critical aid impartially to keep children safe and help them through their trauma.War Child UK is a member of the War Child Alliance, a global foundation made up of five fundraising offices and 14 programme offices.

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