How a court case and their loyal fans helped to shape Kneecap’s second record, ‘Fenian’

LONDON (AP) — The seven-week period that Kneecap spent recording their second album, “Fenian,” was eventful to say the least, as the Irish hip-hop outfit were fighting a legal battle at the same time as they were working in the studio.

Member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh — who performs as Mo Chara — had been charged with a terror-related offense for displaying a flag of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, (which is banned in Britain as a terrorist organization) during a London concert in 2024. The case was eventually thrown out and the band used the experience of going to court, and the party that ensued in their support, as inspiration for some of the tracks on “Fenian.”

The record’s title is also an act of defiance, reclaiming a word that has historically been used as derogatory term directed toward Irish people.

During the band’s various court appearances, fans lined the streets outside court to support the Belfast trio — singing, playing instruments and chanting “Free Mo Chara” — a refrain that’s sampled on the band’s new track “Carnival.”

Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí discussed recording “Fenian,” the importance of their live shows and if they think they can get visas to tour the U.S., with The Associated Press recently.

The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

AP: How is this process different from writing your first record?

MO CHARA: We were writing the tracks as Dan Carey (producer) was creating the tracks so like the lyrics and the production was like kind of developing at the same time, same place, which I thought was interesting. It was a very organic feeling. It was the first time we’d ever done it like that.

MÓGLAÍ BAP: Obviously when we were in the studio we had, we were in the Magistrates’ Court during that period, during the seven weeks we had to leave the studio and go to the courts and then also had the Wembley Arena concert so it was quite a busy time.

Usually studio time for bands it’s quite (a lot of) down time but we were kind of going into the chaos of going to court — Mo Chara was obviously — but actually ended up not much of a hindrance. It kind of helped us and we used that in the song “Carnival,” we sampled the crowd outside the court case saying “Free Mo Chara.”

AP: How would you describe your live performances, it feels like a celebration with that kind of energy. Is that important to you?

DJ PRÓVAÍ: Because we have a reputation of being like a band that’s live shows are good, you know people already come with that kind of energy and they have that expectancy so whenever they’re in there they’re up here already. Even when the show’s starting it’s kind of sits here alrdy. (gesturing toward the ceiling)

MO CHARA: It’s almost like the hard work’s all been done before the show so people are coming in and they’re full of energy now. They’re giving us a show as well.

MÓGLAÍ BAP: I think the origins of that is like because we started off doing the music in Irish, a big part of our challenge was to connect with the audience and interact with them in a way that they can enjoy the music without understanding it. Just kind of bringing that energy on stage was a way for the crowd to actually enjoy it because most people don’t know what the (expletive) we’re saying.

AP: Do you think you’d be able to go to America? Is there a plan? Are you trying to get visas?

MO CHARA: See, the thing was we never actually got turned down for a visa, like there was a lot of miscommunications there and I think the media kind of ran with the story that they wanted. We were never turned down.

What happened was we were changing our promoters in America so what happens is you have to reapply for a new working visa and then obviously with the court case going on we didn’t apply for one. So now that the court case is over, I don’t see any reason why we won’t get our visa accepted. Obviously we’ve never been convicted of any crimes in any country in the world.

We just didn’t apply for it because we thought it was probably the wrong time to do it. So I think now with everything being over, there’s no reason why we won’t be back in America soon.