Scottish Indie rock band The Fratellis were a huge hit in the Noughties. They climbed up the industry ladder from their breakthrough hit Chelsea Dagger back in 2006 – but today, the band look very different to how many may remember them from their heyday in the early 2000s.
The Fratellis, named after the baddies in the iconic film The Goonies, all performed under the last name of Fratelli – but the Glasgow stars are actually not related at all. They also achieved huge chart success with hits Whistle for the Choir and Flathead.
The band members, who went on to win Best British Breakthrough Act at the BRIT Awards in 2007, are actually John Lawler (Jon) on lead vocals and guitar, Barry Wallace (Barry) on bass and backing vocals and Gordon McRory (Mince) on backing vocals and drums.
But they went their separate ways in 2009 at the peak of their fame after admitting had got so sick of each other they “couldn’t bear to be in the same room” any more, according to reports in the Mirror.
They didn’t come without their controversies, in true rock n’ roll headline nature their frontman Jon destroyed the stage at a royal ball in Monaco – and threatened to not go on unless he was paid in casino chips.
(Image: UGC)
“It’s kind of shameful really, but I decided an hour before I went on that I wouldn’t go on unless I got my share of the fee in poker chips because it was in a casino. Our tour manager, the poor guy, had to spend an hour running around trying to make that happen, because he really thought we wouldn’t go on and play. I just wanted to see if he would do it – and he did, he actually got my fee in poker chips,” Jon said in an interview with NME.
Revealing the real reason for their split, Jon told Riff magazine: “We had that kind of classic rock ‘n’ roll tale of this steep ascent and sort of falling from the cliff on the other side. Nobody tells you how to deal with it when it happens. It’s not the end of the world – it’s just music – but at that time, when you fall off that cliff of success… you’re not sure how to deal with it.
“It caused a lot of tension. We, or at least I, didn’t deal with that tension very well. I felt like the only thing do was run away in the opposite direction…Our way was to go off and do something else. Looking back on it, it’s sort of running away.”
The band didn’t speak to each other for three years and went their own paths to focus on other projects, with Barry joining another rock band, Gordon joining the heavy metal scene and Jon recording a solo album and starting up retro band Codeine Velvet Club.
There was a huge breakthrough in June 2012, much to the delight of their fans, as they band reunited for a charity gig and it gave them the taste for performing again as they started producing more music.
After debuting new songs such as She’s Not Gone Yet But She’s Leaving, Whiskey Saga and Seven Nights Seven Days, The Fratellis announced a comeback tour.
And they have continued on ever since and released four more albums – We Need Medicine (2013), Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied (2015), In Your Own Sweet Time (2017) and Half Drunk Under A Full Moon (2020).
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