Kneecap has spoken with NME about the possibility of their eponymous biopic being nominated for an Oscar, and the hope of spreading the Irish language and their upcoming Finsbury Park show with Fontaines DC

• READ MORE: Kneecap on the cover: giving peace, protest and partying a chance

Móglaí Bap and Mo Chara from the Irish rap trio sat with NME shortly before their explosive main stage performance at Reading yesterday (Friday 23 August) – a performance that saw them incite mosh pits and call for freedom and peace in Palestine.

“I’ve been to Reading before,” Bap said NMEand added: “I went to LegoLand. I don’t know if that’s in Reading? Windsor? It’s a fucking amazing place. This is definitely the biggest venue we’ve ever played. Hopefully we’ll get a good turnout. Everyone’s quite young here; I don’t know if they’re into their Irish language hip-hop yet.”

Chara added: “It’s definitely our first time. People keep asking us, ‘What does it mean to play Reading & Leeds?’ I’m actually baffled by them and I don’t have an answer because I don’t think about it that deeply.”

Asked if they had anything planned to live up to the festival’s hallowed history, Chara replied: “I don’t even know what the setlist is. We only have 35 minutes. It’s just going to be madness from the start. I don’t know how that’s going to go down with a bunch of 12-year-olds.”

Their set came on the same day that their Michael Fassbender-starring Kneecap hit UK cinemas. Praised by NME The film has been submitted by Ireland for next year’s Oscars and has been hailed as “not only one of the best films of 2024, but perhaps one of the best music biopics of all time”.

Could they take home the gold? Read our full interview to find out and more.

NME: Hello Kneecap. You’re perversely early today…

Bap: “Again, but not as bad as Glastonbury at 11.30. I think it’s going to be hard to beat that set.”

Then we saw you at 2am, and it got pretty macabre, to say the least…

Bap: “The atmosphere has definitely changed somewhat!”

And of course you met Noel Gallagher and Paul Mescal?

Chara: “I met Paul very briefly. It was just a quick interaction. He seems like a fucking gentleman. Noel Gallagher was one of the crazy moments at Glastonbury. We came off stage and down the stairs, the tent opened and Noel Gallagher walked in like some kind of angel. I thought, ‘Is that fucking serious Noel Gallagher?’ He just said he enjoyed the gig, his mate brought him along, we had a cigarette with him and he was very complimentary.”

Bap: “We didn’t believe he was there to see us. We just thought, ‘What are you doing here?’ Anything but to see us. I like Noel a lot more than Liam now. I never really liked Liam!”

Maybe we can expect a collaboration with Noel in the future?

Bap: “Oh yeah! ‘Wonderwall!’”

There are rumors of an Oasis reunion tour next year. Maybe you should look into that?

Chara: “There’s supposed to be a couple of billion pound tours! Did you see that Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour grossed over $2 billion?”

What would you do with £1 billion?

Chara: “I would be dead within a week.”

Happy movie release day. How are you feeling?

Bap: “Great. It came out in America first, but I don’t think they got all the jokes, like (Chara) being chased by The Orange Order. I don’t think the Americans got that. They just thought it was a bunch of guys coming out of a disco, all in orange jumpsuits.

“But it’s been nice to have screenings in Glasgow and Wales and all those places where it really resonates with them. They get the jokes, they get the ethos of what the film is about with the culture, the language and the madness.”

Have you heard much about people trying to learn Irish after seeing the movie or joining the band?

Bap: “Yes, a lot of it. It’s a huge honour for us, when the film has that much impact on people. I got a message from a girl who was a friend of mine years ago. Her daughter is going to primary school in September, and now that she’s seen the film, she’s decided to send her daughter to an Irish school. It’s a huge honour for us. That’s how you change things in Ireland and the language will develop.

“(Mo Chara) and DJ Próvaí’s parents never spoke Irish, but sent their children to an Irish school – and look at them now!”

Chara: “The main goal of a band is to have an effect on a future generation. You had The Stone Roses, who then spawned Oasis; that defined a moment. If our legacy is that the next generation is going to learn a nearly extinct language, then I’ll take that all day.”

Today saw the release of Fontaines DC’s ‘Romance’, Electric Picnic had so much brilliant local talent and Irish music was a really dominant force at Glastonbury…

Chara: “It’s ‘RA summer!”

Bap: “Ireland has looked elsewhere for inspiration for art and music for a long time. Now we look inward and recognise the standard of artists that we have and what we can offer the world. You have Fontaines, The Mary Wallopers, Lankum, CMAT, Gurriers, Cardinals – there are so many different genres and things happening.

“It’s cool because Ireland is so small. We’re all friendly together, we play gigs together and there’s a great vibe in the music scene. Everyone feels that buzz and feeds off each other. Everyone wants a bit of it.”

Chara: “I feel like there’s a bit of a competition in British hip-hop, where everyone’s trying to be better than everyone else. I feel like in Ireland, everyone wants to break through. Every time I see someone, we’re always talking about making a fucking song together. It’s all very collaborative and everyone wants to see a band do well.

Does it mean more if you make it to the Oscars?

Chara: “We can’t confirm or deny it. We’ll do anything! I just want that goodie bag with the Rolex and all that stuff in it. Most countries are allowed to nominate from their country, and we were Ireland’s nomination. We’re on a long, long list, then we have to make a longlist of 100 films, which goes down to 15, and then to five. There’s a long way to go and I’d be very surprised. Hopefully bribery works. I’m trying to figure out who to bribe!”

Has anyone ever worn a balaclava to the Oscars?

Chara: “I would be very surprised! Maybe one with a little bow.”

Bap: “Someone just told us it’s the highest-rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes? Maybe it’s dropped now because more people have seen it! It’s just a bonus for us. We just made that movie because we thought it was a cool story to tell. It was our story, the story of the Irish language in Belfast, and the fact that people enjoy it and it resonates with people from other cultures, other indigenous languages, that’s just a bonus for us. We’ve had Basques and Native Americans say it makes them think about the relationship they have with their own language.

“It’s very special, considering that every 40 days an indigenous language is lost. The more languages ​​we lose, the less different perspectives we have on life. Each language has a different perspective on life, and if you lose that, it’s gone forever.”

And if you win, it’s Michael Fassbender’s first Oscar…

Chara: “He begged us to be in the movie. We were finally like, ‘Okay Fassbender, but this time.’ It’s your big break.”

We have some big things coming up: a huge UK and Ireland tour at the end of the year and then that massive show in Finsbury Park with Fontaines DC next summer…

Bap: “I can’t wait. Fontaines, Amyl & The Sniffers – I love them too. It’s a fucking iconic gig. It’s going to be a once in a lifetime with that line-up. There’s more people to be announced. It’s going to be an Irish bonanza, I think.”

How do you provide the backstage antics? Tea and cake?

Bap: “I think we’ll all read books by Flann O’Brien; The third policemanchapters thereof. Odysseus maybe? We’re having a James Joyce-off! That’ll be cool. We’ve been backstage with the Fontaines a few times and there’s been a lot of tequila drinking, and I don’t even like tequila.”

Are you going to seize the moment? Maybe by then you’ll have new material or a sequel to the film?

Chara: “New music? Fuck, absolutely.”

Bap: “We’ve already started. We’re working on different collaborations, working with different genres, different languages. We’re going back to the music now, because we’ve been working on the film for the last six months – talking, talking, talking, talking, talking. We don’t mind talking about music, but the film has been very strenuous. We want to go back, make music, have a bit of craic in the studio and go back to our roots.”

Chara: “We definitely want to do acting in the future. I don’t want to close that side of things, but we definitely want to get back in the studio, away from everybody, and just make some music. Nothing sounds better right now. That’s enough cameras and talking.”

Well, we won’t let you talk shit anymore. Cheers Kneecap!

Kneecap’s UK and Ireland tour kicks off in October. For tickets and information, go here . Tickets are also available for their show with Fontaines DC at Finsbury Park in London on Saturday 5th July 2025.

Follow all the action as it happens on the NME Reading & Leeds live blog here.

Check back here for the latest news, reviews, photos, interviews and more from Reading 2024.