Bricknasty: Ballymun’s Loudest Slice of Creative Chaos
Words: Rachel Hannon
District and Beamish have been working on something special. Beamish set up the ‘Beamish Breakthrough Bursary’ in order to champion artists, break down barriers to success, and to support the next generation from across the country.
The bursary includes creative services like photography, branding, studio hire, and a financial investment to actualise the artists’ vision for their future. We worked with Beamish to select two artists who exemplify excellence right now. The first artist to receive the bursary was Cliffords. Now, it’s Bricknasty’s turn.
Origins
The band almost began by accident, born from a chance encounter on SoundCloud between frontman and guitarist Fatboy and producer Cillian McCauley. After studying music at BIMM in Dublin, the full band came together through jamming sessions. Over time, the lineup shifted into its current form – Fatboy, Cillian, and drummer Korey Thomas, with each evolution sharpening their sound.
Fatboy thinks back to their teenage beginnings: “Our song ‘Boyfriend’ is going to breeze a million streams and, you know, me and Korey started playing that song literally when we were about 18. It was the song that made us be like, oh, we can be a band now. We were like, this is how you make it sound good. And from there it was like…we have to do it until we die.”
A huge part of Bricknasty’s identity is rooted in Fatboy’s experience of growing up in Ballymun in Dublin. Their spoken word piece ‘ballymun’ from their INA CRUELER album, puts it plainly:
“Ballymun had a huge amount of trauma in the area…
People with trauma use drugs to overcome the psychological pain…
So essentially Ballymun was ghettoised by the government.”
For years, the area was defined by external judgement, not by the people who actually lived there. Bricknasty are rewriting that story from the inside out.
The Sound
Bricknasty’s sound feels like a conversation. Not only between the genres they’ve absorbed over the years, but also between the instruments on stage. They bounce off each other, settling into something distinctly theirs. Their music sways between R&B warmth in Fatboy’s vocal runs and the prominent bass, neo-soul smoothness with their chord choices, jazz in their improvisation, and hip-hop looseness in the their J Dilla-type drum beats. You can hear elements of D’Angelo, MF DOOM, Kendrick Lamar and Phil Lynott. Yet their final product never feels borrowed.
D’Angelo’s influence runs deep too. Even his album Black Messiah inspired their latest project, Fatboy reveals: “We definitely tried to make this sound like D’Angelo… our project’s called Black’s Law… He was the best. He brought me back.”
Recently, they’ve proven that their music isn’t afraid to enter new realms either. They nod to Irish folk history, even reworking Turlogh O’Carolan’s ‘Eleanour Plunkett’, spinning allegories about Ballymun’s tower blocks, the devil reimagined as a drug dealer, and St. Michael as a well-meaning local. The band themselves mirror this context – messy, beautiful, and full of surprising contradictions.
Performing live, this chaotic chemistry makes so much sense. Their shows are electric in energy, but also tender. Bringing the songs to the stage breathes whole new life into their meaning. And even the process of behind the songs is its own beast. While they recorded most of their album Black’s Law in Black Mountain in Dundalk, they also had makeshift studios in accommodation while travelling. Much like the moving around of the recording, their demos evolve, get pulled apart, and rebuilt into something completely new. But as Fatboy reminds us, this spark of creativity doesn’t always come when you want it to.
“Normally it’s grand being in the sitting room writing, but sometimes it gets bad,” Fatboy says. “The ideas don’t just show up because you’re sitting somewhere. You still have to chase it.”
The Rise
In the last few years, their momentum has snowballed. They played with Aby Coulibaly when she opened for Coldplay at Croke Park, signed to FAMM, performed on main stages at festivals worldwide. In terms of support slots, they have been on the road with the likes of Maverick Sabre, Cordae, and Kneecap to name a few. To promote their latest album, they’ve also had coverage from Dazed, Rolling Stone UK, and so much more.
Before Black’s Law, the band have been working hard on building their sound, fanbase and releases since 2020. Their first project was INA CRUELER (2023), followed by 2024’s XONGZ አስቀያሚ ጡብ. What ties all of these works together? Their commitment to executing a visual world that matches their sonic one perfectly. Their visuals are often tongue in cheek, monochrome, with surreal imagery, and threaded artistic and personal narratives, stitched from manipulated photography and collage. This goes for both their album artworks and music videos.
Take their renowned music video ‘vinland’, for example. The sonic music journey that this song brings you on, is just like the theme of emotional longing nestled in the lyrics. Directed by Hugh Mulhern, the blend of rawness, nightmare imagery, and a sense of otherworldliness compliments the music perfectly.
Again in their track ‘mouthy’, the accompanying music video directed by Connor Clarke matches the distortion of acoustic instruments and experimental sounds. It’s also surreal, hypnotic, filled to the brim with aesthetic dichotomies. Their continuous rise is a testament to their true dedication to their artistic craft.
What’s Next?
Right now, they’re midway through a EU and UK tour, and are gearing up for their biggest headline yet at the 3Olympia on Saturday, December 6. Their Black’s Law US tour dates are set for February and March of next year. They’ve also been announced for Cross The Tracks festival alongside headliners Little Simz and KOKOROKO.
People often say they’re looking forward to seeing what’s next for a music act, often without knowing if there is a next one. With Bricknasty, there’s no question. They will continue to push boundaries, it’s just a question of how and when. What will it look and sound like? If their rise from lockdown project to world touring band is anything to go by, expect the unexpected. They’re unpredictable, just like their dream rider: “Lamborghini, Lamborghini, and a Toyota Aventis. Human connection too.”
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