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Paul McCartney welcomed around 50 fortunate fans into Abbey Road Studios on Tuesday, May 5, for an intimate preview of his upcoming album, ‘The Boys Of Dungeon Lane’. During the special listening session, he opened up about the inspiration and memories behind many of the songs featured on the project.
After attendees handed over their phones, they were guided into the iconic Studio Two, the same room where The Beatles famously recorded much of their catalogue. Before the event officially began, McCartney’s voice could already be heard from the control room as fans looked around hoping to spot the music legend. He later walked downstairs into the studio, where a cosy set designed like a personal living room had been arranged with vinyl records, framed pictures, and decorative pieces, including a street sign displaying the album’s title.
“Hello, welcome to Abbey Road,” McCartney greeted the audience as he settled into his chair. “I’m going to play the new album for you and try and think of stuff to say about it.” Over the next hour and a half, he reflected on moments from his childhood in Liverpool and the earliest years of his bond with his Beatles bandmates.
He explained that the album includes “quite a few” tracks that revisit earlier parts of his life and shared why he often finds himself writing about the past. “It occurred to me that that’s where your big bank of information is,” he said. “If you’re Charles Dickens, you’re gonna write about how your dad was in prison or something. [The past] is a very rich field of information.”
One of those reflective tracks is ‘Down South’, an acoustic driven song that recalls McCartney hitchhiking with George Harrison when the pair first became close. “It would be me who’d suggest to John [Lennon] and George, ‘Let’s go hitchhiking’,” he remembered. “I can’t see John doing that, or George. It was my thing.” He then jokingly exaggerated his Liverpool accent while recreating the moment, before sharing a story about getting a ride on a milk float with Harrison, who ended up sitting on the battery and burning himself when the zip on his jeans touched it.
“Memories are a weird thing,” he said while wrapping up the story. “I was talking to Olivia [Harrison, George’s widow] and she said, ‘Oh yeah, George told me about that and how you got the zip burn!’ I swear it was George!”
‘Days We Left Behind’, the first single from ‘The Boys Of Dungeon Lane’, includes references to Lennon, who McCartney admitted he still gets “emotional talking about” to this day. Another track, ‘Home To Us’, reflects on life growing up in Liverpool and the working class neighbourhoods McCartney, Harrison and Ringo Starr came from. “The three of us were raised in quite poor conditions,” he told fans, laughing that when he describes the housing estates to Americans, “it sounds like Downton Abbey”. “No matter how rough it was, it was home to us.”
The song also features Starr on drums and vocals, with the two musicians trading lines throughout the track. McCartney explained that Starr originally recorded the drum parts at producer Andrew Watt’s Los Angeles studio, though the drummer became frustrated after not hearing the recording appear anywhere. McCartney later asked Watt to replay the session and described the performance as “really good – very Ringo”, which motivated him to complete the song and send it back to Starr, telling him, “‘Here you are, this is what you wanted’”.
Paul McCartney credit: Sonny McCartney / MPL Communications
When McCartney later invited Starr to contribute vocals, the drummer only returned chorus parts, leaving McCartney unsure how he felt about the song. “I thought, ‘He must hate it!’” he admitted. After speaking directly with Starr, the pair eventually understood each other properly and completed what McCartney described as the first “Paul-Ringo duet”.
Elsewhere on the album, McCartney revealed that ‘The Boys Of Dungeon Lane’ includes the first song he has ever written about his parents, ‘Salesman Saint’, which centres on perseverance through difficult periods “because they had to”. Other songs include ‘Mountaintop’, inspired by the “hippy mood” surrounding Glastonbury, and ‘Ripples In A Pond’, written as a love song dedicated to his wife Nancy.
Throughout the listening session, McCartney enthusiastically mouthed the lyrics, pretended to play drums and guitar along with the music, and occasionally grabbed an acoustic guitar to demonstrate certain melodies for the crowd. While discussing ‘Life Can Be Hard’, he played the main guitar riff live. After accidentally hitting the wrong note, he laughed and admitted, “I haven’t been practising. You’d think if you knew you were doing this, then you’d have practised.” Smiling afterward, he added: “But I don’t care!”
‘The Boys Of Dungeon Lane’ arrives on May 29 and was produced by Watt across sessions in Los Angeles and East Sussex.
Just hours after the playback event ended, it was also revealed that McCartney will appear as a guest on The Rolling Stones’ forthcoming album, ‘Foreign Tongues’. The collaboration follows his contribution to the band’s previous release, ‘Hackney Diamonds’.
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Fontaines D.C. members Carlos O’Connell and Tom Coll have been behind the production of the forthcoming second album from French indie outfit Film Noir. To introduce the project, the band has unveiled the paired singles ‘VIENS TIENS TOI’ and ‘VEGITA’, which you can listen to below.
The Fontaines D.C. guitarist and drummer worked alongside Film Noir at La Frette Studios just outside Paris. The renowned recording space is also where Arctic Monkeys created their two most recent albums, ‘Tranquillity Base…’ and ‘The Car’.
O’Connell is partnered with Film Noir vocalist Joséphine de La Baume, who is also known for her work as an actor, filmmaker and model. Together, they share two children, with their first child serving as the inspiration for Fontaines’ 2025 track ‘It’s Amazing To Be Young’.
Reflecting on the project while announcing his role in the album, O’Connell shared on social media: “In early 2020 I walked into a gig in a club in Paris and was introduced to a band called Film Noir. I fell in love with the singer, I went on to make babies with her to to fall in love twice again with them.
“A little while back myself, [Coll] and @filmnoirmusic went to La Frette and recorded their upcoming record.”
The guitarist continued: “Producing this record was one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve had. Blessed to have so many. This album means the world to me & I hope it’ll mean something to many more.”
Film Noir have offered an early look at the still untitled album through the release of ‘VIENS TIENS TOI’ and ‘VEGITA’. O’Connell handled production duties on both tracks, while Coll contributed drums. O’Connell also took care of mixing on ‘VEGITA’.
Opening with a light acoustic arrangement, ‘VIENS TIENS TOI’ gradually unfolds into a dreamy sound shaped by shoegaze influences. In contrast, ‘VEGITA’ leans into a brighter, surf inspired feel that complements de La Baume’s floating vocal performance.
The group has also released a behind the scenes video capturing moments from the recording sessions for their sophomore album, which can be viewed below. At this stage, no official release date has been announced.
Back in spring 2020, O’Connell collaborated with Film Noir on a rendition of Lee Hazlewood’s ‘For A Day Like Today’ (via LiveForever). When the track arrived, the band described the guitarist as “a great supporter of the European rock scene and a common friend”.
Film Noir first emerged with their debut EP, ‘Vertiges (Men Of Glory)’, in 2019, followed by ‘Tendrement’ a year later. Their first full length album, ‘Palpitant’, arrived in 2022.
Outside of music, Joséphine de La Baume portrayed Marie in the 2011 film adaptation of One Day alongside Anne Hathaway. She has also appeared in Apple TV’s The New Look and the Polish period feature Chopin, a Sonata in Paris.
O’Connell also produced the self titled debut album from Dead Dads Club, the new project led by former Palma Violets singer Chilli Jesson. Released in 2026, that record was also created at La Frette Studios.
Speaking with NME earlier this year, O’Connell explained that the French studio “feels like a home”. He continued: “There’s nothing about it that feels corporate or constrained by time. My mind goes into this creative mode in which I can hear things in a certain way, and it doesn’t stop until I leave the building.”
Jesson also spoke about the experience, saying: “It was really organic. Carlos, on one of the tours we were on together, was working on a Film Noir album, and he was always mixing it and playing around with sounds. He’d just come out of the studio at La Frette and to see that process, with the production, I was like, ‘Holy shit.’ I’d been in a world where it was all on the computer, and then suddenly he’s talking about a fucking bass drum that’s two metres long.’”
More recently, Fontaines D.C. contributed music to the soundtrack for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. The band also appeared on the collaborative charity release ‘Help(2)’, which supports War Child.
The group are preparing to return to the stage this summer for their first performances in nearly a year, beginning with three headline concerts in Spain before taking on their first ever top billing appearances at Reading & Leeds 2026.
Their schedule also includes a headline performance at Electric Picnic in Ireland, alongside appearances at European and American festivals including Frequency, La Route du Rock and Shaky Knees.
Discussing new material with NME at the beginning of the year, O’Connell revealed: “We’ve been writing, it’s been fun. We’re at [Reading & Leeds] and there are a couple of shows before that. I think if the music is there, it could get busy.”
Asked whether any fresh songs could appear during the Reading & Leeds performances, he responded: “I’d say so. If there is stuff written, then I would say so, yeah. That’s what we used to do all the time, play the new stuff live, songs that weren’t even finished. It’s a good way to test the songs.”
O’Connell was also asked whether elements of the visual production from the ‘Romance’ era might carry over into the band’s 2026 shows. “I think ‘Romance’ was so intense in every [way]… the visual, the production, the setlist… It wasn’t just about the music,” he explained.
“It’s almost a bit of the identity of the band now, but I guess that’s the decision to make. Does that become the identity of the band, or actually, it’s just a phase and you reinvent it? I don’t know.”
He went on to add: “I personally like the idea of revisiting some old stuff at Reading & Leeds, making the setlist maybe a bit more ‘Dogrel’ heavy. I’m excited about that. I’ve been listening to music like that much more. This morning I was listening to Sonic Youth. I want to go [in] that direction, but we’ll see, because anything could happen now, literally anything.”
‘Romance’ ultimately secured the Number Two spot on NME‘s list of the 50 best albums of 2024, finishing just behind Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’.
