Grian Chatten says neither the band, their label nor their management was told — and the band’s future contracts will ban AI outright.
By Theon — The Superfan, CelebnMusic247
Fontaines D.C. made the “Marianne” video the human way — and then found out a machine had been in the room. Frontman Grian Chatten told the Los Angeles Times it was a “real shock” to learn artificial intelligence had been used in the video for the band’s lead single, insisting the group had no idea AI was involved, per Music-News’ report of the interview.
Chatten found out the way everyone else did. “I woke up at like 5.30am the day after the video came out, and I saw an article that said there was AI used in the video, and I called our management, and I was like, ‘What the f***, is this true?'” he said. “And it turned out that there was some AI used in like the workflow or the postproduction.”
His account of the shoot itself is the opposite of a tech story. “All those main scenes and main effects and stuff were VFX and prosthetics, like the cheeks and everything. Over 110 people worked on the thing. It was a real huge human effort,” Chatten said. “But then somewhere in the process, someone from the VFX team I guess used some kind of AI in the workflow. And none of us were told about it. Apparently, not even our label or our management were told about it and it was a real shock.”
Fans had raised the alarm first: as Paste reported, the video’s credits originally listed “AI artists” before the description was edited to read “VFX artists” instead, and the credits named three post-production studios — Foreign Xchange, Deep VFX and Pineapple VFX. The video was directed by Dave Meyers, whose credits include Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble” and Travis Scott and Drake’s “Sicko Mode.”
The band’s fix is contractual. “We’re gonna have it written into our contracts going forward that like it can’t be in our music videos,” Chatten said. “I don’t condone it.”
The timing could hardly be worse — or more pointed. “Marianne” leads Dopamine Chamber, the band’s fifth album, released Oct. 16, which tackles society’s reliance on technology. “It’s so f****** ironic,” Chatten said. “No, very contradictory. The themes of the f****** album as well… It just f****** sucked.”
Asked for his wider view of AI, he didn’t hold back. “I think it’s f****** terrifying,” he said, citing a Robin Williams scene from Dead Poets Society about poetry and literature: “These are the things that we stay alive for, and well, that’s exactly what AI threatens to rob from the human race.” His prescription: “We should just shut it off.”
The 247 Take — Whatever happened inside that post-production pipeline, Fontaines D.C. have now said the quiet part at full volume: 110 people built that video by hand, and the band wants paperwork that keeps it that way. An anti-AI clause in a Fontaines contract won’t stop the industry — but when one of the biggest guitar bands on the planet puts it in writing, every label and VFX house in the business just heard it.
More music news at CelebnMusic247.com.
Sources: Music-News | Paste | Far Out
