The Fratellis on their latest album and upcoming tour - plus watch their live session

Virgin Radio

15 Oct 2021, 14:22

The Scottish band joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about their year so far, their cover of Yes Sir, I Can Boogie, and about performing live again. They also played an amazing session.

The Fratellis’ sixth album, Half Drunk Under A Full Moon, was released in April, and their 2022 tour starts next March. Frontman Jon Fratelli told Chris: "The thing that’s missing this time is that you release a record and you almost immediately go out on tour. The tour that we’re doing next year is the tour that we were supposed to do when the album was originally supposed to come out, and that’s where you gauge whether people are liking it or not. If you’re like me and you don’t read social media and stuff, which I don’t, that’s where I get the reaction of, 'Has this worked? Have we done the right thing?' So, we haven’t really had that yet."

Whilst the band haven’t yet been able to go out on a full tour, last month they hosted some intimate gigs to raise funds for struggling record shops and their road crew. Of the shows, Jon said: “Those were the most fun, certainly I’ve had, in a long time.”

During their session, The Fratellis played a cracking cover of Runaround Sue, which was Dion’s 1961 hit following his split with the Belmonts.

Also in their set, in which the band played as a nine-piece, was the iconic anthem Chelsea Dagger. It was released as the second single from their debut studio album, 2006's Costello Music, and reached number 5 in the Official UK Singles Chart.

During their set, the band played their renowned version of Baccara’s 1977 disco classic Yes Sir, I Can Boogie, which they performed for the first time ever when they were last on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky. They went on to release a studio version of the tune, and the song became Scotland’s anthem for Euro 2020.

When explaining how they chose to cover the song for their previous live appearance for Virgin Radio, Jon said: “It was suggested as the cover to do when we came on your show, by our manager. And for the first sort of day-and-a-half, I was like, ‘No way, can’t be done!’ I didn’t know how to turn it into something we could do, and then, as is almost always the case, the penny drops. And you’re always in bed at the time. You’ve either just woken up or you’re about to go to sleep. And I was just about to go to sleep, and the penny dropped, and I thought, ‘Oh, I know how to do it.’”

Speaking about the universal positive reaction to the cover, the frontman said: “All over Britain, everywhere we’ve played, I didn’t expect that reaction everywhere. I thought it would be, maybe in Scotland, but it’s been incredible actually.” 

Jon continued: “Okay, it’s a cover, but we’ve changed it in such a way that it sounds like us. It gives us another song in a set-list that we know people are going to react to."

The Fratellis' session also featured Whistle for the Choir, which was the third single from Costello Music, and their second UK top 10.

Chris asked Jon what the band’s highlight of 2021 had been, to which the singer replied: “Being able to play again. Do you know, it’s really just that. For a start, it’s the only thing we know how to do, but it’s the simplest pleasure that I can think of." 

For tickets for The Fratellis 2022 tour, visit thefratellis.com.

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.