Fontaines D.C. owe much of the credit for their rise to arena-filling stars to their manager and “sixth member of the band,” Trev Dietz, who has died at the age of 47.

There was a time when a pop group’s manager was an older man in a suit and tie, who took care of the business side of things.

He would arrange deals, cover up scandals and manipulate the media; protecting the band’s image and maximising their (and his) income, sometimes – as with Peter Grant, infamous manager of Led Zeppelin (and father of Sharon Osbourne) – using threats and violence.

I doubt Trevor Dietz ever behaved like that.

The manager of Fontaines D.C., who has died at the age of 47, was regarded by the band as their sixth member. As they said in a statement, Trev was a man who “cared passionately for us and for what was fair and right in the wider world.”

When he met the band in 2016 he was already a key player in Dublin’s live music world, working as a DJ, booker and promoter at club nights, championing emerging artists.

One of those was Fontaines, who he booked at The Workmans Club, and soon he became their manager, guiding the band into becoming Ireland’s most successful band since U2.

Trev was the man who arranged their contract with American independent label Partisan Records, who released their first three albums, and their recent big-money move to XL Records.

I feel that this song, Roman Holiday, from their third album Skinty Fia, has the right sort of melancholy mood to serve as an epitaph to a much loved man, and an integral part of the Fontaines success story.

RIP Trevor Dietz (1979-2026)