Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Promises Kept: Australia Bound With ROB DAMIANI From DON BROCO

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Promises Kept: Australia Bound With ROB DAMIANI From DON BROCO · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's Rob here from Don Broco and yeah, we're
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: heading back to Australia very soon. Indeed, it's going to
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: be the first tour back touring this new material. We've
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: been working on a new album last yeah year in
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: a bit now and it's very very close to being finished.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: So this will be the first time we actually get
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: back on the road and the play any of this
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: new stuff, which is really exciting. First time I've been
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: on the road in a year and a half.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: So yeah, we're excited.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Nice as you say, Dot Broco have just announce your
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: next world tour. It's going to be kicking off in
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Australia on ski September, starting in Brisbane on the fourth,
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: then you get Sydney, e Mailbert at Adelaide and finish
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: in Perth on the ninth of September, so less than
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: two months away. Broight, you're not leaving yourself much.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Time, no, we I think in an ideal world, we
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: would have, you know, we would have had the album
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: you know, done and dust I mean, the original plan
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: was like we'll finish it, finish it and the last year,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: but you know, various things happened. Delays, life happens, the songs,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: you know, mutate and then you write better songs and
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: then you want to put them on the record.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: So yeah, but we didn't want to move this tour.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: I mean, we've you know, we've been lucky enough to
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: come to Australia now once every album, and you know,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the the times we had on the last record and
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: the shows we did were just so good and the
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: energy out there is so insane. We didn't want to
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: leave it a whole nother album where you're maybe doing
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: it sort of you know, towards the tailor. So you know,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: even though I think you know that not all the
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: record will be out, it will be a load of
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: the new material, probably all the singles, but not the
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: full record. Yeah, we we had sort of these plans
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: in and we just didn't want to move them.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Like you know, when you when.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: You're looking forward to so and for so long, it's
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: just gutting for us as a band to then be like,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: oh no, okay, let's put it off half a year whatever,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: So yeah, we're just we're just gagging to get back
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: on the road.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, we did one one festival here in the UK,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Download Festival, a couple of weeks ago now and again
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: that you know that that little taste of our life
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: to be playing again, it's just you know, it's that's
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: that's what we're here to do. You know, that's that's
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: when we feel most alive as a band, when we're
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: performing to people and getting that connection. And yeah, we
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: didn't want to I didn't want to delay things any longer.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: So yeah, we're really excited to get back out big Cool.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: So you haven't been here since May twenty twenty three, mates,
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: So what's changed with the band in between visits?
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: I mean, like, yeah, so it would have been.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: That would have been sort of as we would sort
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: of we've just done our I think we were like
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: probably full steam ahead into our album campaign then and yeah,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: basically since then, we toured a ton in America.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: That's obviously it's so much for America to do and
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: I don't think we've been there properly before that on
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: that cycle, so I think I could be wrong. I
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: think we did two tours out there. After we came
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: to Australia. We did support Run which was amazing with
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Pierced the Veil and the US and just the biggest
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: shows we've ever done in the States and then did
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: did our headline run? And basically since then, we've just
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: been sort of hard at work, you know, we've been
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: you know, trying to create the new sound to figure
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: you know. Firstly, you know, for us, it's very much
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: you know, songwriting and soundscaping. You know, they're they're kind
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: of you know, massively integrated, but they're still you know,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: you can approach them quite differently because song is a
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: good song, however it's presented in a way.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: So yeah, we've been trying different songwriting styles out.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: You know, really, I mean I find it pretty boring
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: myself trying to write the best song, you know, like
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: because a lot of the time our sort of go
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: to is just vibing with the music, vibing with the melodies,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: you know, just seeing what kind of falls out of us,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: which I really liked, probably still my favorite way of
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: songwriting is a bit more intuitive and you're reacting off people.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: But we were like, fuck it, let's let's you know,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: let's give it.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: A go and try and write some songs as you know,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: proper songwriters, but we're real people, you know, and which
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: you know is actually really fresh for us.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: So it's kind of different.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: You know, actually getting in a room is pulling out
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: the acoustic, getting on a piano, writing lyrics first, which
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: is again something that doesn't usually come figuring out what
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: the songs about, and a lot of the time the
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: songs were written that way and we were like, wow,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: these are really good songs, but there was something about
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: that didn't feel then quite us.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: So then we had to like broke it up.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: And throw in cementalness to to sort of still give
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: it that uniqueness and originality that we're kind of always
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: always striving for. So it's been we've tried to a
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: load of different things out, We've we've I think so
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: we're probably about two or three songs away now from
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: finishing the record that you know, solid making decisions of
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: what's going to be on there. And yeah, it's definitely
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: the longest we've written an album apart from in Lockdown.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: But I think it just Lockdown kind of you know.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: It was obviously terrible in such so many ways for
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: a lot of people, when us included, but good in
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: so many ways in the sense it allowed us, as
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: you know, musicians, to actually get a bit of time
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: and reflect and and have fun with it and not
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: have this constant time pressure which we've had on our
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: previous two records, which can be like crippling, you know,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: it can. You need a bit of pressure, but too
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: much pressure it startles creativity.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: You're panicking, you're not making decisions for the right reason.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: And that little, that little taste it the lockdown gave
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: us kind of now spoil things because this time around
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: we were like, no, we want a bit more time,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: so we need a couple more months whatever, and then
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: it goes out. So I think we're a good place
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: now where we feel we've had a good amount of
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: time to write the record we wanted to, but we're
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: also very gagging to stop right and just and just
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: actually you know, you know, there's only so much time
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: you could be in a room with with with the
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: boys before you just want to be out. You want
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: to be seeing the world. You want to be you know,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: playing shows. So that really is the thing we're excited now.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, cool man, Well, last time you're out here, you
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: promise fans that you were going to start the next
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: world tour in Australia, and you also promise Adelaide in
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: Perth that you'd play there. And you've honored both of them. Bro, Like,
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: you're gonna have to be careful. You can ruin the
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: reputation of museos everywhere by sticking to your word.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, by actually being men of our word.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: I mean usually you make these promises and you just
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: hope somehow they.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Might work out.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: But no, it's it's nice to actually follow through on
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: something for once.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: So two things. Yeah, you guys are like, it's a
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: well known for your frenetic and energetic live show mate.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: So how much time and practice goes into what we
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: see up there on stage?
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Honestly? Zero?
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we obviously will be practicing, we'll be
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: getting the set tight, you know, in our practice room,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: but we've never been able to.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: You can't really rock out in a practice room, it
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: doesn't it right.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: So yeah, you know, we literally just stand there, run
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: through the songs, make sure you know, everyone knows their parts,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: especially if it's a new one.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: You know, you're working out.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Takes a fair amount of time, you know, working out
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: the harmony, and you know a lot of the time
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: we won't have played a song, you know, until we're
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: in the studio, sorry, until in the practice room. You know,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: because so much changes in the studio. We very rarely
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: now will get the instruments out and play it through
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: as a band, like once or twice on certain songs
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: where it makes sense. So yeah, practicing is really just
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: actually learning the bits and then it's whatever whatever comes
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: to you. You know, when you're playing the song the
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: first time, I mean we you sometimes don't know as
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: well until you're on stage, it's going to feel.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: We just shot a video for.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: The first single on Friday, and that would have been
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the first time, you know, we actually kind of felt
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: the music from a physical, live perspective because suddenly the
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: cameras in front of you, they're like rock out and
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: you're like, oh shit.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: I didn't know what I'm going to do. What am
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: I going to do here?
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: But you know, and you know, it's quite funny because
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: you know, the video will be the first physical representation
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: of what just you know, instantly came to us in
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: the moment.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: And then I say, like.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Live, you know, obviously things change and you start moving
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: to songs different, you feel them differently, you might vibe
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: off the crowd a little bit. But yeah, that's the
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: main thing is I think it would feel weird if
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: you rehearse that bit too much and practice, because again,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: that's the fun thing about live shit, you never know
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: what you're going to do.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: You're like, I might just see.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Someone like headbanging on the front row and just start
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: copying them because it feels good.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: That's the fun of it.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I speaking of life shows, like from a partner's
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: point of view, I know what I like out of
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: a show to enjoy it. From your view as a
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: band on stage, like, what sorts of things can happen
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: to make it a really great show for you?
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: I'd say combo things like you know, we all obviously
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: the personal side of things.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: You know, you want to put on a good show.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: You want to you know, I'd say there's like a
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: number of there's a number of things you can get
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: away with before it's like a show ruiner for your
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: own performance. You know, I can probably hit about I'm
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: getting better at it. You know, when we were started out,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: we used to be perfectionists, and you know we're perfectionists
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: but not that good. So it would be horrible because
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: you'd be messing stuff up, you know, hitting wrong notes
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: and you just be like gutted after a show and
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: I think as as time went on, you realize that's
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: live music. That's what happens. You know, no one's perfect,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: and you know it's about these little mistakes live that
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: create a live environments. While people are there to see
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: people performing. They don't want to see a load of
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: robots and stage playing something perfectly still like probably like
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: personally myself, if I'm hitting like get away like three
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: or four, my steady, if I get into like five
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: or six like completely like you know, wrong notes are
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: not meant to be there, that's when I'm like, I
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: get a bit bummed out.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: But yeah, a couple of mistakes here and there. I'm vibing.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Looking around seeing my boys having a good time, Like
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: that's obviously a big part of it as well, Like
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: you know, it can be it can be a show
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: ruin when you see you look at either way and
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: someone's like just you know, you can tell someone's not
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: having a good show a lot of the time, and
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: then you have to just stop looking at them so
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: you can keep having a good.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: One, yea.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: So but mostly I'd say it's like the thing that
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: makes obviously the shows different is are the crowds, and
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: it's you know that's that's the variable from from city
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: to city that you know you'll just see you know,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: vibing off people. You just see a certain pocket of
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: mates just fucking losing it. You'll see like a crazy pit,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: someone doing something weird, you know, like someone's doing a.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: Couple of load of backflips.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: You know, like those special little moments you know in
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: a night that just remind you, you know, how everyone
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: feels music differently, everyone's connecting in.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: A different way.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: But even just seeing someone just dancing, like you've got
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: someone maybe just busting a move or just feeling it
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: in a different way that you might not have caught
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: at another show, and that just again just gives you
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: puts a smile on my face, and like it reminds
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: you how important music is and how this whole crowd
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: who you know, they might be completely it's completely different things,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: completely different people, but the fact that music has brought
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: them together and they're all feeding this music in their
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: own way, but together is that's what gets me. Like
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: really going a show where you know, when in between
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: the moments when you're trying to do a show and
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: you catch those little glimpses.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: That's what it's all about for me.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And while I've doing some research with this interview,
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: I came across some video as you playing live at
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: the Royal Albert Hall with an orchestra back in twenty
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: twenty three. I only watched a couple of songs, Mane,
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: but it was brilliant, Like to say something, to do
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: it with an orchestra and it feels forced, but the
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: way you guys work together made it was brilliant, really
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: really good.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, oh thanks, Yeah, that's probably that'll be up there.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Probably one of the highlights of you know, my entire life,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: you know, to to play that venue such you know,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: an incredible iconic space.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: I went as a as a little kid wants I
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: can't remember who it was. I think I went with
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: my school to to see something and you know, to
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: know that obviously the history of the venue, but even
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: just getting in there, the gravitas of the room and
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: the space, it just feels so special and the orchestra
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: of thing that, you know, like credit to tom our basis.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: He kind of pulled that together pretty quickly. It was
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: a relatively last minute invite. I mean, I wouldn't say
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: last minute, but we had I'm pretty sure we got
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: invited because we got a number one record in the
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: UK on our on our last album and they only
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: announced it pretty soon before the event. It's an incredible charity,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Teenage Cancer Trust in the UK who partnership with the
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Royal Albert Hall to put on you know, headline apps
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: that you know, argue with a bit bigger than the
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Royal Albert Hall ticket wise to see them in obviously
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: a slightly smaller venue, but such a special venue. So
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: and we got on number one, and I think the
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: week could passed and we'd you have that initial buzz
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: where you're like, this is amazing. Then the next week happens,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: you're what's next, you know, and you feel a bit like,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: you know, I wouldn't say depressed, but you're like, oh,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: well that was that's all.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: That's all done. Now to the next thing. What would
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: we do? And we had a little tour planned.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: But then we got the call to do this all
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: out ahol, So we had to We had basically like
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: a month two months.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: To sort it all out.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: So yeah, we tom with the help of some you know,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: some professional classical music arrangers, put the show together. Those
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: the set list, it just happened so quickly and probably
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: the most nervous I've ever been on stage before going
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: out there, like I just you know, it brought back
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: all those kind of jitters that I used to get
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: when we first ever started performing, which I hadn't felt
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: in years.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: It was it was really cool.
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: I'm going to go back and watch it again later
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: on tonight and watch the whole thing because it was
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: blaw me away. It was just really well done.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Ah, thanks beautiful, Rob, Thanks very much for your time.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: Road's being a pressure chat. Really I'll see you at
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: the Brisbane show.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Yes, awesome. Cheers man