{"id":3243,"date":"2018-11-18T16:54:01","date_gmt":"2018-11-18T21:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=3243"},"modified":"2018-11-18T16:54:01","modified_gmt":"2018-11-18T21:54:01","slug":"interview-don-broco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2018\/11\/18\/interview-don-broco\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW: Don Broco"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Don Broco by Maggie Leone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cStranger Sings\u201d DJ Maggie Leone sat down with drummer Matt Donnelly and bassist Tom Doyle of Don Broco on their tour bus Wednesday night after their show at the House of Blues in Boston. \u00a0The Bedford, England-based band is currently on tour with Mike Shinoda (of Linkin Park) on the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour Presents: Mike Shinoda North America.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Photo gallery of the show can be found here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maggie Leone: So my first question: Bedford\u2026where\u2019s Bedford? (NOTE: refer to Don Broco song \u201c<\/b>Pretty<\/b><\/a>\u201d to understand this reference.)<\/b><\/p>\n

Matt Donnelly: Oh, exactly! I\u2019ve had it all my life. I was actually born in Bedford; I grew up there. Tommy grew up about an hour south of there\u2013by American terms, very, very close. \u00a0All of our lives we\u2019ve sort of had to say to people asking that, especially touring overseas, \u201cOh, it\u2019s close to London. Don\u2019t worry about it.\u201d Actually, it\u2019s remarkable even in the UK how few people have heard of our small town. \u00a0\u00a0think it\u2019s because it\u2019s kind of in that no man\u2019s land\u2013not quite the midlands where you\u2019ve got the big cities like Birmingham and it\u2019s not the southeast where you\u2019ve got London, so it kind of gets forgotten a bit. It hasn\u2019t got a football team or anything like that\u2013well, it does, but not one to speak of. Yeah, it sort of became an in-joke amongst us that no one had ever heard of it. And then when Lars from Metallica played one of our songs on his radio show, he actually said, \u201cBedford? Where\u2019s Bedford?\u201d and we just couldn\u2019t believe it because it\u2019s been going on for like 20 years, this in-joke, and we were just laughing, like rolling on the floor laughing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tom Doyle: But the short answer is that it\u2019s about an hour north of London.<\/span><\/p>\n

MD<\/span>:<\/b> Yeah!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ML: I wasn\u2019t actually even expecting you to answer it, so thank you!<\/b><\/p>\n

MD: Yeah! It\u2019s a subject close to my heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ML: How did you guys meet and how did Don Broco come to be?<\/b><\/p>\n

MD: We met in Bedford actually. [Laughs] No, Simon, Rob, and I went to school together from quite a young age. Simon and I went to school together since we were about four years old. But Rob joined our school when we were about 12? Early teens? Our original bass player, Luke, also went to our school, but having written and recorded our first album together in 2012, he decided he didn\u2019t want to tour, didn\u2019t want to be away from home, so he went to do some accountancy work and Tommy came in. Tommy stepped in because Tom was the bass player in the first band we\u2019d ever toured with.<\/span><\/p>\n

TD: So we\u2019d kind of played loads of gigs together. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

MD: We\u2019d played loads of gigs together, we\u2019d toured together, and it was just a very natural fit. \u00a0And then Don Broco, that was it.<\/span><\/p>\n

TD: And that was nearly seven years ago now.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ML: What\u2019s your favorite song on \u201cTechnology\u201d to perform live?<\/b><\/p>\n

MD: I mean, it does change sometimes from tour to tour. There\u2019s also, as with any band, there are songs that we still have yet to actually throw into a set. This year\u2019s been incredibly busy for us touring wise, but we\u2019ve done a fair amount of support shows and Warped Tour all summer where you get half an hour, so you\u2019ve got to kind of pick and choose; you can\u2019t play everything. \u00a0For me, \u201cCome out to LA\u201d I get to sing a lot, I\u2019ve got a lot to do, so I do kind of like that song. It\u2019s a challenge; it\u2019s always been a challenge for me and I feel like it\u2019s constantly improving, so I feel like that\u2019s mine.<\/span><\/p>\n

TD: There\u2019s always a bit of a buzz when he starts that song, so I think that\u2019s one of my favorites as well because, suddenly everyone knows what song it is and they sing along.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ML: The energy of Don Broco, especially on <\/b>Technology<\/i><\/b>, is unlike anything I\u2019d ever seen. And it comes through on each and every song on the album, so where does that energy come from and how do you maintain it?<\/b><\/p>\n

MD: This is something we\u2019ve kind of made a conscious effort toward, very early on in the band\u2019s career. On our first album, we struggled. Well, struggled is probably the wrong word, but we didn\u2019t have the easiest path in terms of radio and press support, things like that. And that became compounded on on our second record, back in the UK. Although the band was always growing, it felt like it was growing more through word of mouth and just playing live, relentlessly touring. It was obvious to us that live is where people could finally \u201cget\u201d the band, I suppose, to use that term. And so, from that point onwards, it\u2019s been constantly reinforced. We\u2019ve started writing songs more with live in mind, rather than anything like radio\u2013you don\u2019t want to fall into the trap of trying to write for that. We just think the live show has to draw you in. It has to be engaging. It has to be interactive. So, we feel like the energy we give out is the energy we get back. That\u2019s the number one thing for us in terms of building a show that people are going to remember.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ML: \u00a0What inspires the album art? \u00a0Especially Technology<\/i>, because that album art is crazy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MD: Well I think what inspires the album art has been different for every album, of course. This time around, I feel like we had the greatest sense of what the album was about ourselves. With our previous record <\/span>Automatic<\/span><\/i>, we were signed to a major label and there was a little bit more to-ing and fro-ing. There were more people involved, more people giving opinions. \u00a0I do love that cover, but you know, there were still people\u2013outsiders\u2013putting their two cents in and this time around, we had total creative control and we knew the theme of the album. Technology kept coming up in the songs, just aspects of technology and how it\u2019s so symbiotic with our everyday life. It just kept coming up in the lyrical content, so we wanted to represent that. But we didn\u2019t want to represent it so directly, we didn\u2019t want it to be obvious. We didn\u2019t want to ram it down people\u2019s throats, so we just sort of picked on the aspects of how technology makes you feel, how it can be sort of incredible and inspiring, but dangerous and kind of scary. And we just tried to pull in images in a collage sense that represented all those things. It\u2019s a bit scary, but it\u2019s a bit like whoa. It\u2019s almost futuristic and feels powerful and has this incredible power to it, but it has a dark side. So all those things were represented in different aspects of the sort of collage art we built together.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ML: So, the music video trilogy, for \u201cEverybody,\u201d \u201cCome out to LA,\u201d and \u201cGreatness,\u201d is interesting, to say the least. \u00a0Where did that inspiration come from and was the choreography hard to learn?<\/b><\/p>\n

TD: \u00a0I\u2019ll answer that second question first, because yes, it was! And the thing is, as well, it was right at the end of a tour we were doing when we had to learn it. So Rob and I were just kind of doing it in the corridor of the bus we were on, which was probably smaller and narrower than this one here. Just trying to practice these moves, shaking the bus around as we jumped around on the suspension.<\/span><\/p>\n

MD: It\u2019s also\u2013I\u2019ll never forget\u2013we were in the airport flying to shoot the video and in one of the airport lounges, Rob was just practicing. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

TD: People were just looking at him very strangely.<\/span><\/p>\n

MD: He\u2019s got his headphones in and he\u2019s got this tutorial video we\u2019d been sent by the director on his phone, but no one else can hear what he\u2019s doing. He\u2019s just sort of dancing away and everyone\u2019s sort of like \u201cI want a bit of what this guy is taking.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ML: The \u201cGreatness\u201d music video is so fun to watch.<\/b><\/p>\n

TD: It was fun to shoot, as well, to be fair. It was really fun. But yeah, it was difficult to learn. \u00a0Very difficult.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ML: So did you guys come up with the cowboy thing?<\/b><\/p>\n

MD: The first video we did from this sort of world we created was \u201cEverybody,\u201d and we have to be completely honest, all creative credit goes to the director, Ben. A guy called Ben Roberts from Dominar Films in Athens, Georgia. We\u2019d never met him, he\u2019d just submitted an idea for this video and it was pretty much as it turns out. It was written down shot for shot, and we were like \u201cIt\u2019s so crazy, we have to try it and we have to meet this guy.\u201d We just got on so well and he had such a great vision that we just kept on working together through this whole album campaign. \u00a0Every time, we\u2019ve just been taking a journey of twists and turns. It\u2019s been a lot of fun, to say the least, because there\u2019s no rules in this sort of world we\u2019ve created with the characters we have.<\/span><\/p>\n

TD: \u00a0It\u2019s been fun watching fans trying to work out how it all intertwines and whether this is a sequel to that one or that one\u2019s a\u2013you know.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ML: That\u2019s true. I watched them out of order at first and\u2013<\/b><\/p>\n

TD: There\u2019s no order anyway, to be frank\u2026not that we know of anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n

MD: I\u2019m still trying to figure it out.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ML: Because I think I watched \u201cEverybody\u201d last, and then I finally watched it and I was like \u201cOh, that\u2019s the same guy that\u2019s in the \u2018Greatness\u2019 video.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

MD: That\u2019s right.<\/span><\/p>\n

TD: \u00a0The cowboy and the bride appear in all of them in various different guises.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ML: How do you think your sound\/style has evolved from <\/b>Priorities<\/i><\/b> to now?<\/b><\/p>\n

MD: I think, touching slightly on something I said earlier, we\u2019ve continually sort of been writing songs more toward a live environment. On <\/span>Automatic<\/span><\/i>, it was our first time in a proper studio and it was our first time with a major label\u2013like we had access to proper studios, exciting equipment we\u2019d never had access to before. Because of that, we embraced our ability to create a more polished sound on that album and we tried to embrace our poppier side. And I love that record. It was our second album cycle of touring, and it really taught us that we were actually changing arrangements of the songs and the way they were being performed slightly live, just to make it hit a bit harder for the audience. So it really did drill home that live is our priority. I think that\u2019s really how we\u2019ve evolved. Now when we write songs, it\u2019s almost a liberating experience to say \u201cDoes that feel good? Does that feel good? Is that gonna make you feel good in the live moment?\u201d If you were watching this band, would you want to nod your head if it\u2019s a noddy bit, or jump if it\u2019s a jumping bit? So I think that\u2019s all it is. It\u2019s really kind of freeing in a sense to be able to think that way.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me: So Rob was throwing the bucket hats\u2013would you ever consider making a Don Broco bucket hat for merch?<\/b><\/p>\n

MD: I think we\u2019ve got to at some point, because Rob\u2019s made it now part of his signature look.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ML: I ask because it is part of his signature look, but also I would buy one.<\/b><\/p>\n

MD: Yeah, he has the hot dog hat that he wore all Warped Tour. I think it\u2019s got to happen at some point.<\/span><\/p>\n

TD: He\u2019s got several now. Did he bring them home after America or has he left them in our lock-up storeroom in America? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

MD: I honestly don\u2019t know.<\/span><\/p>\n

TD: Because he did mention that maybe it would be an American thing, that the bucket hat would only be when he was in America. <\/span><\/p>\n

MD: I think the bucket hat is due for a huge revival. And I think we\u2019re gonna be at the forefront of that.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ML: I back that. I am behind that. What\u2019s your go-to karaoke song and why?<\/b><\/p>\n

MD: I have one, but, I\u2019m not sure. It\u2019s quite a deep cut. I\u2019m not sure if you\u2019d even ever heard it. \u00a0Do you know the band Mystique?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ML: No.<\/b><\/p>\n

MD: Well then, it was a\u2013when would you say they were in their pomp?<\/span><\/p>\n

TD: That was early 2000s.<\/span><\/p>\n

MD: Early 2000s. R&B. Girl group. Mystique. A song called \u201cScandalous.\u201d It was just because a friend of mine did it once at a party and we had so much fun and it went down so well that we then just kept doing it. Then we\u2019d go out to a karaoke bar and it\u2019d be our song. Me and one of my buddies, just a good memory between us. So Mystique \u201cScandalous,\u201d look it up on YouTube.<\/span><\/p>\n

TD: \u00a0When was the German TV show we did with the afterparty with the karaoke? Was that May of this year?<\/span><\/p>\n

MD: Oh yeah, not long ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

TD: Something like May of this year, we ended up doing karaoke\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

MD: \u201cBackstreet\u2019s Back.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

TD: We did \u201cBackstreet\u2019s Back,\u201d we did Spice Girls \u201cWannabe\u201d as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

MD: And we did one of our own songs\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

TD: And we ended up doing one of our own, which was kind of bizarre, but\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

MD: We were sort of forced into it by the people around. It was peer pressure!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cStranger Sings\u201d DJ Maggie Leone sat down with drummer Matt Donnelly and bassist Tom Doyle of Don Broco on their tour bus Wednesday night after their show at the House of Blues in Boston. \u00a0The Bedford, England-based band is currently on tour with Mike Shinoda (of Linkin Park) on the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour Presents: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[26,468,604,29,25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3243"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3243"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3267,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3243\/revisions\/3267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}