Don Broco

Don Broco

It’s been a few years since the release of your debut album, Priorities. How does this new one, Automatic, differ?
The writing process for Automatic was much more thought out. We spent more time on it, and had hundreds of songs to narrow down for the album, so the process was more hardcore. The difference is, although we still kept a variety, the songs link together this time, so it feels more like an album as a whole.

You’re currently doing another UK tour, any plans to travel across to the States?
Oh, we’d love to in the future, and we plan on dipping our toes into foreign waters next year.

You’ve been on the festival scene for a while now, is it too soon to have any plans for next year’s festivals?
Yeah, we’d love to be back on the scene next year, but we can’t announce anything yet. Festivals give you a different kind of excitement because it’s not just fans out there; it gives you a chance to win new people over. It’s definitely scary but there’s a different aspect to it that makes it exciting.

Would you like to one day have a main stage headline spot? And, which festival would it be?
Every band dreams of having that headline spot on the main stage at a festival. Our number one choice would have to be Reading & Leeds because we grew up attending and have now performed there numerous times. We’ve played in tents a couple of times, and we’ve played outside on the main stage during the day. We did the NME tent at Reading & Leeds for two consecutive years, and there’s a vibe in a tent that you can’t get outside, it’s hot and sweaty and gets that little bit crazier, plus it sounds better, it’s great. But there’s something awesome about playing outside at night. To us, it’s like you’ve made it as a band when that happens.

Which crowd do you prefer, your own or a festival crowd?
It’s so tough! Playing to fans is amazing, everyone knows the words and it’s your own show. However, you get the occasional show at a festival where you make a connection with the crowd that you didn’t expect to have.

You jump and hop around the stage so much now that you seem to have your own signature moves, and fans have jumped on the bandwagon, trying to copy you, but does this cause a few falls on stage?
I remember this one gig a couple of years ago at Hevy Fest where things got a bit mental. I got in the crowd and started setting up a wall of death, at the same time, this one kid was doing backflips; he tripped, and in turn, tripped me. I was trapped at the bottom of this pit. So yeah, it can get pretty dangerous. There’s a video of that on our YouTube by the way, if you want to check it out and have a laugh.

Have you ever been to Nottingham before?
Yeah, all the time! Me and Matt actually went to university in Nottingham. We had a great time there, so every chance we get to go back, we do. We did Hit The Deck festival a couple of years ago, which is getting bigger and bigger each year, so that was fun.

What do you remember about the city?
I remember spending way too much of my student life at Ocean, but we also went to Rock City every week, which we loved, and it has a great stage. It’s a fun city, even though we couldn’t afford anything, we’d just walk around town and window shop.

How is this new tour different to your previous ones?
This tour is so much bigger than any we’ve done before, it’s actually quite daunting. It feels like there’s even more pressure on us to nail the set lists, especially with the new material. We’re tackling with getting the blend right between new and old stuff too. There’s been a lot of planning behind it, with big big venues and proper lights and production.

Any future plans for when the tour is over?
We have a few things in the pipeline, some of which we can’t announce yet, but we’re releasing a new single after the tour with a video. We like doing the videos, they’re fun, and we can get stuck in and involved that way, so we’re looking forward to that.

Don Broco are at Rock City on Wednesday 09 December 2015.

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