We had a chat with guitarist Si (far right) and drummer Matt (second from left) from Don Broco. Upon the receipt of Jaffa cakes, the boys willingly unveil their tour secrets, plans for new material and ideas for a gangster rap supergroup.
This is your first headline tour and you sold out your London date in 30 minutes. How did that feel?
Si: We spent the whole of last year supporting other bands so when we put tickets on sale for our own tour we had no idea, it really could have gone either way. We were absolutely bowled over by the response. It was just an amazing feeling.
And you’re back here in April too. Will we see anything different?
Si: We’re playing some new songs that we haven’t played before.
Matt: It’s gonna be bigger, badder, better.
Si: I’m sure we’ll bring some kind of bigger production for the April shows.
Matt: And we’ve got some quite exciting support bands in mind.
Si: Well we’ve got an amazing support band confirmed, but we’re not allowed to tell you who it is yet, but it’s high-end.
So you say you’ve got some new songs planned for the April shows, does this mean you’ve started work on the new album?
Si: It’s in the early stages cos we’re gonna be touring this album for the majority of the year. We’ve got our touring plans up until the festival season. And then after that we’ll probably do another headline tour, so start writing the album at the end of this year, and probably go into the studio at the beginning of next year. But we’ve started demoing.
What’s a day in the life of Don Broco on tour?
Si: A lot of driving.
Matt: Travel obviously monopolises most of your day when you’re not in a really high-end tour bus that you can sleep in.
Si: And when you’re in the bus you just wanna stop at every service station.
Matt: We could probably write an encyclopedia of service station reviews.
Si: That’s our back up, when the band goes down the pan we’ll be service station reviewers.
Matt: And then sound checking and normally a rushed meal somewhere.
Like Nandos?
Si: Yeah Nandos. We had Bella Italia the other night though.
Matt: It was quite classy. And then get back in time to watch the support bands play. Little bit of warming up, then smash it out. Then afterwards we like just to try and relax.
Si: Have a couple of beers and then pack out.
Matt: Go to the hotel and fall asleep, wake up early and drive again. Unless there’s a hot party going on.
Si: If it’s a hot party, we’ll make it even hotter.
What’s been the best venue on tour so far?
Si: Birmingham was wicked just because it doesn’t get ridiculously hot, because it’s quite like high-ceilinged. And the stage is awesome, it’s got a nice barrier and the sound’s wicked.
Matt: Almost feels like home, because we played Birmingham last year three times in the space of a couple of months supporting The Used, We The Kings and Lower Than Atlantis. So now to finally headline your own shows and to see the difference in the vibe. It was amazing.
Who would you like to spot in the crowd at one of your shows?
Matt: John Mayer.
Simon: I’d like to see Simon from Biffy or Natalie Portman. That’d be sick.
Matt: The guy who played Carlton in The Fresh Prince, just dancing.
Si: Or Karl Kennedy from Neighbours. The animal.
What’s the saddest song you’ve ever written?
Si: I guess ‘Yeah Man’ probably or maybe ‘Here’s The Thing’. Bobby does all the lyrics and ‘Here’s The Thing’ is quite brutal because it’s about when you’re with a girl who you don’t like as much as she likes you, and you’re with her just to pass the time, cos it’s too much effort to tell her that you don’t like her that much. That’s probably the most downbeat tune.
Matt: The time we wrote the album was a really transitional period for us. Our bass player left at the beginning of the year, that’s when Tom joined the band. And ‘Yeah Man’ deals with some of the emotions that were going on at the time.
What’s the creepiest form of female attention you’ve ever received from a fan?
Matt: People sometimes say really inappropriate things on Twitter. It’s quite amusing, I guess.
Si: In person we’re quite lucky, all of our fans are really normal.
Matt: We’ve had some bras thrown at us. We did an acoustic set in St Pancras, which was quite funny cos it was very public.
If you could create a supergroup of musicians, who would you have, and what would they play?
Si: I’d have these guys and play our songs! We’d have to have Jamie Lenman from Reuben on vocals cos he’s the best singer ever.
Matt: Who would I have on drums? I don’t wanna be too cliché but someone like Travis Barker from blink-182 or Taylor from Foo Fighters just coz they’re absolute classic. Travis maybe for the cool factor cos of the tattoos.
Si: Then bass, I liked Incubus’s old bassist, Dirk Lance, cos he was called Dirk, he had a quality goatee, and he had a smooth vibe, so well go him on bass. And we’ll go for someone completely different on guitar. We’ll go for John Mayer on guitar cos he’s quality on guitar and he’s smooth as fuck. That is a really diverse line up on the supergroup front.
Matt: And maybe on some songs, guest vocals from Beyoncé.
And what sort of music would you play?
Matt: Gangster rap.
Si: Yeah, straight-up gangster rap.
Read our review of Don Broco’s show at the Haunt here.
