Before their highly-anticipated show at The Engine Shed last month, the lead singer of Don Broco, Rob Damiani, stopped to chat with The Linc about music videos, the effect of the media and their latest album.
Q: Where have you enjoyed performing most on this tour, and where are you most excited to go next?
A: It’s great to go back to Ireland, because it’s always harder to go as much as you want, even though it’s so close.
You have to get the ferry and everything. It ends up being one of those places you can’t always do on a UK tour.
Aside from that, places like here, that we’ve never played before. You never know if you’re gonna get a chance to see the places you perform at. When you get to go somewhere you haven’t been and you get to be a bit of a tourist, then that’s a real bonus.
Q: Which do you prefer: big or small venues?
A: I like them both for different reasons, I guess. Big arenas and walking out on that stage, seeing that many people, the lasers, the lights and stuff. That whole spectacle is fantastic.
I also love doing the smaller shows, it’s the connection. It’s more special. The smaller and smaller it gets, the more intimate it becomes. Just seeing people that close, like, with the big shows you get lost. You’re looking at the crowd, but you don’t see any faces. But yeah, when you can see someone in the crowd and you can see that they’re buzzing off it, it makes you buzz off it too, and give a better performance.
Q: What’s your favourite song to play live?
A: It’s kinda changing as we’re learning new songs from the set. We’ve just started playing The Blues, which is really fun, Something to Drink, as well, and Good Listener, because they’re super new for us. They’re super new and exciting – those three definitely.
I’d say overall, Pretty is definitely up there. It’s high energy, a lot of drops, a lot of just… kinda cool, vibey bits. It’s also one of the ones least taxing on my voice, kind of like, doing some lower parts or talking bits. It’s more fun than having to sing some of the higher parts that you might mess up.
Q: Technology is a much more experimental album, where did the inspiration for it come from?
A: Boredom, and wanting to never, never write the same album twice. Yeah, I think there is a very obvious opposite mentality from Automatic, where we took the more pop elements from Priorities, and pushed that side of the sound, and kind of tried to make very well crafted pop songs that felt like the flowed and ebbed and felt like, you know, a real sounding rock album.
But, it’s a smooth listening experience too. And we just thought, lets do the opposite. Yeah it’s the heaviest Don Broco have been and definitely the most angular and weird.
With Automatic as well, we put a lot of thought into making it feel together. On this album it just doesn’t matter, like the weirder and more obtuse the sounds might sit together. If it feels good, it feels good.
Q: What’s the story with the anti-social media message in this album?
A: There wasn’t really any story. It was the same with the last two albums. I’ve never been that kind of writer.
Maybe one day I’ll sit down and write a concept album, because normally I write a collection of songs, and try and write about a few different topics, and keep it quite broad. You know, things I feel I can talk with conviction about, or feel strongly about, or things my friends have been through, just anything like that.
It’s only after we wrote the songs that we realised there was a bit of a theme here, you know? I think with Priorities, there was a lot of turmoil in the lyrics, it could go this way or that. Same with Automatic, there were a few songs that were really positive, and about living your life to the fullest.
But with Technology, there were four or five songs that clearly showed I was annoyed at something and I hadn’t even realised, maybe, that they were annoying me that much. Then the song Technology, which is obviously very specific, it just highlighted that we were writing about it in a lot of other songs as well, and they were fitting a theme without us even trying. It’s about all sorts of things, but it seems like it sums up the album pretty perfectly.
Q: The music video for Technology features someone watching one of your shows through a phone screen. What are your thoughts on how this has become a huge part of the concert experience?
A: Most shows it’s alright – our fans are quite good. They come to a Don Broco show to have a good time, and you’re not gonna be able to do that if you’re watching it through a phone screen.
But its just the occasional few people at a few shows, and it’s usually the people you see on the front row. They’re the people you can actually see who stay there, and that’s the most annoying thing for a performer. If you can’t make eye contact with them ’cause they’re on their phone, posting something, they’ve got their heads down and you’re like, why aren’t you watching us? It completely separates you, that’s the biggest problem in life right now. Technology separates us from actually talking to each other in real time.
It’s the same with anything, if you cook a meal for your family, your friends, and everyone’s sat around on their phones, it’s the same thing. We’re all guilty of it.
We’re still buzzing from their incredible show, with a high-energy live experience and a heavy sound, they put on an unforgettable performance.
Catch their chart-topping album Technology on Spotify.