Don Broco are a British rock band formed in Bedford, England, in 2008. The band consists of Rob Damiani (lead vocals), Simon Delaney (guitar), Tom Doyle (bass and programming) and Matt Donnelly (drums, lead and backing vocals). The band have released four studio albums, including Priorities (2012), Automatic (2015) and Technology (2018). Their most recent album Amazing Things (2021) was their first to reach No.1 in the UK Album Charts.
History
Formation (2008–2010)
The band's origins go back to before their university years during secondary school, attending Bedford Modern School, where they played their first gigs, but it was not until after studying at Nottingham University that they decided to become a band.[2]
The band initially took on many different names, including "Summer fall" and "Club Sex".[3] One of the group's ideas was "Don Loco", which was changed to Don Broco following guitarist Simon Delaney breaking his wrist in a football accident.[4]
They first toured England in November 2008, playing gigs in places such as Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, Swindon, Watford and County Durham amongst others.[5]
They appeared at Camden Crawl and Download Festival in 2009, as well as supporting Enter Shikari on a short run of shows in May 2009.[6]
Don Broco also played Underage Festival, at Victoria Park in London, UK, in both 2009 and 2010. They played Sonisphere festival 2010 on the Red Bull Bedroom Jam stage.[7] The band then went on to support Enter Shikari at both their Christmas parties at Hatfield Forum in December 2010. In September 2010 Don Broco also played in a local festival called Amersham Summer Festival.
Big Fat Smile (2011)
In January 2011, they released the video to "Beautiful Morning", directed by Lawrence Hardy. The following month they released "Beautiful Morning" as a single.[8] They released their EPBig Fat Smile on 14 February 2011.[5] It was produced and engineered by Matt O'Grady and mixed by John Mitchell.[citation needed]
Don Broco, alongside Lower than Atlantis and Veara, supported We Are The Ocean on tour in April/May 2011. The band completed a third UK headline tour in May 2011 with support from Burn The Fleet. This run of shows included a show at the Alternative Escape Festival in Brighton, with Deaf Havana and at Hub Festival in Liverpool, as well as performances at Slam Dunk Festival North and South.[citation needed]
An accompanying video to the band's B-Side "We Are On Holiday" off their "Dreamboy" single was released in August 2011.[11] The single was made available to download on iTunes on 22 August 2011.[citation needed]
Priorities and Rayner and Playford's departure (2012–2013)
Don Broco supported Four Year Strong on their UK tour in January and February 2012.[12] During this time, before the release of the debut album, Darren Playford and Luke Rayner left the band due to commitment issues and different interests, however they are still on good terms.[13] The band played Hit the Deck festival in Bristol and Nottingham,[14] the Great Escape Festival in Brighton,[15] Slam Dunk festivals in Leeds, Hertfordshire and Cardiff,[16] and Redfest 2012. Don Broco were going to support Futures in April 2012, but their tour was postponed to July 2012.[citation needed]
On 23 March 2012, the band announced that they had signed a deal with Search and Destroy Records, a new venture between Raw Power Management and Sony Music. The band's first single "Priorities" from their debut album of the same name was released on 20 May, with the album released on 13 August. The band replaced original bassist with new bassist Tom Doyle. In April, the band supported You Me At Six in Dublin and Belfast on their Irish leg of their UK tour. The band replaced the support bill originally consisting of Kids In Glass Houses, The Skints and Mayday Parade, however the Irish leg was rescheduled after Josh Francheschi contracted tonsillitis. The band supported The Used on their April/May UK tour, alongside Marmozets.[citation needed]
The band released the second single from Priorities, titled "Actors" it was released on the same day as Don Broco's debut album, 13 August 2012. The video sees the boys performing and a storyline where the boys don't get on and putting all the chemistry between them on for the cameras.[citation needed]
On 20 September, "Hold On" was revealed to be the third single from the album and shortly after they supported Lower Than Atlantis along with The Dangerous Summer and Gnarwolves in Autumn 2012, followed by their first European tour, supporting Young Guns accompanied with Your Demise on their European leg in October 2012. It was announced that Don Broco will be the final support on the Rock Sound Riot Tour 2012 in November 2012 along with Billy Talent and Awolnation.[citation needed]
In February 2013, they embarked on their first headline tour of the United Kingdom with dates spanning from February to April. For the February to March dates they brought Mallory Knox and Hey Vanity along as support. On 3 February it was announced that all dates for the February leg of the tour had sold out. For the April dates Pure Love and Decade were the supporting acts.[citation needed]
On 30 March 2013 Don Broco performed a headlining set at the Radstock Festival, Liverpool, at the O2 Academy Liverpool.[17] On the weekend of 23–25 August 2013, Don Broco performed on the main stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. The band concluded 2013 by releasing their new song "You Wanna Know" as a standalone single which also came as a bundled EP featuring various remixed versions of the song.[citation needed]
Automatic and signing to SharpTone Records (2014–2016)
Don Broco stated that the majority of 2014 would be focused around writing material for a new album and that they will headline a tour after its release.[18] It was announced that the band will be supporting British band You Me at Six during their UK headline tour during March and April 2014, along with support act Young Kato.[19]
On 23 November 2014, the first single from the new album, titled "Money Power Fame", premiered on BBC Radio 1's "Rock Show" programme.[21] A second single, "Fire", was streamed online on 26 January 2015.[22] On 7 April 2015, the band released the third song off the new album titled "What You Do to Me", followed by music videos for the tracks "Automatic" and "Superlove" respectively.
Automatic was released on 7 August 2015.[23] It is available in standard and deluxe versions; the deluxe version includes the standard ten tracks as well as four bonus tracks, two of these being previously released songs "Money Power Fame" and "You Wanna Know".
Don Broco released the single "Everybody" on 16 July 2016 along with an accompanying music video.[26]
On 21 October 2016, SharpTone Records uploaded Don Broco's 2013 music video for "You Wanna Know" on their YouTube channel. It was also announced that Don Broco will rerelease Automatic in the United States on 11 November 2016 through SharpTone Records.[27] The label uploaded the videos for "Money Power Fame", "Superlove", and "Automatic" to their YouTube channel prior to the release.
Don Broco released five singles for their third album Technology: "Pretty", "Technology", "Stay Ignorant", "T-Shirt Song" and "Come Out to LA". The band went on to play to a sold-out crowd at London's Alexandra Palace in November, 2017, their biggest show to date.[28]Technology was released on 2 February 2018 via SharpTone Records.
In October to November 2016, Don Broco appeared as a support act for rock-metal band Bring Me the Horizon on their UK tour, playing arenas such as The O2 Arena. In 2018, Don Broco was one of the support bands for Our Last Night's North American and European tours. They also toured with Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park in support of his album Post Traumatic.
On 6 September 2019, Don Broco released the standalone single "Action". Two versions of this single were released, one solely featuring Don Broco vocalists Rob Damiani and Matt Donnelly while the second features Caleb Shomo (Beartooth), Tyler Carter (Issues), Taka Moriuchi (One Ok Rock) and Tilian Pearson (Dance Gavin Dance). The music video for "Action" won the award for Best Music Video by Heavy Music Awards.[30]
Don Broco began writing new material for their fourth studio album in early 2020,[31] and began recording in December 2020.[32] They released a series of studio updates via YouTube before the release of the first single "Manchester Super Reds No.1 Fan" on Annie Mac’s Future Sounds, and its accompanying music video on 13 May 2021. Announcement of the album Amazing Things came the following day, along with a UK tour that took place in October–November 2021.[33] The second single "Gumshield" was released on 8 July 2021, with a music video involving boxer Dave Allen.[34]
The band headlined Slam Dunk Festival, in Leeds and Hatfield in September 2021, and also released a small set of warm-up gigs to precede the festival. The album was released on streaming platforms on 22 October 2021, initially reaching No. 91 on the UK Album Charts.[35] The physical release had to be delayed due to a global vinyl shortage until 28 Jan 2022.[36] During the build up to the physical release of the album, Don Broco did a run of intimate gigs at small venues in the UK to push physical sales of Amazing Things, the album then went on to claim the band's first UK No.1 album the week following its release.[37] On 21 March 2022 the band played the Iconic Royal Albert Hall in London in support of Teenage Cancer Trust,[38] this performance featured a live orchestra and Choir, something the band had only previously done with the Orchestral studio version of the single 'One True Prince'.[39]
In April 2022, Don Broco released the single "Fingernails" on the 25th of the month to help promote their 2023 UK Arena Tour that was announced on the same day, with Papa Roach and Dance Gavin Dance in support. In 2023, they went on to open for American rock bands Pierce the Veil and The Used on their Creative Control Tour in North America.[40]
"Birthday Party" and Live from Royal Albert Hall (2023–present)
On September 15, 2023, Don Broco independently released a standalone single "Birthday Party" along with a music video.[41] On October 13, 2023, "Birthday Party (Party in the U.S.A. Remix)" featuring The Home Team, Ryan Oakes, Skyler Acord, and The Color 8 was released.[42]
On November 24, 2023, Live from the Royal Albert Hall - the first live album by Don Broco - was released via Live Here Now label in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust.
In November and December 2023, the band headlined "The Birthday Party Tour" in the UK with support from Trash Boat and Ocean Grove.
Primarily categorised as alternative rock,[1] the band's style has also been described as pop rock and post-hardcore by reviewers; AltSounds reviewed their debut album Priorities to have elements of all three genres.[43] AlreadyHeard expressed that the album was mostly alternative rock, yet praised the album's range of different moods, going from energetic to "cheeky" songs.[44] A live review from Virtual Festivals reviewed the band's performance at the Leeds Festival in 2013 and proclaimed that the changes in the band's musical style compared to their earlier music from the likes of the Living the Dream and Thug Workout EPs were substantial. They claimed that due to this some members of their audience were unsatisfied and that the new material was dulled by a slower tempo and a "love-letter" lyrical style.[45]
RocksFreaks.Net expressed the Thug Workout EP to be a half mixture of nu metal and post-hardcore due to the mixture of half-rap verses and screams and related their sound to that of A Day to Remember.[46] The reviews for the third EP Big Fat Smile primarily called it a general rock album with elements of rock pop. Rocksound called the album a "good mix of Brit-rock riffs, sarcastic lyrical content and jovial pop sensibilities".[47] with Alter the Press! also backing this statement up, placing them with the likes of many other "British rock hopefuls for 2011".[48]
Their second album Automatic saw the band change to a poppier sound with "funk and new wave elements".[49][50] Third album Technology saw yet another change with a "far rockier sound",[51] but still with some synth elements.[52] Reviews of their fourth album Amazing Things show a change to a mix of nu metal, rap metal and post-hardcore, more similar to earlier EPs.[53]
Members
Current
Rob Damiani – lead vocals (2008–present)
Simon Delaney – guitar (2008–present)
Matt Donnelly – drums, lead and backing vocals (2008–present)
Tom Doyle (Tommy Tumbles) – bass guitar, programming (2012–present)
Touring
Adam Marc – keyboards, backing vocals, electronics (2014–2022)
Pete Daynes – keyboards, backing vocals, electronics (2022-present)
^Pryor, Lucy (22 February 2013). "Interview – Don Broco". Brumlive.com. Burmingham Live. Retrieved 10 January 2014. Once we went to University we weren't a band then...
^Hawcroft, Harry (16 October 2013). "Don Broco - Interview". Contactmusic.com. Contact Music. Retrieved 10 January 2014. ...'Club Sex Mix' - an old name of our band that didn't stick...
