Don Broco have been pretty big names since their debut album 'Priorities' in 2012, however, and five years on they are far from slowing down. With their new song Stay Ignorant showing yet another side of the band, it's an exciting time for Don Broco. In a cafe just beside Irving Plaza in New York, the foursome sat down with GoldenPlec to talk about releasing new music, the struggles of being in a band, and how social media is changing things.

In a world where new music is coming out all the time, and the scene is completely saturated, it's a good idea to come up with a way to create a buzz around new releases. Don Broco took this to another level, creating suspense for in one of the most original ways – without mentioning new music at all. Fans were told that bassist Tom Doyle was getting married and that fans were invited to see a live stream of the event. When that event time occurred and people were tuned in, fans were treated to a new single and video.

Doyle explains that it worked better than they expected. "We never thought anyone would buy it..." The group agree that getting other friends and bands involved was integral to the success of the story, as Simon Delaney explains: "I think it helped that everyone was up for it… As soon as we told everyone the plan they wanted to be a part of it."

In an age where fans have access to many aspects of band's life, it got harder and harder to keep the charade up. "It did get really hard towards the end," Doyle explains. "When everyone was like wishing you congratulations in person and all you can do is say thank you but it's so awkward because they're like ‘so, how long have you been together? where are you getting married?’"

He laughs.

The scheme wasn't something the group always planned on, as singer Damiani explains. "When we got the video treatment and we knew it was about a wedding but a very disturbing wedding. We thought that we should tease it in a different way to a usual video. We saw this photo of Tom and Si it was like a photoshop of them together and it gave us the idea of doing a fake wedding invite. We thought "okay, we can make this e-invite, tell people that not all of Tom's family and friends could make it to the states so we’re gonna make a live stream and let our fans be a part of it. That was the original idea then it kind of snowballed to his bachelor party in Vegas because we just happened to be in Vegas, we were gonna go out anyway so we thought we'd make it a fake bachelor party. All the other bands were there to wish him congratulations."

After everything was revealed, there was mostly a good reaction – the song went down very well with fans, however some people were disappointed. "There were one or two people who were genuinely excited to watch a wedding,” says Doyle. “We then felt really bad about it because we didn't think anyone would care."

 

Don Broco have moved from Sony to SharpTone Records, which Damiani explains had something to do with wanting to make the move over to the states. "We wanted to come to the US for a long time. These guys got in touch with us, they wanted to license our album ‘Automatic’ for over here. We got talking, we just felt like it was the right move, rather than just licensing the album just do a worldwide deal with them."

Moreover, moving to a more intimate label has its advantages. "They're an indie label, we were previously signed to a major. They're very committed, and very open to crazy ideas. We can kind of do what we want, creatively they're up for a lot of things!"

Don Broco are getting closer to the decade-milestone, having formed when they were still in school. They talk about how it hasn't always been easy, and how every band goes through moments of questioning themselves, but they've always decided to keep on pushing. "Even before we signed our first record deal we thought about it,” says Damiani. “It's so hard to be a band these days, financially to make things work, to be able to tour, to be able to eat, live – it's harder than ever. I don't know any of our peers that we grew up with in the UK who haven't had those doubts. You just find a way to get through it… You get to that fork in the road, you either roll the dice or you don't – you keep trying and eventually it might or might not work out."

"It's not widely spoken about," adds Delany, "but you're not making a lot of money unless you're Coldplay, and very few bands get to be Coldplay. So there's always this constant pressure of ‘is it viable to do it for a living’ – because obviously as you get older you have a lot more responsibility there's always gonna come a point where you're in a band and you're like ‘is this providing what I need’."

It’s easy to blame current trends for this pressure, but this isn’t how Don Borco look at it.  "Some people demonise Spotify," explains Doyle, "but people weren't buying music before that – people were downloading it. They've provided an alternative. The people that complain about it are often the people who have already made their money. But for bands who are just trying to establish themselves, Spotify is far more useful than it is a hindrance."

With the rise of things like Spotify, comes also the rise of social media interaction. "It's amazing to have that direct connection to that band, " says Damiani. "When I think back to 20-30 years ago where the only time you'd meet a band was at a show – it's crazy. to have that conversation with people across the world who might like your music. At the same time you're like ‘oh shit, imagine how amazing it would be if the only window you had was at a show’. Like maybe it would be crazier..."

Doyle adds how "it can sometimes feel a bit intrusive because sometimes people know more than you think they should know because you haven't put it out there. They know who your family is and stuff... For the most part that's fine because people are generally quite nice, though."

Don Broco are set to be playing a few more shows for the rest of the year – including a headline show at London's Alexandra Palace before heading out to Australia. All in all, it seems to be an exciting, albeit busy, time for camp Don Broco.