Don Broco

It was all smiles at this year's Slam Dunk festival and, despite the rain, the Desperados and beer was flowing and the crowds were bouncing non-stop to 2015's incredible line-up. 

As more and more bands were announced over the last few months, the anticipation was high and almost every band pulled it off with finesse, proving just why Slam Dunk is one of the country's best rock festivals. 

Opening on the main stage was Set It Off. Despite all the drama that's surrounded the band over the past week with bassist Austin Kerr, the band didn't let it show when they jumped on stage and gave the performance of their life. Opening their set with 'Forever Stuck In Our Youth' and performing their other hits 'Why Worry', 'Ancient History' and more, they certainly kicked things off with a bang.

Continue reading: Slam Dunk - The Forum, Hertfordshire - May 24th 2015 Live Review

The first leg of the Kerrang Tour 2015 kicked off with a blast in Norwich on Friday (6/02/15). With Don Broco as the headliners plus We Are The In Crowd, Bury Tomorrow, Beartooth and last minute addition Young Guns all pitching in to put on one of the best shows the University of East Anglia LCR has ever seen. 

Beartooth opened the show with 'Beaten in Lips' and their energetic performance set the crowd off jumping and singing along. Even those who didn't know the words soon caught on. However, it was clear that this energy tired the band quickly as the space between their songs to get their breath back were perhaps a bit too long. This didn't affect their performance, however, because as soon as the music kicked in they were back, jumping around the stage and encouraging the crowd to sing and jump along too. Performing tracks off their debut album 'Disgusting', the band carried themselves with dignity and showed Norwich exactly what they are about.

Next on the list was Bury Tomorrow. If it was possible for any other artist to scream as clearly as they do on CD then this is the band that does it the best. With the first circle pit of the night created during their first song 'Man on Fire' and shouting 'raise your f***ing hands in the air', the whole venue went crazy, and not once did they put their hands down. It was just a shame that you couldn't hear the clean vocals of Jason Cameron very well over the music. Playing tracks from their albums 'Runes' and 'Union of Crowds', people of all ages, backgrounds and hair colours couldn't help but enjoy them. Even the begrudging parents who wished for earplugs and sat as far away from the speakers as possible couldn't help rocking in time to the music and being ever so slightly amazed at Bury Tomorrow's quality in every breakdown.

Continue reading: Kerrang Tour Live 2015 - University of East Anglia LCR, Norwich - February 6th Live Review

Review of Don Broco's album Priorities released through Search And Destroy/Sony MusicWithin the first few bars of 'Priorities', the opening track on the Bedford quartet's debut record, I'm already dangerously waving my arms around or, as us industry professionals like to call it, 'doing a Phil Collins'. This is immediately infectious stuff that sounds like banter down the pub with a swift pint and by being the mouthy opposite it's the perfect antidote to the British stiff upper lip.

With Lower Than Atlantis, We Are The Ocean, Futures and many more reigniting our love of a good heady British guitar band, Don Broco have had their work cut out for them in getting noticed, but with a record like this, that seems impossible. Priorities is in-your-face, balls-to-wall rock music and it's the most f***ing fun I've had listening to music in a long time; it's actually hard to write this through my shrill singing and fierce body jerking. If you aren't affected by this within the first three songs then I think you might be dead or at least a very horrible person.

Rob Damiani's vocals ache with sass; he's enunciated and precise, note perfect and backed by a full bodied rhythm section. As he sings, 'And we'll never get fat 'cause we jump around like prats, getting drunk, getting away with it,' you can feel his warmth, his personality, and his love and appreciation for what he's doing and the fact that people are willing to give him money for it. Basically, he's frank and you don't find mainstream rock singers like that anymore, singers that are willing to put themselves out there and write their lives. Damiani is also responsible for the electronics and sampling that appears on the record, most notable on 'You Got It Girl' which sounds like the bastard love child of Depeche Mode and Incubus, clearly a talented fella.

Continue reading: Don Broco - Priorities Album Review