Ben caught up with Don Broco to talk about their new mini album, plans for the future and much more.

Big Fat Smile was released a week ago, how has the reaction been so far?
Matt Donnelly (Drums): It’s been amazing, we’ve been a bit overwhelmed by it to be honest. We took a lot of pre-orders, so we sent them out and they arrived a couple of days before the official release, so we started to get messages on Facebook and Twitter with people saying how much they loved it. Since then there has been more filtering though, people who may not have had the money to buy it have been listening to it on Spotify and telling us that it’s really good, it’s surpassed our expectations really.

Were you expecting the amazing press reaction that you got from it?
Rob Damiani (Vocals): Well we were quite confident about it, we were happy with all the songs. We actually recorded it last summer, but it took a month or two to get everything sorted for the release, so we were all happy with it ourselves but there is still the worry that other people wont like it. In a way we were like, “If people don’t like it then we don’t care!” but obviously you do still want other people to like it, so when we got all the reviews through and they were really nice, we were very happy indeed!

So does it feel like quite a nice end to the process?
Matt: Yeah, it’s been a long time in the making for us, from seeing it develop in the song writing stage to actually having it as a finished product is amazing.

As it’s only a mini-album, would you say that it’s a bit of a stopgap between the last EP and a full-length album?
Rob: We’ve started writing for the full-length and we’d like to see it as a progression. We’ve been touring pretty much since we started two years ago-ish, so we’ve only ever had DIY EPs, so we like to see Big Fat Smile as a definite move towards what we’re going towards with the album.

Matt: We’ve started putting our thoughts towards that, and we did actually write and record more than six songs, but we chose the best ones for the mini-album. We’ve got things in the pipeline, things we can revisit and we’re looking to hit the studio again this year.

Rob: We don’t want to say that the album’s definitely going to be out this year just in case it isn’t!

Matt: We’re definitely making a start though.

Did you feel like you had to release something before the album just to keep the momentum going?
Matt: The time was just right I think. We’ve constantly been writing, so we had songs that were ready to go. It’s nice to see what we had in our heads translated onto a CD.

Rob: We’ve never actually put anything out properly before, it’s always been stuff that we’ve sold at the shows, so it was nice to get something out that was officially our debut CD.

You’re currently half-way through the ‘Big Fat Tour’, a lot of the shows have either sold out, or were very close to doing so, could you have imagined a better start to the year?
Matt: We’re really happy with how it’s been going so far. What would you say the best show has been so far?

Rob: Newcastle was great, that was a real favourite.

Matt: That was a lovely venue, everything was spot on there. The crowd were really onside.

Rob: Leeds was really good fun too. We’d never really properly played Leeds before, it was one of those places where we really weren’t sure how it was going to go, but it was wicked.

Matt: Leeds seems to have a good scene, people are really into their music there. We had good fun at the club night afterwards as well!

Rob: Yeah, that was the Slam Dunk night, it was very messy!

You’ve recently announced that you’re supporting We Are The Ocean on their April/May tour, are you looking forward to playing in front of people who may have never heard of Don Broco before?
Rob: We love that. Any opportunity to make some new fans is good. It’s great playing to people who know your tunes but it’s also really satisfying when you’re playing somewhere completely new and they come up to you after the show and tell you that they liked the set.

Matt: Any band will tell you that you need both, it’s lovely when you play a headline show and you see people you recognise coming through the door because they’ve liked you enough to come back, but in terms of expanding your fan base and spreading the word then it’s great to get the chance to play in a room where at least 50-60% of people wont have heard you before.

Rob: We Are The Ocean are one of our favourite bands as well, it’s going to be a great chance to see them. The bill is insane, it’s Veara from America and Lower Than Atlantis as well, it’s just such a cool tour.

Matt: In terms of current UK bands, We Are The Ocean and Lower Than Atlantis are awesome, so we’re absolutely stoked to be a part of it.

You’re also playing a date with Dance Gavin Dance, how did this come about?
Rob: We just got asked to play it really, someone put in a good word for us. I think this is the first time they’ve been to the UK with this line-up and they’re just doing two shows, one where they play their first album and another where they play their second. We hadn’t really heard of them until last year because they haven’t really done much over here. Our friend told us to check them out and we thought they were incredible, so when the opportunity came up to play with them we jumped at the chance. It’s going to be an awesome show!

Your lyrics and videos often have a sense of humour about them, would you say that you’re a band that doesn’t like to take themselves too seriously?
Rob: Yes and no, we like to have a laugh and there’s definitely a fun side to everything. When I write lyrics I like to have a joke sometimes and there’s a lot of irony and when it came to the videos we just wanted to have as much fun as possible. Listening to Big Fat Smile, I’d like to think that we are capable of a bit of both, it’s not all crazy fun all the way, it’s not too deep shit, but there’s some serious stuff going on.

I don’t want to pry too much, but there’s been some internet gossip about yourself (Rob) and a particular Osbourne, is the band prepared for the inevitable tabloid attention that will come with this?
Rob: It’s nothing that has really bothered us because it’s all been sort of Hello! Magazine and the people that read that aren’t going to be the sort that like our band anyway!

Matt: It’s amusing when I pick up the phone to tell Rob something that has apparently been written about him that he knows nothing about! A lot of it is completely fabricated, but there’s obviously some element of truth.

So you’ve not had the paparazzi camping outside your house, rifling through your bins just yet?
Rob: No, nothing like that yet!

The first few months of the year are going to be taken up by touring, what are your favourite things about being on the road?
Rob: When you’re sat at home doing band stuff, whether it’s writing or replying to emails, you don’t actually feel like you’re in a band. You only realise when you’re actually playing and you’re on stage, so for us that’s actually the best thing about being on tour, getting to see the songs you wrote and recorded come to life is pretty cool.

Matt: When people are familiar with the songs, to see a crowd who know the words and sing along is great. Those songs have been with us for a long time, but they’ve only just really made it out into the wild, it’s good to see people responding positively so quickly.

Rob: We’ve all grown up together and we’re all best mates, so it’s just the four of us hanging out, staying over at people’s houses, going out and eating rubbish food!

Matt: It’s good now because we’ve made friends from previous tours, so you get to go back and see your old friends and have a beer with them. It does get a bit cabin fever-ish in the van at times but that’s the same with any band I think.

Do you have any festival plans for this year?
Rob: Nothing’s confirmed as of yet, but there are one or two in the pipeline. We love playing festivals, we love the whole sun’s out, summer’s here vibe.

Matt: It’s one of the highlights of the year.

Rob: We get to see some of our favourite bands too, so we’re hoping that we’ll get to play a couple.

Matt: It’s safe to say that we’ll be out and about.

Other than touring, what does the rest of the year have in store for Don Broco?
Rob: Before the festival’s start we’re going to be writing some more stuff and we’re going out on our own headline tour again in May, the dates should be up for that pretty soon.

Matt: That will be pretty much in or around the London date with Dance Gavin Dance.

Rob: So yeah, at the tail end of May we’re going to be hitting the road again for a few days.

Interview By Ben Connell