Windwaker und Don Broco

Prior to the formation of Don Broco in 2008, members had met at Bedford Modern School and played in a number of local bands. Vocalist and frontman Rob Damiani subsequently began writing songs with the assistance of guitarist Simon Delaney, drummer Matt Donnelly, and bassist Luke Raymer. With several songs under their belts, Don Broco performed a series of local shows before individual members went off to university, with a promise that when they returned the band would take precedence.

Upon graduating, the band booked a host of new shows in Leeds, Birmingham, and Manchester which significantly raised their exposure. The gigs led to a pair of shows at Camden Crawl and Download Festival, and an exclusive support slot opening for the post-hardcore group Enter Shikari. With the considerable buzz this generated for Don Broco, the band issued their debut, self-recorded single “Dreamboy” in 2010. Whilst failing to make an impact on the chart, the single was supported by further relentless touring, a habit for which they would become known. By February 2011 the band had released the single and video “Beautiful Morning” as well as the EP “Big Fat Smile” on EmuBands. The record was supported by more heavy touring alongside the likes of Lower Than Atlantis and We Are The Ocean. The same year the band performed at a series of festivals including Download, Sonisphere, Alternative Escape Festival, Slam Dunk, and Reading and Leeds festivals.

In early 2012 bassist Luke Rayner announced he was leaving the band, following which Don Broco signed with Search and Destroy Records. Led by the single “Priorities”, Don Broco’s debut full-length album of the same name was released in May 2012. Rising to No. 25 on the UK Albums Chart, the record earned a host of esteemed reviews, and spawned the subsequent singles “Hold On” and “Whole Truth”. The band’s sophomore album, “Automatic”, peaked at No. 3 on the UK Single Chart, upon release in 2015.

Weirdly enough, one of the most exciting bands in heavy metal stems from the same man behind one of its most maligned. Until 2014, Caleb Shomo was best known as the lead singer in Attack Attack!, and was a genuine laughing stock in the metal world for giving the world Crabcore. The internet meme based around a seconds long clip from one of the band’s videos massively overtook the popularity of the actual band but all was not well in the Attack Attack! camp for a different, far more serious reason. While the band were getting more and more popular, Shomo was constantly dealing with clinical depression that on more than one occasion left him suicidal, and he left the band in late 2012 for the sake of his health and safety.

Fortunately, he’d already been working on some Beartooth material, and in an attempt to reconnect with music as something he loved, rather than his job, he put together a full line-up for Beartooth with members of fellow Columbians My Ticket Home. By January 2013, Shomo had put his first batch of Beartooth songs on the internet and announced their first run of live shows in the Midwest. By June they were signed to Red Bull Records and their debut album “Disgusting”, was released in June 2014, followed by extensive touring, most notably on the 2014 Warped Tour and then in the United Kingdom on the 2015 Kerrang! Tour. Shomo has managed to gain something that has evaded many in the world of rock and roll, and that’s a second chance. Rather than be written off as a novelty act, he formed one of the most exciting acts in heavy metal and earned the respect of the very same people who derided him in Attack Attack!, and for that, Beartooth come highly recommended.