Have there been any moments of drunken regret after playing Slam Dunk?
“One time, I remember I jumped over this fence in Leeds and landed terribly on my ankle, and in the moment I just carried on with my night out, drunkenly powering through without thinking anything of it. But then the next day I couldn’t move my leg, and I started thinking, ‘Shit, how are we going to play this show?’ That day was the Hatfield show, and I remember it just being a hop show! There was no way we were going to cancel, so it was the first show I’ve ever played injured. It’s quite memorable from my perspective, because I can’t not jump up and down when playing our songs, so I was hopping on just one foot. But we got through it!”
Phew. If you’re faced with any naysayers who don’t think you’re up to the task of headlining, what would you say?
“I don’t think there are really words that can convince a naysayer, to be honest. If they’re like, ‘Oh, they’re not going to do a good show,’ I just think that the proof is in the pudding. Actions speak louder than words, and if you come to the show you’re going to see that it will blow everyone away. I completely back us live! It’s everything we love about music and everything we love about our band. Despite all the trials and tribulations you go through as a musician, one thing we have learnt is how to put on a good show. We’re just going to go hard, and I think anyone who comes to the show will know this is fucking sick, basically (laughs).”
You’ve got the likes of The Wonder Years, Four Year Strong, Issues, Knuckle Puck and Motion City Soundtrack joining you on the line-up…
“Hell yeah! Four Year Strong were one of the first bands that we ever toured with in the UK – we were supporting them, and they’re fucking awesome. We love those guys and they’ve just got so many tunes, and the energy is so sick. I love Knuckle Puck as well. We got to see those guys on Warped Tour last summer, and they’re awesome. Issues came out with us on our last tour in the UK, and we’ve got Tyler [Carter, vocals] on our latest song Action. Unless there’s some crazy, horrible clash, it will be great to have him come up and sing that with us onstage. It’s quite rare for that to happen, so it’ll be nice if we can cross paths at Slam Dunk and get him onstage with us – we’ll definitely be doing that if we can!”
Looking forward to it. Finally, Don Broco can finally add ‘festival headliner’ to their name as well as ‘arena band’. What does that mean for you guys going forward?
“It’s hard to know, really… When you get to this point, you’re sort of doing the big-boy stuff! It’s exciting but also scary at the same time, because where do you go from here? But it’s all about writing incredible music, and that is what we will be doing when we get home. We’re going to be writing over Christmas, and we’re just going to go into hibernation for a little bit to write some tunes. That’s what it really comes down to.”
Slam Dunk festival will take place at Leeds' Temple Newsam Park on May 23, and Hatfield Park on May 24, 2020. Get your tickets now.