How to define Don Broco? Since arriving on the alt-rock scene in 2008, the Bedford-born band have transcended genres, metamorphosing from anthemic ballads in their 2012 debut album Priorities to swaggering funk in 2015’s Automatic. 

By far their most diverse project, 2018’s Technology embraced eclectic pop, electronic, R&B, post-punk, and hardcore metal riffs, weaving together a melodic patchwork of hits such as ‘Welcome to La’, ‘Everybody’, and ‘T-Shirt Song’ – their success, critics mused, was their defiance to be pigeonholed. Their 2021 album Amazing Things, however, hinted at a heavier, more introspective evolution.

Now, five years later, Don Broco have produced their most focussed album to date. Dark, twisty, and abrasive, Nightmare Tripping is their heaviest release yet, saturated with screeching riffs and nightmarish howls, alongside collaborations with Nickelback and Architects’ Sam Carter.

What’s most striking, however, is Don Broco’s lyrical maturation; if Amazing Things looked outward to internet culture, social conscience, and the pandemic, Nightmare Tripping turns inwards, with songs such as ‘Disappear’ and ‘The Corner’ exploring vulnerability, loneliness, and self-worth. 

It’s a sophisticated, conceptually unified work that signals a more confident era – one that both follows in the footsteps of rock behemoths such as Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Deftones, while also creating a distinct sound that feels like a natural progression on from the Noughties nu metal wave. 

1883 Magazine sits down with Don Broco’s lead singer Rob Damiani and guitarist Si Delaney, to chat about the new album, why nu metal is making a comeback, how TikTok shaped music tastes, and more.

Hi guys, how are you? How was the photoshoot?

Si: It was really good, really chill – kind of dark, metal, grungy. The stylist had actually gone and done his research on what we’d be going for and what each of us might normally wear so it wasn’t awkward. [We didn’t] turn up, and go “oh my god. Why is there so much latex?” [laughs]

I get the impression fashion is a big part of the band’s image. In particular Rob, when I saw you playing at Wembley, you had a rather Matrix-esque leather jacket vibe going on.

Rob: We’ve always liked  to dip our toe into [fashion] a little bit. Me and Si especially love vintage shopping while we’re on tour. When you’re on the road, that’s the only time we have to really think about it. It’s such a fun thing to do when you’re hitting up different cities to see what you can find – especially in the States, we get some real bargain finds. 

That coat I wore at Wembley was from a really sick vintage store that opened up near where I live in Hoxton. It was only open for like a month, and I was gutted because it was probably one of those ones you had to root around for. And then I found this Neo-vibe code. And at the same time we [had] written this song, the first release on our album, Cellophane. There was this lyric about The Matrix, I saw this coat, it all just fitted. I took the opportunity and found some pretty wild shades as well. 

Speaking of that gig, you were promoting your new album Nightmare Tripping. You’ve always leant into nu metal, but the thing that really struck me is how heavy your sound has become. What was the inspiration?

Si: After so many years of touring and being on the road, it became very apparent that the stuff that we really enjoy tends to be the heavy stuff. Like you say, we’ve always had those elements in our songs and our sound. And at the moment, heavy music is in this really awesome place; it’s wicked to see so many heavy bands getting a glimpse of the mainstream. It feels like that counterculture has started to re-emerge a little bit more. 

So [we felt that] we should really focus our efforts in making an album that is very easy to understand and fit in with what’s going on at the moment, in terms of creating a “rock sphere”. Because a lot of the time we can be quite scattergun in our approach to writing music, which can definitely wrong-foot some people, for better or worse. We thought, if ever there was a time to focus on an element, now is the time to do that.

Rob: I think this is the first time we were being quite brutal with songs that we still really liked and ideas that we really loved. Definitely on previous records, if it felt good, it didn’t matter where it was coming from and where it ended up, if it was the best song at that moment, it would end up making it on the album. For [Nightmare Tripping], there were a ton of ideas where we were like, this feels sick, but it just doesn’t fit with these other songs. It’s nice to – for the first time in our career – actually zone in on one idea. 

Nu metal has always been part of our sound. And I think what excited us about it was the ingenuity and the freshness of it when it first came out; it was so different to other realms of heavy music at the time. Bands were really embracing hip hop and rap and electronics and mashing it all together, and I think we’d shied away from that before as a band, because nu metal just became – like anything that becomes super popular – stagnant, and there were so many copycat bands, rehashing the same old stuff.

That’s not what heavy music is about. It’s about being exciting, being dangerous, not just looking to the past and being like, that was cool. Let’s do it again. It’s taking that and doing something new with that. And I think we felt for the first time in our career as a band, we could really do that, while also being really true to ourselves and creating something fresh. It definitely made things a little bit smoother when it came to choosing the songs for it.

Why do you think there has been this resurgence with nu metal and heavier music? Do you think it’s because of artists’ ability to play with different genres and tap into broader audiences or maybe it’s a reflection of the overall mood at the moment?

Si: At the risk of oversimplifying the answer, I feel that a big part of it is this new generation of kids who are organically discovering the first round of nu metal. So the Deftones explode on Tiktok and suddenly you discover the music. But 20 years ago, [you’d discover new music] by asking your parents or seeing what was in their record collection. Now there’s this infinite sieving where really good music can still rise to the top, and people have unlimited access to it. And the fact that so many kids are discovering for the first time something that was such a huge, amazing chapter in music, has led to a lot of inspiration for more current artists. 

I suppose you can see the trend coming from other media as well. The horror film The Substance, for example, relies on metal music for its climax scene, then you have Iron Maiden in the new 28 Years Later film…

Rob: I’m desperate to see [The Substance]! I love body horror and I’ve seen enough to know it’s up my street. But yeah, what was that series we saw, Si, one word, like ‘rage’?

Si: Beef.

Rob: Yeah, Beef. Every end credit was a really good caliber nu metal song as well. I think that was a really instrumental thing – being like, yo, here’s some awesome stuff that people have maybe forgotten about. 

The 28 Years Later [sequel] was one of the best stories I’ve seen in the last few years. It was so original. And the way they use the music in that scene is so sick. I think kids will discover metal through that scene and new people will be like, ‘oh my goodness, forgot about that’. It’s really cool. 

Maybe after many years of weirdness and lockdown and people not going to shows, they’re coming back. People are feeling the angst. They’re ready to lose it in a mosh pit. People are definitely craving that sort of human connection more than ever. 

Back to Nightmare Tripping for a moment, one of the things I really admired was the sequencing of the album. How much were you thinking about the sequence of songs when you were making the album? And in the age of streaming, do you think people might go back to listening to an album through and through again?

Si: We definitely don’t think about sequencing while recording at all. When we’re in the writing process, we’re just trying to make sure we’ve got a really good collection of songs, and then the sequencing comes right at the end. Sometimes that’s a real challenge. I remember this time round with sequencing, we put the songs together, and we were like, oh shit, how does this work? It doesn’t feel like it flows. It’s really difficult to get an order that feels right, and then Rob landed on this order that really did seem to work, and I feel like it was probably the only order that worked; nothing else really felt like it was even a contender. 

Songs like ‘The Corner’ so easily could not have even been on the record. [We] might not have not written it, and then it would have been a brand new conversation about how we close this record. What do we want the final tone to be? How do we want the listener to feel at the very end?

Rob: ‘The Corner’ was definitely the one on the record that we almost didn’t do because, for the first time, we’ve got our parameters, and we were feeling really good about kind of sticking to them. But we ended up going for it, and I’m really pleased we did because it gives you that [contrast].

Nu metal is a vague description of the record – there is a lot of anger, and there’s a lot of angst on it. The way ‘Hype Man’ closes, it feels like an ending in itself. For the majority of it, ‘Hype Man is one of our more straight up nu metal tunes. So then to put that up against ‘The Corner’ which then takes you to a more emotional, heartfelt place, I felt really good being able to close on that. 

There were a few that were really hard [to place], like ‘Euphoria’ was one that moved around a lot, because that’s a bit of a wild card on the record. It’s got the classic Don Broco fun to it, and the Eighties references, while everything else is a lot darker. It then felt right cramming it right up against the most opposite song, which was ‘True Believers’. So that, luckily, works out too. 

Si: I think we’re always going to look at the album as a whole, I don’t think we’ll ever get away from that. It’s how we’ve been brought up and conditioned into listening to music.

Obviously you have a few guests on the album, including Nickelback and Sam Carter from Architects. Are there any other artists you dream of collaborating with for the next record?

Rob: PinkPantheress. There’s a song in mind that we’ve already started writing that I think she’d be incredible for.

Si: Which song is that?

Rob: On the demo I think we were calling it ‘Bathroom’. She’d be incredible with that verse – I just feel it would be up her street as well. I’ve read a few interviews with her where she’s named some of her favourite records and she’s named Panic at the Disco so I think she’s a rock fan at heart. It would be a really fun, unexpected collaboration.

Si: Mine’s a bit more obvious – we love System of a Down. They really encapsulate a lot of the things that we try to achieve with our music, and they really don’t care in terms of trying to fit into a box. They’re really high energy, they’re really interesting. It’s always unexpected, but it’s still heavy rock, so to do a track with them would just be really wild for us. 

And you’re going on tour to promote the album – are there any places that have stood out as your favourite so far, or somewhere you’re looking forward to visiting?

Rob: There’s a place we’ve never been to before that I’m looking forward to playing. I don’t know how to pronounce it. Do you know how to pronounce it, Si? Ljubljana… 

Si: Ljubljana? I don’t know!

Rob: It’s in eastern Europe – I’ve heard it’s an incredible place to visit. Our friend said the food is amazing, the views are incredible. Let me Google it…ah it’s in Slovenia! This shows how ignorant I am. I’d say a place we’ve been to before that we’re really excited [to visit], Manchester is amazing. Norwich we love as well, it’s our uni town.

Si: I have a soft spot for Norwich.

Rob: And Bupest as well. We went on our last European tour a couple of years ago, and it was probably the stand-out show. The crowd was crazy.

Before you go, how did you celebrate the release of Nightmare Tripping?

Rob: We’re surprised our producer Dan and went to his birthday, which was on the same day. And it was a secret.

Si: He thought we were doing an album release, signings and stuff, but actually we came to his party.

Rob: It was really nice to celebrate with him because he was a big part of the record as well.

Don Broco’s new album Nightmare Tripping is out now. 

Interview Anna Jane Begley

Photography GarryJones

Stylist Andrew Burling

Grooming Daisy Holubowicz

Top image credits

Tom – Suit All Saints Shirt All Saints

Rob – Jacket All Saints Tee P&Co TRS All Saints

Matt – Jacket All Saints Vest Sunspel Jeans All Saints

Simon – Cap P&Co. Jumper COS TRS COS