Ladies and Gents,
Today I have something nice for you today - new interview with Atul Rana - founder of the band, vocals and rhythm guitar in DonkeyBox, an English rock band. Some time ago I asked them will they want to be ' an artist of the day' on my blog and will they want to be help me with presentation of their band, and guess what - they were so nice that said 'sure'. Here is a result of our cooperation.
I know that maybe many people asked about it, but I just have to ask one more time - why DonkeyBox? It's a bit, mmm, weird name for the band, especially rock band....
DonkeyBox: It's the one question we get asked the most! At first we did gigs with the name "6am", which sounded cool but lacked that zing. So our drummer of the time then came up with the name of DonkeyBox, it sounded silly, funny and nonsensical, and we've stuck to it since.
DonkeyBox is Atul [founder of the band, vocals and rhythm guitar], Matthew [lead guitar], Greg [drums] and...exactly, who else? As I heard you're looking for a new bass player. 'Disappearing bass player' is it some tradition in the band?
DB: The last bass player Martin moved to New York and the bass player before moved to Amsterdam. It seems like our bass players have a tendency to leave the country! Our current guy Mateusz who came to London from Poland is temporary playing for us and hopefully he will not be going anywhere soon.
If we are talking about the band, could you say something more about you guys?
DB: We are an interesting mix of nationalities united by our love for rock music. Atul was born in India and grew up all over the world, Matthew is English, drummer Greg is half English and half German and grew up in Indonesia, and temporary bassist Mateusz is Polish.
You have very interesting list of your inspirations: Green Day, Guns N Roses, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Killers, Nickelback and...Britney Spears! Why the hell Britney Spears? This is really surprising.
DB: We have a little mischievous and sparky edge to what we do. While it is sinful for rock bands to consider pop artists as inspiration..we actually loved Britney Spears and Lady GaGa so much that we have covered their songs. But please don't tell this secret to our fans, our rock 'n roll reputation will be damaged forever.
So who else is your inspiration?
DB: Besides other bands and musicians, our personal inspiration comes from what we are upto in life and events that move us, be that family, ex-girlfriends, friends and of course some of our closest fans who have been with us through this entire time.
With whom would you like to cooperate in the future(if you had such a possibility)?
DB: It would be awesome to join some of the great US bands like Green Day, The Killers or Metallica one day.
Who in the band is songwriter and composer? Or maybe you are doing it together?
DB: Generally one person has an idea for a musical riff or a song and then we jam with the idea, making the music richer and deeper. We jam and jam until it becomes a song and we record our jams to hear them back for sweet, golden moments. Atul used to write most of the lyrics before, but recently drummer Greg has written lyrics and even guitar riffs for songs. Matthew has written most of the guitar riffs and he has even started writing lyrics to songs. So, it is a combined effort all in all. We are definitely more than the sum of our parts and everyone expresses themselves.
You have one music video Crap Day [*], a few videos from practices and many many vids from your performances. Live videos - is it your way to show the potential of the band?
DB: We don't have many audio recordings so we haven't been able to make many proper music vidoes. We are so addicted to playing live that we have forgotten about the idea of studio recordings, but this is being sorted out now.
At concerts you are singing different things - your songs and songs of other people. What's your favourite cover song? Who is preparing setlists to your gigs?
DB: On occasion we throw in a cover song. Our all time favorite cover is Hit me one more time by Britney Spears, and we also love playing Californication by RHCP. The setlist is generally decided
on the rehearsal before the gig depending on the time available for the gig with a few songs that we could throw in extra if we had time. Atul prints out the setlist and set order.
You have many great songs, with or without lyrics on your page. Are you making plan for some new singles soon?
DB: We are writing about 5 or 6 new songs simultaneously and all to be revealed soon, very very exciting times!
I wanted to ask you about it, but you were faster and before I did it, I read about plans of it on your page. So you'll have your first full album, congrats. Your last CD Backstage Pass [* , *] is from 2007 - it is a long time. Are you excited and are you ready for it, for your baby - new album? I think you are...
DB: Making a new album really is a very special event. We have changed as people so much since 2007. Although we play an awful lot live we have been slow with getting down to a studio and capturing our sound on a record. What will be awesome is having a producer who will help us refine and fine tune our songs so they can be recorded and that way we will have another brain working on our songs.We will be launching the album/EP in September 2013.
Not so long ago you had a performance on the radio [*] and as I can imagine it was a stressing challenge...
DB: It was our first show on the radio and we truly enjoyed it, it was definitely very different to playing a live gig. There was no audience to see you and the sound was crystal clear. Also, there was quite a
bit of running around between the live room and the interview room! It is actually such a cool way to present your music to the world and we are looking to appear on more radio shows. The first time is always the one that sets the path for the rest.
And what now? Do you have some plans for the nearest future? Maybe some tours, music video or new songs?
DB: We will record the new album/EP and two videos to launch it and we will even do a photoshoot to get our publicity material up to date. After that we are looking to do some gigs in different parts of
England first. We are also looking to do Summer festival gigs, which we've never done before. And of course we need to find that full time bass player.
Let's change our conversation a bit. Did you have some crazy, great or sad and bad moments/stories during all these years?
DB: God, there are so many stories in 11 years, where to start? Perhaps the saddest yet most inspirational is when singer Atul's dad died suddenly and he had to go away from London for a few weeks. The band had a gig lined up and DonkeyBox still played that gig despite Atul not being there to sing. The lead guitarist sung the vocals that night and it was a unique, surreal and inspirational gig. And to us that gig symbolised that you must go and do what you love doing the most and that life still goes on despite what it may throw at you.
11 years is such a long time... What are you doing, that you are still DonkeyBox?
DB: You know 11 years later we go to the rehearsal room every week and when we jam, we still get the goosebumps from the amazing creative music we jam with together and the stresses of the day dissapear. The best music is totally organic and unplanned, and that feeling of expressing yourself and losing yourself to the music is addictive. We'll never tire of jamming.
Do you want to say something to your fans or people who just got to know you?
DB: Follow your dreams and passions, life is short and you are never too young or old to start living your dream now.
I would like to thank DonkeyBox (especially Mr Atul) for their courtesies, reply on my questions and for their help with this post - what was really nice.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for them and I wish them all the best.
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↨ Imperial College Radio Show - live show on radio on 25th January 2013
↓ Tower Tavern Gig, March 2 2013
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Just walk away [live, March 2 2013]
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Crap day [live, January 26 2013]
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Crazy [live, January 26 2013]
- BACKSTAGE -
DonkeyBox is an alternative rock band from London [England], formed in 2002 through college jam nights their melodic songs with a gritty edge and rock hooks they instantly caught the attention of the student population and played gig after gig at Imperial College. In June 2007 they recorded a demo CD Backstage Pass, which included their catchy song Crap Day.
Members (today) : Atul Rana [vocals], Matthew Jones [guitar], Mateusz Buckun [bass] and Gregory Pedder [drums].
more info:
http://www.donkeybox.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/donkeyboxrocks
https://www.facebook.com/DonkeyBox
https://twitter.com/donkeybox
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music is my passion & inspiration
only music saves
only music saves
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