The Dons

Ralph's always got one ear to the ground when it comes to up and coming young bands, especially from Scotland.  So when the word on the street was that The Dons were doing a gig he sent his intrepid reporter Malcolm 'Anorak' Parry along to review and have a chat with the band.

The Dons are Chris Karpacz, Lewis Inglis, Jack Miller, Lee Anderson and Luke Paxton.  They're relatively new editions to the Edinburgh music scene but are already making a big impact with some quality gigs including Cabaret Voltaire, Ralph's favourite Electric Circus and the Studio 24 gig in the review.  They've got another couple of gigs in the pipeline for next month too.....

Edinburgh, Electric Circus - 12th April

Glasgow, The Garage - 19th April

Ralph played their track 'Home' on his Radio KC show with it's punchy almost Ramones-like guitar riff and an anthemic chant of a chorus.  If they can build on this kind of crowd pleasing track then their following will spread well beyond Edinburgh's city limits!  More like this and less covers will see them come of age as rock 'n' rollers. I'll let Malc take up the story..... 

   

The Dons- Studio 24, Edinburgh, 16/03/13

Walking into the venue a few songs in to The Dons set, I witness an aftermath of a musical explosion, screaming teenagers, bodies flying everywhere, all caught in the mosh pit struggling to breath while hanging on to every word from young indie star in the making Chris Karpacz.  He makes good use of the stage, mic in hand, sometimes one foot on the monitor to lean into the crowd.  

I move closer to take pictures, just avoiding lose limbs.  Welcome to a live gig with one of Edinburgh's 'mad for it' young indie bands, working hard to gain an ever increasing fan base, which shows tonight, mainly due to the power of Facebook and Twitter (I’ll get back to that later).  I miss their future anthem 'Home' which the lad's chose to play first, and a new track 'Renee'.  They're half way through a cover of 'Don't Look Back Into The Sun' when I join the carnage.  Followed by another cover 'Always Where I Need To Be', we get another new tune 'Two Ways' which I enjoy. 

Lead guitarist Lewis Inglis could easily be mistaken for a Noel Gallagher love child, trademark eyebrows and Beatles haircut, kitted out Retro cool sty-lee in 60's black polo neck and 80's white jeans (bought from Kelso, he tells me later) shaking his head in a 'you guys are mental' half nod/disapproval to the stampede of youth in front of him.  Bassist Lee Anderson and Rhythm player Jack miller remain cool and static, whilst the drummer keeps things tight.  

The boys announce their last tune, another new one 'Wasteland' a nod to one of their favorite bands, The Who maybe. We get punchy punk tinged indie, which sends the crowd even wilder and wanting more.  This reviewer is now nodding along in approval and tempted to throw himself into the pit, but decides to leave it to the teenagers.

I go backstage for a quick chat with the young hopefuls who are all happy to oblige.....

“So guys what are your plans for this year” Chris “ We would like to push The Dons further, hopefully gaining a bigger fan-base through constant touring, giving away new tracks, which are better tunes than our others on our reverberation and social networking sites”.   Exciting! 

The Band cleverly came to me on Twitter last December by following me, intriguing me with their 60's mod influence tag, but having no music to hear their sound or gigs at that time, but obviously building fans on the mystery alone.  Forward thinking.

Chris continues - “We have more promoter’s coming to us now, and have a support slot at The Electric Circus upcoming with The 23's and one at The Garage over in Glasgow“ (both new venue's for them).  This one they tell me they're really excited about.  The lads have hired a 50 seater bus to take their Edinburgh massive over with them, which is dedication.  Chris - “We're also hoping to get gigs over the border, hopefully in London as well“.  I'm confident they'll go down as well in England shire as they do on their home turf.  I get the band all in on some messing around questions, mainly to do with their heroes and influences.

 

Question: If you could support any bands, who would it be? Answer: Jack Bugg, Kasabian or new young Irish band The Strypes.

Question: Give me your dream 3 day festival Headliners,  living or dead? Answer: Beatles, Oasis and The Rolling Stones.

Question: If Doc Brown pulled up in his time machine and offered to take you to either The Stone Roses - Spike Island 1990 or Oasis - Knebworth 1996, which would you chose? Answer: Oasis.

Question: Liam or Noel ? Answer: Noel, definitely!

Question: John Squire or Pete Townsend? Answer: Pete Townsend.

Question: Manchester or Liverpool? Answer: Liverpool in the 60's and Manchester in the 90's (all the band agree )

Well it's obvious the boys have good taste in British music and are very aware of their music heritage., may it carry on shining through in their music.