DONNARUMMA – A SONIC PUNCH TO THE GUT

By Dan Hutton on July 24, 2017 in Arts

Donnarumma are an exhilarating rock/roots three-piece from Adelaide, South Australia.

Inspired by modern contemporaries such as Arcade Fire and Jeff Buckley, the trio gives it their absolute all to leave the hairs on their listeners’ arms standing up and the goosebumps popping like chicken skin. They’ve recently released a debut EP and they’ll be playing the Townie in Newtown on July 14.

We fired a few question at eponymous frontman Louis Donnarumma during the month…

If I had to describe our sound in one sentence… a sonic punch to the gut!

My first memory of music is… dancing to Elvis as a kid would be my earliest memory.

Growing up my parents listened to… Frankie Valli, because my mum is a huge fan. That really tuned my senses to hearing beautiful falsetto. I was also exposed to the sounds of Elvis, Michael Jackson and Talking Heads.

Our debut EP, Billy Billy, got its name from… a sign that I passed one day driving to Melbourne that said ‘billy billy’. I wasn’t sure what the sign was for, but that name stuck with me. We used it to paint an image of a boy lost in the craziness of growing up.

You should listen to ‘Love Your Man’, the first single off the EP, because… it truly is something a little different from the rest, from the first bass and drum hit to the raucous screaming saxophone solo.

Our dream gig… would be touring around the world covering the States, Europe, and Japan. I would love to play the huge festivals like Coachella and Glastonbury. The dream!

If you come to see us play, you can expect… loud guitars, a drummer that jumps around, and a bass that looks like a huge violin.

There was one time when we were starting out… that Max, our drummer, was jumping around while playing like he always does, but on this instance he managed to kick his drum stool over and ended up on the floor. He kept hitting whatever was in reach and did such a good job that Anthony and I didn’t even notice what had happened.

If we could have chosen one song to have written it would have to be… ‘Blurred Lines’ by Robin Thicke, so that we’d have the legal rights to erase the song from history.

Our favourite song to perform would have to be… a tune that will most likely be on the next record called ‘Unrequited Heart’. It starts off soft and melodic then it builds to a huge climax where Anthony lifts his double bass over his head.

The best thing about the local music scene is… that it feels like one big supportive family. It makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

One person we’d still really like to record with is… Win Butler. I’ve been really digging Arcade Fire, so I would die happy if Win and I were in the studio.

Our biggest fan has got be… my old man Rob! He’s probably a slightly biased fan but he comes to almost every gig and really digs the music.

We’ll know we have made it when… Anthony can afford to smoke Marlboro again.

To find out more about Donnarumma, please visit… www.donnarumma.space/ or www.facebook.com/donnarummamusic.