Don Broco To Kick Off Their World Tour Right Here In Australia…

Fresh off a blazing set at the 2025 Download Festival in the UK, Don Broco will be kicking off their world tour right here in Australia. They have also confirmed they’re back in the studio crafting their soon to be released fifth album which means Australian fans will be among the very first in the world to hear some of those new tracks alongside all the bangers and crowd favourites from their meteoric career. Rob Damiani (lead vocals) talks to Hi Fi Way about their Australian tour which also includes their first time in Adelaide as well as the new album they are working on right now.

This is going to be awesome. We can’t wait for Don Broco to come back and kick off your world tour right here in Australia.
Yeah, man, excited and like, yeah, great to finally come to Adelaide as well, that’s going to be great because we’ve never played there before. It’s always been Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and finally we’re getting to venture further afield, which is great.

It must be a really exciting time for the band. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and you’ve got such momentum now?
I feel like every album, we’ve been very lucky to keep growing, tour more places, play bigger venues. We’re in a very privileged position. It’s been slow and steady growth since we started. There are times when you want things to move faster, but actually, this pace is really nice. We’ve built a solid fan base. Every album has that break in between, and you worry, what if everyone forgets about us? Because you’re quiet, not putting out music, and it feels like you’re losing ground, but with this record, for the first time, it hasn’t felt like that.

Despite being away and writing, the momentum is still building. We’ve been away, but in a way we haven’t. On social media, people are saying, “Where the hell is the new record? I’m ready for some new stuff.” I’d rather people be asking for it than forgetting about it. It’s nice that people are still discovering us even in downtime. It feels like our most anticipated record yet. I guess there’s more fans than before. There’s this feeling of “What will the next Don Broco sound be?” I’m pretty confident we’re not going to disappoint. We’re excited for this new era, for playing these new tunes in Australia for the first time.

Do you feel pressure to top Amazing Things?
Yes and no. Earlier in our career, we felt that pressure more, especially on the second and third records. Everything felt life or death back then, but since Amazing Things, we’ve learned to let go a little. You write the best record you can in the time you have, with the people around you, and with a producer you gel with. As long as you’re having fun, that’s what matters. That mentality has really carried forward. Amazing Things helped recalibrate where our priorities were, rediscovering the joy of being a band, writing together. That album was important, but it took a lot from us emotionally. There was unnecessary stress. We’ve learned to keep that at bay and be confident in ourselves, to vibe out and have a good time.

There’s always pressure, but less so this time. This is where we’re at in our lives. This is what we want to do. If you’re true to yourself in the record, what will be will be. Hopefully, people love it, hopefully they think it’s our best album. That’s the mindset right now. Without too much pressure, there’s freedom to be creative.

Was it hard to let go and not tinker with it endlessly?
Weirdly, we’ve had the least amount of time ever to do that. Over the last few years, we’ve written more demos and song ideas than ever before, almost too much material to pick from. So the actual finished versions of the songs are mostly first or second iterations. A couple of songs have been floating around for years and got revisited. But the final tinkering process was minimal, deadlines crept up and we had to shift gears from endless writing to recording.

The songs we’ve finished so far, we just said, “Okay, this is the song. It feels good. Cut it and move on.” Deadlines always feel far away, but they sneak up quick. Many of these tracks are just the first versions that finally felt right. We’re just so pleased to hear it now.

We can’t wait to start hearing the first few singles. Is that the plan to maybe drip-feed a couple before the Australian tour kicks off?
Definitely. We’ve picked the first single now and just shot the video the other day. We’re literally debating what the second single will be. A couple of singles will definitely drop before the album comes out. Everything’s a bit up in the air, we’re kind of making it up as we go along, which is actually fun. It’s back to how we used to do things on our first record and Technology, where it felt like we were chasing our tails a bit. Amazing Things was super-organised because lock down gave us the time to plan that rollout in detail. This time it’s more like, “Okay, this song’s ready, let’s get it fixed and go.” It’s a bit stressful, but also exciting. So yeah, people will have plenty of new material before we land in Australia.

How hard was it to pick the singles?
The first one was really easy. It just felt like a banger to come back with, very us. There’s a good amount of new ground in the record, experimenting with elements of our sound that we’ve touched on before but are now presenting in fresh ways. This single has that raw nu-metal energy we started pushing more on the last record. We doubled down on that, while making it feel unmistakably us.

The demo just clicked. It was one of those songs where right away we thought, “This is great.” It never felt like the wrong choice. Once we locked it in, it was all systems go. It’s the second, third, fourth singles that are harder to choose, especially when we’re still writing and tinkering. We’ve got two or three songs left to record, so picking singles based on demos isn’t ideal.

When the whole record’s done, that’s when the real debates will kick in. We’ve all got our own opinions, and then there’s management and label input, so yeah, some battles ahead for sure. We’re passionate about every track and want them all to get their moment. Obviously, that happens once the full album drops, but early singles get more spotlight. That rollout strategy, drip-feeding singles, lets each song shine on its own. It gives listeners a chance to dive in properly before the whole album lands, which can feel a bit daunting in today’s single driven world. So yeah, hard conversations ahead. You can really only pick three or four max, so we’ll see how it plays out.

Do you still believe in the concept of an album? Also, sonically, is this record a big departure from your usual sound or just another step forward?
Absolutely, we love albums. I don’t really listen to playlists unless I’m at the gym. When I listen to music, I go straight through the album. No shuffling, it’s got to be in the order the artist intended. That kind of journey is really important to us. It influences how we pace the album and how songs connect to the whole. This is probably the first time we’ve refined our overall approach to crafting a record. There’s still plenty of variation, but we wanted to lay out a clearer identity, “this is the Don Broco sound for this album.”

Some of our past records have been more all-over-the-place sonically. This one is a bit more defined. That said, everyone might hear it differently. It brings some fresh elements too, it’s probably our heaviest record yet. A couple of songs are all-out high-energy from start to finish, but the Don Broco DNA is still very present. The way we hear music hasn’t really changed, the surprise moments and U-turns are still there. That unpredictability has always been our thing, and it’s alive and well on this album.

Are you blown away by how fans are responding to the Australian tour, it seems like one of the most anticipated tours of the year?
Honestly, it’s been amazing. We didn’t really tease anything, we just announced it, “Surprise, Australia!” And the response was unreal. It’s especially exciting to kick off the tour in Australia. That’s pretty rare for us. Usually, it’s the tail end of the tour. I don’t think we’ve ever started a tour anywhere outside the UK before, so yeah, it’s fun to switch it up.

Playing more intimate venues is going to be a real treat for fans, being up close, plus touring with Red Hook adds a nice bonus to the whole experience.
Definitely. We love playing all sizes of venues, it’s a different feeling each time. Being on stage at an arena show is one thing, but those smaller, more intimate gigs, they’ve got their own magic. In the UK we’ll do warm-ups like that occasionally, but the venue sizes we’ve got lined up in Australia are perfect. Not so small that we’re tripping over each other, but close enough that the crowd energy and connection hit differently.

These shows will have just the right amount of chaos and closeness. That intimacy is powerful, and it’s the perfect setup for us coming back after years off the road, testing new songs, and getting that instant feedback. We’ve never toured with Red Hook before, but we love those guys, and we’re stoked to have them join us. It’s going to be a lot of fun.

How was it playing Download Festival? That must’ve been a bucket list moment?
It really was. We didn’t know what to expect. Download was actually the first festival we ever played, on the smallest stage, about ten years ago. A few years later, we played the second stage while touring our second record, Automatic. That album had a very pop-forward brief, which we loved on record, but live, it didn’t translate in the way we hoped. That tour was kind of a turning point.

The next record was when we started leaning into heavier sounds, and that’s what made Download work so well for us this time. It was the first time we’d played songs from Technology and Amazing Things at the festival. The crowd reaction was massive, it felt like Download was our true home turf. We had tons of fans already there, plus loads of new listeners who were just wandering through and gave us a shot. That community vibe is unreal, people are there for the music. It’s not about posing or chasing the festival aesthetic. It’s about headbanging, discovering new acts, and living for the riffs.

We didn’t play any new songs, it was all from the last two records, but that kept it stress-free. Once we hit the rehearsal room, it was muscle memory. Like riding a bike. We’ve toured those songs so much now, it just clicked into gear and it was seriously fun.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch Don Broco on the following dates, tickets from The Phoenix…