Donnarumma Love Your Man Interview

Donnarumma Love Your Man Interview

Donnarumma have announced their raucous debut single Love Your Man, a horn-bouyed heavy hitter that leaves little to the imagination, out June 2. The trio have also dropped a spectacularly menacing clip to accompany the track, directed by Lewis Brideson (Last Dinosaurs, West Thebarton Brothel Party). Love Your Man is the first taste of the upcoming EP from the guys, Billy Billy, due for release on June 30. Donnarumma will be hitting the road to celebrate Love Your Man and Billy Billy throughout July, hitting up Adelaide, Melbourne, Wollongong and Sydney along the way.

Love Your Man is undeniable in many ways; those drums, those horns, that hook - you better love your man, love your man, delivered with just the right concoction of desperation, frustration and bubbling, tenuous anger. With hints of jazz influences that filter through the likes of The Cat Empire, and notable production and arrangement references to Gang of Youths, Donnarumma have devised a unique and innovative composition in Love Your Man. The accompanying clip, with its scorned female conceiving cruel and perilous circumstances for her unfortunate lover, reflects the frenzied nature of the song perfectly. Speaking on the song and its unforgettable, ominous video, lead singer Louis Donnarumma says, 'Love Your Man is about the jealousy that warped my perception of a relationship I was once in. The song travels back to a time where I felt betrayed by my partner - what an innocent boy I was! The video shows this toxic relationship where the girl goes insane, kidnaps her partner and tries to kill him – then it is revealed that he's been cheating on her the whole time and he ends up getting what he deserves. Sounds ridiculous I know, but we tried to be as over the top as we could be. It's like those moments when you're so angry you picture the most outrageous stories in your head. We find it amusing and love the irony; there's this man singing how he doesn't feel loved, but does nothing but betray her!"

Billy Billy, the EP that Donnarumma have been honing and crafting for a year, provides a fine example of a band that understand how to express the highest highs and the lowest lows of the human experience. Not only do they express, but they communicate with the listener, through punchy horn lines, irresistible rhythmic turns and hooky lyrics. Drawing from a wide net of influences cast as far as Nina Simone to Arcade Fire, Billy Billy was engineered by Tom Barnes (The Shaolin Afronauts) and includes guests Paige Court (MANE), Maggie Rutjens (Timberwolf), and Ollie English on backing vocals. Reflecting on the record, Louis remarks, 'Firstly, the main message in these songs is one of feeling lost as you're growing up. I imagine Billy as being a general name for anyone that's feeling lost with the whole business. I feel like not many songs nowadays tackle this issue and it's one that hits close to home, so I had to share it. The other biggy is love, but not the way most people go about it, we have no rose coloured glasses so all of our love songs are about loves that have been lost."

After experiencing Donnarumma through the speakers it's pretty clear that this is a band that simply must be seen live. Luckily for audiences the trio will be hitting up a bunch of venues along the east coast of the country and in their hometown of Adelaide throughout July. Excited to be hitting the road, Louis gives audiences a taste of what to expect, 'Loud guitars, a drummer that jumps around and a bass that looks like a huge violin is just the start. Armed with those, and a bunch of songs both from the EP and brand new, the live shows will leave you singing the hooks hours after you go home."

Love Your Man will be available from June 2 and Billy Billy will be released on June 30.

Stream: LOVE YOUR MAN        
Watch: LOVE YOUR MAN           
Buy: Love Your Man               
Stream: BILLY BILLY                         
Preorder: BILLY BILLY

Donnarumma -Billy Billy' Shows
Sat 1 July | Grace Emily Hotel, Adelaide Sa | 18+
Fri 7 July | Whole Lotta Love, Melbourne Vic | 18+
Thurs 13 July | Rad Bar, Wollongong Nsw | 18+
Fri 14 July | The Townie, Sydney Nsw | 18+

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Interview with Louis Donnarumma

Question: How would you describe your music?

Louis Donnarumma: This question pops up a fair bit and that's understandable. Truthfully the description of our music changes from person to person, we get called a lot of things but we have settled on 'art-rock."


Question: What inspired the idea of Love Your Man (listen)?

Louis Donnarumma: The songs about jealously that warped my perception of a relationship I was in. The song travels back to the time where I felt betrayed by my partner, what an innocent boy I was. The day I wrote it was actually months after the relationship had ended. I found out that she blocked on all the socials which naturally made her an ice queen.

When I was writing the song, this interesting guitar pattern was under my fingertips and the title -Love your man', just came out. The horn lines and claps are what sets the song apart in my opinion, they were very much inspired by my musical love affair with Nina Simone


Question: Can you tell us about filming the accompanying clip for Love Your Man (watch)?

Louis Donnarumma: The film clip was shot and directed by the insanely talented Lewis Brideson. Our bass player Anthony Costanzo and I collectively came up with the concept and storyboard for the clip. Our views on what the clip would be were very different at times, but in the end we seemed to agree on most things. Basically the story's about this toxic relationship where the girl goes insane, kidnaps his partner and tries to kill him but reveals he's been cheating on her and gets what he deserves. Sounds ridiculous I know, but we tried to be as over the top as we could be. It's like those moments when you're so angry you picture the most outrageous stories in your head. We find it amusing and love the irony, there's this man singing how he doesn't feel loved but does nothing but betray her.


Question: What was the best part about filming the clip?

Louis Donnarumma: For me personally the best part would be the process of making a film clip. Having never done a clip before it presented itself with unique challenges and I ended up learning a lot from the entire experience. I also know Anthony really enjoyed watching me repeatedly get tied up and slapped.


Question: What can we expect from the upcoming EP, Billy Billy?

Louis Donnarumma: The upcoming EP is packed full of heavy hitting heart break songs with lyrics and melodies to melt the toughest of hearts. We really didn't hold back much, there are more horns and guest vocalists to come. We are actually quite proud of how the whole thing turned out and can't wait to share it with you all.


Question: What are you looking forward to most about the upcoming tour?

Louis Donnarumma: Well we haven't played interstate as Donnarumma, each member has toured in separate bands. There's the experience of living with two of my closest mates traveling around the East Coast doing what we love. Can it really get any better?

Question: What music/artists do you listen to when you are not playing your own?

Louis Donnarumma: Each of us in the Donnarumma camp have very different styles that we listen to. I'm currently loving Arcade Fire and Gang Of Youths stuff. Max loves his Rock and Punk. Anthony is an enigma, he loves Jazz and is super critical of bands that he listens to but will throw in heaps of curve balls such as rapping the 8 Mile freestyle word for word. It makes hanging out really interesting.


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Louis Donnarumma: Performance wins hands down. Don't get me wrong, recording is fun but it can get super draining and the days can go on forever. When we perform we give it everything we've got, musically and physically. Max is known for bouncing around on the drums and has only fallen off once. Anthony also lifts his Upright Bass over his head in one of the songs and I just cut loose and go wherever the music takes me.


Question: What/who was your inspiration to go into the music industry?

Louis Donnarumma: From a young age I was really into folk music, that's what I played as a solo artist for years. Damien Rice and Glen Hansard played a huge role in pursuit to become a musician. Along side Damien and Glen I also hold Jeff Buckley close to my heart, the entire story of his life as well as his songs really inspired me to work hard on my craft and have a serious go at making music for a living.


Question: What has been your favourite part of becoming a music artist?

Louis Donnarumma: Definitely the pay checks. We all drive really fast cars and live in huge mansions. But seriously we don't, being a musician isn't about cars and fancy stuff it's one of the very few careers where you get to express your emotions and really dig quite deep to discover things about yourself. That's why we do what we do and that's the Donnarumma sound.


Question: If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be?

Louis Donnarumma: Well it would be absolutely amazing to work with Win Butler (Arcade Fire) or David Le'aupepe (Gang Of Youths). Those two guys are very big influences in my style of songwriting. Working with them would give me the opportunity to pick their brains, given I'm not too star struck.


Interview by Brooke Hunter