Written By: Amanda Policastro
Get to know Donkeyboy, the synthpop band from Norway. They have been taking the music scene by storm since 2005 with many top hits and awards. Give their new song, “It’ll be Alright” a listen!
upfrontNY: Tell us about your new song, “It’ll be Alright.”
Donkeyboy: Originally it was meant to be released in 2013, but we were missing a part in the song and the lyrics were not solved until just recently. Actually, our manager said that this has got to be “a positive anthem” and from there it did itself! Happy to have finally released it!
upfrontNY: You guys have been together since 2005, how has your music evolved over the years?
Donkeyboy: The first years we were actually a rock band, not a pop band, but when Cato made the song “Broke My Eyes”, it changed the direction of the band. That song got a lot of positive feedback so we decided to go more “pop” and add synths to our sound. Now we are an electro-pop band with indie-rock vibes. 🙂
upfrontNY: If you could go back to 2005, what piece of advice would you give yourselves?
Donkeyboy: Learn how to enjoy success! When the song exploded in 2009, we had so much to do and had a lot of stress. We didn’t really have the chance to enjoy the success; we regret that today!
upfrontNY: If you could compare your sound to any artist of today or the past, who would you choose?
Donkeyboy: It’s not easy to pick just one artist, but maybe a mix between Alphaville and Empire of the Sun! 🙂
upfrontNY: What are your musical influences?
Donkeyboy: We have always listened a lot to the big pop bands and artists from the 80’s, like A-ha, Alphaville and Tom Petty, Queen and Michael Jackson; but also newer bands like Daft Punk, Empire of the Sun and the 1975 inspire us a lot!
upfrontNY: You’ve experienced much success in Norway with top hits and awards. How has that experience been?
Donkeyboy: Great, of course, but also quite absurd! Like, when we had number 1 & 2 as both the single and radio list in Norway. If that wasn’t enough, our album was number 1 as well. Crazy stuff! We’ve learned to treasure moments like that because they don’t happen often.
upfrontNY: What is your ultimate goal within the music business?
Donkeyboy: An international hit record would be awesome! 🙂
upfrontNY: Where did the name, Donkeyboy come from? It’s very catchy!
Donkeyboy: Our drummer Thomas grew up on his grandparents’ farm. His grandpa had an old donkey Thomas used to take care of and, because of this, the kids at school bullied Thomas and gave him the nickname “Eselgutten” , which is “Donkeyboy” in Norwegian.
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