4-piece band, Doonie Way are rapidly growing their audience with their surfy, fun-loving catalogue of tunes. We sat down to talk influences.
Victoria band, Doonie Way are a lovable crew of indie rockers with an invested passion for infectious music. They’ve shared the stage with the likes of The Smith Street Band and Hands Like Houses, to mention a few. If that wasn’t impressive enough, their explosive new release, Nowhere To Run, has catapulted the boys to no. 1 on the Triple J Unearthed charts!
Naturally, we were itching to talk to the lads and what sort of musicians influence their sound. Unsurprisingly all members of Doonie Way have a firm grip on the music that’s shaped them, listening to plenty of class acts from the present as well as back in the day. Take a look.
Byrce: (vocals/rhythm guitar)
The very first time I knew I wanted to play the guitar; I remember hearing my friend’s Dad playing Blackbird by The Beatles on a beautiful Maton acoustic. I raced home afterwards, knowing that I had a terrible and old electric guitar somewhere that had all but two strings. I messaged my pal and asked, “Are there any songs I can learn with two strings?”- and I began to practice.
Eventually, I was gifted an Epiphone shred-stick for one of my teen birthdays and carried on using it through high school. Towards the end of my brief few years studying music, I bumped into the two lads who first created Doonie Way. We were in the same class, and once we had finished our course I was asked to join the band shortly after.
I fell in love with that feeling of pissing off the neighbours while we rocked our little hearts out in a rental garage.
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Eventually, I became comfortable with the music style I enjoy playing and was always left starry-eyed after watching an artist implement jazz chords into their music. I was infatuated and memorised as many chord shapes and patterns as I could, and I still write using these chords today. Listening to some of my favourite bands like Everything Everything or Tora are great examples of jazzy rhythms I love to groove along with.
My passion for playing has been influenced by a lot of artists over the years, but I am currently frothing the sounds of surf, and the emotion I feel from blasting Hockey Dad or Spacey Jane in my car with the windows down on a sunny day. That feeling is incredibly inspiring to me and it is something I want to help write into Doonie Way’s new music.
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Aidan: (Lead Guitar)
Growing up as a drummer, my obsession with music has been deep-rooted in me since my youth, however, I struggled to relate to music further than the rhythm found within a drum kit. 2018, just three short years ago, sparked the creative side of myself that I now express through the guitar, when I first picked up the instrument.
Ever since my passion for music has boomed. Through guitar chords and leads, musicians like John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Ashton from Spacey Jane and Albert Hammond Jr of The Strokes have inspired my new found guitar playing into melodic riffs and dreamy tones to fit between the vocals or stand out in the chorus, creating the sound that we call Doonie Way.
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D’Arcy: (Bass)
I never really played bass at all before joining the band. Through school, I learnt guitar, so when I got asked to come to play bass for Doonie Way, I thought, hell yeah, the skills are fairly transferable, right? I purchased a crappy $100 bass off eBay and instantly fell in love with the ol’ four-string. I started out playing on stage stiffer than a robot but eventually developed the ability to ‘groove’ like a true bassman. I recently acquired an arctic white Fender Mustang bass, and hoo boy, it’s equal parts beautiful and badass.
Once I got into bass, it became infectious to me. It’s all I could hear in music. Tracks such as The Distance by San Cisco and Fuckin ‘n’ Rollin by Phantastic Ferniture are great examples of driving basslines I really dig.
My most considerable influence, however, is Kings of Leon bassist Jared Followill. The bloke must have a sore back from literally carrying every song in their discography. His attitude of trying to stand out rather than sitting back in the mix inspires me to push myself to create some sexy basslines for Doonie Way.
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Blaike: (drums)
Growing up my uncle was a drummer, he used to give me stacks of CDs from SOAD to The Mars Volta! I would then try and mimic their crazy styles as my neighbour would scream his lungs out at 12yr old me. I grew up listening to HEAPS of heavy stuff but my all-time favourite album would probably be Sound Awake by Karnivool. God that’s a great album! It wasn’t until 2016 when I went to a “VET” music course and stripped back a little bit into a Royal Blood cover band, no real work or knowledge was retained. However, it was the beginning of Doonie Way! I then progressed onto some more surfy/skater rock influences which shortly became some of my favourite bands/records, Hungry Ghost by Violent Soho, King of the Beach by Wavves & Smile by Dune Rats. Over the years I’ve developed my own style and stage performance, there’s not much I can do behind a drum kit but where I can you’ll see me spinning sticks or pulling faces. Be sure to catch us at our Nowhere To Run single launch show at Stay Gold on 24/4/21!
Listen to Nowhere To Run below:
