Donnie & The Smokes is a concept EP.
The idea was to reimagine a the trajectory of a UK-based group from late 80s post-punk/new wave all the way through the early 90s when they sold out their first American tour.
The music echoes the different stages in the bands career – from scrappy punk upstarts all the way to sellout arena band – in order.
Learn more about Donnie & the Smokes below.
Donnie & the Smokes were a post-punk inspired rock band that formed and quickly disbanded in the late 1980s. While they never achieved commercial success, their ’89 tour of the UK, against the backdrop of cold war politics, rise in conservatism, Middle East turmoil, and American consumerism, was seen as a lynchpin in the counter-cultural zeitgeist of the youth and anti-capitalist ilk.
Donne & The Smokes’ seminal anthem, “Revolt” was recorded at the height of the group’s popularity at the end of their infamous ’92 tour of the UK.
But what about their humble beginnings.
Donnie grew up near a landfill on the coastal end of a town called Blackpool in the UK. There, he formed The Smokes. He and 3 friends from primary school dropped to pursue music full time and completely reject authority. They all moved into a dilapidated trolley at the age of 12 and began writing and recording demos for what would end up being their first LP, “A Pound’s Worth o’ Parliament’s Lies”.