Known for packing venues, rocking bright suits and bringing a damn good time to any audience they get in front of, cult icons of the Gold Coast underground Donny Love are a finalist for Live Act Of The Year at this weekend's 2021 Gold Coast Music Awards.
"How many of these other finalists have had their backs written on during a live performance I wonder?" ponders the band who peddle a buoyant flavour of jangly, experimental, melodic indie-pop.Since releasing their debut album 'Sensation' in 2018, Donny Love have shared stages locally with the likes of Allah Lahs, Thee Oh Sees, Homeshake, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, and The Growlers while performing at Gizzfest and Yonder Festival.
"Our new album 'Meeting Of The Dons' will be out later in the year," the band says. "COVID's kept it in the hatch for a while now, but it's time to release the beast. Final single and video coming soon.
"Keen Dons and Donnas can tune in to our label Holiday Maker Records for upcoming news and other fun things."
Here, Donny Love share 5 songs they've covered live.
1: The Wiggles - 'Fruit Salad'
Long before The Wiggles needed to top up their retirement funds by covering Tame Impala live on triple j, the Dons were a hot new four-piece beginning to entertain adult babies everywhere.For our first Halloween show, we dressed as The Wiggles and did a glammed up version of 'Fruit Salad'. Bizarre choice in hindsight, but a yummy riff and wholesome subject matter.
2: Mental As Anything - 'Live It Up'
An absolute belter from start to finish. There's not much you can add to this classic, just ride it out and feel a joyous response from the crowd that you'll never get playing your own songs.We did a dodgy tape recording of it a while back too that's still floating around on Soundcloud somewhere.
3: Redbone - 'Come And Get Your Love'
A few years back we defied all logic and taste, and played our first and only wedding. The lovely couple asked us to play 'Come And Get Your Love' as their wedding dance and we obliged.They were a truly blessed couple – all the best if you're out there Kelsey and Luke! Fun side story, they even came and watched us play in Japan when they were on their honeymoon. Super-fan status achieved.
4: Thin Lizzy - 'The Boys Are Back in Town'
Admittedly, it's a bit on the nose, but also an undeniably good song with big energy. We first played it at a 21st birthday party as a request from the host. Probably played shirtless with many guitarmonies. . . it's hard to recall.5: T-Rex - 'Get It On'
Us Dons covered this one during our guitar-heavy period, while our keys and button smasher Don Bill was living overseas. A dumb song about sex using the automobile as a metaphor. Auto-eroticism?Favourite line: "You're built like a car, you got a hubcap diamond-star halo. You're built like a car, oh yeah." Classic.
The 2021 Gold Coast Music Awards will take place as both an in-person event at HOTA and a Facebook livestream on 4 September from 1pm EST. Donny Love also join Peach Fur and Chutney at Mojave Haze at Miami Marketta (Gold Coast) 3 October.
