Slam Donahue

Slam Donahue is a New York City based band led by singer/guitarist David Otto and bassist Thomas Sommerville. They build their identity out of bootlegged recording programs, department store keyboards, and keen, thoughtful melodies. After meeting as youths, playing in rival bands, and then finally collaborating; the duo’s skills grew to complement each other in their attempts to test pop music’s conventions. Sometimes skirting into new wave, R&B, hip hop, they are after something new and beautiful. The two ceaselessly try to one-up the other, pushing towards a sound defined by the sharpest of hooks and exactly the right atmosphere. Self taught and studied under the usual cavalcade of your parent’s sixties/seventies icons, John Lennon, David Bowie, Paul Simon, as well as an enthusiastic interest in the history of pop music, idolizing Irving Berlin, Joe Meek, and David Byrne, the band quickly raised attention with eclectic live shows and free cdr mixtapes. Outpacing their surroundings, house parties and dive art spaces, they moved on. Leaving a trail of short-lived band members and meticulous, though admittedly lo-fi, home demos, the duo arrived in New York in the summer of 2010. Carrying songs that ranged from pop anthems, complete with the requisite big bang chorus, to burners with get busy hi-hats and falsetto acrobatics, the band ran their way through countless back rooms and showcases. Signing with Cantora Records in 2012, Slam Donahue finds a new, much nicer home to record in. The old place was well documented in those demos; you could hear the bounce of the walls, our feelings at the time. But, the new place has more promise and a bigger backyard. HEMLOCK TEA EP AVAILABLE NOW @ http://slamdonahue.com // Big House Nice Dreams mixtape FREE DOWNLOAD @ http://bit.ly/GWNkUe