Getting to Know Don’t Wake the Neighbours (Interview – Written)

Don’t Wake the Neighbours are a 7-piece band who play original rock music with influences from all across the musical spectrum. If you like bands like The Hives, Arctic Monkeys, and Maneskin, then you’ll love Don’t Wake the Neighbours. Their new single, ‘My Place in the Sun’ is out now. In this interview, we get to know them a little better.

1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.

Hi! No problem at all! Thank you for taking an interest in the band!

My name is Jenny and I’m the lead singer of Don’t Wake the Neighbours. We’ve been a band for about 3 years and I’ve been writing the songs for that whole time. I knew I wanted to form a band the moment I started at uni, but it took me some time to pluck up the courage. After covid happened it put into perspective how important it is that we follow our passions and so I decided to go for it and thus, Don’t Wake the Neighbours was formed.

2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?

It’s hard to put it under one umbrella, but I think the closest description would be Modern Rock. We’ve got elements of a bunch of different genres weaved into our music, it’s helpful having such talented band mates who can play nearly anything.

3. What’s currently keeping you busy? A new album/EP/single release? A new video? Playing live, or planning ahead?

We’ve just finished recording our debut album which is so exciting! We’ve released 3 tracks already and the fourth, My Place in the Sun, is out now! We’ve been playing lots of gigs around London as well, plenty of things keeping us very busy.

4. What is about this current period that is particularly exciting for you?

Getting to release new music into the world is such a rewarding feeling. It feels like we’re making a permanent stamp on the industry, we just hope we can grow and share our music with more and more people as we keep creating.

5. Tell me about the work that has gone into making it a reality and what it means to you.

I manage everything, the social media, I book the gigs, I do all the communications, etc. so it’s a lot of work, and all that on top of a full time job. It can be completely exhausting at times, but actually getting to do it means everything to me and it’s more than worth the time I put into it.

6. Making music and being creative can be a very positive experience and can be very good for the mind. In what way has making music had a positive impact on your mental health?

Music is something I’ve always loved, growing up I would always be messing around on a piano or humming along to a song, and so getting to continue doing that throughout my life has been amazing. Playing with Don’t Wake the Neighbours is like a release sometimes, I can get on stage and just have an amazing time with people that I love. It helps that the music is good too haha.

7. It can also be incredibly challenging, more so in the modern times. What have been some challenging aspects of making music and how have you overcome them?

Finding ways to break through the barriers of social media is incredibly difficult and sometimes it’s quite demoralising, but we’re trying as hard as we can and we can only look to the future!

8. How do you handle the online aspects of being in a band? Having to put out content constantly, promoting across several different social media platforms, and having your success measured in likes and follows?

It’s really tricky. We know we make good music, but people can’t just take our word for it, we have to prove it to them and getting the right video to the right people is sometimes impossible. It’s a blessing and a curse.

9. How do you make this part of things enjoyable, and fulfilling, for yourself?

We try to have fun making videos, it’s an excuse to spend time together and it’s a way to make memories. It’s wonderful being able to look back at old videos and see how far we’ve come in the last few years.

10. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help support you?

Tell everyone! If you think someone will like our stuff, show it to them, share our posts, message us! It’s amazing to hear from people who have found something special in our music.

11. Outside of music, what do you like to do to relax?

Personally, I’m a big sports fan. I’ve recently joined a cricket team and I go to watch football as often as I can. I also love just sitting down with a good movie or tv show and relaxing that way. Currently I’m rewatching Game of Thrones, and I’ve just finished The Bear. I’d also highly recommend Sing Street as a feel good movie if you’re looking for one.

12. Where can people find you?

We’ve got 2 EPs out on all major streaming platforms, and we’re releasing lots of new songs at the moment too! We’re also on most social media platforms, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, etc. so there’s lots to look out for!