In the build-up to Docksun’s latest single ‘Blew Up A Kiss’ this Friday, we caught up with the Sunderland five-piece to give you an exclusive insight to the track and much more.
Since forming two years ago this month, James Baxter (vocals/guitar), Neil Douthwaite (guitar), Stephen Keogh (guitar), Adam Dawkins (bass) and Glenn Laws (drums) have had rising success with each single and I’m sure it’ll be no different this time around.
‘Blew Up A Kiss’ sees Docksuns take a slightly different approach from their previous single ‘Dancing on the Radio’ with heavier riffs and a deeper rock sound. Keeping a bands sound fresh and unique has never been more important now than ever before with the introduction of TikTok, a band must always adapt to survive.
“We speak about our sound regularly and constantly review this and after ‘Dancing on the Radio’ we wanted to do something a little heavier which you will see in our later releases,” said the band. “I think being in a five piece we are afforded that flexibility to make changes to our music which keeps things fresh and exciting for us!”
“I think the Martin Luther middle 8 is different and extremely fitting with context of the song”
Docksuns on ‘Blew Up A Kiss’
Going into the meaning around ‘Blew Up A Kiss’, the song is all about the cheating partner and the “explosive” fall out of the relationship. Citing from personal experiences frontman James Baxter also includes a political slant with quotes from Martin Luther King.
The band went on to say: “It touches on catching your Mrs kissing another bloke, with a side portion of frontman James’ political views. A catchy riff starts to the story, followed by a loud, bouncy, in your face chorus
“The middle eight also features an audio from a Martin Luther King speech condemning violence. Peace through music.”
When it actually comes to the songwriting, James is the brains behind this operation and falls to him. Docksuns spent a full weekend tweaking and adding different layers to bolster the sound.
Now in times of Covid19 and live music uncertainty it has sent the music industry into turmoil and for a small independent band like Docksuns, that’s one of their biggest income streams and for the band it’s the reason why they even formed Docksuns.
The band said: “The only reason we started this project was to play live, just to feel the energy and soak up the buzz of it all, so the fact its carried on throughout a global pandemic is testament to our commitment to the project.
“Going and seeing other local acts or global stars on a bigger stage is again one of our passions so it really has been tough, it has given us a lot of time to reflect and write and keep busy in other ways so although we haven’t really pushed on in line with our plans, it certainly hasn’t been time wasted.”
On their favourite live performance so far they added: “I think in our debut year we played at Independent in Sunderland in their room upstairs which is around 100 capacity, the show sold out and everyone was absolutely bouncing, the atmosphere was terrific and we were joined by Luka State which made the occasion even more special.
“It was one of them stick to the floor, sweaty, love thy neighbour types of gigs, unforgettable.”
Once the group are not thinking about Ducksuns its “pints pints pints!” to top the list and footy, mountain biking and drinking milk (can you guess who that could be?) The band said that their “‘chill’ time” is spend is shaping and planning the future of Docksuns. So when I put forward the question of describing them in three words or less, all they said was “hungry”. Hungry to be on top of the world and most importantly, play Glastonbury with a Sunderland t-shirt on.
‘Blew Up A Kiss’ is out now on The Animal Farm.
