Having recently moved from Canada to Liverpool to further their musical aspirations, Chilean frontman Donnie & Ukrainian bassist Lisa from Deshine have already been making waves in the local scene. Whether you catch them busking around Bold Street or getting in the mix at the city's underground gigs, they have quickly become familiar faces around town, focused on their mission of spreading their sonic message.
Inspired by traditional Rock and Brit-Pop giants such as The Beatles, Oasis and The Stone Roses, they are channeling their unforgiving, Punk-spirited attitude and intriguing life stories through a no nonsense brand of high-octane Rock & Roll.
We spoke with the pair about their move to the city and their new single 'Sally' .
Photo Credit: Yuliia Hryb / @u.liia.h
Q. You both moved here from Canada in the Summer - why did you choose Liverpool as your destination?
Donnie - “Personally for me, I've been moving around for a long, long time. So moving isn’t something new. I’ve lived in Europe before and in the States and in Canada. So moving to Liverpool wasn’t a big change, you know, it's just like get on a plane and that's it. But we chose Liverpool because we love the Beatles. We were looking for a place where there's still a bit of proper Rock and Roll and when I was playing in Canada, I saw bands from Liverpool like STONE and The Kairos so they were a big part of that”.
Q. Do you take any inspiration from these artists like The Beatles or STONE in your own music?
Donnie - “It's not like inspiration, it's just more that I saw that people might still enjoy that kind of Rock and Roll here because in North America it's more of a Grunge or Metal. A lot of people who go to gigs there just want to go and mosh and that's it. They don't actually go into a gig thinking they might fall in love with a song, they just want to go and get the anger out. I was expecting that in Liverpool and in the UK in general it might be different and actually it is!".
Q. How have you settled into Liverpool and the music scene here?
Lisa - “We’ve already played a ton of shows together here in different places with different bands so I think that we’ve done a lot to show ourselves; show who we are and what our music is about.
Donnie - “We came from a funky underground scene in Montreal where it's friendly but a bit aggressive at the same time. Everyone loves each other but there's drama every week and I don't give a fuck about that. I got here in Liverpool before Lisa and I met some people, some promoters and other artists who said how beautiful and friendly the community is here. In some ways I feel it's bullshit. I feel that only the big ones have this kind of community because they have the same agents etc. But actually I love it because it means you need to work harder and, if you want to do something, you need to just do it by yourself and just keep playing the game”.
Photo Credit: Yuliia Hryb / @u.liia.h
Q. You talk about playing live quite a bit, is this your favourite part about being an artist?
Lisa - “Of course! Playing gigs is the most wonderful part of being a musician. You can understand if people really like your music and you can see how they react to your music in real time, you see their emotion right there.Then you also hear what they're saying to you after the show so you have everything right here, right now. I feel great when I'm on stage. It's just incredible. It's so powerful.
Q. What kind of reaction do you want the crowd to be feeling?
Lisa - “Actually, it was kind of weird for me because when I moved to Liverpool, I was expecting that people have this energy and people like Rock and Roll because it's a Rock and Roll City but we saw a lot of shows where they're just standing and not dancing as much so we want to change that”.
Q. You recently went into the SAE to record a few tracks and the first of these, ‘Sally’, will be coming out on January 17th - why did you feel ‘Sally’ was the one you wanted to release first?
Donnie - “Because I think it's really good! I mean all the songs were good, but when we asked around the guys recording the songs and some other people everyone picked ‘Sally’.
Deshine recording 'Sally' at the SAE
Photo Credit: Yuliia Hryb / @u.liia.h
Q. Can you explain the lyrical ideas behind ‘Sally?
Donnie - "It's about prostitution, Sadly, the lyrics are about a 17 year old girl we knew in Montreal who was a prostitute and she didn't see anything wrong with it. I always knew of these kinds of stories, you always hear of this kind of thing happening but I’d never got to be friends with someone like that directly. When I met her, she was like telling me all these things and it really struck me that she didn’t see any problems so I think I just got home and then wrote the song”.
Q. Do the majority of your lyrics come from personal past experiences like this?
Donnie - “Yeah definitely, there's one song that is about a girl that I fell in love with that is from Finland. There's a few ones that I made in Liverpool that are about Rock and Roll and the community here. These songs are kind of telling people that I don't give a fuck about anyone else, we don't give a fuck about the rest, it's just about experience”.
Q. What are your plans for the rest of 2024?
Donnie - “Becoming the best band in the UK..well actually,I think we already are to be honest. All the bands in the world back in the day were playing songs for so many years. Often, it's the same songs that they played years later and one day everyone realised that the songs were fucking great but before that nobody gave a fuck about the songs. It's just a sick psychology, I guess. It will happen as long as you have determination and you are focused on your own shit”.
“But also we want better to record something properly in a proper studio and top producer because when you’re working like seven days a week and taking your time sitting there with producers that have been working for years, they help you to find what is the best way to get across your song. As a musician of course you have your perception of the song in mind but it's really difficult to put that on record. At a gig you can just turn up or turn down the amplifier but the studio doesn't work like that!”.
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