UK alt-rock shapeshifters Don Broco have officially unleashed their long-awaited new album Nightmare Tripping today – and, in true Broco fashion, it’s a full-blown genre-blender with zero regard for boundaries. From nu-metal swagger to euphoric electronica and gut-punch emotional left turns, the Bedford lads have doubled down on their rep as one of the most unpredictable (and frankly, unhinged in the best way) forces in modern heavy music.
Hot off their most recent Aussie visit in September 2025, the band are inviting us even deeper into the chaos with a special track-by-track breakdown from frontman Rob Damiani himself. Across the record, Nightmare Tripping wrestles with everything from identity spirals and emotional burnout to societal brainwashing and the search for meaning in a world that feels increasingly cooked – and now, you can hear the stories behind every twist, turn and breakdown straight from the source. Read his words down below, or stream the LP in full here.
DON BROCO – ‘True Believers’ [Feat. Sam Carter]
- Cellophane
Rob Damiani: This song’s about realising that maybe you’re not as strong as you think you are, and that moment of realisation where you’re like, “okay, all these things I thought I could get through, maybe I can’t”. It’s that acknowledgement that shit’s going south.
- Disappear
RD: This one’s about acknowledging the guilt that you’re feeling when you’re walking away or leaving someone who really needs your help, who’s really going through something terrible. But you know that by helping them through this, it’s also going to drag you down with them too. You’re feeling like you’re letting them down in the most brutal way, but if you don’t walk away, it’s also going to drag you down with them. It’s kind of about having an attitude of self-preservation, but obviously not feeling good about that, and the guilt that’s associated with that.
- Somersaults
RD:Somersaults is about reminiscing on those times when you were younger where you didn’t have the worries you do now, you’ve got those memories, probably rose-tinted memories, of the past where everything was just freer. The sun was always shining, you had no cares in the world, you were just there, living carefree, partying, feeling like you had all this optimism in front of you. And the song’s also about trying to do anything to just get a little taste of that feeling again.
- Nightmare Tripping
RD: This is about the blurring between living in the reality of a relationship falling apart, and the angst and the worry and the turmoil that brings then creeping into your dreams where you’re actually dreaming about it, and having nightmares about it. You’re going to bed thinking: I can escape from this horrible situation I’m in. But then you’re dreaming about it. And then those dreams obviously turn to nightmares and you don’t know if you’re awake or asleep, the reality between the two realms of existence are completely blurred. Some horrendous stuff happens in your dream and then you wake up and you’re like, “okay, that couldn’t have happened. That part couldn’t have happened in real life because it’s too fantastical”. You don’t really know what’s real between the two, and you’re trying to make sense of this relationship through the dream. But I think by the end of the song, you’re still finding hope that you are going to get through this nightmare in the same way you wake up from everything. There’s still this light at the end of the tunnel, but you’re going to get out of it eventually.
- Ghost In The Night
RD: Ghost In The Night is about the idea that time is not linear, the understanding that our perception of time is necessarily not what it is, and that we could be in the past and the present and the future all at the same time. And it’s about the experience of feeling like you might’ve encountered a ghost, not knowing what that ghost is. It’s also about feeling an actual positive, calming presence from an experience that I had where I thought, “okay, maybe this is a future version of myself or a future person I know or I care about who’s back in time to tell me things are going to be okay”.
- True Believers
RD: This song’s about the state of the world we’re in right now where you see far right politics creeping into the mainstream in such a disturbing and more frequent way. And it’s about the urge for people to not believe everything that they’re seeing on the news and what they’re told, and to question everything. We’re living in a world now where you don’t know what to believe, but still it’s very easy to get caught up in what the media are telling you and what certain people in positions of power are saying, the narratives that they’re feeding. It’s really a cry for help to try and break out of that and question everything you’re seeing, and really question what the motives are behind all of that so we don’t repeat history like we seem to be doing.
- Euphoria
RD: This song is about the concept of chasing that first time you do something. A lot of the time, the first time you ever have an experience of something, it’s always going to be there and your memory of that is the first and best. And it’s not always necessarily the way, but you’re always chasing that feeling again. You’re always hunting for that new feeling. And it can never be new again, once you’ve had it the first time, you never really get that back, but you’re always still looking for that. And whether that’s within the same experience, just hunting for that same experience which is completely unachievable, or then hunting for the next new experience, when you lose that, when you realise that that’s never going to happen again…it’s kind of gutting. But you somehow forget and never give up and keep trying to find it again.
- Pacify Me
RD: This song links into True Believers a little bit, and it’s more of an awakening song. More and more we’re seeing invasive manoeuvres by the powers that be to silence us and keep us locked in on our own little individual issues and battles. This one is about trying not to turn a blind eye to all the horrendous shit that’s going on in the world, because it’s very easy to look away and try to not be consumed by it. It’s so troubling to consume everything that is happening and going on in the news all the time, but if you can keep your eyes open to it and actually take in what’s happening and process that and find the strength in whatever little way possible to stand up to that; it’s a better path than just putting your head in the sand.
- Swimming Pools
RD: Swimming Pools is about those little white lies that you tell yourself, or that people tell you, to get the job done, or give you that kick up the ass you needed to do something. Sometimes when you’re feeling like, “I’m done with this, ” or, “I’m prepared to give up right now”…they might not always believe it, but they’ll tell you something to just give you a little taste of fantasy, something to strive for. And it’s not necessarily true, but it actually can sometimes be just what you need to get you going and keep you on the right track. Sometimes you need that person to basically tell you that lie to keep you going. And then by manifesting it and looking for it? Then it actually can happen.
- Hype Man
RD: This is almost a song about being grateful about being in a band and having three friends there that can pull you out of hard situations. Just being in a band, and life in general, there’s so many ups and downs and you don’t always have the ability to pull yourself out of that on your own. Everyone needs someone now and then to be that person, to give them that energy. If you can’t create that energy yourself, which you can’t sometimes, you might not have that within you at that time. That’s when you need that hype man to be the person to help pull you out of that situation, whether it’s a friend or a family member. This song is that acknowledgement that you can’t get through life on your own the whole time. But it’s also to remind yourself to be that person for someone else as well. If you see that person, or if you’re ever in that situation where you think, “okay, this guy needs a little pep talk or a little bit of a push right now”, be that friend for someone else.
- The Corner
RD: There’s so many ideas in this song. It’s almost about questioning yourself and not knowing if the people you’re around and the person you’re with believes in you, and feeling not worthy of them and their time and their energy that they’re putting into you. But it’s also about being able to try and put those feelings to one side and just carry on and keep moving forward, whatever the cost, because everyone has those doubts now and then, and that’s fine to have those doubts in yourself. Any little glimpse of light or encouragement, you’ve got to hold onto that and push those self-doubts away, because everyone doubts themselves from time to time. And if you’re grateful to be with someone that you don’t think you’re worthy of, or in a situation that you don’t think you’re worthy of: you’re there for a reason and you’re there probably because you do actually deserve to be. So it’s also about trying to hold onto that and to find the strength in that.
Further Reading
Love Letter To A Record: Heartline’s Fraser Stiles On Don Broco’s ‘Amazing Things’
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