Donots – Dann ohne mich

No, the name of the band has nothing to do with the round American baked good. It is much more related to the English language, where “do not” is a short and sweet description of the punk band’s philosophy. These five guys are from the small town of Ibbenbüren in North Rhine-Westphalia and if you believe their name, they are only about one thing: doing nothing.

But you can’t really accuse the band of laziness. On the contrary, the Donots are looking back at a 21-year long history during which they released 10 albums and played a countless number of concerts around the world. That sounds like just about anything besides idly sitting around.

The Donots have long been a German punk institution and, with their newest album that appeared in 2015, managed to surprise both fans and critics alike: “Karacho” is the first album with lyrics in German.

“It just happened,” said Alex Siedenbiedel, the Donots’ guitarist. “We played an anniversary concert in the barn in Ibbenbüren where we had our very first concert. We wanted to write a special song for this occasion. And that’s how the first German songs came to be.” The result was convincing: “Karacho” landed at 5th place on the LP charts. If it were up to the band’s singer Ingo Knollmann, the band would continue to sing in their native language - but not exclusively: “On every album moving forward there should be a German as well as an English version. That would be a dream.”

The Donots are brothers Ingo (vocals) and Guido Knollmann (guitar) and Jan-Dirk Poggemann (bass), Eike Herwig (drums) and Alex Siedenbiedel (guitar). With guitars, brains and heart, they’ve been touring in Germany and the world since the band was founded in 1994, and they don’t even think of quitting. The band is still inspired and totally passionate about their music. “As soon as it becomes routine, then we’ll stop,” said Jan-Dirk Poggeman. “That’s why it is so nice that we made this album, because it felt like it was our first.” It sounds like with KARACHO, the Donots have started their next 20 years!