Drenge is an English three-piece

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band made up of Eoin Loveless on guitar and vocals, his younger brother Rory on drums, and Rob Graham on bass. The brothers grew up in

Castleton, Derbyshire Castleton is a village and civil parish in the High Peak, Derbyshire, High Peak district of Derbyshire, England, at the western end of the Hope Valley, Derbyshire, Hope Valley on the Peakshole Water, a tributary of the River Noe, between the Da ...

, where they formed the band in 2010, relocating to

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

in 2014. The band takes their name from something "that would sound like a noise that we would be playing on stage". Their name also translates into "Boys" in Danish. They have released three albums; ''Drenge'' (2013), ''Undertow'' (2015), and ''Strange Creatures'' (2019).

Background

In January 2013, Drenge, who had a small following then, was picked up by national media when ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''s

Paul Lester Paul Lester is a British music journalist, author and broadcaster from Elstree, Hertfordshire. Career He began his career as a freelance journalist, for ''Melody Maker'' in the early 1990s, as well as ''City Limits'', '' 20/20'', '' Sky Maga ...

featured them in his "New Band of the Week" column. The band rose to further prominence seven months later following the resignation of Labour MP Tom Watson from the Shadow Cabinet in July 2013. In his resignation letter on his blog, Watson wrote: "Be that great Labour leader that you can be, but try to have a real life too. And if you want to see an awesome band, I recommend Drenge." Drenge has toured extensively in the UK and has appeared at

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

Latitude Festival Latitude Festival is an annual music and arts festival set within the grounds of Henham Park, near Southwold, Suffolk, England. The first edition of the festival took place in 2006 and has continued annually (apart from 2020 when it was cancel ...

, and

Reading and Leeds Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festi ...

. They have also toured with Californian duo

Deap Vally Deap Vally are an American rock music, rock duo, formed in Los Angeles, California in 2011. The group consists of Lindsey Troy (guitar, vocals) and Julie Edwards (drums, vocals). They have released four albums, four EPs, and a number of singles. ...

, including an appearance close to their hometown at Sheffield's Queens Social Club. They also toured with the British band

Peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...

in late 2013. They played a headline tour in the first half of 2014, as well as playing at many festivals over the summer of 2014, including Reading and Leeds, Glastonbury and T in the Park. Drenge has toured the UK alongside American punk

band Radkey, appeared on '' Later... with Jools Holland'', and their single "Bloodsports" was used for an advert for British TV show ''

Misfits MiSFiTS was the acronym for the ''Minnesota Society for Interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy''. This organization has now changed its name to GPS, an acronym for Geek Partnership Society. It was founded in 1999 and was the parent non-profit org ...

''. Their self-titled album was released on 19 August 2013 on

Infectious infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

Records. The artwork for the album features a photograph of Wardsend Cemetery in

and a nearby

scrapyard A wrecking yard (Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian English), scrapyard ( Irish, British and New Zealand English) or junkyard (American English) is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are brou ...

. On 27 January 2015, they made their US network television début on the ''

Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...

''. On 6 April 2015, the band's second album, '' Undertow'', was released, debuting at number 14 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. For their tour in 2015, the band included a bassist in their live line-up as well as in their new single "We Can Do What We Want". In February 2018, the band announced their first tour in over two years.

Band members

Members * Eoin Loveless – lead vocals, guitar (2010–present) * Rory Loveless – drums, percussion, backing vocals (2010–present) * Rob Graham – bass, backing vocals (2015–present)

Discography

Studio albums *'' Drenge'' (August 2013, Infectious) *'' Undertow'' (April 2015, Infectious) *'' Strange Creatures'' (February 2019, Infectious)

References

{{Authority control Musical groups from Sheffield Musical groups established in 2011 Musical groups from Derbyshire NME Awards winners People from Castleton, Derbyshire Infectious Music artists Sibling musical groups English musical trios English rock music duos English blues rock musical groups English garage rock groups English garage punk groups English grunge groups 2011 establishments in England