Jade's Music Blog

When I arrive I’m lead through a maze of corridors to where the lads sit drinking in the band room. They’ve been in the pub over the road all afternoon watching football and are surrounded by empty cans. Sprawled on sofas, they’re all sprayed on jeans over spidery limbs, massive explosions of hair and the unmistakeable whiff of testosterone.

On the far side of the room is Donny Tourette, the tabloid darling and demon, who set the gossip pages alight this time last year with his on/off relationship with over privileged teen-about-town Peaches Geldof and brief drink-fuelled stint on Celebrity Big Brother.

Today he’s wearing his trademark eye-wateringly tight jeans, with a black T shirt and big red leather jacket.

So far, so Donny. What I wasn't expecting was his greeting.

“Hiya Jade, how’ve you been?” he grins, bounding over with outstretched arms. “Nice to see you. Do you want a drink?”

I’m confused. I have interviewed him before, shortly after he escaped from the Big Brother house, but in the whirl of a media million deals I hadn’t expected to be remembered, let alone greeted like an old friend.

“Course I remember you,” says Donny, winking conspiratorially. “You’re alright you are. You didn’t write anything bad.”

That’s the funny thing about him - away from playing up to the cameras he’s friendly and polite, a nicely brought up lad with impeccable manners.

And despite the mockney accent, Donny and guitarist brother Dirk (real names Patrick and Francis Brannan) are from Bootle, and are proud Everton fans. They were born in Fazakerley Hospital and lived in Bootle until Donny was seven.

Hence why they’re in town recording Get Back for a project designed to celebrate Liverpool’s impressive musical heritage.

“We thought Get Back was quite apt for us,” says Donny, 25, sitting back down and opening another can. “Cos, for us, coming back to Liverpool we’re getting back to where we once belonged.”

“It was a song we thought we could do something with,” adds Dirk, peering through his long fringe. “We love the original – our mum brought us up on The Beatles – so it’s a bit of a tribute to how much we love those songs.”

The last 12 months have been eventful for the band. They shot to fame when Donny joined Celebrity Big Brother 5, and cut short his stay after just 48 hours by scaling a wall to escape working as a servant for Jade Goody and her family.

Instant celebrity status followed, with The Towers fast becoming the most notorious band in Britain.

But then the quintet became a trio when guitarist The Rev and drummer Snell quit the band days before they were due to embark on a UK tour, blaming the band’s new celebrity status.

“It’s just the three of us now,” says Dirk staring into his open can of lager.

Sitting on a chair nearby is Tommy Brunette, their bass player.

Formed in 2004 following a string of ill-fated bands, including one called The Tourettes, Towers Of London have spent the best part of their short career doggedly working their way through every page of the big book of rock’n’roll cliches.

They’ve just finished making their second album. “We recorded it in Stoke,” laughs Tommy. “Next time we should do it in Hawaii.”

“But it’s all about finding the right producer,” adds Donny. “That’s like finding some hay in a needlestack. Imagine how hard that’d be.”

Seeing Donny and Dirk together, I’m surprised at how different they look. Aside from the bleached blond hair that looks like the contents of a vacuum cleaner bag, they barely look like brothers.

“Don’t you think we look alike?” asks Dirk. “Normally everyone says we do. Today I went into the shop round the corner and the woman there started asking me about Big Brother. They thought I was him.

“It’s nice to be back in Liverpool actually. I’ve missed it. I wish we were here more.”

Suddenly he gets up from his sofa and sits down next to me.

“We’re looking forward to playing at the arena. Liverpool gigs are always amazing,” he continues, his face inches from mine. “We played in Liverpool with Babyshambles, that was great.

“We’ve still got loads of family up here, our aunties and uncles all still live in Bootle. We always go out for a few drinks.”

And then something odd happens. He puts his hand on my thigh as he asks:

“What are you doing tonight?”.

I laugh and remove his hand. They all start to laugh.

I ask Donny how his notorious love life is going.

“Um. Urr. No comment. I’m as single as the vodka I just drunk in the pub,” he says, bravado mixing seamlessly with the air of a little boy lost, before whispering. “But that was a double.

“I’m only joking. Yes, I’m single. Who wants to know?” he winks.

Before I have chance to answer, someone shouts through to say the lads are needed. They lead me through to the studio to hear how the track is going.

“We’ve tried to keep as much as we can of the original,” explains Donny. “But there’s plenty of us in it too. We didn’t want to change it for the sake of it, but it’s not Stars in Their Eyes. I wasn’t going to change my voice or sing it in a different style.

“We’ve just brought out the rockier side of the song. It was in there all along.”

From what I can hear of the unmixed, unmastered track, their version works well.
They play various different permutations of the different recordings, balancing Donny’s spat out lyrics so they sound perfect with the heavy guitars.

I decide to leave them to it, but as I turn round to leave, Donny is nowhere to be seen. I say my farewells to Dirk and Tommy and make my way down the corridor.

The toilet door swings open and Donny rushes out with his trousers down.

“Don’t worry, it’s in the house,” he says, glancing down at his pants. “See you. Thanks for coming.” He gives me another hug, and opens another can of lager.

“We’re going to go out in town later. Give me a call if you want to come.”

A night on the town with Towers of London? I’m really not sure I could keep up.

Towers of London play the Number One Project concert on Saturday January 19 at the Echo Arena, Liverpool.