Photo Credits: NEASANSUCKS
From Adelaide, Australia, Donni Heat is an independent singer-songwriter bringing together the raw emotion of emo and pop-punk with the darker edge of modern alternative music. Drawing inspiration from the sounds that shaped the 2000s and 2010s while embracing a contemporary approach to songwriting, Donni turns personal experiences, emotions, and moments of vulnerability into music that feels both intimate and relatable.
With their debut EP Echoes From The Fallout, Donni Heat opens a new chapter in their musical journey, exploring themes of heartbreak, identity, resilience, and the complicated emotions that come with moving forward. Each song offers another glimpse into an artist who isn’t afraid to transform difficult experiences into something honest, expressive, and deeply personal.
For this City Stories headliner feature, we sit down with Donni Heat to talk about their journey as an independent artist, the stories behind Echoes From The Fallout, their songwriting process, musical influences, and what continues to inspire them to create.
For readers who are discovering Donni Heat for the first time, how would you introduce yourself and describe the artist behind the music?
I’m Donni Heat, an independent alternative artist from Adelaide, South Australia. My music sits somewhere between the modern day emo/nu-punk and heavy pop. I grew up loving and more modern alternative sounds, with elements of dark pop, nu-metal and hyperpop finding their way into the mix!
But at the core of it though, I’m just someone who uses music to process things I probably wouldn’t know how to say otherwise; like I want my art to feel honest, energetic and a little chaotic, both in the music and whenever I’m onstage performing to a crowd.
You’ve described your sound as a mix of 2000s–2010s emo/punk and modern dark pop/alternative. How has your sound evolved since you first started releasing music in 2022?
When I first started releasing music, I think I was much more focused on trying to get myself out there in the emo/pop-punk scene, but still not knowing where my sonic palette would sit.
As I’ve grown as an artist and songwriter, I’ve become much more interested in blending genres rather than trying to fit into one particular box.
Now I’m bringing in the use of heavier/drop tuned guitars, metalcore influences, electronic and hyperpop elements, and more upbeat grooves that challenge me on the kit. I think the new music feels much more like I’ve found my own identity rather than just reflecting the artists I grew up listening to.
You’ve mentioned artists like Michael Jackson, Fall Out Boy, Bring Me The Horizon, Yungblud, and All Time Low as influences. What did each of these artists teach you about becoming a performer and songwriter?
They’ve all influenced different parts of me. Michael Jackson taught me about performance and the importance of commanding a stage.
Also Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco-frontman goals. Fall Out Boy and All Time Low showed me how powerful melody and storytelling can be, while Bring Me The Horizon really opened my mind to experimentation and not being afraid to completely change your sound!
Yungblud has also HEAVILY influenced me in terms of authenticity and connecting with an audience, and finding your people, and I think I’ve found them safe to say.
I think taking little lessons from each of those artists has helped me understand the kind of artist I want to become, and what sort of person I want people to look up to.
What was the moment when you realized that music wasn’t just something you loved, but something you genuinely wanted to build your life around?
I think it was when I realised that music was the one thing I kept coming back to regardless of what was happening in my life back in the day.
Even during difficult periods growing up where I felt alone or hopeless, writing and performing gave me somewhere to put everything I was feeling.
Once I started seeing people connect with the current songs and experiences, it stopped feeling like just a hobby-I realised I wanted to build something around it and see how far I could take it.
Your music often deals with vulnerability, relationships, and difficult experiences. How important is honesty when you’re writing a song?
It’s one of the most important things, however, I still love writing about things I’m observing in my life, such as other people’s struggles too.
If I’m writing about something personal, I want to actually be honest about what I was feeling rather than trying to make myself look better or hide the uncomfortable parts.
If I’m writing about something vulnerable that others in my life are facing, I want it to still be just as honest; I think people can tell when something is genuine if it’s conveyed and performed with care and rawness.
Even if someone hasn’t experienced exactly what I’m singing about, they can still connect with the emotion behind it.
Your debut EP Echoes From The Fallout explored themes of grief, pain, acceptance, and finding strength again. Looking back at the EP now, what does it mean to you personally?
It feels like a snapshot of a version of myself that I’ve grown immensely from.
There’s a lot of pain and vulnerability in that EP, but there’s also a sense of acceptance and trying to find strength again to move forward! Looking back, I’m proud that I allowed myself to be that honest.
This debut EP helped me process things personally, but it also became something other people could see themselves in, which is probably the most meaningful part of it. The five songs are meant to be based on the five stages of grief so it’s a whole musical journey that I hope people can relate to with every lyric.
Songs like “Lies,” “Maybe,” and “Cruel” each approach different emotional experiences. Which song from the EP was the most difficult for you to write, and why?
“Maybe” was probably the hardest. It’s very riff-driven, but lyrically it’s incredibly vulnerable and raw. I was talking openly about my mental health and admitting that I had been in a really bad place at the time.
That’s difficult to put into words, let alone turn into a song that other people are going to hear over and over again. But I think that vulnerability is also what makes the song important to me.
You’ve also talked about wanting your music to create a strong connection with your audience. What do you hope someone feels when they hear a Donni Heat song for the first time?
Well I just want them to feel something…
It could be excitement, nostalgia, comfort, anger, happiness or even just the feeling of “holy crap, I needed that” haha.
I want people to feel like they’ve found something that understands them, but I also want the songs to be fun and energetic enough that you can just lose yourself in them, or drive down the highway screaming at the top of your lungs too.
Your live performances are known for their energy and crowd interaction. What do you think makes a great Donni Heat show different from simply listening to the recordings?
The live show is where everything becomes much more immediate and a huge wall of sound.
There’s an energy you can’t recreate perfectly in a recording because you’re sharing that moment with other people.
I really want the audience to feel involved rather than just watching me perform songs at them.
Whether that’s singing along, jumping around or just connecting with the emotion of a song, I want people to leave feeling like they were part of something! I just love performing live, and I can’t recreate that type of dopamine anywhere else.
You’re an independent artist who has built your project with collaborators across different places. What have you learned about being an independent musician that you wish you knew when you started?
I’ve learned that being independent means you have to be willing to learn pretty much every side of the industry. Writing and recording the music is only one part of it.
There’s promotion, content, networking, live shows, planning releases and constantly figuring out how to actually get the music in front of new people every time. It’s incredibly hard, let alone as a solo artist.
However, the biggest thing I’ve learnt this year is that you don’t have to do everything alone, though. Finding the right collaborators and people who genuinely believe in what you’re building can make a huge difference.
My partner helps me with day-to-day tasks, my mates help compose and collaborate on my music, and my friends all pitch in to help with socials, merch, and more! I love my community, my team-they’re incredible.
You have a new release coming on September 23. What can you tell us about the upcoming release, and what can listeners expect from it?
“Pull Me Back” comes out September 23, and it’s the beginning of a completely new chapter for Donni Heat. It blends emotional alternative songwriting with nu-metal weight, hyperpop energy and upbeat grooves that just slam in your face from the first drop.
The song originally started as a stripped-back acoustic track about the people who pull me back when I feel lost or overwhelmed, people like my partner, my family, and my best friends. As I produced it, I wanted to flip that emotion.
Instead of making a song about coming out of a dark place sound sad or mellow, I turned it into a chaotic, energetic celebration of the people who helped us find our way back.
It’s probably the clearest introduction yet to where I’m taking the project next, and people can dance/mosh hard to it and let loose!
What inspired the new song, and was there a particular story, emotion, or experience that sparked the idea for it?
It came from thinking about the people in my life who have been there for me when I’ve felt lost, overwhelmed, or at the end of my rope.
That idea of someone being able to pull you back when you’re starting to disappear into your own head really stuck with me. I knew immediately after figuring out the theme that I knew this was gonna be special.
How does this upcoming release compare to the music you made for Echoes From The Fallout? Is it a continuation of that chapter or the beginning of something completely new?
I see it as the beginning of a new chapter. There are definitely emotional themes that connect it back to “Echoes From The Fallout”, but sonically I’m pushing myself much further.
I’m leaning much more heavily into the heavier and hyperpop sides of my influences, and I think “Pull Me Back” is a really good bridge between where I’ve been and where I’m going with my next few releases.
Was there anything you wanted to experiment with sonically on this release that you hadn’t explored before?
Absolutely. I wanted to embrace genre-blurring much more than I had before. There are heavy guitars and nu-metal influences sitting alongside crazy electronic textures, soft lofi elements in some parts, Y2K/hyperpop synths, and lots of complex drum fills. There’s also sound effects caked into the song, if people can tell what I’ve done! It’s just a cauldron of wild sounds.
I really wanted the production to feel chaotic but intentional, where you can have these huge emotional moments and then completely flip into something energetic.
What was the songwriting and recording process like for the new release? Did the song come together quickly, or did it take time to find its final form?
I wrote the song a while back and kept it in my back catalogue until I felt like it was ready to see the light of day.
It started as a pretty stripped-back acoustic idea that my guitarist Kieran and I were messing around with, but when I took it to my producer and friend Alex Copp in the UK, it went through a pretty big transformation.
A lot of the final version came together through experimenting with the production and figuring out what the song could actually become. I’m heavily inspired by bands such as Bring Me The Horizon, Sleep Theory, and Hot Milk, so that modern sound was always in the back of my head. Alex co-produced and mixed the track, and honestly, he’s got ridiculously quick hands.
We turned it around in such a short period of time, but I think that comes down to the synergy we have creatively. We tend to be on the same page instinctively, which makes the whole process feel really natural.
I love working with him. From there, we sent it over to Ste Kerry for mastering. Ste has worked across some incredible records, including Sleep Token’s recent releases, so having people with that level of experience involved really helped push the song beyond what I initially imagined it could be.
If you had to describe the upcoming September 23 release in three words, what would they be?
Chaotic. Emotional. Euphoric.
Is there a particular lyric, guitar part, vocal moment, or production detail in the new release that you’re especially proud of?
I think I’m most proud of how the different elements come together, from heavy and fast to soft and airy. There are moments where the song gets really heavy and chaotic, but underneath that there’s still a very vulnerable message.
I just love the contrast between the emotional subject matter and the energy of the production we’ve done to it. That was one of the biggest things I wanted to get right.
The chorus lyrics always hit; “You know when I’m not myself, you know how to bring me down to earth”, and “when I’m thinking this is the end, you pull me back, back, back again” are lines that I’ll always sing with love in my heart. Also, the breakdown of the song…Ooft. That’s all, go have a listen yourself.
What are you hoping this new release will achieve for you as an artist—whether that’s reaching new listeners, opening doors internationally, or simply expressing where you are creatively right now?
Creatively, I want “Pull Me Back” to make it really clear where Donni Heat is heading next. I’m hoping it reaches people who genuinely connect with genre-blurring alternative music and brings new listeners into the new and exciting world I’m building.
I’d also love to connect with more curators, radio stations, alternative communities and artists internationally. Ultimately, I want the song to find the people who need it. It’s meant to be a song that reminds you to go tell the people dearest to you that you love and appreciate them.
Looking ahead, what else can fans expect from Donni Heat for the rest of 2026—more singles, live shows, collaborations, or perhaps another EP?
There’s a lot happening! I’m currently developing my 2nd four-track EP, which will continue building on the world established with “Echoes From The Fallout” while pushing things further sonically, visually and creatively.
I’m also developing a professionally filmed live performance video and a full live-production showcase in November, which will be a big moment for introducing this new era properly. There are also support and showcase opportunities throughout the rest of 2026, with the longer-term goal of taking the live show into larger interstate opportunities and eventually supporting an established Australian or international act.
So yep, definitely more music, more live shows, and a lot more of this new era!!
Finally, if someone reading this interview has never heard Donni Heat before, what song would you tell them to press play on first, and why?
“Pull Me Back”, when it comes out on September 23, of course!
I think it’s the best introduction to Donni Heat right now because it captures the direction I’m heading in. It’s emotional and vulnerable, but it’s also heavy, chaotic, energetic and fun. If you want to understand what this next chapter sounds like, that’s where I’d start.
Donni Heat returns with his latest release, “Pull Me Back” — a song that captures the feeling of wanting to hold on when everything is telling you to let go.
Press play, turn it up, and let the song pull you back.
“Pull Me Back” — Donni Heat Out now. Link here
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