Hey!
You found us!
Thanks for stopping by. My name is Bennett and I play in a band called “The Donovan Twins” with my twin brother Aidan. I'd like to tell you a little bit about us.
Aidan and I say that we've been playing music together since we were twelve years old, but in reality, we were doing it long before then. We grew up in a household with lots of music: our dad would play his guitar, sing to us, and we would “jam” in his truck where he would play us his favorite CDs with the windows down and the volume up. My mom would not claim that she is a musician, but she taught Kindergym classes at our local YMCA which connected music and movement. She also had deep pockets full of fun, random songs to sing for seemingly every occasion. My dad’s version of “Loves Me like a Rock” and REM's “The One I Love” are the ones I still hear in my head to this day. Not to mention, we were well versed in the Wii game “Beatles Rock Band”, which we played all the time. A memorable intersection of some of our major musical influences came when Aidan and I sang “A Hard Day's Night” by the Beatles at a church talent show. I couldn't tell you when exactly that was, but my guess is around eight or nine. Our dad accompanied us on his electric guitar. To my younger self (and maybe even my current self) playing the electric guitar was the ultimate sign of coolness.
So we grew up surrounded by music, but it wasn’t until the age of twelve that Aidan started playing guitar and I started learning the drums. Our current instrumentation began about a year or so later when I began messing around on my dad's banjo. We had a couple of tunes that we really liked to play; “The Fall” and “Swept Away” by The Avett Brothers and "Gold on the Ceiling” by The Black Keys are the ones that stand out to me the most. I am curious which ones Aidan might say as he was not consulted prior to the creation of this blog post. Speaking of which, I believe that this is my first ever blog post. I am not sure if I am doing this correctly but I sure am having fun! Writing something without being bound to a rhyme scheme, syllabic structure, and melody has been a welcome change for the past few minutes.
As I was saying… Aidan and I started playing songs together, but “The Donovan Twins” did not exist as an actual band for quite some time. Our next milestone performance did not come until we were 16 years old in 2018. During our junior year at Nation Ford High School we entered “NaFo's Got Talent”, under the name “Aidan and Bennett Donovan”-- almost as creative as the name “The Donovan Twins”, I know. This was our first real contest, so we had no real expectations going into it. When I go back and watch the video now, I can hear my voice shaking with nerves as I sing through the second and third verses of “Down with the Shine” by The Avett Brothers. Even now, it’s mind-boggling to me that our performance was so well-received, and even more shocking that we managed to win the thing.
After that first talent show performance, we began playing at a few more school events where we actually debuted “10 & 4”. It is funny to think that a song Aidan wrote back when we were in high school ended up being recorded about 5 years later and has since been our most popular song. Then, like the rest of the world, COVID interrupted life as we knew it and brought those live performances to a halt. On the bright side, it encouraged the use of virtual spaces and our mom thought it would be a great idea for us to play music in our driveway and stream it on Facebook Live. This was the beginning of “The Donovan Twins,” and these were our first “gigs” where we played more than two or three songs. These driveway livestreams helped lay the foundation for us to eventually play restaurants, bars, and breweries… and now playing music festivals and opening for bands like Sister Hazel and Shovels & Rope??? Crazy. We owe a lot of our current success to our mom: . She doesn't allow us to take opportunities for granted and is full of ideas to help us elevate our brand. Thanks, Mom!
I truly love making music with my brother. I’m also lucky to be able to make music with my friends Preston, David, and Sutton, who play with us in The Donovan Twins. I never expected to be able to do it for as long as I have, and I don't know what the future holds. What I do know, though, is that I am glad that you are now a part of that journey too. We've got an EP coming out real soon and some awesome shows that we would love to see you at. Until then, give us a follow on social media (@thedonovantwins), check out our music, and join our mailing list so that you can keep up with us.
Thanks for reading!
-BD