The story of the band name (like the name itself!) is rather bizarre. One night our drummer, Jamie, was just settling down to a session of drumming when the telephone began to ring. Being the energetic chap he is, he immediately leapt up from the drum stool and dashed downstairs to answer it. But his father got there before him. As Jamie stepped into the room his father turned to him and asked: "Do we have a Danny Cockroach in the house?"
And thus was born our name.

We have, indeed, played several times live, although the majority of these have been small private concerts for friends. However, we did have the good fortune to be included in a local Battle of the Bands competition at Studio 24. Being the youngest band there, we had no illusions of winning, and the cards were stacked against us for being the only band who did not play screamo/emo but all in all it was an enjoyable night for all involved. Playing live is one of the great things for us, and probably most rock bands as we love to entertain an audience.
At the moment we have plans for several concerts in the summer and are in the middle of organising those. We have also been approached by several concert organisers and asked if we would like to play at some of their concerts.

The internet has made a huge change to the music industry. It has opened up new ways to promote bands, and offers a much quicker path across the world for bands than was previously available. Now instead of struggling in their own country to get moderate success and then have to do the same thing all over again abroad, bands can develop a worldwide fanbase from the comfort of their own home. However, for many bands the mp3 is a mixed blessing. Illegal copies of their music spread across the web can seriously damage their income. All in all, the state of the music industry has been completely revolutionised by the internet, and mp3s in particular.
For the listener, it is great. They can discover many new bands who previously they would never have had a chance to find out about.

Well thats a tricky question to answer. The short answer would be yes, probably. However, it also really depends on what the label has to offer us. For example, we don't want a label with whom we would have very little correspondence, we would like a label that works with us as well as helping us with promotion and recording. At the moment we are in the process of looking for a record label but we are really looking for small, local labels who we can actually meet and talk to about the band. However, that said, it does not mean we would not accept an offer at all with a major label. We are open to many possibilities!

Danny Cockroach,

When two young bands collide, force, implode, devour, mash, entangle then rehabilitate, the outcome would be one of Danny Cockroach.

When out of the ashes a savage fusion of talent hungry musicians join to congregate a rock band, Danny Cockroach would form.

So what is Danny Cockroach? A pretentious bunch of talentless youth? We'll leave the answer up to you!


2003 marked the birth of the unnamed, untamed and over ambitious band's formation. It was then our hastly assembled, three guitarists, singer, bass and drum sextet of emo anatomy unleashed itself upon the world. But thankfuly we evolved: --- ----- (name unavailable for legal reasons), Kieran Milne and Craig McDonald slipped away and with them - but not particularly due to them - our early vulgar emo sound.

The band as we now know it really started off in the Summer of 2004 when the two previous bands that Peter and Lewis were both in joined together, Melted Onion and LMNOP. With Melted Onion Peter and Lewis had been playing with bassist Duncan Sneddon but they had no drummer, an advert advertising for one went up in various shops around the city but we never got a reply.

Before they hit upon the name Danny Cockroach, they went through many other names, a few being Terra Firma, Toka, Waterfall, The Void and White Noise.

Since forming the band have been working nonstop, with most of their personal time taken up rehearsing and recording. Their first recording session was at Banana Row in October 2004, where the tracks Slide On Over, Insistent Iye and Out of the Ashes were all demoed in a rushed two hour session. These tracks were all soon to be re-recorded as they were not the best they could have been. In December they re-recorded these tracks, committing to CD far superior versions of them, along with two other tracks: Dreamscape and Jam 1 to make up their debut EP.

Although having come a relatively long way, the band is still in its early stages. The ever evolving Danny Cockroach still experience fresh challenges.

If we were to collectively amass our experiences it may not seem very impressive; the 80 capacity Hogmanay party at Jamie's house, the Battle of the Bands Studio 24 venue, the charity benefit gig for Rachel House Childrens Hospice or even Robbie Burns Caleidh at church. Still we are a growing band and are always getting bigger and better; we have plans to play at the world famous Edinburgh Festival this summer amongst our growing list of engagements.

The band is continuing to work hard towards recording their first full album and are writing songs at a prodigious rate. Keep checking the news page and forums for updates on recordings and the writing of new songs.

We take influences from such awesome bands as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Hawkwind, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, Iggy Pop, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chic and many more. Our musical influences are very diverse, from rock and metal to blues and country and this shows in the unique style we have developed.

The Eastgate Theatre in Peebles! Such a great atmosphere and the sound is superb.

Peter John Ellis:
Guitar - Fender Telecaster Midnight Red colour(cant remember offhand what series but it cost £360)
Amp - Marshall MG50 DFX
Harmonica - Hohner Blues Harp
Keyboard - Yamaha, I'll check the model later

Lewis Rumney:
Guitar - PRS Tremonti SE
Amp - Roland cube 15 (Wow)

Duncan Sneddon:
Bass - Fender Squier P-Bass
Amp - Fender 15W I think, but he normally uses at practice a big uber 100W amp!

Jamie MacLeod:
Drumkit - Tama Rockstar kit, Pearl-Eliminater kick Pedal, Zildjian K-Custom Crash, pearl hard-ware and vater sticks.