Slay Duggee
Slay Duggee are a British English heavy metal band for young children.[1] They play 'My First Metal Gig' concerts to give young children their first experience of live heavy metal music.
History
The name of Slay Duggee is a pun on the British children's series, Hey Duggee.
Slay Duggee formed in January 2018 to release a heavy metal version of "The Stick Song" from "The Stick Badge" episode of Hey Duggee. The Slay Duggee version was released within 48 hours of the original being broadcast, and was featured on UK radio shortly afterwards.[2] DJ Steve Lamacq, of BBC Radio 6 Music, has described them as "the Lords of Toddler Metal".[3]
In 2018, Slay Duggee collaborated with guitarist James Monteith from Tesseract, and singer Nicky “Scorpion” Calonne from Nekrogoblikon, on a cover version of "Everything Is Awesome" from The Lego Movie.[4] In the same year, Slay Duggee released a Christmas single "Walking in the Air" with singer Daniel Tompkins from Tesseract.[5] In July 2018, the band completed a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the album Kids Love Metal.[6]
Slay Duggee released their debut album Kids Love Metal in 2018.[7] The album was partially funded by selling wooden sticks on Kickstarter.[8]
Slay Duggee released their second album My First Metal Album in 2019. Featuring heavy metal cover versions of songs such as "Paw Patrol", "PJ Masks", "You've Got A Friend In Me", "Sleeping Bunnies", "Johny Johny (Yes Papa)" and "Daddy Finger".
In 2020, to replace a fundraiser concert cancelled due to COVID19, the band filled Hot Box Live, Chelmsford, UK, with 35,000 ball crawl balls[9] to play a special livestream concert to an audience of one, Angus Grocott, a young quadrelegic fan.
Slay Duggee released their third album Chinese Dogmocracy in 2022.[10] Featuring heavy metal cover versions of songs such as "Spongebob Squarepants (featuring Rachel Aspe from Cage Fight)", "Bluey", "There's A Party In My Tummy", "Toothbrushing Song", "Round and Round The Garden (featuring Princess Beast from Animal Schoolbus)" and a song "Surfin'" written by, and featuring 4-year-old fan Reuben.
Steve Lamacq had Slay Duggee live in session on his BBC Radio 6 Music radio show in August 2019.[11] Steve performed guest duck quacks on the song "Sarah & Duck".
In August 2019, their first live gig 'My First Metal Gig' at Craufurd Arms, Milton Keynes sold out within two hours.[12]
Slay Duggee played a farewell concert[13] at Colchester Arts Centre in November 2022.
References
- ^ "HuffPost is now a part of Verizon Media". Huffingtonpost.co.uk. 14 December 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- ^ "When Rock Goes Weird". Kerrang!. 22 May 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
- ^ "In Conversation with SLAY DUGGEE: "Kids Can handle Pure Metal and They Love It"". PureGrainAudio. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
- ^ "Introducing Slay Duggee". GigRadar. 29 May 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
- ^ "Slay Duggee Team Up With Tesseract For Brutal Cover Of Walking In The Air". Kerrang!. 7 December 2018.
- ^ "Slay Duggee: The First Debut Album". Kickstarter. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
- ^ "Video: Young Kids Prefer Metal to The Beatles, Pink Floyd and More". MetalSucks. 5 October 2018.
- ^ Nick Hearne (15 January 2020). "I made this: Slay Duggee proves kids can love heavy metal too". Campaignlive.co.uk. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- ^ "IN PICTURES: Rocker Angus, 3, has a ball at unique heavy metal show". Halstead Gazette. 27 October 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ Mosh (9 June 2022). "Album Review: Slay Duggee – Chinese Dogmocracy". The Moshville Times. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ "BBC Radio 6 Music - Steve Lamacq, Slay Duggee in session". BBC.
- ^ "Essex band sell out gig in Milton Keynes with heavy metal covers of kids songs". ITV News Anglia. 12 August 2019.
- ^ "Pictures: Young head-bangers mosh-out one last time as rocking dogs bid farewell". Gazette. 4 December 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.