It has been nothing short of an incredible 2014 for Ocasan drummer Luke McDonnell.
He shares his year past with TotalMK, and looks ahead to new recordings, and new plans...
Tell us how you'll spend the big day...
My family have a tradition of buying matching PJs. We all change into these, drink champagne and eat scrambled eggs. This is followed by a dozy, half cut dog walk. When we finally make it home the fire goes on, we drink whiskey, eat cheese, inevitably ruin the dinner and then round the day off with a big argument over who won articulate. Perfect.
Mince pies or Christmas pudding - which one, and why?
Mince pies, never been one for xmas pudding.
Talk us through your 2014
I've made some incredible leaps with Ocasan this year. We released our album Elixir, played some unforgettable shows, shot a bunch of music videos and crowd funded our latest. The band signed with a new agent and to top it off we've now written our third album.
Now living at Craufurd Arms in Wolverton I've been able to hang out with some awesome, influential people and made a lot of friends (Real Big Fish, Soulfly, Jamie Lenman, Skindred to name a few.)
I travelled around Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam which was a blast. I also went to Minorca and the Channel Islands with some close friends.
My art & design work has taken off more than I expected. I have a long list of projects that I'm currently working on. A student came in last week from Bedford college to interview me about it so word seems to be spreading. You can see some of my past work here : http://instagram.com/lukemcdonnellart
I supported a lot of local musicians with recording, photo/video shoots and art work which has been a lot of fun and very rewarding.
It's been an amazing year to say the least. I feel extremely lucky and grateful.
And your hopes for 2015
Continue to make the Craufurd Arms the best damn music venue in the country!
We've all worked very hard and the improvement is titanic. I think there are nine of us living here now. We're all really close, it's got a real family vibe.
We take pride in making musicians feel at home. I've watched hundreds of touring bands come through here and they've all said the same. "This venue is incredible, we love it, can we stay?" as I say, it makes us all very proud. We've had some unreal parties! It's well and truly on the map now so onwards and upwards!
With regards to Ocasan, we're going to record our third album. I'm very excited about this. We've chosen our producer now so I'm hoping it will be complete by March.
We're hoping to record just south of Rome which is exciting, I love Italy!
I'm starting a design company with another graphic artist from MK who is the mutts nuts. I have very high hopes for this project, we just need to settle on a company name.
Any new year resolutions planned?
Drink less? Living above a bar can get the better of you...Not sure who I'm kidding though, it's never gonna happen.
Merry Christmas MK!
