Arabic version: فرقة DMC Boys تتطلع إلى جمهور أوسع بعد دعمها لفرقة King Stingray

According to ABC News, Doomadgee reggae-rock group DMC Boys are looking beyond Queensland’s Gulf Country after opening for ARIA-award-winning band King Stingray at their biggest performance yet.

The band played on October 10 at celebrations for the reopening of Burketown’s airport, which was damaged by flooding in 2023. Lead vocalist Elijah Douglas said people in Doomadgee were proud of the group, and that younger boys were now coming along to learn music and sing.

DMC Boys combine traditional storytelling, language and music, and have become a local favourite in Doomadgee, about 400 kilometres north-west of Mount Isa. Lead guitarist Tommy Lee Jack said music could be a healing process and that the group wanted to become “somebody and something for our people.”

Burke Shire mayor Ernie Camp said the band had demonstrated that arts and music could thrive in remote regions. He said seeing tangible results could be more powerful for young people than simply being told that anything was possible.

Jack said the band had worked through nerves, shame and shyness by imagining they were in a studio and blocking out the crowd while performing. King Stingray guitarist Roy Kellaway praised DMC Boys’ songs and melodies, while saying consistency, hard work and energy were important to success.

DMC Boys, whose members are largely self-taught, released their debut EP in February and plan to put out more music later this year. The group is also hoping to tour outside the region in the new year, with its members aiming to take their music worldwide.