The Donkeys

“...there is no culture in California, only trash.” – Philip K. Dick

In early 2018, California trio the Donkeys, made up of Tim Denardo, Anthony Lukens, and Sam Sprague completed their fifth album - an apocalyptic surf saga, an endless irradiated summer: Sun Damaged Youth. Part lost radio transmission, part interplanetary concept album, the record takes its cues from classic FM compilations and surf records, interspersing the Donkey’s signature choogling pop with deejay banter and reverb-drenched instrumentals. Part The Lonely Surfer, part Music from Big Pink, the LP channels the feverish energy of found object outsider art, paying homage to the classic West Coast melodicism of the Beach Boys and the Grateful Dead with the California skate and surf punk of the late ‘70s and ‘80s.

Sun Damaged Youth was recorded over the course of a year by Denardo, Lukens, and Sprague with engineer Jason Quever of Papercuts, who produced the band’s 2004 self-titled debut. Following a string of releases on Dead Oceans (Living on the Other Side (2008), Born With Stripes (2011)) and Easy Sound Recording Company (Ride the Black Wave (2014), 2016’s Midnight Palms), it’s the band’s first self-released effort, the inaugural release by the band’s own Flop Records imprint.

Founded in 2003, the Donkeys have spent much of the last decade and a half on the road with bands like the Hold Steady, Magnolia Electric Company, Deerhoof, Cass McCombs and others.