Editing Donots (section)

===Early years (1993–1998)===
The Donots were founded in 1993 by Ingo Knollmann on lead vocals, his brother Guido Knollmann on guitar, Jan-Dirk Poggemann on bass, Jens "Stone" Grimstein on guitar and Jens Trippner on drums. They celebrated their stage debut on April 16, 1994, at the Scheune in their hometown [[Ibbenbüren]]. They began playing as a support band in local venues and released the demo tapes ''We Do Not Care So Why Should You?'' and ''Mellow D's and Harm on E's'' in 1994 and 1995, respectively. Drummer Jens Trippner was replaced by Eike Herwig in 1995.

In 1996, the band released their debut album ''Pedigree Punk'' via independent label Headshock Records and shortly afterwards, Alex Siedenbiedel replaced Stone Grimstein on guitar, finalizing the current line-up. They played support shows in Germany for [[Green Day]], [[Blink-182]], [[Propagandhi]], [[No Fun At All]], [[Terrorgruppe]] and [[No Use for a Name]].

The band released their second album ''Tonight's Karaoke Contest Winners'' in spring of 1998, followed by their first tour with [[Samiam]] and ErrorType:11. That year they also won a band contest at the Bizarre Festival, which furthered their popularity in the German underground scene, leading to them getting signed by major label [[GUN Records]] ([[Sony BMG]]).