GOGOL BORDELLO

BOB VYLAN

London two-piece BOB VYLAN are unique. One vocalist (Bobby) and one drummer (Bobbie). One being a vital and focal mouthpiece, the other a rhythm maker and keeper, one audience ringleader, one master of the calm. They are a band that embraces both chaos and peace, a band that thrives on independence and creating their own path, a band known for mosh pits and pit hugs. They have a unique and ever-evolving sound, one that crosses styles and genres, doing away with the traditional and embracing new and more unique sonic dimensions. They incorporate these styles within their music in an attempt to bridge and blend genres and subcultures together. It is this very unique style and sound that has found them embraced by rock, rap, punk, dance, and alternative crowds alike.

Their independent nature has seen them start their own record label (Ghost Theatre), something created that allows them to release their music completely free from the restraints of the major label system. This route saw the band reach number 18 on the UK album charts, number 4 in the physical charts, and number 3 on the independent charts with their 2022 album Bob Vylan Presents The Price Of Life. It was the first time in history that an album entirely self-produced, recorded, and mixed by the band and released on the band’s own label reached the top 20. The album also won the Kerrang! ‘Best Album’ award for 2022 and helped the band win their first MOBO award in the new ‘Alternative’ category.

They have also picked up fans like Iggy Pop and Craig Charles on their 6music shows, performed live on the BBC at Glastonbury, been featured on magazine covers such as Kerrang!, Hardbeat, and Gigwise, and written about by everyone from The Guardian to Rolling Stone Magazine. Their most recent single, The Delicate Nature, featuring Laurie Vincent from Soft Play, was released in late 2022 and went on to get over 50 plays across Radio 1, 6music, Radio X, Kerrang Radio, and more.

Speaking on their latest album, vocalist Bobby explains a bit more about its themes and ideas for this next phase for BOB VYLAN: “This project has allowed us the space to showcase different sides of our personalities. We don’t want to give the same thing over and over again, so we’re tackling topics in a different way this time. It’s serious and funny, it’s communal and obnoxious, it’s many things at any given time, and it’s a concept project. It explores the idea of paying your way through life and the expense of living in a society that places money above all else. It explores the places we’ve come from and the extremes we’ve seen people go to in order to survive. It also looks at the nuances around money in our society, the less obvious connections, like the world of advertising and art having to align with advertisers’ values in order to be given a platform, as well as the price of healthy eating, the cost of technology not necessarily on our pockets but on our lives.”

This band is all about community, and for them, their live show is a place where they can truly express that. With each show starting with meditation and ending with a group hug, what’s between the meditative start and embracing end is a message delivered in a way that both Bobby and Bobbie feel has been missing.

They set off on their first-ever headline tour in 2021, and since then, in the last year alone, they have toured across the UK on sell-out tours (including a very sold-out Electric Ballroom in London, December 2022), played countless festivals including Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, Pukkelpop (Belgium), and Riot Fest (US), and toured with the likes of Amyl & The Sniffers (in the UK and the USA) and Biffy Clyro. With more live dates announced for 2023, including an EU support tour with Grandson, a US headline tour being readied for 2024, and festivals throughout summer such as Download, Boardmasters, 2000trees, Green Man, and Latitude, there will be no stopping BOB VYLAN.