While the privileged ritualistically hum along to “God Save The Queen”, Bob Vylan have been penning their own anthems for an incessantly Cruel Britannia. Over the last seven years, the grime-punk duo have grappled with a nation built on negligence and institutional racism; from rife food poverty, to police brutality, to the ever worsening housing crisis, Bob Vylan take aim at delusional, doe-eyed nationalists, reminding us all that Britain has never been ‘Great’.
While 2021’s ‘We Live Here’ came as a glorious snarl of claws-out vitriol, 2022 truly saw the Bob boys seizing control of the UK’s alt scene. ‘Bob Vylan Presents The Price of Life’ served up the punks in their sharpest form to date, even putting them on the map to bag MOBO’s Best Alternative Music Act award that same year. But their latest work, the brutally sincere and pointedly mindful ‘Humble As the Sun’, is set to cement their reign as modern punk royalty.
We caught up with frontman Bobby to chat all things Vylan, from economic hardship, the necessity of embracing your ego, and how meditative affirmations are the new punk.
ROCK SOUND: We just want to start by addressing one line in ‘Reign’: “I was the victim of one crime… Bob Vylan got robbed for the Mercury”. It’s pretty cocky!
BOBBY: “I’ve always been what some people might call ‘cocky’. I think without it, I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish the things that I’ve accomplished. But I know when to hold back – in this country, you’re taught to be ‘humble’ and ‘meek’. It’s easy for people to read it as arrogance.”
RS: As an independent artist you need to believe in yourself, I suppose.
BOBBY: “Definitely. You really have to back yourself to be independent – it’s a constant, hard graft. We could ‘achieve more’ if we signed to a major label – higher charting albums, bigger awards – but it’s more rewarding doing it this way. We never have to compromise, dilute or censor ourselves.”
RS: How did it feel when you first started releasing music? Did you feel like people were listening?
BOBBY: “When Bob Vylan started, nobody was listening. But I was determined to create an audience – again, I was ‘cocky’. I believed in myself. I would hound people, message them on Instagram, email magazines and promoters…”
RS: Obviously you have an audience now. Does that impact your writing process at all?
BOBBY: “With the new album, I knew we were going to reach the biggest audience that we’ve had so far, so I wanted to make it empowering. One thing I’ve realised at shows is that people are quick to scream “Fuck the Tories,” but when you try to uplift the crowd, the response is far less eager. It’s almost easier for people to latch onto a statement of anger rather than a statement of self belief. So I knew I had to make a point of not just offering anger, but also some hope. I feel like it’s my responsibility to uplift people.”
RS: What tracks are geared towards that sense of empowerment?
BOBBY: “‘Humble As The Sun’ is empowering for me, personally. I talk about interacting with people like Sadiq Khan, my interaction with Ghetts, winning the MOBO. I just had to immortalise those things on record – sometimes you gotta puff your chest out a little bit. You gotta shine.”
“‘Dream Big’ is also meant to uplift people. It’s a song for everyone who doesn’t think they can achieve their dreams. When I first started pursuing music, everyone tried to stop me – except for my dad. Even if he didn’t actually believe in me, he always told me he did. But I totally understand why people were wary. It was a protective fear; when you’re working class, nobody becomes a ‘rockstar’. It sounded like a pipe dream.
“The track is exactly what I would have wanted to hear when I was growing up; I wish I’d had somebody who grew up like I did telling me I could achieve my dreams. It’s also written for my daughter, my nieces and nephews. I want to make sure that they know that they can do whatever they want in life.”
RS: How has fatherhood impacted you?
BOBBY: “Having a daughter made me soft, I can’t lie. It taught me to be patient, to be understanding. We’ve got an incredible relationship; we laugh so much and she comes out on stage with me. She keeps me humble.”
RS: How does she keep you humble?
BOBBY: “Oh – when I was going on tour with Panic Shack, all she cared about was them. She’s their number one fan, she even conducted a little interview with them. But she doesn’t care about award or albums. All that matters is if I’m being a good dad.”
RS: You’ve been writing about the ‘price of life’ since Bob Vylan started. How does it feel releasing tracks like ‘Hunger Games’ seven years on and the issues still being just as bad – if not worse?
BOBBY: “We keep praying that change is coming, but we don’t know when. The cost of living is a recurring theme for us because it’s still an issue. As long as those issues exist, it’s our duty to acknowledge them and offer some sense of hope.”
RS: You obviously start your shows with a little meditation – is that your way of sharing a little burst mindful peace with the crowd, despite the world outside?
BOBBY: “It was just for myself at first, because it was just a moment to ground ourselves and own the stage. It’s like reminding people that we’re human too, and we are dictating the pace. It’s to help people be mindful and respectful.”
RS: There’s a clip used on the track ‘Right Here’ of you confronting someone at a show. How does it feel when people disrespect you on-stage?
BOBBY: “That clip is from when a pint of lemonade hit me in the chest during a show. I don’t know if it was intentional, but it still hit me. All I could think was: I am a human being. I might come from a different cultural or economical background, but I’m a person. And, again, cultural differences – some people don’t consider my own lived history. They don’t consider the environment I grew up, how it made me live in a state of ‘fight’ rather than flight. There’s a Jamaican saying that is “he who can’t hear must feel,” and I’ve worked hard to control how I respond to people. Sometimes people just act like I’m not human and I just react.”
RS: In terms of the rest of the record, ‘Reign’ is like a Bob Vylan hit-list…
BOBBY: “We don’t shy away from confrontation if it’s warranted. ‘Reign’ calls out industry ‘fuckery’, if you will. If people think they can accost us at a festival and tell us they find our opinion on the police force is ‘unsettling’ or ‘uncomfortable’, telling me my lived experience is wrong, we’re going to call that shit out. Nobody is mentioned by name, but if the shoe fits and somebody wants to put it on, let them put it on. We also take a jab at bands that we thought were friends, but just used us.”
RS: How so?
BOBBY: “I’m one of the few black vocalists in punk music in this country that people think to approach for a real take on the world. Everything we discuss is real lived experience – genuine economic hardship, interactions with the police, racism in this country. I’ve had to steal loo rolls from Starbucks, I’ve witnessed ‘open flames around bended spoons’. The impact that has on you… when I was younger I sat and cried, I screamed. I thought ‘why is this happening?’ Sometimes my life was violent, I don’t particularly feel good about that, but that’s how I had to survive. And I don’t want my survival, my reality, to be used by people. It’s another reason why we haven’t signed to a major label – I don’t want my life experience being exploited.”
“That’s why we don’t collaborate much. I want to protect what the band is, I don’t want to be a tick box. We worked with Laurie [Vincent, Soft Play] on the record though – in the past bands have made me feel used, but never Laurie. We probably have a whole album’s worth of stuff we’ve worked on together.”
RS: What do you want people to take from the new record?
BOBBY: “I want to empower people. ‘Hunger Games’ is a perfect representation of the album as a whole; the track opens with a sense of ‘anger’, critiquing the current political and economic environment of the country, and then it leads into positive, meditative affirmations. We want people to know they are not alone, but they’re also stronger than they think, they are loved. Everyone needs to be reminded that they’re ‘more than their take home pay’ sometimes – those things don’t define you. What is important is your contribution to this world in a more spiritual and human way.”
‘Humble As The Sun’ is out on April 05.
