More about: Bob Vylan

Bobby and Bobbie of Bob Vylan came together not over an unbreakable brotherly bond or romantic fate of intervention. It’s just that “everyone else is too flaky.” The grime-punk duo met, started writing music and played their first show within a fortnight - finally, the two had met their motivated, ambitious match. That work ethic is still integral to the ethos of the band, but Bob Vylan are more than that now. “We’re soulmates” Bobby grins.

Now three years on and Bob Vylan are pioneering a rugged blend of grime and punk, a testament to the sub-cultures the pair grew up with: Bobby MC’ing on community radio and listening to the pirates, and Bobbie ensnared by his drumkit. Together, these men make heartfelt, furious music alight with frustration, fears and political fervour.

“From a personal point of view, people [where I’m from] were doing what they were doing to make something of it. If they played football it was like ‘I’m playing for Arsenal’. It’s the same with music. I was like ‘I’m going to rap and I’m going to be the biggest rapper’. It’s dangerous in a sense because you place all of your chips on that one thing” Bobby says.

For Bobby and Bobbie, it's all or nothing. "That’s something that I hold very dear in this band: a sense of 'we have to do this'. There’s no waiting. There is a sense of urgency. In rap and grime people are working all the time."

Though drums and guitar underpin plenty of their songs, guitar music doesn't represent Bob Vylan's values quite so closely. "I see [the hustle] lacking so much in rock music - and punk music especially. People are very slow to move. I think thats one reason why theres so little guitar music on the radio right now. I think it comes down to them not needing it as much"

It's hard to argue. Especially when you consider the work Bob Vylan have put into their rise: their We Live Here release has sold out every single physical iteration on Bandcamp and views on their videos are skyrocketing. Still, looking back on that first show they played (which they filmed) makes Bobbie wince: "you know what it’s not so bad...[but] considering where we are now, looking back it makes me cringe."

Ever better, ever pushing for more, this is a band who are nothing if not relentlessly DIY, just like their punk forbears. And punk, in the way we mean it, in the way Bob Vylan mean it is "more than just a studded jacket." "It’s not just: there’s punk and now there’s grime. There’s been all these things in between" Bobbie argues, "it’s in garage, drum'n'bass and jungle. It’s just maybe they weren’t recognised as it."

Bobby concurs. "Drill is the new one. That is the new punk," he adds. "On their blocks, shooting videos, putting it onto YouTube - viral. And they’re speaking in a sometimes dangerously direct manner about what is happening in their immediate surroundings. That’s as punk as you can fucking get."

Sticking by their own definitions, Bob Vylan are punk in spirit too. We Live Here rattles through eighteen minutes of blindingly-delivered, brutally honest rap and grinding drums. It's a triumph in moving, vital, crackling music that addresses the reality of being Black, disillusioned and young in Britain. 

Their music stares unflinchingly in the face of racism and inequality in the UK. 'We Live Here' addresses racial violence: "the first time I was called n****r, I was about seven or eight years old" Bobby growls on the title track. 'Moment of Silence' ends the record, its dead air drawing attention to the issues of police brutality and racial aggression addressed throughout.

In real life, there has to be some respite from the terrible too. When we ask the duo about the importance of Black joy, they have just as much to say. "Maybe it’s just the people I’m around, but Black joy has been pushed so much more" Bobbie says. "I’ve got people like my sister, my brother, my mates sending me things that are a bit uplifting because as much as we care for this cause, to just be in a fight and a grind all the time is just so tiring."

"I think it is super important that we take any kind of success from our community and we magnify it. Like Lewis Hamilton," Bobby adds. "I don’t even watch Formula 1 but when I see that [World Champion win] I say hail that brother up. That’s incredible. People are realising we need to be celebrating ourselves and when we make these achievements it is extremely important."

We Live Here is one of those myriad achievements, a blistering, whiplash of a record with no holds barred: industry-shaking musical innovation writhing with the true spirit of punk. To celebrate the end of its run, Bob Vylan are showing the horror-adjacent video for 'Northern Line'. You can see it first all day on Gigwis:

We Live Here is out now. You can buy it on Bandcamp here. 

More about: Bob Vylan