Bilmuri are supporting all your favourite metal acts. Last year, they supported Sleep Token on their massive arena run, and they’ve just been announced to be joining Bad Omens’ huge Do You Feel Love jaunt this October.
It’s not what Johnny Franck expected when he started the project ten years ago. He probably wouldn’t have named it after Bill Murray if he did. “I was in my mom’s basement and I made some stuff to talk about how I was feeling,” he tells Dork backstage at Reading Festival. “The fact it’s taken me this far is insane.”
The original driving force behind Bilmuri was “pure depression,” he continues. “I was in a really bad spot in life, and music was my only outlet. I was very by myself at the time, but releasing those songs made me feel connected to other people.” His honesty pulled people through their dark times, and that helped Johnny with his.
Between 2016 and 2022, he released thirteen records. “I used to just write songs, then put them out,” he says of his uncomplicated approach to album cycles. Things changed for last year’s breakout ‘American Motor Sports’ though. “We wrote 200 songs, and I picked the best ten to put out. The quality control was wildly different, and it shows. I really did work my arse off for that record, and I’m glad it paid off because sometimes it doesn’t.”
‘American Motor School’ is full of aggressive party rock anthems, which makes Bilmuri a left-field choice to support Sleep Token on their high-concept arena tour. “To me, it made sense,” shrugs Johnny. “We were the comic relief before the dark, brooding thing. A little bit of light and a little bit of heavy together makes a good meal.” The only thing that scared him was the size of the venues. “Before that tour, a 1000-capacity room would terrify me. By the end of it, though, I was walking out onstage at the O2 Arena and feeling so comfortable. I just knew I could do it.”
“Every time you take a step up, you learn a slightly different way to interact with the crowd and make sure everybody feels like they’re in on it,” he continues.
“I don’t call myself an artist, I just make shit”
Later this year, the posi-rock of Bilmuri will join the ferocious hardcore mob Bad Omens on tour. Again, Johnny’s not worried about their clashing styles. “I recorded Noah [Sebastian, frontman] and his pop-punk band when he was 15 years old, so to be able to do this together feels like a full circle moment. He’s a great friend, and it’s amazing to see how far they’ve come.”
After a couple of cult records, Bad Omens’ popularity exploded with 2022’s ‘The Death Of Peace Of Mind’ while an arena tour with Bring Me The Horizon, their Poppy crossover collab ‘V.A.N.’ and 2024’s ‘Concrete Jungle’ have helped make Bad Omens one of the biggest metal acts around.
“Noah is built different,” says Johnny of Bad Omens’ success. “A lot of people don’t care about the little things, but it’s the 1000 little things that make the big thing – he just gets that. He definitely suffers for his art, and I hope that people appreciate that because I know I do.”
To prepare for the tour, Bilmuri released the ferocious ‘More Than Hate’ in June. “As soon as we got the offer, I knew we had to release that track because it’s the perfect fit for that run of shows.” Fans have speculated that Noah appears on the track, but Johnny isn’t confirming anything. “Noah might or might not be on it,” he smirks.
After Reading & Leeds, Bilmuri are flying home to get back in the studio and continue working on their next album. “I don’t like doing a never-ending cycle of singles. As soon as we have twelve songs that are the best songs ever, we’ll drop the record.” The new music is inspired by a lot of early noughties tracks, “but not to the point where I’m going to make an early 2000s record,” he explains. “I want to pick up a couple of things we’ve lost along the way, and bring them to a new audience.” The goal, he says, is to be able to play a pop festival, a country festival and a rock festival, and all three make sense. “It’s nice that there’s the range with Bilmuri to be able to do that.”
As for what he wants the music to mean to people? “I don’t really care,” he grins. “Honestly, I try to make music that people can have fun to. I don’t call myself an artist, I just make shit and put it out into the world. Then whatever happens, happens.”
Bilmuri’s single ‘More Than Hate’ is out now.
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