From grungy shoegaze to Japanese hyper-metal: Bilmuri on the bands to check out right now

Johnny Franck is obsessed with music. So much so, that firing out more than one album a year isn’t unusual for him, and if 12 months go by without a new full-length, it might be worth checking his temperature. In fact, he’s released 14 under the Bilmuri moniker in less than a decade.

As such, it’s no surprise that the amiable face of Bilmuri knows what’s breaking through. His unique splicing of pop hooks and chunky riffs with undertones of country is undoubtedly the product of someone who listens widely, and for the love of the game. He’s picked out a few of his up-and-coming favourites for your listening pleasure – and he’s even thrown some country in there in case you fancy something a little different…

“I’m still quite new to Amira Elfeky and I’ve bookmarked her new record [recent EP Surrender] to listen to. The shoegaze, grungy vibes she’s got going on are great. I’ve got to spend more time with it. I've chatted with her a little bit. Any time I find an artist I really like, I immediately DM them and I’m like, ‘Can we be friends, bro?’”

“I toured with her on our AMERICAN MOTOR TOUR. She's incredible. I think she's got a really long career ahead of her. She sounds like an angel – she'd be at soundcheck, and I'd be like, ‘My God, your voice is fucking incredible.’ Her music's amazing, too.”

“They’re incredible – they're my favourites right now. They were asking, ‘What have you been listening to?’ [while supporting Bilmuri on their recent UK tour] and I was like, ‘You guys, almost entirely.’ I really liked getting to meet them. It’s rare to find people who care as much as me about music, but they care. They give a shit. Every single day they're working to make the set better and they're working on music. I'm like, ‘They’re exactly like me.’ We get along really well.”

“I’m always looking for new bands, and I recently found Hanabie., and they’re fucking sick. Someone mentioned them to me the other day and they were like, ‘Check them out, this is insane.’”

“He's huge in America, but not so much here. I've always loved ’90s country – I mean, I love all the different eras, but there's really something special about the music that came out of the ’90s. He’s not trying to do a fake nostalgia thing, you know, when it's like, ‘Remember how cool ’90s country was?’ He’s doing new stuff with it, but he channels that ’90s country energy so well. He's massive in the States, but obviously in the UK it’s a bit different. But to me he is the future of country music.”

Bilmuri returns to the UK in August to play Reading & Leeds – get your tickets here.

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