Bully - New Waves

10 things you need to know about Bully* 

1. They’re a band (OK, that’s probably an obvious one, but let’s start with the basics, because you could be mistaken for thinking that's not the case given the photo above.)

2. They have a frenetic punkish energy that is infectious. You’ll be giddy with the rush. They’ll make you feel alive, then sick. But it’s a good sick feeling. Then you’ll feel alive again.

3. Lead singer Alicia Bognanno worked as an intern at Steve Albini’s studio in 2011 and it’s there in after-hours downtime that she started work on what was to become Bully songs.

4. Their track Milkman was first uploaded to Bandcamp last April and has been doing the rounds ever since. It’s brilliant. We particularly like the line about “Spinning around in my underwear.” It’s how the song makes us feel.

5. Milkman (streaming below) clocks in at just over 2 minutes. Another one of their songs, the visceral I Remember is one minutes and forty seven seconds long. We imagine their live shows are short sharp noisy sweaty shocks to the system. 

6. They’re the sort of band that in the early 90’s would have been guaranteed a slot on TV show The Word, having just the right mix of indie, alt-power pop and punk. Wouldn't it be good to have a show that featured bands like Bully on mainstream terrestrial TV again? Or does nobody care anymore?

7. They’re coming to the UK in Spring (dates here) and it appears they’re playing the super huge Corn Exchange in Brighton at the Great Escape festival. Our guess is this will be an NME sponsored show.

8. They played quite a few gigs at this year’s SXSW festival, and all the feedback we saw online was positive.

9. As far as we’re aware Milkman is nothing to do with Ernie, The Fastest Milkman In The West (here).

10. They have a drummer called Stewart Copeland. The drummer in The Police was also called Stewart Copeland. We assume they’re not the same person. But if Alicia changes her name to Sting we’ll be suspicious.

*Just in case you don’t know about them yet – as although we’re featuring them in this introducing piece they’ve actually been around since 2013 when they put out an eponymous EP and 7” single).

Bully - Milkman