In this interview feature, we get to know the most radicalist up and coming stars on the planet.

This time we’re chatting with Bamily, a Brixton-based indie quartet.

The first thing to pick up on with Bamily is their instant likability. Not only does their music have a summery, uplifting feel to it, but it oozes with personality. Bouncy guitars and addictive vocal hooks permeate each track, while their ability to seamlessly merge a variety of genres is often something truly impressive. Their debut EP, Family With A B, made waves earlier this year, and their unique approach to live performance (their ‘Bamily Affair’ series merges small-venue gigs with a club aesthetic) has been a great way to bring new fans on board. Their Oh Damn EP drops next week and it’s looking to be their biggest success yet.

We caught up with the band about everything from the very beginning of their musical career, to the impacts of COVID-19 on their output.

TMR: What was it that made you get into music in the first place?

Louis: Guitar hero, South Park and David Bowie. I got given the game for Christmas, got really good really quickly, then watched that episode of South Park where they all get into the same game. Stan’s mum says something like “if you played a real instrument half the amount of time you play that game you might get really good” and I was like ‘hey that’s so true’. I then bought a crappy little classical guitar from the local music store and was hammering away on it for the next three years. I also got introduced to David Bowie’s music through the game ‘rock band’ around the same time as I started playing real guitar. After hearing ’Suffragette City’ I became a massive Bowie head to the extent that I ended up studying music and German at Uni haha. RIP legend.

TMR: How do you create the background atmospheric throughout ‘We Used To Hang Out’?

Louis: There are several different things that contribute to the background atmosphere in this tune. First of all we made loads of beautiful/bloomy delay/reverb tails out of the pedal steel guitar track which has such a pure and clean character to it. Then in the first pre-chorus we sampled an intro from a psy-trance tune, the exact name of which we will keep secret for obvious reasons! Lastly we have a stack of loads of little noisy/crackly things which come in and out throughout the song. One of which sounds kinda similar to the sound in Basement Jaxx’s tune ‘Raindrops’.

Benj: ‘Oh Damn’ came from one of those Sundays where you’re just numb to the world. It was like early 2020 and everything was a bit shit. The world was a bit all over the place, the band couldn’t gig and someone had just let me down. I wanted to write something about accepting when things go tits up and being like oh damn I’m feeling like this again. But then kinda by accepting it and making peace with ya sadness, by the end of the song you can step back and dance around with it.



TMR: If you could only release on track from Oh Damn, which would it be?

Louis: ‘Party Woman’



TMR: Is the EP designed as a selection of unrelated tracks, or one full experience?

After Covid had us all locked away in our separate households we’d already finished about half of the writing and barely gotten started on most of the production. Because of this we had to finish the EP remotely which forced us to be more open with the EP’s general direction/overarching meaning. Happily the EP has come together in a really natural way and has quite a clear arc even though we didn’t have a definitive concept to start with. Even though the end result looks a bit more like a songbook style EP from our angle, I would definitely say listening to it in full is an experience in itself.

TMR: You blend everything from hip-hop to disco into your music. How do you approach that polystylism?

Louis: Even though we take influence from so many different types of music, we try and balance them all by not getting too carried away with just one style. We try and keep the drums relatively ‘breaky’ always and often avoid using big synth bass sounds. We will also often ask ourselves ‘okay this song has a heavy influence of X, how can we take it in the complete opposite direction’. Things often come together quite naturally once we start to put our voices on a song also which I think is an easy way for people to get away with having a broad range of influences in their music. Listen to some early Calvin Harris and you’ll see what I mean.

TMR: Are you influenced by anything non-musical when writing?

Louis: It sounds mega cringe but inspiration really can come from anywhere. When I first got my budgie Sally I was totally inspired and wrote a small EP’s worth of songs just about her haha. I really think inspiration comes when something allows/forces you to see the world in a different light, be it a break-up, a pandemic or a cute little budgie.

TMR: Has lockdown changed the way you approach your output?

Louis: Yes. Without playing live I personally have had to look elsewhere for direction in my writing. Online radio feels very alive at the moment so I’ve been getting super stuck in to shows on NTS/Rinse/The Lot Radio. If you can’t imagine what a song you’re writing will feel like when you play it live then it’s easy to imagine how it might sound on a radio mix. (Out to Marcus Rashford).

TMR: Could you name a few upcoming artists that you’ve been listening to recently and would recommend?

Benj: Olivia Dean is one my favourite lyricists right now. She has the most effortless simple diary style whilst still carrying loads of weight (fave lyric – “you’re good at crosswords that’s got to count for something”). Me and Lou are both obsessed with Remi Wolf. She’s got a real thang going on, hard to describe but just listen to her most recent EP - it bangs. TSHA is making beautiful emotional dance music, perfect for the night tube home. Mishaal is dope and also kinda the king of lo-fi but his new stuff is like super bandy and live, its great - check 'Peddle Bike'.

Louis: INDIA JORDAN. Oh man she just came out of nowhere?! I’ve also been really enjoying Brién, partiboi69 and Nutribe. Check out ‘Bludmoon' by them.

TMR: What can we expect from your November 5th London show, assuming it is able to go ahead?

Louis: Tears, sweat, sample heavy euphoria.

-Dan Peek