Bastille are an English rock band formed in London in 2010.
They began as a solo project by singer-songwriter Dan Smith, who later decided to form a band.
The four-piece consists of members; Smith, Chris Wood, William Farquarson and Kyle Simmons.
The name of the band derives from Bastille Day – an event celebrated on Smith's birthday,
14 July.
In December 2010, EMI Music announced that they had offered Bastille a record contract
with Virgin Records.
Their debut single, "Overjoyed" was subsequently released in April 2012.
Their first studio album, titled Bad Blood, was released in March 2013 and debuted atop
the UK Albums Chart.
The band was nominated for four Brit Awards at the 2014 ceremony, including for British
Breakthrough Act, British Group, British Single of the Year and British Album of the Year,
winning for British Breakthrough Act.
As of February 2014, Bastille have sold over 2.07 million records in the UK alone.
History Formation and early releases
The band initially included two other musicians on violin and cello, but dwindled down to
the four current members.
Smith, Wood, Farquarson, and Simmons played together before the band was started, but
all of their first songs were written and recorded by Smith.
Bastille debuted in June 2010 with their limited edition 7"/45 rpm single featuring the two
tracks "Flaws" and "Icarus".
Released through London-based independent record label, Young & Lost Club, only 300
copies were pressed.
This was followed by the release of the EP Laura Palmer later in 2011.
The title track was rerecorded in Simlish for Electronic Arts' The Sims 3: Supernatural,
released in September 2012.
After debuting further tracks online through sites such as YouTube and MySpace, the band
received a great amount of attention from media and fans.
The group subsequently secured a few support slots, and later performed at major UK festivals
including Glastonbury, the Isle of Wight, Redfest and Blissfields.
Their music has also been used on the TV soap Hollyoaks, Made in Chelsea and The Vampire
Diaries.
The band also recorded and released a two part mixtape titled Other People's Heartache
for free.
The mixtapes featured the band covering songs such as "Titanium" by David Guetta, "No Scrubs"
by TLC, and "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac.
Bad Blood and All This Bad Blood
On 27 April 2012, their first official single release, "Overjoyed", was released through
Virgin Records, as confirmed by EMI on 1 May 2012.
Following its video premiere in November 2011, popular music publication, Q Magazine introduced
the track as its 'Track of the Day' for 7 March 2012.
The second single to be released from the upcoming debut studio album, Bad Blood, was
the title-track, "Bad Blood".
An accompanying video for the single was released on the band's official VEVO channel on 29
June 2012, and digitally through Virgin Records on 20 August 2012.
Bastille were also named 'New Band of the Day' by British newspaper The Guardian in
July 2012.
The song charted moderately at number 90 in the United Kingdom, and saw the group's first
entry into the chart.
August 2012 saw the band perform at UK festivals; Reading and Leeds, as well as supporting British
singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé.
They later played a small headlining tour, titled 'Flaws Tour' in October 2012, with
Swiss Lips as their support act.
Their third single, a re-release of their first 7" non-album single "Flaws", was a commercial
success, earning the group their first position in the UK Top 40, debuting at number-twenty-one.
The song Oblivion was featured in Season 4 Episode 9 of The Vampire Diaries in December
2012.
In February 2013, Bastille confirmed the release of the fourth single to be taken from Bad
Blood, "Pompeii".
The song was positively reviewed by critics, reaching number two in the United Kingdom
and number five in the US.
Their debut album Bad Blood was released on 4 March 2013, and placed at number one in
the UK Albums Chart . On 11 March, Bastille were announced to be playing at Leeds and
Reading Festival in August 2013.
In an interview with Digital Spy in March 2013, "Laura Palmer" was revealed to be the
fifth single to be released from the album, by lead vocalist, Dan Smith.
It was released on 3 June 2013, and an accompanying video for the track premiered through the
band's official VEVO page on 12 April 2013.
The group joined English rock band Muse as a supporting act on their The 2nd Law Tour
in May 2013 and did so again in June 2013.
In May 2013, Bastille released their Haunt EP in the US via iTunes.
On Saturday 6 July the band headlined their first UK summer music festival at Blissfields.
Smith was quoted as saying "We're massively excited about our first ever headline slot
at a festival.
Particularly because we love Blissfields so much, and because they've been so supportive
to us over the last couple of years."
The performance coincided with the band appearing on the cover of a national music publication,
Notion magazine, for the first time.
On 24 August 2013, "Things We Lost in the Fire" was released as sixth and the last single
from the band's debut album.
A music video for the song was shot in Vilnius and Kėdainiai, Lithuania.
On 3 September 2013, Bastille released their "Bad Blood" album in the US via iTunes.
On 9 October 2013, Bastille released a new single, "Of the Night", a mash-up of the songs
"The Rhythm of the Night" by Corona and "Rhythm Is a Dancer" by Snap!.
The single debuted at number two on UK Singles chart.
The song was promoting All This Bad Blood, a reissue of the band's debut album, released
on 25 November 2013.
In January 2013, Bastille did a concert at Emmarentia Dam, Johannesburg, South Africa.
This was an all day concert having the band play last.
The opening acts were South African artists Matthew Mole, Beatenberg and Bed on Bricks.
During this concert, lead singer Dan Smith stated that his parents were South African.
This concert was one of the biggest concerts ever held at Emmarentia Dam.
In January 2014, Will Farquarson said in an interview with Billboard magazine that the
band had already started to work on its second album in between tour dates.
The band performed on Saturday Night Live on 25 January 2014.
In February 2014, Bastille won the BRIT Award for Best Breakthrough Act and performed a
remixed version of "Pompeii" with Rudimental and their song "Waiting All Night" at the
ceremony.
Two hours after their appearance, sales of Bad Blood were up by 132% to give them a second
week at number one in the UK album chart and "Pompeii" had climbed 29 places in the singles.
On April 1 2014, the Official Charts Company announced that Bad Blood was the biggest selling
digital album of 2013, and Number 11 in the over-all Official Artist Albums Top 40 of
2013.
Also in April 2014, the band performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.
On May 31, 2014 the band took part in the Annual KROQ Weenie Roast in Irvine, California,
performing among other bands including The Neighbourhood and Fall Out Boy.
Discography
Other People's Heartache Other People's Heartache, Pt. 2
Bad Blood All This Bad Blood
Band members Dan Smith, 14 July 1986 – lead vocals, keyboards,
percussion, producer, songwriter Kyle Simmons, 5 February 1988 – keyboards,
percussion, bass, backing vocals, synthesizers William Farquarson, 22 September 1983 – bass,
keyboards, guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Chris "Woody" Wood, 6 July 1985 – drums, backing vocals
Additional personnel Polly Comber - Manager
Josh Smith - Manager Paul "Coop" Cooper – Live engineer
Jamie Thompson - Lighting Designer Tom Middleton – Filmographer
Martin McAndrew – Stage crew Ben Kingman - Monitor Engineer
Will Dart – Lighting engineer Dick Meredith - Tour manager
Gregory Nolan - Photographer Mark Crew - Producer
Awards and Nominations References
External links Official website