Bombay Bicycle Club

An English band, consisting of the lead vocalist and guitarist Jack Steadman, another guitarist Jamie MacColl, the drummer Suren de Saram and the bassist Ed Nash were founded in 2005. 

The band is famous for its numerous experiments with various music genres and styles, such as indie rock, indie folk and post-punk although it seems impossible to mix them together.  

It all started when several guys, Jack Steadman, Jamie MacColl and Suren de Saram met each other being 15 years old teenagers. An interesting fact is that almost all band members were the son’s or close relatives of singers and musicians, for instance, MacColl’s father is the former part of a group “Liberty Horses”. Students of University College School composed a band under the title “The Canals” after an exciting performance in the school’s assembly hall. There were several ideas about how to name a band, but all in all the guys set their sights on the Bombay Bicycle Club title in honor of the chain of Indian restaurants in the capital of the UK. 

BBC as all of the young artists and bands entered the show business after years of both hard and enthusiastic work on their music and vocals. At first Jamie, Jack and Suren appeared and performed on small venues, for example, The Old Blue Last or Lark in the Park. The next step was releasing the demo versions of their not yet numerous songs “The Hill”, “Autumn” and “City Lights” on a social networking service Myspace.  

In 2006 the band took part in their first-ever music competition “Road to V”, which was broadcasted on TV channel 4. Other young bands, which participated in the show were “The Holloways”, “The Young Knives” etc. Bombay Bicycle Club was reported as the winner of a contest along with another London-based band. Having received a small, but noticeable dose of attention BBC was invited to open the annual music festival “V Fest”. 

At the beginning of 2007, guys released their debut extended play “The Boy I Used to Be”. The tape was produced by British producer Jim Abbiss and Ewan Davies in his turn helped the band to record and arrange the tape. In order to support and promote the EP Bombay Bicycle Club members performed at a live music comedy venue called Dingwalls. In a year the band was also on the list of performers at a “Reading and Leeds Festival”. 

The next EP of the band “How We Are” saw the world in 2007 in collaboration with the recording label “Mmm...Records”. Richard Wilkinson recorded the tape at Konk Studios and Jim Abbiss served as its producer. The same year Bombay Bicycle Club members toured the UK. Thanks to that decision made just on time the tape took the 2nd position in the UK Indie Singles Chart.  

In 2008 the band participated in a wide range of festivals, such as the Artrocker Festival, the Camden Crawl, or the Great Escape Festival. Additionally, BBC performed at the Shockwaves NME Awards, supporting an American rock group “The Hold Steady”. In the hot summer of 2008, all the members of BBC finished their secondary schooling and were ready to devote all their time to songwriting and recording future hits. At this time the band performed as a headliner as the first-ever Club NME in the heart of France at La Fleche D'or concert. Additionally, the guys were supported by another popular band Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya and DJ sets from South Central, Shitdisco and Vicarious Bliss. 

On the 4th of August the same year, the Bombay Bicycle Club members were impressed by great news: the band released their debut single called “Evening/Morning” via Young and Lost Club. Jim Abbis, who collaborated with the band and supported it for several years, already produced the single. Richard Wilkinson recorded the latter and mixed it up. The rock band announced its UK tour and appeared during such festivals as Reading and Leeds Festivals, T in the Park Festival, The Edge Festival, the second Underage Festival, etc.  

The debut album of the band “I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose” was made up and recorded at the Konk Studios in the Great Wen city. The tape was presented in the chain of cities all over the UK: Brighton, London, Liverpool, Glasgow and Birmingham. 

Among the songs, included in the album special attention the band’s fans paid to such songs as “Evening/Morning” and “Always Like This”. The latter entered the UK’s Singles chart and was placed at the 97th position. 

2 years later Bombay Bicycle Club released their new single “Ivy & Gold” in support of their upcoming album “Flaws”. Another studio work of the band saw the world in 2010. The tape included 12 tracks, such as “Rinse Me Down”, "Fairytale Lullaby", "Jewel" and "Swansea". In February the band got their first serious award as the Best New Band by the UK’s annual music awards show NME Awards.  

Then the BBC took a few years-long hiatus. Last year, however, they made a comeback and released a new song “Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing but You)" from their fresh album “Everything Else Has Gone Wrong”, which was presented at the beginning of 2020.