Bastille - Distorted Light Beam

Biography

Bastille is a British indie pop band. After releasing a limited single in 2010 and the Laura Palmer EP in 2011, the band was signed to Virgin Records. Following their signing, the band released two mix-tapes – Other People’s Heartache and Other People’s Heartache Pt. 2 — for free. In an interview with The Guardian, Dan Smith discussed the mixtapes:

Someone recently said to us: ‘The mixtapes were very clever, was that the label’s idea?’ Actually the label were completely against it; we were stealing and sampling illegally left, right and centre. The label said: ‘We want nothing to do with this.’ When it came to hosting the mixtapes, I had to register the website myself.

Preceding the release of their debut album, Bad Blood, the band released several singles — “Overjoyed”, “Bad Blood” and “Flaws”— to moderate commercial success. In February 2013, the band was catapulted into the charts by the album’s fourth single, “Pompeii”. The song was a commercial hit, going up to 5x Platinum around the world. In June 2014, “Pompeii” was confirmed to be the United Kingdom’s most streamed song ever. Unfortunately, it has since been overtaken.

Bad Blood was released in March 2013 and reissued as All This Bad Blood in November that year to include bonus tracks and the Other People’s Heartache mixtapes.

In 2014, the band released VS. (Other People’s Heartache Pt. III).

In September 2016, the band released their hotly anticipated sophomore album, Wild World.

In June 2019 the band has released their 3rd studio album Doom Days, which was described by Dan as an “apocalyptic party album.” An extended version of the album was then released in December of 2019.

The band consists of lead singer Dan Smith, keyboardist Kyle Simmons, bassist and guitarist Will Farquarson, and drummer Chris “Woody” Wood.