Bastille – Band Research

General Band Profile• Name – Bastille• Origin – London, England• Members – Dan Smith, Kyle Simmons, Will Farquarson and Chris

wood• Established – 2010• Genre – Indiepop, Electropop• Records Sold – Over 7.5 Million

History• Bastille was originally lead vocalist Dan Smiths project that

he then expanded to a full band with the other 3 members Kyle Simmons, Will Farquarson and Chris wood. The name was chosen by Dan Smith and was inspired by Bastille Day which is celebrated on 14 July which is his birthday. They produced music independently before bind signed my Virgin Records and produced their first album Bad Bloods which came number one in the charts and greatly boosted their popularity. In 2016 Bastille released their second studio album Wild Worlds that was preceded by a large social media marketing campaign. They are also touring in 2016 with their new album and have attended multiple festivals.

Influences• Most of lead vocalist Dan Smiths influences for the

direction of Bastille come from the music he head in his child hood from his parents and sisters. His south African parents would listen to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and The Beach Boys, all melody driven pop music. His sister was into Hip Hop and the first album he heard was The Score by The Fugees. Bastille’s mixtape of 90’s dance songs call Other People Heartache was mainly inspired by that early introduction to Hip Hop. Dan is a English Literature graduate and that is what has inspired the heavy focus on narrative though their music and the videos. His main influences for this were directors David Lynch and Ian McEwan.

Record Label• Virgin Record is a music record label founded by Richard Branson in

1972. It has been the record label of many huge acts including: David Bowie, Phil Collins, Daft Punk, Emeli Sande, Gorillaz, David Guetta and The Sex Pistols. It is currently owned by Universal Music Group after it was purchased by EMI in 2012.