Johnny Franck’s one-man-band Bilmuri has become one of the most unique and noteworthy acts of the 2020’s, effortlessly mixing hard rock, country music, and more than a dash of crude humour to make something far greater than the sum of its parts. This morning they dropped a title and release date for their upcoming second major-label album, with a single on the way this week.
View this post on Instagram
Franck first rose to fame, or perhaps notoriety, in the late 2000’s with Attack Attack!, an electronic metal band often ridiculed for their over-the-top emo image, embarrassing music videos, and a penchant for autotune and euro-pop dance beats. These factors made breakout hit ‘Stick Stickly’ an internet meme in 2009, racking up 19 million views on Youtube and hanging over the members for years. While the band, who came out of Ohio in the US, were largely bemoaned by heavy metal purists, there was a tongue-in-cheek quality to their songs and style, and an undeniable talent to the members’ playing and songwriting skills.
Franck played guitar and sang clean vocals on two Attack Attack! albums, leaving in November 2010 to pursue a closer relation with God. After other musical endeavours, magic started happening in 2016 when he devised a solo project to release bizarre fusion music and covers under. Bilmuri’s name comes from a cheeky homophone for the actor Bill Murray, with humour being a signature part of the band’s online presence and song titles.
At its core, Bilmuri was an outlet for experimentation, with Franck throwing rock, metal, punk, jazz, country and electronic music into a blender and seeing what came out. As a brilliant multi-instrumentalist he wrote, recorded and self-released 14 albums of varying length and style before major label debut ‘American Motor Sports’ dropped from Columbia Records in 2024. On it, he’d focused the sound down into a pairing of bright hard rock and emotional country, interrupted by the odd saxophone solo – a marriage which has to be heard to be fully appreciated.
When it came time to take Bilmuri on the road, Franck assembled a live touring band, which he has since brought over for a UK and Europe arena tour supporting British metal leading lights Sleep Token in 2024. In 2025 they embarked on their ‘European Motor Tour’ headline circuit, which sold out multipe medium-sized venues across the UK, even requiring an upgrade on their London date from the Electric Ballroom to the O2 Kentish Town Forum.
Earlier today they announced the follow-up to ‘American Motor Sports’, entitled ‘Kinda Hard’, with a release date of the 10th of April this year. So far two singles have been released, both with their trademark unusual music videos. ‘More Than Hate’ brought a metallic edge with chunky guitar riffs and a heavy breakdown, while ‘Hard 2 Tell’ is more of an accessible emo-rock anthem.
The reveal also heralded a new single called ‘Twice’ releasing this Friday, and pre-order links for physical and digital versions. This, paired with the promotional imagery of a proudly-topless Franck brandishing a katana, beside a wild hog, has already drummed up a lot of excitement for the album. Following the release date, the full band are setting out on a US headlining tour to support it.
