Bilmuri was a vital source of comfort for Johnny Franck when he launched the genre-defying project almost 10 years ago. Now, he’s found a whole new level of success after supporting Sleep Token and releasing one of 2024’s most sensational albums, AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS. On the final night of their entirely sold-out UK headline tour, the singer reveals how an obsession with music changed – and saved – his life…
Today’s going to be the best day of Johnny Franck’s life, even if he’s not aware of it yet. It certainly feels like the potential’s there – it’s as bright as spring gets in the scruffy streets of Kentish Town, north London, and Bilmuri’s concluding a victory lap of Europe with their biggest show yet at the 2,000-capacity Forum. Like several other dates on this run, the venue got upgraded, originally scheduled for the Electric Ballroom, one tube stop away, about half the size. It usually takes bands at least a couple of goes to do that. Bilmuri landed it on the first try.
We meet Johnny as he’s coming out of the tour bus before their chirpy tour manager Jameson leads us to their dressing room on the other side of the venue. To get there requires traversing the stage, where the crew are testing the lights, blue and white strobes flashing from above. It’s the first night where the stage is big enough to let them unfurl their banner to its full size. A bit of a climb later – “So many stairs!” Jameson remarks – and we’re at the top of the building, in a dressing room filled with a surprising number of large mirrors.
This is only the second time Bilmuri have toured in the UK but they’ve quickly made themselves at home. “The UK music scene is so different from America,” Johnny points out. “I feel like the English music listener is way more open to really insane music.” He’s even warmed to “the local cuisine” – “I start every day with an English breakfast, because it slaps. And beans on toast hits! Americans are like, ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ but it’s so good.”
The band made their introduction to the UK in a baptism of fire, opening for Sleep Token in arenas last winter. Despite the nerve-shredding scale of the task, their huge choruses, wacky sense of humour and colourful fusion of pop hooks and crunching riffs with a country twang helped them charm legions of new fans. “It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” Johnny smiles. “On this tour, we’ve been asking, ‘Who found us through Sleep Token?’ and 70 per cent of the crowd raises their hands. I’m so grateful we got to play in such big rooms, and it helped us skip a couple of steps. The first week was fucking terrifying – I was shaking before going out onstage. I’ve never played rooms that size, let alone every single day. But now, I’m pretty used to arenas, which is weird, because I never thought I’d get to do that.”
At first glance, Bilmuri’s story looks and quacks like an overnight success. In actuality, Johnny’s sitting on two decades of life spent immersed in music. Between 2007 and 2010, he was part of Attack Attack! and after he quit switched his focus to production. While the infamous crabcore mob taught him to be a frontperson, it was producing that really schooled him in the art of songwriting – and it planted the seeds for what would become Bilmuri.
“The reason that Bilmuri is what it is now on a live level is because I’ve spent so much time in the studio,” he explains. “You have to train your ear, you have to train your mouth to be able to explain what your ear is hearing. You learn how to hear things, and you learn why things sound the way they do. I learned so much more just sitting in my mom’s basement for 10 years recording metal bands [than I did in Attack Attack!].”
Bilmuri as a project began almost 10 years ago. Although the 2025 Johnny is a cheerful, optimistic figure, the idea took root at a time when he was anything but. Before they perform the emotional STRAIGHT THROUGH YOU every night, he tells the origin story, putting aside his usual laugh-a-minute stage chat to recount a period of loneliness and depression, in which he had also laid plans to take his own life.
“Music is the friend that never left me,” he declares. “Bilmuri coincidentally started at that moment and I wasn’t like, ‘I’m gonna start a band to write about this,’ but I was like, ‘I’ve actually got a lot of shit to say.’ I was incredibly alone during that period of time. I had a huge life shift – I made decisions where I lost all of my friends, but I knew it was the right decision. I would get online and talk with the people who listen to our music on Twitter and they made me not feel so alone. It was a big reason I was able to pull myself out of that [dark place].”
In the near-decade since, Johnny’s managed a level of productivity that would make most artists drool – or sweat, perhaps. He’s already released 14 albums under the Bilmuri name, the most recent of which was last year’s AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS. It’s not unusual for him to drop more than one record in the space of a year. But how on earth has he managed to put out music at such speed?
“I get bored, really!” he shrugs. “And I live in Ohio. There’s nothing going on, truly.” As he continues speaking, the humour is peeled back, and he practically glows with the passion he has for his craft. Witnessing it is actually quite profound. “It’s my favourite thing in the world. You can sit in the same basement every day and you’ll never know what’s going to happen. It’s the greatest adventure. I was talking with my buddy yesterday about how a lot of people slow down once they get financially stable from music and I’m like, ‘What else am I gonna fucking do with my time that's as enjoyable as this? Nothing.’ I’ll be writing music the same way when I’m 50 years old.” At this point, he’s welling up, his eyes reddening. “I’m just obsessed with it. Every day I wake up and I can do it. It’s a gift.”
Clearly, Johnny will never be jaded. He might have encountered frustration along the way at not being where he wanted, but the art itself has never lost its shine. Nonetheless, the overwhelming triumph of AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS wasn’t something he could have ever foreseen. In fact, he’d learned not to attempt to speak future success into existence – the last time he did that, he was humbled.
When he released 2022’s GOBLIN HOURS, Johnny thought he’d booked his spot in alternative music’s hall of fame. He hadn’t. “I really had a big ego about that record, and I still like it, but it just didn’t do what I wanted it to do,” he admits. His options were self-reflection or self-victimisation – but he knew better than to blame the outside world. “I’m making music because I love making music, but it’s a collaborative thing between me and the fans. I want to make things that they like. I’m not here to be selfish with my music, but I like making music that connects people.”
That was when he took a knife to his ego. Johnny knew he was a good producer but had to admit to himself that songwriting was where he fell down. Rather than being defeatist and admitting failure at the thing that he loved, he relentlessly worked to improve. He estimates he wrote 300 songs for AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS, churning out one a day, pushing through the times that he feared he was simply treading water. The breakthrough was the effervescent single BETTER HELL, but the dam didn’t burst till he was at least 100 songs in.
Now, he can look at that time with far more positivity. “I think that ego can be the death of creativity in a lot of ways for me,” he says. “I think that I wouldn’t be ready for the success of AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS [without that experience]. I wasn’t ready for it mentally with GOBLIN HOURS, but I’m ready for it now.”
At this moment, he’s six or so hours away from an incredible sight. That night, Kentish Town is heaving – even as openers South Arcade come on, the stalls and balcony are full, the only space left to stand at the very back. Everybody knows every word. They sing at a volume far beyond what most artists of this size get until they hit arenas. They cheer and chuckle at Johnny’s amiable stage chat, and when he brings up his new favourite food, they start a chant of “BEANS ON TOAST!”
Watching it all, it’s impossible to deny that something is brewing here. The fans who have crossed over from the Sleep Token shows have clearly brought their enthusiasm – something that’s been responsible for the meteoric rise of that band. And while it’s the end of Bilmuri’s tour here, this is arguably the start of something even bigger.
Not long before they wrap things up, Johnny says it himself: “This is the best day of my life.”
Bilmuri return to the UK in August to play Reading & Leeds – get your tickets here.
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