Bastille

Bastille first emerged as the individual endeavor of Dan Smith, a singer and songwriter based in London, fusing gleaming synth layers from the 1980s with expansive, stadium-scale choruses to shape intense yet sincere tracks that balance brooding atmospheres with exuberant energy, such as the breakout single "Pompeii," which propelled multi-million sales for their opening full-length Bad Blood in 2013. Over time the collective broadened and honed its methods, introducing traces of R&B, dance, and rock alongside explicitly political lyrics on the 2016 album Wild World before pursuing a thematic, self-revealing direction shaped by gospel and house influences on Doom Days in 2019. Through the blend of imagined and actual dystopian scenarios on Give Me the Future in 2022 and the shared narrative pieces of & [Ampersand] in 2024, Bastille kept delivering pop that remained both ambitious and approachable.

Smith, born in Leeds, England, to parents from South Africa, started composing at fifteen yet withheld his work for years until a friend prompted him to join the 2007 Leeds Bright Young Things contest, where he reached the finals. He then developed material independently and alongside Ralph Pelleymounter of To Kill a King while enrolled at the University of Leeds. Upon completing his studies, Smith relocated to London to focus fully on music. There in 2010 he linked with drummer Chris Wood, guitarist and bassist William Farquarson, and keyboardist Kyle Simmons. Naming themselves after Bastille Day, which coincides with Smith’s birthday, the outfit issued their first limited-edition 7-inch, Flaws/Icarus, through Young and Lost Club in a run of 300 copies that July. The next year they independently put out the Laura Palmer EP, drawing on Smith’s affinity for the series Twin Peaks.

December 2011 brought a deal with EMI, whose first Bastille release was the April 2012 single "Overjoyed." "Bad Blood" arrived that August and marked their initial U.K. chart entry at number 90. EMI’s October 2012 reissue of "Flaws" became their earliest Top 40 single. Momentum built with "Pompeii," which climbed to number two in the U.K. by February 2013 and reached number five on Billboard’s Hot 100 the following month. Bad Blood itself appeared in March, debuting at number one on the U.K. albums chart and achieving Top Ten status across several European territories plus a Top 20 placing in the United States while moving more than two million units. In recognition, Bastille received the 2014 BRIT Award for Best Breakthrough Act along with nods for British Album of the Year, British Single of the Year, and British Group. November brought the expanded All This Bad Blood edition featuring the new track "Of the Night." A Best New Artist nomination followed at the 57th Grammy Awards in 2014. Late that year the group joined Band Aid 30’s rendition of "Do They Know It’s Christmas?," which topped the U.K. Singles Chart, and released the third installment of their mixtape series, VS. (Other People’s Heartache, Pt. III), featuring HAIM, MNEK, and Lizzo.

Work on a second album overlapped with ongoing tours that showcased fresh songs, one of which, "Hangin’," surfaced as a single in September 2015. Smith also guested on Madeon’s Adventure and Foxes’ "Better Love" that year. September 2016 saw the arrival of Wild World, which topped the U.K. chart and earned gold certification while entering the Top Ten in twelve additional countries. Further 2017 activity included the Record Store Day release "Comfort of Strangers," a cover of Green Day’s "Basket Case" for the television series The Tick, and the original "World Gone Mad" for the film Bright. June brought their second U.K. number-one single, a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s "Bridge Over Troubled Water" benefiting Grenfell Tower fire survivors. Several members appeared in the season-seven finale of Game of Thrones, and late-year collaboration with Craig David yielded "I Know You," a number-five U.K. hit that later won the NME Award for Best Collaboration. Additional 2018 pairings produced "Grip" with Seeb and "Happier" with Marshmello; the latter peaked at number two in the U.K. and earned a BMI Pop Award plus Hot Dance/Electronic Song honors at the International Dance Music Awards. The year closed with the fourth mixtape, Other People’s Heartache, Pt. 4, again featuring David alongside Swarmz and Lily Moore.

A series of preview tracks preceded the June 2019 release of Doom Days, recorded at the band’s South London studio and recounting a night out with friends; it reached number four in the U.K. and number five in the United States while charting inside the Top Ten across much of Europe. A deluxe edition, Doom Days (This Got Out of Hand Edition), added bonus material including Chamber Orchestra of London performances later that year. Bastille also appeared on FRENSHIP’s "Won’t Let You Go" from the album Vacation. In 2020 they contributed to the COVID-19 relief cover of the Foo Fighters’ "Times Like These," securing their third U.K. number-one single. July brought the single "What You Gonna Do???" with Blur’s Graham Coxon, later included on December’s Goosebumps EP. March 2021 delivered Roots of ReOrchestrated, an orchestral reinterpretation collection. That same year singles "Distorted Light Beam" and "Thelma + Louise" launched the rollout for Give Me the Future, issued in February 2022. Its reflections on technology-saturated humanity drew from the COVID-19 pandemic and the spread of deepfakes and media disinformation; the album became Bastille’s third U.K. number one, earned silver certification, and peaked at number 13 on Billboard’s Top Modern Rock/Alternative Albums chart. An expanded edition, Give Me the Future + Dreams of the Past, followed later in the year. In 2023 the band issued its November 2021 MTV Unplugged session as a limited Record Store Day vinyl, a tenth-anniversary edition of Bad Blood, and an orchestral "Pompeii" recorded with Hans Zimmer.

During a touring hiatus, Smith recorded songs written since Give Me the Future. Drawing on figures from mythology to scientists and poets, the resulting & [Ampersand] appeared in four parts, beginning with the first volume in July and completing with the full album in October 2024.