Who are Brockhampton? The 'Internet's boy band' coming to London KOKO

The Internet's boy band are heading to the UK for their biggest show to date in 2018

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Jonathan Yates

14:32, 28 FEB 2018
Updated15:28, 28 FEB 2018

Brockhampton will play a headline date at KOKO this summer (Image: Ashlan Grey)

Brockhampton are heading to London this summer for their biggest headline UK show to date.

They'll play a set at KOKO on August 20. It's part of their Stereo Spirit Tour which visits Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Ireland to name a few with tickets going on sale this Friday (March 2) at 10am here.

Plus the following weekend will see them head to Reading & Leeds Festivals for their debut appearance across the August bank holiday.

The band have been creating waves on the music scene in the US with their twist on the traditional boy band and rap collective set up, as well as their honest lyrics.

So far they've released three albums, performed on TRL, played at Tyler, The Creator's Camp Flognaw, sold out headline shows and played 'Boogie' in New York Times Square.

It won't be long before Brockhampton are playing bigger venues this side of the Atlantic, so catch them at KOKO before their inevitable rise.

The members

Brockhampton refer to themselves as the 'Internet's first boy band'. The founding member Kevin Abstract, from Corpus Christi in Texas met other members on an online forum for Kanye West fans, KanyeToThe.

Kevin was originally part of ALIVESINCEFOREVER which had 30 members, but left to start Brockhampton offering any ASF members a place in the new collective. Ameer Vann and Dom McLennon moved with him as well as new recruits.

The group subvert typical hip-hop groups by calling themselves a boy band, and have been noted as reinventing the typical set up of the likes of One Direction.

They got their first big break when they won VFiles Loud contest in 2015, which included a professionally directed video for their song 'Dirt'. They've since featured on Viceland's documentary 'American Boyband'.

Instagram

The current members are:

Kevin Abstract (founder, vocals, video direction, creative direction)
Ameer Vann (vocals)
Merlyn Wood (vocals)
Matt Champion (vocals)
Ciaran Ruaridh McDonald aka Bearface (vocals, guitar, production)
Dominic Michael Simpson a.k.a. Dom McLennon (vocals)
Russell Boring aka JOBA (vocals, production, mixing, mastering, engineering)
Jabari Manwa and Kiko Merley aka Q3 (production)
Ashlan Grey (photography)
Henock “HK” Sileshi (creative direction, graphic design)
Robert Ontinient (webmaster, guitar, spoken word vocals)
Romil Hemnani (production, engineering)

The music

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Their first mixtape entitled All-American Trash was released independently in early 2016. They've since followed it up with a trilogy of albums, 'Saturation' in parts one, two and three which have captured a huge die-hard following thanks to their multi-genre sound and honest lyrics, that often explore topics including masculinity and sexuality, as well as being full to the brim of pop culture references.

Each record has also been well-received by music critics, with each LP eventually landing on 'Best Albums of 2017' lists. The likes of Clash, The Skinny, Consequence of Sound and Stereogum have noted the LPs among the best of the year.

The fans

Brockhampton have a die-hard fan base that is quickly growing across the Atlantic, including the UK who they often interact with on social media. Although they don't have an official fandom name, like Little Monsters or Swifties, Kevin Abstract tweeted in his typical ad-hoc way: "actually if you're a fan of brockhampton your fandom name is dumbass like imagine people who don't know we are and they see dumbass".