Art-punk artist Bumble B. Boy will release his debut album Bumble B. Boy! on March 15. Tom Harden, creative mind behind Bumble B. Boy, produced the album in his small studio apartment. He used all kinds of digital instruments to create the unmistakable Bumble B. Boy sound.
Tom grew up in the countryside of Australia, where he was home-schooled and completely shielded from the outside world. Instead of playing outside with other children, he spent his childhood glued to the television, specifically watching children’s programs, where he says he learned all his social skills. The Teletubbies, Australian children’s band The Wiggles and Blue’s Clues are Tom’s biggest influences. Bumble B. Boy aims to create a Bumble B empire through which he can spread childlike positivity around the world: “Anything that can make children happy, can also make grownups happy. After all, who really wants to grow up? Nostalgia is actually my business model: I want to scale up children’s parties to the general public.”
Mixing genres such as disco, art-rock, afrobeat, Japanese surf rock, psychedelia and circus music, this album captures the fun, cheerful, childlike punk spirit of Bumble B. Boy. Lyrically, Tom brings up themes of failure, helplessness, powerlessness, insecurity and weakness, but always combined with a childlike sense of optimism and wonder underneath.