Bully is an American punk/rock and roll band out of Nashville comprised of Alicia Bognanno, Stewart Copeland, Clayton Parker and Reese Lazarus with a smooth, high-energy grunge-punk sound. I fell in love with Bully when I heard one of their songs on the radio in my car. Alicia’s voice can be sweet then soft then she’ll let out a down right pissed off gravely, yet clean, scream. The exact same way I grew up and love to listen to music. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard a great scream that well done so I had to find out more about Bully who could pull off a twist on punk, rock and roll and grunge.

It’s a wonder they sound so good since Alicia, the powerful lead singer, wrote songs since she was seven, graduated as an audio engineer, plays guitar and has a super tight band to back her up. I got the pleasure to see Bully live in a small venue in Houston which was up close and personal, amazing and energetic. I loved the raw sound, their vibe and simplicity down to their clothes. It wasn’t about flashy lights, smoke machines and backup dancers. It was feelings of frustration, pains of growing up and the complexity of life shared among people who could relate. It was the beat pumping through your body, your inner child dancing and becoming a little freer head banging with Alicia and the crew. Friends hanging out in their room talking.

Although Bully was formed only in 2013, they have a well thought out, engineered sound as if they have been rockin’ as long as the likes of Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters and Alicia’s grungy scream could breathe life back into Kurt Cobain. Even though “grunge” seems to be the music of the nineties, the base of rock and roll has never left our sides. There is always little bits and pieces of influenced ingredients in creating and in Bully’s music you can taste that. It’s a different sounding grunge. It’s a smooth high-energy release, brutally honest about navigating through the craziness of life type of music that makes you stand up and listen. I think Bully has their own distinct sound which is why their flavor caught my ear. Don’t peg them into a sound-a-like, just enjoy the jam and scream with Alicia like you can feel it too.