Beginnings Originally, the band was signed to
Domino in 2006. "We just started making music out of fun—we didn't have any intentions to work professionally with music", said Rodrigo Gorky. Producer
Diplo first found out about the band through their
MySpace account and pushed them using his label,
Mad Decent. In March 2006,
Rolling Stone picked the band as one of the "10 Bands to Watch", where they were described as "Brazilian party starters”. The following month the
New York Times praised the band's work as well.
With Lasers In mid-2007, through
Domino Records Bonde do Rolê released their debut album
With Lasers. Tracks from the debut album have been used in various
media, the single, "Solta o Frango" (Brazilian slang for "enjoy and go crazy") was used widely: it was used in a worldwide campaign for
Nokia, in a commercial for
Ugly Betty, it was featured on the soundtrack of
Electronic Arts game
FIFA 08 and in the 2008 film
The Ruins.
GQ used the song "Office Boy" for the behind-the-scenes photoshoot of actress
Jessica Alba by photographer
Terry Richardson. The song "Gasolina" was featured on an Australian advertisement for
Bonds underwear. The lyrics used in the commercial caused some offense to Portuguese speakers in
Australia, causing the advertisement to be recut with an instrumental version of the song even though "Gasolina" got picked by
Domino Records as the single because it did not have bad language. In December 2007, Bonde do Rolê cancelled gigs in
Dublin, Ireland, the
UK and their
Australian tour amidst speculation that the band was experiencing internal difficulties and were on the verge of a lineup change. On December 12, Gorky and Pedro announced on a
MySpace bulletin that Marina had left the band. In February 2008, the two remaining members of the band, in search of a new singer, launched a contest in association with
MTV Brazil. The band now consists of Gorky, Pedro and Laura Taylor. In 2008, the band toured making up for all the cancelled dates in the past, including the
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2008, We Love Sounds Festival in [Australia] and others. Also, in 2008 the band was a nominee for the Band of the Year and Song of the Year categories at the Brazilian
MTV Video Music Awards, and performed a medley live at the show.
2011 - Present: Tropical/Bacanal In their second studio album, Tropical/Bacanal, Bonde do Rolê worked with a variety of producers, including Filip Nikolic of
Poolside, DJ Chernobyl (who also worked on their first record),
Diplo,
Switch,
Boys Noize among others. In this album “they have left the gimmick of funk behind to work on a mélange of all styles of Brazilian modern music and turned it on its head” says
Diplo. Tropical/Bacanal was influenced by many different sounds across the world, including some rap elements on the album as well. Featuring artists like
Das Racist, Jamaican MC
Ce'Cile and
Poolside, critics rave about the diversity and quirkiness of this second album without former member Marina. In a 2012 interview with
Rolling Stone Brazil, Gorky mentioned, (translated) “if I had to draw, this album would be like a sun with a happy face, and the former was a sad moon face”. The album was released July 31, 2012. == Discography ==