Bingo Fury
Bingo Fury’s atmospheric and occasionally erratic sound transports the listener into a world of seedy jazz bars and dark cobbled streets. Founding member Jack Ogborne delves into the band’s broad influences and distinctly avant-garde motifs Words: Stan Gray Photo: Ashley Bourne
had no idea that the King William Alehouse on King Street had an upstairs until Jack Ogborne of Bingo Fury suggested that we meet there for our interview. The large room is completely empty when we meet, full of pool tables illuminated with dusty rays of sunlight.
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Jack is only one fifth of the band, but takes on the central role in the seedy cabaret that is Bingo Fury. Jack and co – in their previous incarnation as Norman - were in the midst of a UK tour with fellow Bristol band, LICE, and rapidly gaining momentum when the pandemic hit. It was, however, when the world halted that Bingo Fury was
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conceived. “It gave us time to plan and write because the old band stopped, and we were blessed to have a gap where we could get a whole new idea back together,” Jack tells me. “By the time we could start playing shows again we were ready to go with something new.” Despite struggling as much as anyone during lockdown, it gave the band an opportunity to fashion something innovative and original. “I really wanted it to be something larger than life… I wanted to do something that was cinematic,” he says. Indeed, the concept of Bingo Fury as a multifarious creation incorporating visual art, video and music is already
coherent despite the project’s relative infancy. Singles ‘Big Rain’ and ‘Happy Snake’ demonstrate this with their frantic and surreal accompanying videos, perfectly intertwining with the “anxiety driven” tracks. The band have created an idiosyncratic narrative through their output, with Bingo as the central protagonist. “At this point everyone who likes Bingo Fury probably knows me personally, but the idea is that, if it gets any bigger, people who don’t know me personally are able to tailor this character into something larger than life - something that’s more than just me being Jack Ogborne up on stage because that’s not quite as exciting,” Jack explains.