Pompeii

Did you know?

• “Pompeii” reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart, number 4 in Australian ARIA Chart, and number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Alternative Songs chart.
• According to the Official Charts Company it is the UK's most streamed song of all time.
• The song was nominated for British Single of the Year at the 2014 BRIT Awards.
• The video follows Bastille's frontman Dan Smith, as he wanders about an empty-looking Los Angeles, before realizing the few people around all have unnatural vacant black eyes. He steals a car and drives into the desert to escape them, but the car breaks down and he soon realizes he's been infected as well. He climbs a mountain and looks out at the view, before turning around to reveal his eyes have turned black. The story is an allegory for the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii.
• Bastille is an English rock band formed in London in 2010. They began as a solo project by singer-songwriter Dan Smith, who later decided to form a band. The four-piece is completed by Chris Wood, William Farquarson and Kyle Simmons.
• The name of the band derives from Bastille Day – an event celebrated on Smith's birthday, 14 July.
• In February 2014, Bastille won the BRIT Award for Best Breakthrough Act.
• Daniel Campbell "Dan" Smith is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, and is the lead vocalist, producer, songwriter and founder of the band Bastille.
• Smith grew up listening to his sister's Lauryn Hill and Jurassic 5 albums, and his South African parents' collection of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Simon & Garfunkel which inspired his first attempts at composing songs.
• Will Farquarson's parents are hippies and they lived in a barge throughout his childhood. Farquarson is thankful that Bastille worked out alright because he is practically unemployable he says.