They've sold more records than Coldplay, Oasis and The Killers combined. Well, at least in their native South Africa. I'm talking about The Parlotones, who made their U.S. debut last month with "Stardust Galaxies."
Now, with their homeland still on our minds in the wake of the World Cup (they played to about a billion folks at the opening), The Parlotones are on the road here and land at The Rave at 8 tonight with Blue October.
We're among the last in the western world to hear about this guitar pop quartet, which has spent the past 18 months acquainting Europe with "Stardust Galaxies," playing 1,000-plus-capacity venues across Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, the U.K. and the Benelux countries.
To my ears, the band -- which is active in the fight against AIDS and malaria in South Africa -- sounds a bit like Sweden's Kent.
Here is a video for The Parlotones' "Beautiful" so you can hear for yourself.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
