Heavy hangs the hog for Bilmuri.
Johnny Franck has spent the better part of his life grinding out of his Ohio basement, building one of the most unlikely success stories to emerge from the metalcore scene.
As a teenager, he was thrust into the spotlight early while playing guitar and singing in Attack Attack!, the unwitting originators of crabcore. Beyond spawning a jokey-but-not-really subgenre that would wind up being an important catalyst for metalcore’s synth-packed future, the band also served as an early proving ground for artists like Beartooth’s Caleb Shomo and Of Mice & Men’s Austin Carlile. Reception to Attack Attack! at the time was, let’s just say, mixed. But the group proved Franck knew how to write big-ass breakdowns and choruses.
He left Attack Attack! in 2010 to focus on honing his craft as a solo artist, songwriter and producer. In 2016, he launched the Bilmuri project and began releasing album after album of all-caps energy referencing lifting weights, doing Ohio shit and, of course, “cranking hog” — a phrase that has morphed from jack-off slang into something closer to a quasi-religious philosophy about living life to the fucking fullest. All of it spills into his videos, which ride the line between purposefully half-assed — riding lawnmowers, stomping through the woods in a daze — and full-assed works of psychotic outsider art.
“I want it to be cool, but if I try to act cool it is the most cringe thing possible,” Franck says. “I don’t want to shoot this music video — but once the shooting is done and we get to the editing phase, I really love it. So I just keep telling myself while I’m shooting: Just get to the edit and then it’ll be fun.”
Josh Beech
In 2024, Bilmuri dropped their 14th record, AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS, a yee-haw-tastic record mashing together the disparate sounds of country, metalcore, pop and electronic into something undeniable. It shot Franck into a level of success he never saw coming — the kind of breakthrough that makes following it up with his new album, KINDA HARD, both thrilling and terrifying.
“I’d been waiting in the fucking sewers for that moment,” he says, reflecting on the breakout success of AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS. “I never thought it would happen, honestly.” In the wake of that album, Franck found himself under the brightest spotlights of his career — landing a massive opening slot on Sleep Token’s 2025 tour, releasing the Spotify-exclusive cover of the Cyberpunk 2077 standout “I Really Want to Stay at Your House” for the Game Awards, and a hell of a lot more.
As it turns out, success can be stressful, too. It’s one thing to have a fanbase of devoted ultra-freaks on the same meme-brained wavelength as you, down for whatever you want to throw out into the world. But suddenly having a larger audience expecting you to top yourself? That’s another.
“The reality of, Oh, I made something that a lot of people like, I have to do it again,” Franck says. “You sit down in the basement and you’re like, ‘Time to write a fucking generational song.’ And then you write complete dogshit.”
The path to KINDA HARD took Franck in an unexpected direction: embracing the sounds of nu-metal. “I listened to different records each day, and it was all really great,” he says of rediscovering the works of Korn, Staind and Limp Bizkit. “The feeling I got was: This feels much less like a production and much more like a band is just playing. I feel like we’ve really, at least in our scene, gotten away from that — of it just being a band playing.”
That revelation became the blueprint for what would follow.
Taking that ethos into the studio, Franck recruited Nashville session musicians to record live together — something virtually unheard of in modern metalcore — to capture that same magic. The results come roaring through on KINDA HARD. Beneath all the jokes, it’s a record that’s serious about its songwriting and musicianship, weaving metalcore breakdowns on tracks like “TWICE” with Kenny G-esque sax solos and clean-sung rock choruses that could easily dominate terrestrial radio.
KINDA HARD also pays tribute to Franck’s past in interesting ways, including a collaboration with A Day to Remember vocalist Jeremy McKinnon that happened almost entirely by chance.
“I was working out in Nashville, and I look over across the sea of weights and I was like, ‘Is that fucking Jeremy from A Day to Remember?’” he says. “We’ve played Warped Tour for a long time and our orbits never really crossed, but we’ve known of each other for 20 years.”
Within hours of connecting at the gym — and McKinnon offering to collab on something — they were in the studio alongside co-writers Sasha Sloan and Wage War’s Cody Quistad, knocking out “BACK, THEN.” In a wild twist, that same day Bad Omens’ singer Noah Sebastian hit up Franck and stopped by the studio, ultimately jumping into the writing sessions as well — resulting in album standout “ALWAYS LET YOU DOWN,” a perfect midpoint between ADTR’s signature easycore and Bilmuri’s pop-metalcore sensibilities.
Mason Castillo
McKinnon and Franck later brought the song to life in a wild music video showcasing a backyard wrestling meets Armored MMA-style sword duel, as they trade verses and blows while geared up in Stars-and-Stripes-accented medieval body armor.
All of which is to say: Franck went whole hog on the record. “If I felt like I had any ounce of energy left when I finished it, I would have viewed it as a failure,” he says. “The days after I finished it, I was a shell of a human being. I would go build a fire in my fireplace and stare at it for two hours, not talk to anyone, just trying to get my soul back a little bit.”
Despite having just completed KINDA HARD — and with Bilmuri now preparing to take the new album around the globe on a headlining world tour — Franck is already looking ahead to what’s next.
“I feel like we’re a year or two away from peak scene,” he says. “And I’ll be damned if I don’t make some shit that sounds like my history.”
So we figured it was the perfect time to go big with Franck for our “Greatest Interview Ever!” series — and find out how hard he really is.
Josh Beech
What’s your heaviest lift right now?
Johnny Franck I’m weak sauce right now — I’m on a cut. All-time, though: bench is 330. Deadlifts hurt my back, so I don’t do it, and squat is 405. That was COVID times where all I did was work out. Now I’m very much going the bodybuilder route, doing hypertrophy, trying to have big muscles that do absolutely nothing and serve no functional purpose. That’s my goal. I still lift heavy once a month just to keep the base strong, but the weights will break you at some point if you keep pursuing the powerlifting route. I did a 10-year-long bulk and now I’m doing a long-overdue cut. The reason I haven’t done cuts is because I hate getting weaker — in a deficit, you just can’t lift the same weights, and then you get pissed and go to McDonald’s. But I’m staying strong, dude.
What’s the biggest hog you’ve ever seen?
The African warthog Wendy that we shot the KINDA HARD album cover with. It looks exactly like Pumbaa from The Lion King — same species, tusks that go up. And it is like a puppy dog. Such a kind animal. When I named a song “ABSOLUTELYCRANKINMYMF’INHOG” [from 2020’s EGGY POCKET EP], I never thought people would latch onto it as much as they have. But I’m grateful they have, because I still think that joke’s funny as shit. And I feel like this is where it’s been headed for the last five years.
What is the greatest song you’ve ever written?
I gotta say [Attack Attack!’s] “Stick Stickly,” right? I listen to it once every seven years and I’m like, “Dude, this shit still fucking slaps.” It’s cringe in the best way. It’s got this very heartwarming feeling to it, and I love it very much. There’s no irony in it — it’s completely sincere. And that’s something I try to keep in my [new] music, too. I mean, obviously, there are ironic visuals, but I try to keep the music very sincere. I do the jokey visuals because I hate trying to act cool, but I take the music seriously.
What’s the worst song you’ve ever written?
“Shut Your Mouth,” off the Attack Attack! self-titled. We were like, “Dude, we’re a fucking pop band,” and I was like, “This is the worst song ever.” I still think about it — I’ll take a shower sometimes and that song will pop into my head and I’m like, “FUCK!” Try to yell it away. I think that’s the worst fucking song I’ve ever written, by far. Everything else is like the top 30 percent of stuff, and that one is the fucking basement. There’s a big gap.
What is the most underrated album in your catalog?
The Bilmuri back catalog — the pre-AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS stuff. There’s so much good shit in there. I really love that music, and I hope that as people discover Bilmuri for the first time with this record [KINDA HARD] and with MOTOR SPORTS, they go back and listen to the old stuff. There’s just a lot of great stuff in there, and a lot of things where I’m like, man, I wish this song was bigger so we could play it live.
What is the craziest fan gift you’ve ever received?
A lot of people paint me stuff, or people will give me commodities — ears of corn, sausages, potatoes. Lots of commodities. I think it’s because I sold burlap sacks for a while and talked about corncobs and all this stuff, so they feel like they’ve gotta hand this man a cob, face-to-face. And I fucking love it, dude, because you see the security guards at the shows when someone hands me a corncob and I hold it up and everyone cheers — they’re just like, What the fuck is going on?
What is the greatest album from another artist that you didn’t like at first but now love?
I was such a fanboy of [Sleep Token’s] Take Me Back to Eden, and then when Even in Arcadia came out, I was like, “I don’t know, dude, I just fucking like Take Me Back to Eden more.” And then I listened to it all the way through on a flight once and I was like, This is fucking sick. It took me maybe a couple months to really give that record a chance because I was so loyal to the previous one. And then when I did, I was like, Oh, this fucking slaps.
Josh Beech
What has been your greatest success to date?
Being able to have the blessing of making music for 20 years and still loving it and not feeling jaded. There are days where you wake up and it takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but I genuinely fucking love it. When people become jaded about making music it makes me really sad, because it’s the greatest gift in the world. And the fact that I can still make it is an honor, genuinely. Every day I wake up and thank God that I get to have a body, that I can make music, and that I’m still doing this and enjoying it just as much. I think that’s the biggest win.
What is your biggest regret?
Probably “Shut Your Mouth.” [Laughs] Other than that, I try to live life to not have regrets — to take the opportunities that come. I don’t really have any others. I’m pretty happy with things when I look back.
What is the greatest live band you’ve ever seen?
This answer’s gonna sound fucked up, but it’s not because of me — it’s the Bilmuri live band. Excluding me. When we do these interlude things and I’m sitting there watching all of them play, I’m like, This is my favorite band. The way they approach things, the way they write things — they are my favorite live band, and I’m happy that I get to be onstage with them. When I get onstage with them, I don’t have to fucking worry about anything, because they’re gonna crush it.
What is the most “rock star” thing you’ve ever purchased?
Honestly, I don’t really like stuff, because stuff takes away from me being able to make music. I really enjoy living pretty simply. I’m not saying I live like a fucking medieval peasant, but yeah… The simple things give me joy: being able to make coffee, having fresh socks. I don’t know if I’ve really bought anything rock star-ish. I’m not a big jewelry guy. Everything is just more fuel for me to make music. That’s what I care about. I’m still in Ohio, in my basement — and I don’t even have heat down here, so I’m freezing my ass off.
What is the most starstruck you’ve ever been?
Maybe when [comedian and bodybuilding social-media personality] Caleb Francis agreed to do the music video for “MORE THAN HATE,” because I’d watched his videos for so long. I was like, “Holy fuck, dude. He’s here.” I’m such a big fan of his. And then also, anytime I meet someone in the bodybuilding space. Meeting Seth Rollins was pretty cool — he’s a WWE guy. Mostly people in the fitness space, I’m like, “Fuck.”
What is the best show you’ve ever played?
Probably 2025 — we played a show in Melbourne at this venue called the Forum, which looks like a medieval castle inside. The crowd was insane. And then we played London at Kentish Town O2. Both of those shows, it was like… You have those certain shows where every single decision and move you make, and thing you say, and the way the band is playing, and the way the crowd is reacting — it all just clicks. It’s rare that there’s ever a perfect show, but I believe those two are a couple of Bilmuri’s perfect shows. We all got offstage afterwards and were like, “Did y’all feel the same way I did?” We were shocked and bewildered. Most of the time you play a show and it’s like four out of six — half the band had a great show and there’s a couple people who are like, “I could have done better.” But the rare ones where everyone gets offstage and we’re like, “That is one of the best we’ve ever done!” — those feel really good.
What’s the worst show you’ve ever played?
Very early days of Bilmuri — certain shows where you drive out four hours and it’d be like two people and you’re like, Oh, fuck. Or, actually, the shows I didn’t play would probably be the worst. Early days, I had a lot of anxiety, and I think there were a couple of shows where we were going to travel for hours, and I chose to cancel them. Those are the ones I regret, where I’m like, Oh, I should have just gone. And back in Attack Attack! days, before [2008’s] Someday [Came Suddenly] came out, most of the shows outside of the Midwest just weren’t good. We’d show up and it’d be like five people. The early days of touring were tough — but I was just a high schooler, so I was like, “Dude, this is fucking sick, we got tacos.” You just don’t care.
What has been your most embarrassing onstage moment?
I think I’ve actually shit my pants a couple of times. [Laughs] Probably that. I mean, I guess it’s internal, but you’re walking around… And I would tell people about it. The show waits for no man. So if you’ve got a poop situation, you’ve got to go up onstage — and if you don’t time it right, it can be devastating.
Who has been the toughest band to open for?
I usually don’t feel like art should be competitive, but sometimes that nature comes out. When I saw how good South Arcade was, I felt that — like, Fuck, I’ve gotta bring it today because they fucking brought it. It turned into this incredibly healthy but also competitive relationship where we loved each other, but both of us were looking at what the other was doing and adding things. I saw what they were doing that I thought was cool and I’d add it to the set, and they’d do the same thing. They were the first band I’d played with where I was like, Oh fuck, I’ve gotta step my shit up today.
As for Sleep Token, it was such a special tour. Probably top three favorite tours I’ve ever done, because it was so easy — just two bands. We’d walk up, play 30 minutes, and then since we were in Europe and the U.K., I’d just go explore beautiful places. I rarely want to watch a band every single night, but I watched them every single day. I’d finish playing, take a shower, walk up, grab a Guinness, and then just drink three or four beers watching them play. They’d play “Missing Limbs” and I’d fucking cry. It’s rare that I get a really consistent emotional response watching a live band, but that was probably it.
What is the wildest thing you’ve seen in the crowd at one of your shows?
Every time we play Ohio, there is a man who shows up wearing a burlap sack, shorts where you can clearly see his dong, and a wizard hat. And he always brings a potato. He’s at every single show we play in Ohio — whether it’s Cincinnati, Cleveland or Columbus — and he makes my fucking day every single time. He always crowd surfs. I always point at him, and I’m like, “Fuck yeah, dude!”
Josh Beech
What’s the greatest thing about Ohio?
I’ve always theorized why so many bands come from Ohio, and I think it’s because there’s nothing really to do. The funnest thing to do is make music, and so it actually becomes a superpower. There’ll be a Saturday night, and I’ll just be like, Well, there’s nothing really going on that I want to do, so I’m just gonna make music. And I think that’s a blessing. Also, everyone here is very kind. What Florida is for death metal, Ohio is for metalcore.
What’s the greatest breakdown you’ve ever heard?
The fucking Suicide Silence “You Only Live Once” breakdown. That record [2011’s The Black Crown] holds up. If it came out today it would be competitive with everything else, from a sound perspective. And shout-out to Suicide Silence, too, because back in the days of Warped Tour we got shit on by a lot of bands, and Suicide Silence always fucking rode for us. They watched us play every single day. I love those guys. That breakdown fucking slams. That record slams. I listened to it recently and was like, This shit still sounds amazing.
What’s the best anime of all time?
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. It is my favorite piece of visual media of all time — all TV shows, movies, everything. The animation is masterful. The story gives me a feeling that no other piece of art has ever given me. That’s my comfort show. When I’ve had food poisoning and I’m bound to the toilet, that’s what I watch to get me through those tougher moments. I love that show.
What’s the greatest rock album?
[Linkin Park’s] Meteora and Hybrid Theory. We always say if those records came out today, they would be competitive with anything coming out — they’re timeless, they sound so fucking good. They still sound like they’re from the future. And they’ll still sound good 75 years from now. I don’t know what the fuck they did, but they did it. [Mike] Shinoda is probably my answer for greatest rock songwriter too, for that reason — their debut record was fucking awesome and then the follow-up record was just as good. That’s really hard to do. I studied bands who did one-two punch records, because that’s what I was trying to figure out going into KINDA HARD.
What’s the greatest dream, musical or otherwise, that you’ve yet to achieve?
I wanna do an arena tour. That’s the goal. If it happens, fuck yeah. If not, that’s totally fine. I’m incredibly satisfied with where things are. But I’m always like, “Let’s ride the wave and see how far we can take it.” Playing with Knocked Loose and Sleep Token in those rooms was great. I think Bilmuri shines in that format. I was really relieved when we went on tour in those big rooms and it was like, “This works really well in here.” I’d love to have my ability to be creative in a format like that, because there’s so much you can do.