Roger Sellers Returns to Fun Fun Fun as Bayonne
Bayonne, Photo: Eric Morales
There’s a good chance that if you follow what’s happening in music today, that you’ve heard of the name Roger Sellers, but not the name Bayonne. This year, Sellers changed his name to Bayonne, grabbed a big name agent, and inked a record deal after years of doing things his own way. Earlier in October, his first single as Bayonne, “Spectrolite,” was released to the world. Now, as his label sets to re-release my favorite album of 2024, “Primitives,” the producer will head back to Fun Fun Fun Fest for the second time. FPH was lucky enough to grab a bit of his time and see what he’s been up to since we last spoke, and what he has in store for everyone at the festival in its tenth year this weekend.
FPH: What made you decide to change your name from Roger Sellers to Bayonne?
BAYONNE: There’s a couple of reasons. I wanted to separate my music from me, personally. Since the album is getting re-released with a bigger budget behind it, it felt like the right time to do it. Bayonne is the street I grew up on in Spring, I still record stuff there, and my family still lives there. Also, it just sounded like a good name for my electronic music, so I just did it.
FPH: You’ve inked a deal with a good place for Bayonne to call home, have you released the name of that label yet?
BAYONNE: I got a deal with Mom+Pop Records. There were a couple of labels we had received interest from, but [Mom+Pop] had come to a couple of shows and I really liked how they run their business. They have a really diverse roster that feels like quality before quantity, and they seemed to really care about everything. We also are on the same page on how to do things and we have similar interests. They’re good people.
FPH: The album, “Primitives” was my favorite album of 2024. When will the public get to see it under the name Bayonne?
BAYONNE: The album will be re-released sometime in the first quarter of next year, and it’ll be the first time that it’s available on vinyl, which will be really cool.
FPH: You’ve been touring pretty heavily, will you keep up that pace into next year?
BAYONNE: I think if anything it’ll get busier. After the album comes out, I figure that I’ll tour all year. Lately I’ve been going to NYC a lot which is cool because the label is there and so is my manager. I’ve done some short runs, so far, and some fly-ins, but there’s definitely stuff in the works.
FPH: What does Fun Fun Fun Fest mean to you and what do you have planned for everyone attending the festival this year?
BAYONNE: Well, it’s just a bad ass festival, and the one I look forward to every year in Austin. I used to always think, “Maybe one day I’ll get to play it,” and now I’m playing it for the second time. The people at Transmission are my friends and they’ve been really good to me, so it feels like a family thing to me. As far as what I have planned, for my set at the festival itself, I’ll do a solo set. For my FFF Nites set at The Parish on the Thursday before the fest, I’m planning on bringing a live drummer out on stage at some point. He’s the same guy who did the drums of “Spectrolite,” but it’ll be the first time I’ve had someone else on stage with me, so it should be cool.
FPH: What can the public look forward to from you in the next year and when will the follow up to “Primitives” start being written and recorded?
BAYONNE: I’m kind of figuring all of that out now. I’m starting to write a bit, but I’m also just trying to figure out my day to day schedule of doing shows and then taking the time to write again. It’s a meticulous process for a Bayonne album. The last one, “Primitives,” took me six months to make, and I figure this one will take just as long.
If you’re heading to Fun Fun Fun Fest this year, you can catch Bayonne at The Parish on Thursday the fifth for a Fun Fun Fun Nites set, as well as Friday at the festival on the blue stage at 1:45. I’d suggest not sleeping on this guy at all, as he’s proof that hard work and determination pay off. And after seeing how he did things before the name change, I suspect that Bayonne will be a name that no one forgets in the future.
