From the Brits to the brink, Bad Boy Chiller Crew are back

The Bradford-born band are releasing music independently after their contract with a record label expired

Bad Boy Chiller Crew forgive anyone who forgot about them.

The trio's brand of Bradford bassline earned them a UK top 10 single with BMW in 2022.

And their first album, Disrespectful, would have made number one if Ed Sheeran's = (Equals) hadn't got in its way.

By 2023 Gareth "GK" Kelly, Kane Welsh and Sam "Clive" Robinson were riding high, nominated for group of the year at the Brits alongside The 1975 and Arctic Monkeys.

Just as they were building momentum, they tell BBC Newsbeat, they were forced to hit pause when a legal dispute erupted with record label House Anxiety.

Unable to release new tracks, they swapped making music for combing through contracts. Kane says it was like "jogging on the spot".

But, after months in limbo, the BBCC boys are picking up where they left off and releasing new music independently.

'The worst time of our lives'

In July, a judge confirmed that a deal between the band and the record label had expired.

The group admit they'd considered going their separate ways during their hiatus.

"I was ready to give it up," GK tells Newsbeat.

"We didn't earn a living. What we had left got thrown into solicitor and court fees.

"It was the worst time of our lives."

Kane says it's a relief to share music they've had ready and waiting on hard drives for months.

"We were putting all this work and effort in, eight hours a day, making music that we couldn't even release," he says.

GK adds: "But what we're trying to do is bring the old sound back."

Bad Boy Chiller Crew's song BMW reached the Official Singles Chart top 10 in 2022 and was followed shortly after by their first Brit nomination

The band are drip-feeding fans remixes of songs from their breakthrough mixtape, Full Wack No Breaks.

When Newsbeat meets them at their recording studio in Warrington, Cheshire, they're fresh from filming on the Bradford estate they grew up on.

It's a community that supported them during their legal fight, and family, friends and neighbours feature in BBCC's upcoming music video.

But Kane says they were a long way from home when they learned they could put music out again.

"We were in Magaluf," he says.

"We'd just missed our flight. We got a FaceTime call, found out the good news and the flight had been forgotten about."

As for whether they went straight to the airport bar to celebrate, Kane says: "No, because we'd just done six weeks of non-stop drinking."

"We celebrated in the bath with a candle on," GK says.

The band say their experiences in charts and on red carpets were followed by "the worst time of their lives"

Part of their case against the record label, over royalty payments, is still ongoing.

House Anxiety tells Newsbeat it continues to "totally" deny BBCC's claim that the band is owed money.

It says it considers itself "artist-friendly" and entirely denies doing anything wrong.

For now, BBCC's main focus is on reminding people that they exist.

Despite having hundreds of millions of YouTube views, they recognise that music industry trends move quickly.

Their new fight, to get back into the algorithms, is just getting started.

"I feel like we took what we had for granted," admits Kane.

"Now, when we perform, you enjoy it a lot more.

GK adds: "We know who stuck by us.

"We've got each other and that's all we've ever needed."

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