What's Justin Bobby From MTV's 'The Hills' Up To Now?

  • What's Justin Bobby From MTV's 'The Hills' Up To Now?
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    Justin Bobby Brescia
    Photo by Polk Imaging/FilmMagic

    Bangs, bikes and combat boots. Justin Bobby from The Hills was worlds removed from his co-stars who lived in the lush and trendy cultural hub of L.A. The show's super chilled - and super handsome - young punk was brought into the folds as the love interest of Audrina Patridge, a relationship that would become the show's central focus come season three, which peaked with a massive 3.8 million viewers. Weekly. 

    After five seasons, the show may have concluded but the brand of Justin Bobby lives on, now through his band BobbyRock, the latest incarnation of a musical career that’s been in full swing since before The Hills was even a thing. And - somewhere in the middle - he's lived a life as a hairdresser, with his own salon and line of haircare products.

    Under BobbyRock, Justin Brescia, or Justin Bobby is heading to Australia for a run of live shows. Ahead of his arrival, we spoke with the man so great they had to name him twice, about the transition from reality TV personality to musician. 

    I understand you’ve been playing music since well before The Hills started filming. How did you find your way to music initially? 

    J: My dad threw a guitar in my room when I was a gronk. It was probably just an aesthetic, but I just kept picking it up. When I was around 14 we ended up with a drum kit, a wonky drum kit, in the garage. So, at 19, I started with a band called Ed Stanley as the drummer but kept playing guitar on the back end and it all just evolved, but it’s always been there. 

    Under BobbyRock, we have three albums out. I had another side project and another one with Ed Stanley so we’ve been putting records out for a long time. 

    I find the name change curious also, I imagine you had the option to go with Justin Bobby, given its profile. How did you land on BobbyRock? 

    J: Going back to The Hills, my middle name’s Robert, which became Bobby. When I was travelling on tour with Ed Stanley as the drummer, people would start saying it to me - BobbyRock, BobbyRock, so that stuck. Next minute it was being tattooed on people and stickers started coming out, so it stayed. 

    A name chosen for you, by the people…

    J: Now that I think about it, yeah. 

    Most bands would simply kill to get in some of the publications that BobbyRock got on in the beginning. Indeed, some of the biggest publications in the world: E! Entertainment news, US Today, etc. What was it like debuting to the world in such a way? One would imagine it could sell a lot of tickets...

    J: It helps because at the end of the day, you have to get ticket sales and you have to get people to your shows. When you start becoming irrelevant because you’re not on TV anymore, you have to work that much harder. We were playing shows in Cleveland, Ohio, or playing shows in random spots you’ve never even been in this country, and you’re supposed to sell tickets and it’s tricky... 

    Then, you’re headlining and you’re missing the grind and thinking, ‘Well, I really should be piggybacking off a local band that’s got a real draw.’ We were working off the back of [coverage in] these publications but it was tricky... With my music, you need to turn it up and be in the mood for it; granted, we’re working on a new album now Dressed In Black that’s more acoustic, but all the music before was pretty aggressive. 

    The publications do help... bands would die for some of the publication we’ve got... like E! Entertainment News, but you’d think the outcome is your next show will be massive but that’s not the case. You have to keep up the grind, hand out flyers, telling all your friends and family... that shit doesn’t ever end. 

    I can see your music style being an issue with some of these glossy magazines. Genre is such a fickle thing anyway...

    J: We were stuck without a genre for ages, also. Even playing with other bands, and trying to get on the bill, we’d be asked, ‘How do we categorise you?’ Death metal? Rock or singer-songwriter?' It was very difficult. 

    Obviously there's a lot of talk of your time on The Hills, it’s something you’re embracing with this project. I’d like to know, when you were filming for the series, did you know you were working on something so huge? Or did you not realise it at the time?

    J: I did, I really did. I had a feeling before I was even asked to do it. I grew up in Orange County, but when I moved to L.A for hair [salon work], I had this feeling something beyond hair was going to happen... something bigger than I can imagine... something that I can’t put my finger on.  Then, sure enough, I started speaking with Audrina…

    At first I said no because I wasn’t sure that was it. But once I filmed, the second I filmed, I knew this was the thing I was waiting for. I knew it was going to be big, epic, and reach a lot of people and surely it did. 

    BobbyRock will be touring Australia from 23 August until 2 September supporting The Velvet Addition.

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Justin Bobby Brescia
Photo by Polk Imaging/FilmMagic

Bangs, bikes and combat boots. Justin Bobby from The Hills was worlds removed from his co-stars who lived in the lush and trendy cultural hub of L.A. The show's super chilled - and super handsome - young punk was brought into the folds as the love interest of Audrina Patridge, a relationship that would become the show's central focus come season three, which peaked with a massive 3.8 million viewers. Weekly. 

After five seasons, the show may have concluded but the brand of Justin Bobby lives on, now through his band BobbyRock, the latest incarnation of a musical career that’s been in full swing since before The Hills was even a thing. And - somewhere in the middle - he's lived a life as a hairdresser, with his own salon and line of haircare products.

Under BobbyRock, Justin Brescia, or Justin Bobby is heading to Australia for a run of live shows. Ahead of his arrival, we spoke with the man so great they had to name him twice, about the transition from reality TV personality to musician. 

I understand you’ve been playing music since well before The Hills started filming. How did you find your way to music initially? 

J: My dad threw a guitar in my room when I was a gronk. It was probably just an aesthetic, but I just kept picking it up. When I was around 14 we ended up with a drum kit, a wonky drum kit, in the garage. So, at 19, I started with a band called Ed Stanley as the drummer but kept playing guitar on the back end and it all just evolved, but it’s always been there. 

Under BobbyRock, we have three albums out. I had another side project and another one with Ed Stanley so we’ve been putting records out for a long time. 

I find the name change curious also, I imagine you had the option to go with Justin Bobby, given its profile. How did you land on BobbyRock? 

J: Going back to The Hills, my middle name’s Robert, which became Bobby. When I was travelling on tour with Ed Stanley as the drummer, people would start saying it to me - BobbyRock, BobbyRock, so that stuck. Next minute it was being tattooed on people and stickers started coming out, so it stayed. 

A name chosen for you, by the people…

J: Now that I think about it, yeah. 

Most bands would simply kill to get in some of the publications that BobbyRock got on in the beginning. Indeed, some of the biggest publications in the world: E! Entertainment news, US Today, etc. What was it like debuting to the world in such a way? One would imagine it could sell a lot of tickets...

J: It helps because at the end of the day, you have to get ticket sales and you have to get people to your shows. When you start becoming irrelevant because you’re not on TV anymore, you have to work that much harder. We were playing shows in Cleveland, Ohio, or playing shows in random spots you’ve never even been in this country, and you’re supposed to sell tickets and it’s tricky... 

Then, you’re headlining and you’re missing the grind and thinking, ‘Well, I really should be piggybacking off a local band that’s got a real draw.’ We were working off the back of [coverage in] these publications but it was tricky... With my music, you need to turn it up and be in the mood for it; granted, we’re working on a new album now Dressed In Black that’s more acoustic, but all the music before was pretty aggressive. 

The publications do help... bands would die for some of the publication we’ve got... like E! Entertainment News, but you’d think the outcome is your next show will be massive but that’s not the case. You have to keep up the grind, hand out flyers, telling all your friends and family... that shit doesn’t ever end. 

I can see your music style being an issue with some of these glossy magazines. Genre is such a fickle thing anyway...

J: We were stuck without a genre for ages, also. Even playing with other bands, and trying to get on the bill, we’d be asked, ‘How do we categorise you?’ Death metal? Rock or singer-songwriter?' It was very difficult. 

Obviously there's a lot of talk of your time on The Hills, it’s something you’re embracing with this project. I’d like to know, when you were filming for the series, did you know you were working on something so huge? Or did you not realise it at the time?

J: I did, I really did. I had a feeling before I was even asked to do it. I grew up in Orange County, but when I moved to L.A for hair [salon work], I had this feeling something beyond hair was going to happen... something bigger than I can imagine... something that I can’t put my finger on.  Then, sure enough, I started speaking with Audrina…

At first I said no because I wasn’t sure that was it. But once I filmed, the second I filmed, I knew this was the thing I was waiting for. I knew it was going to be big, epic, and reach a lot of people and surely it did. 

BobbyRock will be touring Australia from 23 August until 2 September supporting The Velvet Addition.

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What's Justin Bobby From MTV's 'The Hills' Up To Now?
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