Band turns to bikes to launch new album

American alternative rock band Wilco is offering a custom singlespeed bike to a lucky fan to celebrate the launch of its new album ‘The Whole Love’, reports the NME.

The bike will be won by a random fan who pre-orders the album from the band’s website.

Wilco turned to Chicago visual artist and ‘general bike guy’ Todd Simeone to create the bike. 

The singlespeed was based on classic original bike designs in ‘dust blue’ and included a ‘near remaking’ of the frame’s basic components. The build project lasted over a year from inception to final build.

Simeone told Wilcoworld.net: “I love to build these bikes, and I had made a very nice single speed for a friend. Jeff [Tweedy] saw it and approached me about commissioning bikes for the band. Thinking about it, the prospect of a ‘Wilco’ bike was interesting to me. Not only did the name ‘Wilco’ seem like it could be a bike manufacturer, but based on the music, I honestly couldn’t think of any band other than Wilco having a bike named after it. Wilco and bike riding seemed like a great match.”

He added: “Bikes have always been a huge part of Chicago, from Schwinn to the current fixed gear craze. It’s an easy city to ride a bike, and cycling has impacted the culture in Chicago significantly. As a project, the most noteworthy aspect was the collaborative local effort put in to building the bike. Several talented Chicagoans contributed in amazing ways.”