English punk/grime duo Bob Vylan have announced that they have had to cancel their forthcoming North American tour due to visa issues.

The ‘Ban Bob Vylan’ tour, which was supposed to commence on May 12th in Boston and was set to span both the USA and Canada, and would have seen the all-female grunge/sludge/punk New York outfit Jigsaw Youth accompany them, would have been the duo’s first tour outside of the UK.

Unfortunately the America & Canada tour has been pulled due to visa issues. These things happen, it’s incredibly frustrating but there is nothing we can do at the moment. Apologies to everyone that bought tickets to see us out there with @jigsawyouthband hopefully see you soon.

— Bob Vylan (@BobbyVylan) May 2, 2023

Sadly though, Bob Vylan become yet another victim of the ever-increasingly difficult US visa processing system. Already a long, complicated and expensive process (that perhaps holds a political bias against certain acts, particularly in this case given Bob Vylan’s politically charged lyrics are at the forefront of their music), getting into the US as a non-US musician will very soon be even tougher with the announcement earlier this year that the US Department of Homeland Security plans to increase the cost of a special music visa by 250%, with the “P” visa jumping from £375 per person to a staggering £1317 per person.

The #LetTheMusicMove campaign, initially started by the Music Managers Forum and the Featured Artists Coalition in order to combat increasing tour costs due to post-brexit visa costs, has now shifted its attention to the ugly US visa price hike, with groups such as New Order, Idles and Primal Scream, to name a few, voicing their disdain for the proposed changes.

Fresh off the back of a hugely successful 2022, in which their second album, Bob Vylan Presents The Price Of Life, was released and capped off with winning the first ever Best Alternative Music Act award at the MOBOs in December, Bob Vylan would have undoubtedly been looking to continue their proliferating momentum with this unprecedented North American tour, introducing their wholly unique style, which incorporates hard-hitting social and political commentary with the merging of grime rap with punk rock, to the American and Canadian masses for the first time.

Watch the music video for “We Live Here” below:

While the British response to the rise of Bob Vylan in the very recent past has been a spectacularly positive one (drawing huge crowds at festivals they play and seeing their second album slot straight in to number 18 in the UK Albums Chart upon its release), the reaction from across the pond is largely yet to witnessed.

Given Afro-punk’s popularity in North America, however, with bands such as Bad Brains and Rage Against the Machine achieving success in the aforementioned alternative genre, Bob Vylan will surely be welcomed with open arms in the punk community stateside when they are eventually allowed to play there, particularly given how some of Bob Vylan’s favourite topics (police brutality, racism and income inequality) will no doubt resonate well with those who believe that said issues are strongly present in Canadian and, perhaps more so, American society.