The Bloody Beetroots

The Bloody Beetroots is an Italian electronic dance music project of musician and producer Bob Rifo (also Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo and SBCR, born Simone Cogo). Established in late 2006, The Bloody Beetroots were initially a duo consisting of Bob Rifo and Tommy Tea, who later left in 2012. The project is well known for the black mask, reminiscent of comic book characters, Spider-Man, Venom, and Grendel, that various members have worn during performances and other public appearances. Since 2016 Rifo performs with the "NO" mask.

The leader of the band, Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo, was born in 1977 in Bassano del Grappa, Italy. He lives in Venice Beach, California. He is a classically trained musician, but gained reputation for producing music with styles ranging from punk rock to the new wave of the 1980s. His identity remains largely anonymous. In fact, the only identifying public feature he has is the year "1977" tattooed across his chest, which is the year of his birth, that coincided with the year punk-rock was born. Rifo, a music producer, DJ and photographer uses the pseudonym the Bloody Beetroots himself.

2006–2009: Early production and Romborama

Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo gained the support of Etienne De Crecy, Alex Gopher, and Dim Mak's Steve Aoki with his early singles "Warp 1.9" and "Cornelius", In 2008, his EP Cornelius was in the Top 100 International iTunes downloads.

In 2009, the Bloody Beetroots released his first album, Romborama. The album is a complete art project composed of music, videos, and fashion.

The Bloody Beetroots DJ Set (Sir Rifo and ex-member Tommy Tea) had a short tour of the United States in early 2008, alongside DJ Steve Aoki. During this period, members of the group wore Spider-Man black variant masks, and occasionally red masks.

In 2009, Sir Rifo also worked on Rifoki, a hardcore punk collaboration with Steve Aoki.

2010–2011: Death Crew 77

Bloody Beetroots DJ Set played many notable festivals including Stereosonic Festival in Australia, Ultra Music Festival in Miami and Rock Werchter in Belgium.

During his 2010 Live Tour, Sir Rifo labeled himself and the live band the Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77 and introduced drummer Edward Grinch. Tommy Tea was in charge of effects and sampling in the live band. In 2011, Grinch left the band and replacement drummer Battle took his place.

Later in 2011, during the Church of Noise tour, vocalist Dennis Lyxzén of the punk band Refused joined and provided vocals for a few songs.

With the new live show they continued playing various festivals across the world, including the Solidays Festival in Paris, MELT! Festival in Berlin, Extrema Festival in Eindhoven, Tomorrowland in Belgium, HARD Fest in Los Angeles, Electric Zoo in New York City, and headlined the 2011 New Year's Eve show at the Together as One festival in Los Angeles.

"Church of Noise" featuring Dennis Lyxzén, released in late 2011.

2012–2014: Hide

In 2013, the Bloody Beetroots released the album Hide.

The first single, "Rocksteady", was released in early 2012 along with two remix EPs. The second single, "Chronicles of a Fallen Love" (featuring Greta Svabo Bech) was released in December 2012, also with the two-part remix EPs. In February 2013, Bob Rifo announced a third single "Spank" (produced with TAI and Bart B More), as well as an accompanying music video. Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo also collaborated with Paul McCartney on the single "Out of Sight" on Ultra Records. It was released in June 2013.

For the entirety of 2012, Rifo and Tommy Tea toured the world as Bloody Beetroots DJ Set, including performances on festivals such as Tomorrowland, Ultra Music Festival and HARD Fest New York.

At the beginning of 2013, Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo re-introduced the live crew under the new name the Bloody Beetroots Live, which debuted in Australia in January. The mask Rifo wears on stage has been re-designed as well – now featuring wearable LED lights on the Venom-shaped eyes, which are controlled remotely via MIDI. The rest of the band also wears new masks, though they do not light up like Rifo's.

The live band consisted of Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo (piano/effects, guitars, vocals), Battle (synthesizers, bass guitar) and Edward Grinch (drums). However, in Australia, Grinch was replaced by member New Mad Harris on drums. Since the beginning of 2013, Tommy Tea has dedicated himself to other personal projects.

In 2013, Rifo announced and released a new social media platform called "the Real Church of Noise", which is a "safe haven for like-minded individuals to share and collaborate". The platform incorporates sharing services such as YouTube and SoundCloud.

2015–present: SBCR and The Great Electronic Swindle

Shortly after the Chaos and Confusion tour, Rifo began to DJ across the world under the pseudonym SBCR (an acronym of his stage name, but supposedly standing for Satan Bass City Rockers). He released one EP titled SBCR & Friends, Vol. 1 on Dim Mak Records and began a tour around the world performing DJ sets.

On April 9, 2015, Rifo released a statement to the Bloody Beetroots Facebook page supposedly announcing the end of the Bloody Beetroots and announcing the beginning of SBCR, a dramatic change from the sound design of his former projects. Sir Rifo stated that "SBCR is the name of this evolution, it's a new era and a new mask, with new aesthetics and it will allow us to reshape the future of 'the Bloody Beetroots.'" He later went on to clarify the next day that the Bloody Beetroots has not ended, but SBCR will be his main project for future releases.

In 2017, Rifo released two new songs under the Bloody Beetroots name: a collaboration with Australian band Jet titled "My Name Is Thunder", and a solo song titled "Satan Bass City Rockers". Rifo later announced the songs would be included on his third album, The Great Electronic Swindle, to be released on October 20, 2017.

The Bloody Beetroots also have a series of released/unreleased demos available for listening.

Rifo was married to the Italian singer Levante (Real name Claudia Lagona); they're now divorced.

He's a CrossFit Level 1 Trainer and an "Under Armour" Athlete.

A number of the Bloody Beetroot tracks and musical scores have appeared in popular video games.

• In 2008, "Butter" was included on the soundtrack for FIFA 09
• "Mac Mac" was featured in 2K Sports' NBA 2K9
• A remix of "Black Gloves" by Goose became part of the soundtrack for Pro Evolution Soccer 2012.
• In 2011, the song "31 Seconds to Die" was included on the soundtrack of Saints Row: The Third
• "Rocksteady" was used for a montage at Sony's E3 2013 Keynote. The same song was also used on the soundtrack of Asphalt 8: Airborne
• "The Source (Chaos and Confusion)" debuted on the soundtrack of Saints Row IV, which also features the Bloody Beetroots' remix of "Congorock – Ivory"
• The song "My Name Is Thunder" appears in the mobile racing game Asphalt 9: Legends
• The song "My Name Is Thunder" appears in the trailer for Super Troopers 2.
• The Song "I love the Bloody Beetroots" is sampled during the Shamrockette's montage in Letterkenny, S5E5 ("Back to Back to Back")

The Bloody Beetroots have also marketed distinctive fashion items – most notably a limited edition line of specially designed T-shirts in collaboration with clothing French label Sixpack France and Diesel Jeans.

The Bloody Beetroots music was also featured in the Season 3 episode of Teen Wolf titled "Illuminated." It featured 6 songs created by the Bloody Beetroots, along with a cameo in the show.

A remix of the song "Warp 1.9" is used as entrance music for the English professional wrestling tag team Leaders of the New School, consisting of Marty Scurll and Zack Sabre Jr.

Studio albums

Compilations

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

• "Run" (ShockOne featuring The Bloody Beetroots) (2019)
• "Grand Slam" (Jayceeoh featuring The Bloody Beetroots) (2019)

Remixes

Music videos