The Bamboos Drop Third Single “On & On” Featuring Reginald Ak
Melbourne Soul powerhouse The Bamboos keep up the forward Funk momentum with the third single leading up to their 12th studio album, “Sugar On Top”. “On & On” has an energy that lives up to what’s on the box with a rolling bassline and insistent drums from the long-standing rhythm section of Yuri Pavlinov and Graeme Pogson, but this time with the guest vocals of Reginald AK.
This is the second Bamboos album that Reginald AK has contributed to following on from the tender Nu-Soul excursion “Safe From Harm”, which was a standout on the band’s previous album, 2023’s “This Is How You Do It”. Reginald AK is the singer / drummer in one of Melbourne’s brightest up and coming Soul acts, Steppers, plus he’s carrying on the legacy of his mother, The Bamboos’ own Kylie Auldist.
“The only effective method of quelling the overwhelm felt when facing my shit head on is to write a song about it,” said Reginald when analysing the song’s themes. “Everything in life is hard and scary and new and we fear change – but real strength comes from running at it. So look it dead in the eyes and run at it. It’ll all be over in a minute, so you may as well end up with some stories of grit and a healthy opinion of yourself.”
The global reaction to the first two singles “Rockets & Flowers” and “Sugar On Top” has been more than enthusiastic with plays and support from radio and DJs with notable support from stations such as KEXP Seattle, BBC 6Music UK, ABC Australia local radio, national radio stations in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Norway as well as on dozens of Soul specialist terrestrial and online radio stations across Europe, UK and North America.
The highly anticipated ten track album will feature also feature guest vocals from Rita Satch, whose 2025 debut album “Meet Me In The Garden” was one of Melbourne’s best Soul releases of the year and has recently been touring the UK and Europe with Jazz legend Gary Bartz, as well as old friend of the family, Tim Rogers of You Am I. Rogers of course has a long history with the band, going right back to the breakthrough 2012 hit “I Got Burned”. But it’s the vocals of Australia’s Queen Of Soul, Kylie Auldist that is the backbone of this album, as she has been for the band over the last twenty years.
While the album was recorded with the band’s long time co-producer and engineer, John Castle (whose in demand studio skills have been called in by the likes of Alex Lahey, Vance Joy, Angus & Julia Stone, Jack River and Cub Sport), this time Ferguson decided to track it at Castle’s recording space in his new home of Launceston, Tasmania.
The viral success for their 2006 track “I Don’t Wanna Stop”, which exploded on social media in late 2025 shows no signs of abating with now well over one billion plays on TikTok and with similarly huge numbers across Instagram and YouTube. Long a live favourite, there’s been no pattern or trend to the song’s success in how it’s been used, with users in almost every language and country around the world simply drawn to an undeniably feel-good sweet Soul tune. The song saw another wave of success earlier in 2026 with a remix from one of Australia’s best Dance acts, Cosmo’s Midnight.
“On & On” is out Oct 2nd on Pacific Theatre.
The “Sugar On Top” album will be released on November 6th on Pacific Theatre Records. Pre-order LP, CD and digital from https://linktr.ee/thebamboos
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