Bellamy Brothers ‘Flashed’ in Europe

The Bellamy Brothers were victims of an International Flash Mob in Europe last week ... but that's actually a good thing! David and Howard Bellamy got "flashed" by around 10,000 people in Berlin, Zurich and Vienna, who simultaneously danced to the Bellamys' tune with pop star D.J. Ötzi, "Like a Star." (Watch the Flash Mob dance in the video player below.)

The event occurred on the day the album, D.J. Ötzi & the Bellamy Brothers: Simply The Best was released. The singers were in rehearsals for a television show when they were told they needed to go over to a public square in Berlin called Alexanderplatz.

"We walked through this restaurant and into the square and I couldn't believe it," David tells The Boot. "I knew the release of the album would be pretty big, but I had no idea. We had just done the Echo Awards the night before, which is like our Grammy Awards."

As the three men walked out into the crowd of about 5,000, all David could think was, "we're gonna need a PA system" and "we should have brought our guitars!" As it turned out, that wasn't necessary, because the singers just climbed up on a platform and thanked the people for being there.

"I felt like we should have played for them or something," David says. "They had this stereo taped to a bicycle, and they had used Twitter and Facebook to make sure everyone knew where to come and what time to the three different cities. I've never seen anything like it!"

The album project with D.J. Ötzi, who is a pop star in Europe, is a bit unusual for the American music legends. It came about because of an album the brothers did a few years ago with Gola, an artist from Switzerland. A mutual songwriter friend wrote a song for D.J., and someone suggested that they collaborate on an album.

"D.J. is a country fan," David explains. "He likes Kenny Rogers, and when he sings you can hear a little of that in his voice because that's where he learned to sing country songs. He had a world hit a few years ago with Bruce Channel's 'Hey Baby.' It was huge. I know this album took people by surprise."

Among the tunes on Simply the Best are "Every Time You Walk in the Room," "I Can Help" and then a combination of D.J.'s songs and Bellamy Brothers' tunes. The song, "More of You," has been the biggest downloaded single from the album so far. "It has a bit of Euro beat to it and sounds really good," David says.

He goes on to explain that experimenting with different music is exciting for them, especially at this point in their career. And as far as the future of the Bellamy Brothers? Expect the unexpected.

"We just finished a new gospel album, and that's really one of the favorite things we've done," David reports. "We loved working on it and were sorry to see it end. At this point in our career, it's important to do things that keep our fans' interest and our interest, instead of saying 'Oh, the Bellamys are doing another album.' It's not like we are locked into one thing; I like everything from bluegrass to reggae and everything in between, so it's fun for us to see what the next project brings."

The Bellamys will perform at a good number of fairs and festivals this summer in the U.S., then head to Germany and Switzerland to tour with D.J. this winter. In the fall, they hope to release their gospel album. And to add to their busy schedule, they have two more upcoming album projects: one with Gola and another duets album with European and American artists.