Press kit

Red Bug is the band of composer and keyboardist Levente Kókai, who founded it in 2014 and has led it ever since. The line-up changes from era to era, but the music and the message stay: the songs grow out of Levente's own life. It is a road that began in Vojvodina, which his family left for Kecskemét, Hungary, at the start of the Yugoslav wars. After studying at the Kőbánya Music Studio in Budapest, Levente spent three years playing on Scandinavian ferries, then lived in Helsinki for ten years and played on ocean liners for many years.

The band's sound brings together the melodies of pop, the complexity of progressive rock and the energy of Balkan rhythms, with rich arrangements and grand backing vocals. Levente's influences include LGT, Tátrai Band, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Toto, Leonard Cohen and Goran Bregović. The first, English-language album, Maze of Oblivion, came out in 2015, followed by the live album Live at Dabas and the EP Hosszú vizeken (On Long Waters). The second album, the mostly Hungarian-language Egy hajóban evezünk, was released in May 2026, with a launch show at Muzikum, Budapest, featuring guest artists.