Interview from Repeater Fanzine #1, Winter 1990

Taken from 'Repeater' fanzine, run by 'Robby', Sheffield, UK.
Other interviews in this issue include: Lush, Silverfish, The Telescopes, Peter Hook, Band Of Holy Joy, Ride, Senseless Things.

All typos are sympathetic to the original work.

GAYE BYKERS ON ACID

Yes I finally got off my arse & went to see another band outside of The Leadmill. I missed the Bykers in Sheff. due to my mum choosing a most inoppotune date to get married so I made my way to the Baggy City to see the coolest bunch of clowns going for the 7th time. Despite the fact that their nerves were all in tatters due to this being the last date of the tour they were still friendly & helpful.
Since I last saw them they've accquired a new member - Rocket- who plays keyboards / turntables & does a lot of spaz dancing.
Roll on with the comedy show:

LINE UP:
MARY - VOX
TONY - GTR
ROBBER - BASS
KEV - DRUMS
ROCKET - KEBOARDS / TURNTABLES

Repeater: O.K so what exactly happpened with you leaving Virgin - were you thrown off due to crap sales or did you leave off yr own bat?
Mary: No, we were the worst band on the label - we didn't sell anything!

Rocket walks in singing 'Bobby is a C.D.' for some obscure reason & plonks himself down next to Mary hence the following:

Rocket: Do you wanna ask me any questions?
Mary: Oh Rocket's in the band now. yeah Rocket will do the interview.
Repeater: The man in flares.
Mary: Yes, yes but he used to be in the Merchant Navy...
Rocket: I'm a seadog.
Mary: Yes he's a seadog, he's allowed to wear flares. (? - Repeater) Listen, we have a flare theory, I've got this new theory on flares - one day there's gonna be this great big suction that comes out of the earth & everyone wearing flares will just go (makes sucking noise) & they'll be stuck down & won't be able to move, like this (demonstrates with his baggy dingarees how everyone's trousers will be stuck to the earth - Repeater).
Robber: (for no apparent reason) You start hallucinating after you've not been asleep for 48hrs don't you?
(Someone's girlfriend): All they have to do is remove their trousers.
Mary: Well, there is that.
Repeater: Well going back to Virgin...
Mary: Oh yeah, sorry. Well basically we had no manager & we didn't like talking to them so...& they didn't like working with us for a start 'cos we're so disorganised & we wouldn't do everything they told us to do. And the fact that we didn't sell that many records.
Robber: And the fact that we're crap.
Repeater: Why did you bother with all that Rektum stuff?
Tony: Don't you like it?
Repeater: Yeah I like it...
Mary: We love it.
Repeater: ...but it's obviously Gaye Bykers.
Mary: So we should have done it as Gaye Bykers?
Repeater: Yeah, why not, everyone knows it's you anyway.
Robber: Doesn't matter then does it?
Mary: If everyone knows it's us then we're not relying on one thing or another (? - Repeater). I - we're - self-admittedly schizophrenic.
Repeater: So it's a laugh then?
Mary: No it's not a...well yeah it is but...
Rocket: It's a serious laugh. A serious joke.
Mary: Thing is that was a joke, that was our sense of humour. Gaye Bykers On Acid have got a sense of humour right? I dunno how many people can understand it but Rektum was a good idea 'cos...it's the name &, we got in the Independent, they wrote about it. People in Germany believed there's a band called Rektum. We did an interview the other day on T.V., Anne Nightingale was there & I was saying about this E.German band called Rektum who we're working with & she's going (adopts patronising tone) "I've heard of them." So there is a lot of people who fall for it. And we got the joke in the paper, then the wall came down & it just shows you how close to the issue we were. It was a political thing... & we did that 'cos it was a laugh doing it. And we didn't go into the studio with anyone expecting...like some people expect the Bykers to do poppy stuff 'cos y'know, we have done poppy songs - that's the whole point, no that's not pop 'cos that's fuckin' Rektum! Plus going into a studio with virtually no songs written & actually doing 28 songs. And we like listening to it! So Rektum's just an excuse for getting yr demo done & getting it out yr system. So there is a reason. But the thing is Rektum have moved to Manchester now! We've got a new story to circulate 'cos they're doing a record called'E For East Germany'. They're trying to unify the football teams & the East Germans honestly don't want that to happen. So we've got a bit of a scam going on at the moment but that's just a laugh. Inspisral Carpets are good at that I've noticed recently, scams & such, that's why they're so fuckin' talked about. But the Bykers have always been good scam mongers & good for a laugh. We are quite serious about some things but there's a time & a place for everything.
Repeater: Why all the cancer references on the album?
Robber: Buuurrp! 'Cos cancer is prevalent in life, cancer is about things that go the wrong way & it's around you everywhere you go - it's cancer! Walk down the street & the traffic lights, they're cancer. (? - Repeater). Going against the flow.
Mary: We're going the wrong way. Basically, industrialization & corporations are getting bigger & bigger & saying,"Oh yes we're gonna invest in that & that." Big business is so fuckin'...a)it does stifle everybody cos' these people have got the power over you & that's wrong! That's fundamentally the most wrong thing. So that's part of it. There's also a lot of conspiracy about the cure of cancer - cospiracy theories proliferate. In fact there's more people who work towards the supposed cure of cancer than those who've got it, or something like that. There's millions of people involved in the research & stuff & nothing's really been done, there's no unified... And I'm interested in conspiracy theories a)drugs - y'know the fact that the C.I.A.... how Timothy Leary started experimenting with Acid, now everyone's taking acid. How do we know this Ecstacy thing's not a fuckin' thing that's gonna get everyone tweaked out? It could be a conspiracy to get rid of...
Robber: Yaawwn!
Mary: It could be or it could not be! This is what's interesting.
Rocket: We could be here till tomorrow morning talking about conspiracy theories.
Mary: But that's it! That's what's interesting. I mean A.I.D.S. & things, there's lots of questions that should be asked on lots of things & that's big business usually that are in control of that. Big countries &/or big companys. Or God Inc. Y'know 'cos God's not fuckin' God it's the Western ideal of what God is which is fuckin' total war fare. This is me getting enthusiastic!
Rocket: Anyway what about me?
Repeater: all right, who the fuck are you & what are you doing in Gaye Bykers?
Rocket: I'm irish, I'm an ex Merchant seaman.
Robber: He worked for the Provisional I.R.A. as a spotter.
Rocket: Yeah, I was a train spotter for the I.R.A. And I was a dope smuggler, I was a child dope peddler. I smuggled drugs when I was 12yrs old for my parents. Erm, & now I play the strange bits in the middle of the music.
Tony: He plays the tape recorder & the keyboards, he did play the sampler but it's broken.
Rocket: I play all the bits in between.
Mary: He's out guru, he's our cosmic adviser. We're getting fashionable so we thought - Manchester, we'd better get a cosmic adviser.
Repeater: Find a skinhead in flares & you'll be hip.
Rocket: Leylines, y'know.
Mary: Yeah but having said that, this man I've known him for years & he's always looked like that.
Someone: Hey how come you invented acid house? (Or something - Repeater)
Mary: We invented acid house & we invented the new school of attitude which a lot of these people have.
Repeater: Yeah I was getting round to that - both 'Get Down' & 'Nosedive' were sort of dance crossover tracks B4 that sort of thing became fashionable. D'you think you maybe took the wrong direction with all the H.C./thrashy stuff...?
Mary: No, no. 'Cos there's no right & wrong direction. We went in that direction & now we're going in that direction, next week we can go in that direction if we want, we're really lucky if we're really free we can go there, over there (throws arms madly around during this snippet of conversation), we can go anywhere. We did that dance music stuff yeah, but we did enjoy it & we can go back to that now.
Rocket: The thing for the future is Tibetan Book Of The Dead. (? - R).
Repeater: Is there gonna be an acid house E.P. out then?
Mary: It's not really acid house it's just dance.
Rocket: It's a...dance sound.
Robber: It's gonna be called the 'New Dance Attempt' E.P.
Mary: The '2nd Time Around' E.P.
Repeater: So it's gonna come out as Gaye Bykers then?
Robber: No,under P.F.X.
Mary: We don't get played, on the radio as G.B.O.A.! B.B.C. will not play it y'know? Certain radio stations won't play it, 'cos we live in a God fearing country.
Rocket: There's independent dance. The band are independent & we're proud of being independent & we want to remain independent, & this is an independent dance record...
Mary: But it's still us! And we're gonna do it tonight. We can play it live y'know? We haven't said that we've done it in the studio with drum loops & stuff so it sounds like a dance record like every fucker else does. But why shouldn't we do that? 'Cos everyone else is doing that & we were tryin to do that B4...
Repeater: As long as it sounds good I don't give a shit.
Mary: Well that's it, that's the main thing but we do it live as well.So it's dance beats but there's Tony wacking the gtr over it...& Robbers just sequenced it.
Robber: I played it once & that was that - it's a lot easier!
Mary: We could churn out an album a week of that kind of music.
Repeater: So yr really that prolific?
Mary: You could be quite easily 'cos it's so easy to do in a sense, y'know if you've just got imagination a couple of drum beats & some samples you could do all sorts. The point is we never invested our money, we're just interested in...
Repeater: Yeah where the hell is all the money coming from? I heard you were all mega in debt to Virgin.
Mary: Yeah, well, no, we're just doing this off what we're worth. There's no money behind us. We're getting payed by the venues, we're not getting quite as much as we were.
Robber: Currently residing in the 'Where are they now file?'
Mary: Yeah. We got pissed off with the record/product/tour routine y'know? And we hadn't been in a band that long together, we still hadn't had a chance to...
Robber: Learn to play.
Mary: Yeah, & fuckin' get into it. So you know Eric Clapton's God 'cos his new L.P.'s called 'Journeyman' & that's what we're all striving towards. Quality finish.
Robber: Yeah we've taken the whammy bar off Tony's gtr 'cos Eric doesn't use one anymore.
Repeater: So the money's just coming from gig venues then now?
Mary: We can get an advance on our sales, probably what we're worth & we've just got some records printed so we're waiting for that money to come in. We've done gigs...& slowly we can afford things when we can afford them. The album cost us next to nothing to do.
Repeater: So why is it £7.50?
Mary: No it costs £7.35 with V.A.T.
Repeater: O.K. so why does the album cost £7.35?
Mary: 'Cos 7's a nice no.,very spiritual.
Repeater: Could we find and of these 'pay no more than' stickers on yr records in the future?
Mary: 'Pay No More Than'? Yeah we can do next time, we will or we can. But this time we couldn't...
Robber: We did this album to get us maximum profit as quickly as possible.
Mary: So that we can afford to buy some new technology & so we can afford to record more records.
Repeater: So the idea is to make more money to make better records?
Mary: Yeah, really. If you're in a band that wants to make music you may as well put yr own records out & do it yrself. If you can survive doing that then you can er...yr doing it for yrself & not for a big company 'cos in the end the big companies don't see eye to eye with you anyway.
Repeater: Is there any chance of you doing another film then or is that just lack of cash?
Robber: Well if we can find a spare 1/4 of a million laying about we might make a really expensive flop but in the future we might make a home movie actually.
Mary: If we're gonna do one it'll be really cheap & it'll probably be really good. Super 8 camera, black & white,I just wanna do a black & white one really, that explodes into colour 1/2 way thru then goes back to black & white & it's dirt cheap.
Repeater: So you are hoping to do another one?
Mary: If we can get our heads together & get our imagination...lashed down to something then yeah. I started writing a comic but I haven't really done much on it. I've written the outline &...I don't do enough anyway for myself. I think everybody does things, I mean Tony paints all the time & Robber builds shelfs & stuff.
Robber: In between masturbating.
Mary: Everybody's doing things. Between us we have the capability to build...
Robber: A house.
Mary: And then we can jack it. The house that jack built.
Repeater: Is it true that the 'Drill Your Own Hole' video is no longer available?
Mary: I dunno, we've nothing to do with Virgin at all...
Rocket: Write to Virgin.
Mary: They wrote us a letter saying, "You are no longer on the label", & that was it!
Robber: Yr services are no longer required.
Mary: Having said that I think we did get a royalty cheque the other week. We are due some money from certain sources as well. We also owe lots of money but we're not gonna give it back 'cos we don't think we're liable to it.
Repeater: Are we likely to see the return of the Lesbian Dopeheads On Mopeds at any time?
Mary: They've gone to New Zealand.


At this point Kev comes cack in after going out to the van ages ago - hence the following:


Kev: I was stood in the van & it was...God my fuckin' bowels are about to burst so I jumped out the door & ppplurrr, ppplurrr all over next to the drivers' cab, ppplurrr, ppplurrr, splat, splat Yeaurrgh! It just took me about 1/2 an hr to clean my arse! So I had to turn the van around to make sure Hoppy wouldn't come along & go (stamps on floor) put his foot in it, & I got it stuck under the bridge.
Unknown: You got it stuck under the bridge! (Sounds irate).
Kev: Yeah, the bridge wasn't high enough & I just went piling into it!
Mary: I'm trying to detoxicate myself this week. Fugazi are my favourite band, they're straight - edge aren't they?
Repeater: Yeah.
Mary: Yeah, we don't wank! We don't drink milk! We don't fuckin' eat meat!
Repeater: What are yr plans for the future?
Mary: We're off to Paris soon er... then we're gonna do some recoreding with Gary Clail maybe (part of On-U-Sound System - Repeater)
Rocket: We did something with Andy Weatherall but Tony fuckin' beat 'im up in the studio. So he refused to use it.
Mary: Yeah, we left him tyed up in the studio.
Rocket: 'Cos he's a Cockney bastard.
Repeater: So that won't be seeing the light of day?
Mary: No. We're doing this stuff with Gary Clail 'cos he's more hardcore. He's more political & more into... the crack better. So we're doing something with him in the next few weeks. We were supposed to be going to Ireland & we are going to Ireland maybe late summer. We'll be appearing at some free festivals all over the place on the back of a flat bed truck maybe.
Repeater: Well, anything else you wanna say?
Mary: Have a good time all the...no. Erm yeah, don't.

The tape stops there for no apparant reason.

Mary: Oh no, that was kismet, it was fate! I think the tape's ending round about ...round about...
Repeater: No it's not it just stopped.
Mary: Oh, no then I've nothing more to say.

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