the bots talk new ep, causing trouble on stage, and weird run-ins with the dude from one direction – exclusive interview. #soundcheck

We were all a little punchy, I guess. Guitarist Mikaiah Lei and his brother Anaiah had just gotten off the stage from the release show for their new EP Sincerely Sorry, downstairs at Webster Hall. A few technical difficulties plagued the start, but by their 3rd song most of the issues were sorted and they could get down to the very serious business of rocking the fuck out. We stood, packed tight beneath an awning on E 11th st. Myself, Chanda, Mikaiah, Anaiah, and their family. Rain poured down in sudden arbitrary apocalyptic spurts with the type of booming thunder and epic lightning more fitting of an 80’s metal band than a young sibling garage rock duo. But whatever. Though The Bots may have the makings of future rock deities, that doesn’t actually mean they can control the weather. How cool would that be though?

Interview by Nathan Leigh, AFROPUNK Contributor

This is your EP release, right?

Yeah we released our EP a few days ago on the 10^th. We dropped it on the 10^th, and just performed a little show a few minutes ago for our company; our camp, and a couple people. It was really lovely.

How are you guys feeling?

I feel good. I feel excited to move on and move forward; to move on with everything. I’ve been doing this band thing for so long, and it’s good to see a little bit of progress. I dunno. You work really hard on something and you hope that it’d pay off. And I think we’re getting there.

Are you going to get any any downtime now the EP’s out or is now when you kick into high gear?

We’re kicking it into high gear now. The EP was warming up to what we’re doing now. We’re going into the studio. We’re doing a bit of tracking tomorrow; we’re gonna put down some songs. And hopefully when we get it all tight and ready to put out for the world to hear everybody likes it. From what we played tonight and what’s on the album it’s completely different. But it’s completely us at the same time, and I hope that they can enjoy it.

How’s it going to be different? What are you doing?

I dunno, different instrumentation. When we perform, we perform as a two piece obviously. And that’s how we record as well. But it doesn’t sound like two people on recording; we record bass and auxiliary percussion and keys and synth and whatever. When we do it live, it’s more of a raw rock and roll set. The way the music will sound on this next album will sound a little bit more premeditated. The first stuff we did was more “plug in and go.” It’s nice to kind of have an album to appreciate. Like you could sit down and put on the record and listen to it at home, and then go to the show and enjoy a proper rock and roll show at the same time. It’s two different worlds.

Anaiah

Two different things.

Mikaiah

It sounds good to be in the studio and make a lavish album and everything sounds beautiful. You lay down the guitar and drums like we would do normally. It sounds like the live set for a minute, then we go back in and overdub bass and other guitar pieces and just make it sound full and nice. Cause we’re two people and its gonna sound like that live all the time. But on the album if we have the ability to with the technology provided, why not make something wonderful?

So how much do you guys collaborate? Anaiah, are you involved in writing the music and lyrics at all?

Anaiah

Lyric-wise? I haven’t written lyrics in a while. But I will every once in a while.

Mikaiah

He has ideas for lyrics or hooks or whatever. We’ll come up with hooks together. A lot of times I write what I wanna sing, and Anaiah plays excellent drums over everything. Sometimes I come up with a beat in mind and I pitch it to him.

Anaiah

Or I come up with a guitar riff.

So you play guitar as well?

Anaiah

I mean I’m not…For the purposes of writing music, yeah I kinda have to.

Do you guys ever have that sibling rivalry? “I want it to be an E minor!” “No, it’s a C!”

Mikaiah

Sometimes we’ll write songs and we can’t figure it out and Anaiah will have a better idea than I do, or I’ll have a better idea than Anaiah will.

Anaiah

It’s all business.

Mikaiah

It’s all business!

So you’re not like the Gallagher brothers or anything?

Mikaiah

No, he’s never like “dude, I need a 10 minute drum solo!”

Anaiah

I don’t do drum solos.

Mikaiah

You should though!

You did a little drum solo tonight.

Anaiah

No, no.

It was like an extended fill.

Anaiah

The way we wrote it, I guess it’s like a drum break or something.

Mikaiah

I’m gonna make a proper drum solo for you where I get off guitar and I’m just gonna start break dancing and you’ll just continue playing. And they’ll be like “oh you can break dance to this music too?”

Just put down the guitar and awkwardly lay down some cardboard?

Mikaiah

Yeah! I wanna do the worm so bad!

Anaiah

Some marble floor. A linoleum cut out, we’ll just lay it down.

And you gotta do the pull away thing where all of a sudden you’re wearing a track suit.

Mikaiah

Yeah! Underneath our white outfits, we’ll have track suits. It’ll be another thing. People wont see it coming. I think people wont want to watch our show at that point.

Anaiah

Then I’ll get off the drum set, and we’ll both start break dancing!

And you’ll just leave a loop running…

Mikaiah

We’ve done that before! Not break dancing. But. We played this festival in Belgium and it was fantastic. The energy was amazing. I didn’t even play anything. I just pressed a sample, we both got off our instruments, and jumped in the crowd. Just started crowd surfing.

Anaiah

Multiple times actually, not just once. It’s awesome.

Do you plan that shit out, or is it more just a spur of the moment thing?

Mikaiah

It’s spur of the moment

Anaiah

We might talk about it like “oh we should totally do this!” And then we’ll see how it goes.

Do you have the look when you’re like “I’m doing this. Are you doing this? All right we’re doing this.”

Mikaiah

We’re doing this! Are you gonna kill somebody? I’m gonna kill somebody! Let’s do it!

Jump into the pit, just start fucking people up…

Anaiah

Walking on people!

Mikaiah

Push up on their face! I’m like what? [we’re all cracking up at this point] We’re not terrible people, but we enjoy having fun.

Anaiah

That’s how shows happen. Sometimes people go crazy. I’ve seen some weird stuff at our shows.

Well you guys have toured with some pretty hard partying bands too.

Mikaiah

From hanging out with those bands, I know how to party now. I party seriously.

But your Mom comes on tour with you right?

Mikaiah

Our Dad too.

So are you ever like “Hey Mom, can I go out till 4 AM with HR? Is that OK?”

Anaiah

Going out to 4 AM is like, you want your sleep. I don’t want to play the show just dead tired.

Mikaiah

We’re still realistic about things. We’re not stupid. I’ve seen a lot of bands…

Anaiah

They do party. I don’t know how they do it.

How was playing with Bad Brains? Did you get to hang out with them at all?

Mikaiah

My Dad’s a big fan, and was friends with HR and everything. HR would come around when we were younger to our house and stuff. I didn’t remember him then. But as we got older we got to meet him again in New York. I met him before then. He used to come to this studio. Dad, what studio was that?

Akosua Lei

Which one?

Mikaiah

The one that Bad Brains—that HR would hang out at.

Akosua Lei

That was called Radio Recorder.

Mikaiah

Radio Recorder Studios. Elvis had recorded some stuff there. But HR would hang around there. And my Dad was obviously still friends with him, so we’d come over.

So your folks are musicians as well?

Mikaiah

My dad loves music. Our mom listens music. [she pays no mind to the good-natured dig] Reggae mostly. My dad’s the guy who likes everything. He’s well rounded, which is good. He’s like a big hipster now.

What do your friends from home think about what you’re doing?

Mikaiah

They’re all very supportive. I got text messages from my friends when the EP came out and it was like “dude! I just bought the EP on iTunes and it’s so good!” And that really means a lot. It brings a smile to my face to know I have real friends. But at the same time, there are so many fake people. Cause ever since we’ve started earning a bit of recognition as our band—The Bots—I’ve got Facebook messages from girls I asked out in high school and they’re like “Hey Mikaiah, we should hang out when you get back!” and I’m like “you didn’t pay the time of day to me when I was in school! You embarrassed me and made me feel terrible!”

So you’re not like “all right, now’s my time!” You know who your people are?

Mikaiah

Yeah. I know who my real friends are. And I give everything to my friends. If I had more than I have now, I’d give it to them. I’m working to earn something and make a name for myself. And it’s just nice.

Anything else you wanna say?

Mikaiah

Yeah, homework sucks, and One Direction rules! [cracking up] That’s for all the kids.

Anaiah

Harry Styles once bought me fries! In Barcelona.

Mikaiah

Harry Styles once hit on my girlfriend at a bar in England.

Anaiah

That’s true.

Mikaiah

It’s true! He winked at her!

Was that before or after he bought you fries?

Mikaiah

That was before. They were two different times.

So you guys run in very similar circles to One Direction, is what you’re saying.

Mikaiah

Yeah. I hang out with them all the time! Shout out to my boy Harry. And the rest of them. But I don’t know their names.