Who’s in the band and what are your roles?

Lyse – Drums and backing vocals 

DC – Guitar & Vocals

Mick – Bass Botherer and Backing Vocals 

What’s your ‘origin story’? 

DC – Lyse and I met as the Christmas Eve fell and we’ve been inseparable since. I first joined 70’s Solihull punk band, The Accused, in the early 90’s, which I play bass for. I then formed Bride Just Died – another punk band, having some great supports and some recordings out here and in the States. I had the good fortune to sing for Rat Scabies & Brian James of The Damned too. I’d known Rat since 2000, as he’d produced BJD and we remain good friends. He and I also had a short lived band called Swan-Burger, which had Dave Tregunna – Sham69/Lords of the New Church on bass. Lyse and I formed DC Spectres in 2016 and recorded 4 albums and managed to play abroad, many times. Then in 2019, we formed The Boo-Tikis. Originally a surf / instrumental band with Phil Wood from Mystery Action on guitar, Lyse on drums and myself on bass. We played a handful of shows before fizzling out and recorded a CD – Electric Desert. When Spectres knocked it on the head, Lyse and I kept being asked to play shows. Lyse suggested a 2 piece Tikis line up. To fill the set, we pinched the garage sounding songs I’d written previously and that’s how we’ve evolved into a full garage band, I guess.. There are more bands I’ve been in bit this must have already sent you to sleep….

Lyse – Well, me and DC are married, partners in crime onstage and off.  We first crossed paths with Mick at one of our regular shows we promote at Dracula’s Garage in Kings Norton.  He’s a total ninja on bass.  We asked him to play for us, and the rest is history.  Before this band, I was behind the kit again for DC Spectres, and before that I fronted a three-piece alternative outfit called Murder of Crows.  It’s been a wild ride ever since.   

Mick – We met through a dating agency hahaha… or

Going to gigs hosted by DC and Lyse and through Facebook Friends (realising there were many mutual friends and thinking a squillion lemmings can’t be wrong).

Previous bands: Stereogram (3 piece Power Pop band in the 90s)

The Upper 5^th (ex members of 80s mod band Makin’ Time)

Currently play with Matt McManamon (ex Dead 60s & The Specials)

Vaseline (punk/new wave covers)

The Oracle Project (60s/Hammond vibes)

Tour with The Deep Six (who tour with ’79 mod bands e.g Secret Affair).

Which bands / artists are your biggest influences?

Lyse- For me it would be The Stranglers, The Clash and The Damned

DC – Music Machine, Chocolate Watch Band, Anything with a lot of Fuzz and Trem!!!

Mick – First band I ever saw, which triggered me to want to play bass, was The Jam – still to this day, I’ve never been to a gig that had that much atmosphere and excitement.  The Stranglers were a very close second along with the original New Model Army 3 piece line up… obviously there are about another 5 thousand influences hahaha 

Do you adapt your sound between shows/gigs/recordings?

Lyse – No, what I have is what you’ll hear;)

DC – Buy louder amps!!!!

Mick – For sure… certain songs can require different tones/effects…mainly variations of clean and overdriven tones

How would you describe your sound?

Lyse – Garage punk with a 60s raw vibe

Mick – Beautiful

What’s your favourite song to play live and why? 

Lyse – ‘Oedipus Hex’, because I love the lyrics and the speed of the track is fast… just how I like it!

DC – I really like ‘Hurt’ and ‘Ghost’ off the new recording. ‘Purple Skies’ is a blast too….

Mick – Bad Blood… it makes me moist haha

What’s been the highlight of your music career so far?

Lyse – We’ve played some legendary spots over the years, places like the Hope & Anchor and the 100 Club, and we’ve just wrapped up our third album, and we’re buzzing to unleash it.

DC – personally, working with Lyse is as good as it gets!!! aside from that, working with and becoming friends with all my musical heroes, as such..

Mick – Touring different counties is always ace… America, Hungary and lots of Europe were all ace.  Writing, recording and touring the Stereogram album is always a favourite as it was the first exposure into touring, support gigs with household name bands… and we were still “kids”.

More recently, from being a fan boy of The Dead 60s back in early 2000s to standing on stage next to their front man Matt McManamom playing bass for him and then recording his 2^nd album plus two tours of Japan has been a head shaky ace ride too… but for all the right reasons as Matt is now one of my best friends. 

Have you faced any difficulties or setbacks in your music career so far? How have you overcome them? 

Lyse – When band members leave right on the cusp of something good it’s hard to get that momentum back.  We’ve had moments where we had to strip it back to a two-piece and take the time to find the right person for the job.  But by doing exactly that, we managed it well, and came back even tighter.

DC – as Lyse says, set backs by unreliable people….

Mick – From previous bands… when it becomes harder work than it should be and relationships break down… then it’s time to move on but at the time you stay with it because you don’t know better.  Oh and breaking a fingernail… that set me back half an hour once.

What’s coming up in the future for you? 

Lyse – Exciting stuff, we’ve got a couple of gigs coming up supporting Roman Jugg (Ex-Damned/Phantom Chords) and his band.  Our new album Bad Blood is out soon, so I’ll be getting the artwork sorted shortly.  Other than that, it’s more gigs, more videos, more noise, more chaos, more fun!

DC – as above but with more motorbikes…

Mick – Gigs and gigs and gigs and gigs.

Is there anything in particular you’d like me to mention in this  feature 

Lyse – We’ve just released a video called ‘Tellin’ Lies’ off our forthcoming album, ‘Bad Blood’, which will be coming out on Flying Skull records. Darren Crane, who heads up the label is a true legend.

Mick – I broke a bass string whilst supporting Musical Youth years ago with Stereogram (very mismatched bands on the same bill).

After the gig, approximately 8 of the band/roadies/crew surrounded my bass with the broken string and it became one of the hardest interviews I’ve ever had!!! “How did you manage to break a bass string?” “What were you thinking of before you broke it?” Concluding with “you must be a crazy guy!” Hahaha

TELL ME ABOUT:

Your last album…what was the process there?

Lyse – We all went down to Folkestone to record with Roman Jugg at Northdown Sound.  Mole and Lois are lovely, both incredibly talented, so we trusted them to do a great job with the recording, and we’re really pleased with the results. 

Mick – Arriving in Folkestone and staying for a few days was ace… particularly when Roman Jugg (ex-Damned guitarist, who I had seen play many times), strolled into the studio.  

Catching the “live” sound was a priority so, getting it right was a bit of pressure (particularly as we had only had four or five rehearsals… because I am the new boy) haha

Favourite song of yours!

Lyse – I’ve got a few favourites, but Goodbye Toulouse by The Stranglers is one of them.

DC – hmmmm, not sure, it changes daily…

Mick – Wowwwww – that’s the hardest question in the world… mending this country would be easier than answering that!!! Today… it’s ‘Strange Town’ by The Jam. 

Your craziest tour experience…

DC – The first Scabies & James show… That was a rush!!! First DC Spectres show too, that really was a blur!!!

Lyse – I was the merch seller on the Scabies and James tour, so many unforgettable moments with Rat, Brian, DC and the band.  I remember one gig up in Scotland, I had fully-steamed blokes trying on merch right in front of me, asking if things suited them like I was running some kind of late-night fashion show all while holding their drinks.  It was chaos, but the entertaining kind, I managed to stifle my laughter well. 

Then there was the B&B incident.  We got back late after a show, the owner peered through the window, unlocked the door a crack and said “Right, you lot can come in…but not her.  She’s a groupie, and groupies are not allowed here”.  Cue my husband desperately trying to explain, “No mate, that’s my wife”.  After about 10 minutes of trying to convince him, and thinking we were going to be left out in the cold, he finally believed us. I think we even had to show him ID in the end! Needless to say, breakfast was very quiet the next morning, and the owner apologised profusely for the mix-up. 

Mick – Ermmmm what goes on tour, stays on tour hahaha EXCEPT when in Italy with The Upper Fifth, a very friendly drug dealer (who was regularly sampling his own stock), insisted on being educated in the most extreme Socialist Pary in the UK and who was their leader… the conversation was tremendous. I actually convinced him Paddington Bear was the leader of the  Militant Tendency party and he made Trotsky look like Peppa Pig… it kept me amused for about 18 minutes hahaha

Your dreams for the future! How would you describe them?

Lyse – I don’t tend to think too far into the future, I guess Joe Strummer was right when he said “the future is unwritten”, I can relate to that. 

DC – Hopefully we shall have some 7″ vinyl’s out after the new CD has been released.

Mick – Wet 

Is there anyone you’d love to share a stage with, living or dead? Why?

Lyse – Elvis, who wouldn’t want to share a stage with Elvis… 

DC – I was very lucky to stand and sing alongside Brian James – a true musical pioneer!!!

Mick – Mmmm not a fan of dead bodies on stage… the smell is dreadful haha ermmm but seriously it would have had to have been Joe Strummer – that would have been just the best!

Did you always know what kind of music you wanted to make, or did it come to you gradually?

Lyse – Not particularly, but I’ve always been a huge music fan with mostly punk influences, so whatever I got involved in musically, I think those influences would come through somewhere

DC – I always know how each band should sound when I’m starting something new. Once its up and running, then it can evolve at its own pace.

Mick – Bit of both really… I think everyone has a foundation of what they are dragged up listening to, which naturally is where you will navigate towards but as your musical horizons expand, playing different types of music becomes really appealing.  Learning how to play different genres only ever makes for a better musician. 

Are your lyrics in character or based on your life?

DC – Some are character, based on life events – usually all down to observation.

Mick – Mine were always cultural tensions, political struggles or human rights issues but as you mellow with age they are more about fluffy animals… particularly cats, I like cats hahaha

Was there a song or moment that made you fall in love with rock ‘n’ roll/rockabilly?

DC – I was very lucky as a kid, my parents were always playing Elvis, The Animals, Del Shannon, Roy Orbison, stuff i still listen too now. 

Lyse – Probably when I saw the Elvis comeback special, that was something else.

Mick – Wreckin’ Crew by The Meteors was a definite ‘sit up and listen’ to this subculture… with roots in both rockabilly and punk. 

Is there anything else you’d like to tell me?

DC – We’re going try and get some more records out as well as videos this year, if we’re are not gigging, we will be up to something…..

Lyse – Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day;)

Mick – My cat is called Crackers and he likes both wet and dry food. 

Nick Constantine

Buy music from The Boo-Tikis here