Hailing from Hate City (AKA Atlanta, Georgia, USA) are Biters – four rock n’ roll lifers desperate for a way out and intent on spreading their relentlessly energetic message to anyone who will listen. Dragging their patched up asses around the US punk circuit, the gang of four eventually emerge blinking and stumbling into the wider world of rock ‘n’ roll........
Biters’ story is one of a tribe of rock ‘n’ roll dreamers, a single minded vision and a ‘make it or die trying’ will to succeed. This uncompromising stance has led the band to develop a fearsome reputation – criss-crossing America on tour after tour, embracing the dreamers and the fearless alike, and energising a rock scene that had become monotone with a colourful, upbeat brand of American rock. Added into the mix is the proudly defined look of the band and their fans, that has lead to a strong sense of community and togetherness for band and fan alike. Biters disciples display their allegiance with a mixture of pride and provocation – hand made clothes and jackets displaying the Three-Eyed Tiger motif, logo tattoos and fan art form a huge part of the aura of the band, and has spawned a sub-culture that has taken on a life of its own.
Notorious in the established local underground punk scene that spawned them (a thread that runs all the way back to the Sex Pistols infamous debut US show at Atlanta Great Southeast Music Hall in January 1978), the band stand out by being unafraid to wear their wider influences with pride. The classics of American story telling rock ‘n’ roll (Petty, Springsteen) are channelled and mutated with a love of English 70’s glam stomp rock (Slade, T Rex, The Sweet) and go some way to defining the Biters sound.
Always possessed of a desire to create timeless rock n’ roll, band ringleader Tuk explains:
“I put the Biters together to bring some style and some substance back to rock n’ roll. I wanted to do something super-authentic, I wanted to do something timeless, something iconic, I wanted to do something classic, like all of my favourite bands and favourite artists.”
Tuk and his cohorts have been fighting for rock ‘n’ roll ever since they formed. Issuing a series of self released albums, EP’s and singles, the band gained a reputation as a feel good live act despite the ever-present threat of uncontrolled hell-raising, a reputation that increasingly surprised people who expected some cheesy glam metal imitation. According to Tuk, the real influences are clear:
“I’m influenced by the bands Mötley Crüe and Guns ‘n’ Roses were influenced by, Rose Tattoo, Sweet, Bowie.”
It’s the melodic edge to the band that is now unashamedly unleashed with the completion of the Biters Earache Records debut ‘Electric Blood’. The ‘in-yer-face’ spirit is all over tracks like ‘Low Lives in Hi-Definition’ and ‘Electric Blood’ but the real craft is in the hooks in each song. On ‘Restless Hearts’ and ‘1975’ the band blends catchiness with an edgy dissatisfaction that demands the rest of the world join their pure hearted rock ‘n’ roll campaign, or get trampled. The choice is black and white, one side against the other. No compromise and no fence sitting. Either you’re with Biters, or you’re against them.
For Tuk, the mission statement is simple: “My goal is to make rock ‘n’ roll cool again.”
It seems that the wider world is finally starting to take notice. Biters signed to Earache Records in 2015 and set a July 10 release date for the ‘Electric Blood’ album.