Interview with The Bites: ”Squeeze’ definitely puts all of that into a Molotov cocktail and says: “Knock knock, we’re The Bites!”‘

LA glam rockers The Bites are poised to release their riffed up, feel-good, stompy glam rock debut album, Squeeze, in September.

Having watched his profile on TikTok (@jordantylerbites) blow up, with over 2.1 million likes amassed on his classic rock covers, frontman Jordan Tyler founded The Bites in 2019 with LA drummer, producer and long-time friend Mark Hylander. The duo were joined by guitarists Dustin Coon and Jono Richer, and bassist Zack Currier to round out the sound. ‘Jono and I met onstage in The Viper Room, there used to be a weekly jam,’ Tyler said. ‘We did a song called ‘Rocks Off’ (by The Rolling Stones). Zack and Mark have known each other since high school. Actually, I used to play in another band in Boston and when I moved to LA, Zack took my place in that band, I passed the baton onto him in Boston (laughs). And now he’s part of The Bites!’

Tyler, who is originally from Chicago, says of the album: ‘Putting this record, Squeeze, together, I really wanted to create something timeless. The stigma of “rock is dead” has been so blown out of proportion. All the music we grew up with from the rock legends of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, we’ve heard over and over again to the point where it’s become a part of us. We want to give fans something special with Squeeze. When you hear this album in full, for the first time, hopefully it’ll give you the excitement and joy of albums that you’ve been listening to for decades. It’s gonna get in your bones, baby!’

‘The goal was to create something that takes you back to when you feeling good’

Squeeze, which comprises 10 tracks, resurrects the style, hop and swagger of early rock ’n’ roll, displaying the no-nonsense attitude of The Hives and the sheer recklessness of Mötley Crüe but with an infectious energy that is all Bites, chronicling nights out on the town with friends, chasing glamorous rock chicks, with everyone decked out in a good dose of leather and leopard print: ‘It’s been a long time coming, we’ve been writing it since 2019,’ Tyler said. ‘The goal was to create something that takes you back to when you were feeling good. It’s a pretty wild live show!’ On our Zoom, Tyler is wearing an INXS t-shirt and we get chatting about how brilliant they were: ‘Michael Hutchence was the last of the real rock stars,’ he said enthusiastically. ‘Their music was so incredible, he was a real frontman.’

The album erupts with ‘Knockin’ On The Door’ and a jubilant “woo, knock knock, baby” from Tyler, which pulls you right in as it races along powered by frenetically joyous and squealey riffs and his evident delight at being part of it. Think Led Zeppelin-esque riffs, mashed up with The Rolling Stones, The Struts and a great big pinch of T. Rex. It’s impossible not to smile and sing along: ‘This song was a huge turning point for The Bites, from a raw to a big, powerful sound,’ Tyler said. ‘It was the first one we wrote like this, we knew it had to be the opener, it became the benchmark for the rest of the album.’

As the track kicks off: “I can see ya singin’ along. Rockin’ and rollin’ all night long. Love struck and hypnotized. You got stars comin’ out your eyes.”

‘The Rolling Stones are equal parts badass and sexy, rough and tough with attitude’

The Bites’ logo is modelled on the lips and tongue logo of The Rolling Stones, depicting teeth bitting into their name. The artwork for the album features a woman with amazing tattoos wearing a white vest top with their logo: ‘Upon moving to LA five years ago, I was immersed in rock ‘n’ roll history,’ he said. ‘The Rolling Stones are equal parts badass and sexy (laughs), rough and tough with attitude. That logo does have some grit to it. To me, The Rolling Stones’ logo is more recognisable even than the Apple symbol.’ I say that I love the album artwork and the woman’s tattoos: ‘If you look really closely, she’s got a Beetlejuice tattoo, not on the arm with the heart but the other one. We blurred it slightly, we didn’t wanna get sued!’

Incredibly, their debut single ‘Do Me A Favor’, a bombastic rollercoaster of a song that runs to almost five minutes, started out as just a two minute song. The hooky opening riff slides into an electrifying, driving blues song that just gets bigger and bolder as it unfolds, with the added bonus of three guitar solos. It’s the kind of blisteringly good guitar rock that will get listeners fervently playing air guitar – and guitarists wishing they’d written it. It sets the precedent for what came next: all of the tracks on the album have huge singalong choruses and oodles of glam rock riffs: ‘We like to keep our songs as real as can be, we’re always having fun, you want to party with us! We had some fun in the bathroom, that’s what the song’s about – you can’t get much more rock ‘n’ roll than that!’

As the track goes: “There’s a house by LAX. Where the planes fly so low they graze your head. And they party all night long. Until all the drinks is gone. And when the sun starts comin’ up, they’re gonna ask for one more song.”

Tyler and Hylander are the main songwriters in the band and they have an arsenal of inspiration to draw on: ‘It’s not often Mark and I sit down together and say “Let’s do something new”,’ Tyler said. ‘Like Catch, my notes apps are crazy! If I were to write a song with any musician it would probably be Steven Tyler. He’s always been one of my favourite frontmen, and his style of writing has this kind of tongue in cheek style that I often find in my own writing.’

‘Pretty Boys’ is one of the hookiest songs on the album, with cheekily observational lyrics about a girl on the prowl for a guy and cocaine. The guitar solo around 1 minute 40 in feels like it’s the high point of the song but they’re just get started as the guitars layer up and Tyler brings an additional jolt of energy to it when he comes back on vocals: ‘It’s one of the first ones that came around, I’m very inspired by Jimmy Page, he’d try to fit as many notes into a solo as he can (laughs), I thought “I wanna do that!” The leading guitar is the last part of the puzzle. It’s all about the lyrics in this one, everyone can sing – or shout! – along. There are guitar parts in the open spaces, it gives you a break from the lyrics. All of The Bites play guitar, it’s wild. Zack started on guitar, Mark writes on guitar.’

As it kicks off: “You see that little honey and she’s all dolled up? The one every fella here is a-tryin’ to love. Well, you better hope and pray that you’re her type. ‘Cuz word on the street is that she only likes the…pretty boys, pretty boys.”

‘He makes it seem so effortless, like he’s taking a nap when he’s singing his lungs out!’

The track offers the listener snapshots of nights out in LA: ‘The song’s a compilation of moments on a night out (laughs), I got more social. You see a lot on the scene in LA, girls looking for two things (men and drugs)! It’s funny, when I visited LA in 2013, before I moved here, I hated it, but now I love it and never want to leave. It has some great artists, like our buddies All Waves. I love Dirty Honey (a brilliant LA rock band). Mark, their singer, is the best, one of the nicest guys. He makes it seem so effortless, like he’s taking a nap when he’s singing his lungs out!’ I tell him that both vocally, and in his delivery, he himself reminds me of The Struts’ frontman Luke Spiller and he seems genuinely delighted: ‘They’re great guys, I’m really looking forward to the next album. Luke could sing the back of a shampoo bottle and I’d listen to him! I sadly haven’t met any of my musical heroes yet, but I certainly hope it won’t be long. I’m pretty sure I’d hurl all over my shoes if I got to shake hands with Paul McCartney!’

One of my favourite tracks on the album is the title track ‘Squeeze’, which kicks off with a whirly sound, that sounds a bit like a particularly noisy record player and I ask him what it is: ‘It’s a tape machine, I hit an A chord and the tape emulator does the rest! We run our guitars through Marshall JCM Amplifier emulators. ‘Squeeze’, I felt it was so simple and perfect, like the name The Bites. When I came up with the album artwork, I’d had the idea for a year, a bit of lewd rock ‘n’ roll (laughs). When we played it live for the first time in 2021, we were like: “Yo, this is next level”. It’s the second song in our set – we open with ‘Knockin’. If we had to choose a song that contains all the elements of what defines The Bites as a band, without hesitation, it would be ‘Squeeze’ – whether it’s on the record or onstage, it’s loud, packed with energy, there’s sex appeal, it’s chaotic, all of which earned us the reputation that we have. ‘Squeeze’ definitely puts all of that into a Molotov cocktail and says: “Knock knock, we’re The Bites!”‘

As the title suggests, it’s about a guy lusting over a girl and the chromatic guitar progression in the huge guitar solo builds and builds, perfectly encapsulating the energy and drive of the song, as does the cheeky kiss at the end: ‘Mark has a little drum interlude, ‘Squeeze’ just slams,’ Tyler said enthusiastically. ‘That guitar solo was my creation, I thought: ‘Let’s use every key we can!” Dustin crushes it live, we’re so locked in. Dustin puts his leg on the monitor and I crawl underneath (laughs), so far, there haven’t been any accidents!’

As it kicks off: “Honey, I gotta know, how do you look so good? Tell me, tell me, baby. How do you look so good? Darlin’, don’t you be a tease. Pretty little mama, won’t you give me a squeeze?”

‘It’s custom-built, it’s my baby, it screams onstage, it’s powerful and beefy‘

I ask him what his go-to guitar is: ‘It’s my Partcasters, it’s got an Eddie Van Halen Fender neck. It’s custom-built, it’s my baby, it screams onstage, it’s powerful and beefy. Part of me would like a 1950’s Telecaster like Keith Richards, or maybe a Flying V like Jimi Hendrix!’

His introduction to music was a brilliant one: ‘I started singing at a very young age. We had a karaoke machine in the house and we’d always have family and friends come over to sing. I started taking voice lessons when I was 10 and started guitar not long after that. I was introduced to rock ‘n’ roll at such a young age, I think of it almost as a language I learned along with English. I spent a lot of time in the backseat of a car driving between my parents’ houses. There would always be rock music playing and I was always fascinated and wanted to learn everything about it, “Dad who is this?” “Led Zeppelin” “What song is this?” “Black Dog” “Who is singing?” “Robert Plant” etc.’

‘Heather Leather’ deserves to become a party anthem, it’s pure rock ‘n’ roll about a night out with the woman in question: it’s sexy, brilliantly energetic, and with some of the squealiest guitars on the album: ‘It’s based on multiple Heathers (laughs), it’s the last track we wrote, it’s the cherry on top. It’s a rock song for people who haven’t heard rock ‘n’ roll for a while! When you think of rock ‘n’ roll, the first thing you think of is leather, right? It’s rock ‘n’ roll sexy. We played it at On The Rox, a club in LA. It’s a shithole (laughs).’ I ask him where the coolest place is to play in LA: ‘Desert Fox is the coolest place in Hollywood, it’s our home away from home. I think my dream venue to play would be Wrigley Field in Chicago. Not only have I been going there since I was a child, but I used to live a block away. During the summer, I’d be able to hear the organ playing in the stadium when my windows were open. Lots of nostalgia from that place, it would definitely be an ideal box to check.’

If he could go for a pint with anyone, he picks Alice Cooper: ‘I want to say him but I know he doesn’t drink anymore (laughs). He’d be oozing with stories, he’s so well-spoken. I’d just sit there and listen! He’s still performing, he could be 25 years old or 75 years old, he’s amazing. I’d like to know what it’s like in the Hollywood Vampires (an American rock supergroup formed in 2012 by Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, and Joe Perry). I’d like to be a fly on the wall in the Rainbow listening to them!’

Tyler’s dream line-up would be glorious: ‘No crazy lights or stages, a 300 cap room: The Bites, Guns N’ Roses and Led Zeppelin. I feel like the raw energy would absolutely tear through the roof. Nothing fancy, nothing too over the top, just loud, hard, and sweaty!’