Previously releasing two EPs, Bullets and Octane just put out their debut full-length, ‘The Revelry’, on Criterion Records, which is full of energy and full-out, balls-to-the-wall (excuse the Accept-ism!) rock with plenty of punk to give it that extra punch. A majority of songs like the great opening blast “Save Me Sorrow”, the anthemic “Return”, and “Bad Things to Bad People” are fast and heavy, nonstop, raucous rock fests, which definitely makes sense when considering the guys have a penchant for creating aggressive music. “Bad Things”, is a fun one, and pretty funny too, which is why it’s one of guitarist Skye Jayne’s favorites. In the song, one may notice the bold line “I put your cat in the microwave.” Skye wants it to be known he doesn’t advocate this. “You’d really have to piss me off real bad to put the cat in a microwave.”
Anyway, another great song is the more melancholy “Sweet Dreams”, a song saturated with longing and one Skye says only took 15 minutes to write. “I think actually I wrote something in the middle of the night and then we screwed around with it at a rehearsal and it came together really quick. We just gelled for that one,” he relates. A song that strays noticeably from the norm is “Places”, an older song initially appearing on Bullets’ first EP. Bordering on balladry, it’s slower and quite subdued in comparison to the other fare, but still full of passion. “I guess theoretically it just shows we have musical diversity, [that] we do like to write slower stuff. It’s not all about 110 mph, put your pedal to the metal. We get to slow down every now and again.” Still, it doesn’t happen often, to be sure…!
The history of Bullets and Octane is rooted in St. Louis, where frontman Gene Bullets, bassist Brent Clawson, and drummer Ty Smith lived and played in Ultrafink together. Ty went on to play with bands like The Vandals and Jughead’s Revenge, and was with Guttermouth for six years, ending his time with those guys earlier this year. Working with these bands is how he ended up in Southern California. At some point Gene and Brent followed and the fist incarnation of Bullets and Octane came about four years ago. Meanwhile, the two guitarists, Skye and Jack Tankersley, were originally from Orange County, Skye playing in Beer City Rockers “for lord knows how long,” he muses, and had played shows with Bullets before he finally joined the band two years ago.
And with this line-up firmly in place, the band have eclipsed everything they’ve ever done previously. “Before I was in the band,” divulges Skye, “the guys deliberated on what they were gonna sound like,” whereas now it’s a whole different story. Rather than thinking about a certain sound or trying to do something in particular, they just PLAY. As he says, “When you throw us all together this [style] is just what comes out naturally; it’s what happens.” The guitarist gushes that the time since he’s been in the band has been “great ‘cause we’ve just been shooting from the hip, so to speak, and writing tunes that really reflect who we are as musicians, and even as people.”
Their comprehensive sound has something to do with the different influences each member brings to the table, such as proto-punk of The New York Dolls and mid-to-late-‘70s punk of The Sex Pistols and The Dead Boys, as well as ‘80s SoCal punk and ‘70s and ‘80s rock. “All the songwriters have totally different tastes in music,” the guitarist notes. “Well, not totally, but it all varies, so this album is kind of a collaboration of that.”
It must be noted that at the time of our conversation, Skye and the gang had just gotten back two days prior from playing a show in Japan. None of the guys had ever even left the country before, so they were understandably extremely psyched about that trip. Now, the guys are preparing to head out on a West Coast tour with Eagles of Death Metal (Josh Queens of the Stone Age plays drums) that will span Arizona to Canada for most of October, and then at the end of the month into November, will be playing shows with Kill Radio and Bars. Check out the Website for details…
Their live show sounds rather interesting, as Skye mentions with a laugh that some people have described it as having a cock rock feel, a Motley Crue ambiance, if you will, but is quick to clarify his statement, saying, “God, I don’t wanna sound like ‘Smokin’ in the Boys Room’; that wouldn’t be my dream,” explaining, “We don’t look like ‘80s cock rockers by all means, but somehow the show comes across that way. It’s very high-energy, very engaging with the crowd.”
Having not yet gone out on a full-U.S. tour, Bullets are hoping it can happen soon, especially given the fact that their album just came out. “We have to tour our asses off to support it, so after this tour we are looking to hop on another tour and spread out in the country a bit.” They’re working hard to find some tours and are planning on touring for the next six to eight months. And this coming summer, their chances of playing the Warped Tour are looking good. Essentially, it’s only a matter of time until Bullets spread their rock gospel across the country. “Hopefully we’ll come to a town somewhere near somebody,” Skye modestly concludes.