Gaye Bykers on Acid
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Welcome! To the Gaye Bykers on Acid official internet portal.
Next up live! We’ll be playing in Cardiff at the Fuel Rock Club on the 23rd January and on the 24th we’ll be playing in Bristol at the Exchange.
We’re also really excited to be playing at the Shiiine On festival at Butlins in Skegness on March 27th. You may be pleased to hear that we’re currently in the process of writing and recording new material including the tracks Hallelujah and Black Metal Disco that we’ve been playing at our recent live shows. Stay tuned for updates plus a possible exclusive live warm up show for the Shiiine gig in Brighton on the 26th March.
The Current line of the band is Robber and Mary Byker with Adam and the Ants Guitar Maestro Billy Boy Byker with Joe Baxter Byker on drums with Scratch DJ/VJ Harry K Byker on the wheels of steel and visuals. The sound is morphing into the future with a nod to our past!
Formed in Leicester, in 1985 the Gaye Bykers on Acid came to fame with our first independent release "Everythang's Groovy" which reached the UK indie top 10. The Bykers followed our initial success with the "Nosedive Karma EP", which topped the independent charts. The band were one of the first to fuse rocking riffs with Hip Hop beats and along with Pop Will Eat Itself became a part of the "Grebo" movement and in turn became front page news. With incendiary live shows, including a now infamous appearance at the Glastonbury festival the fan base grew. Ahead of our time, or just out of our minds, the Bykers were flavour of the month, which led the band to sign a deal with Virgin records, with whom we made 2 albums "Drill your own Hole", which was also the soundtrack to a movie of the same name and the critically acclaimed "Stewed to the Gills". The Bykers then went stateside, playing with the Cult at Madison Square Garden, where we impressed a watching Joey Ramone, who offered us a support slot on the Ramones upcoming European tour. Appearing at the new look Reading,
Roskilde and the infamous Treworgey Festivals the Bykers continued to spread their own brand of mayhem wherever we went. After being ripped off by our unscrupulous management and being shown the door by Virgin, the band continued in full party mode, starting our own label "Naked Brain" and released 2 more albums "Cancer Planet Mission" and "Pernicious Nonsense" and the more dance influenced S.P.A.C.E. EP. The band continued to evolve musically exploring new styles. Touring the UK, US and Europe, it was this hedonistic and hectic schedule that eventually led the band to finally self-destruct in 1990... Mary went on to join Industrial pioneers Pigface, had chart success with Apollo 440 and more recently joining the new look PWEI. Kev resurfaced as G.R.O.W.T.H and later the Shed, Guitarist Tony relocated to Tokyo and continues to produce Electro acoustic tunes under the name of Tony Byker. Robber became a Techno DJ and Bass for hire playing with Surfing Bernard. The original line up reformed in 2016 to play the indie daze festival buoyed by the positive response they decided to carry on. Tony Byker the original guitarist is now living in Tokyo and his place has now been taken, after a small stint by Tom Stanley by Adam and the Ants guitarist Will Crewdson. (AKA Billy boy Byker) the line-up now Robber, & Mary Byker. Now Kev has hung up his drum sticks we've been joined by Joe Baxter Byler on Drums and Harry K Byker as Scratch Video/DJ. In the words of Cher, the band continue to turn back time and play all their favourites and singles plus a selection of tunes from all of their releases...
"If you can remember it the first time around you probably weren't there!"
