INDIE ROCK

Angular, experimental rock featuring current and former members of The Holy Terrors, The Ex-Cretins and Human Beings.

Since combining forces in the Bikes, Rick Ambrose (Postface, Ex-Cretins) and Dan Hosker (Doersam, Holy Terrors) have been peddling their eclectic, violin-coated indie rock to South Florida audiences for quite a few years now.

Yet another musical oddity from Deerfield Beach’s Ant Lunch Musick collective, The Bikes perform, according to Roslund, “a mix of tube-heavy guitars with harmonic additives of violin or mandolin.” With former members of the anarchic rock trio The Ex-Cretins (Ambrose), hellacious punk act The Holy Terrors (Hosker) and the eclectic alt-rock group the Human Beings (Roslund), The Bikes play music that reflects “an evolution from old-school alternative influences.” 

Link to band website or contact - The Bikes

EMAIL: arphoto@bellsouth.net

Biography

With its debut album, Get Stolen, the Bikes make the wait worthwhile. The disc reveals a maturity in songwriting achieved over 15 years of musical exploration without losing a sense of spontaneity or sounding contrived or rote.

The album opener, "Fly," abandons the traditional verse-chorus-verse structure (as do other tracks) in favor of an intricate, ascending interplay among, guitar, bass, mandolin, and Ambrose's abstract lyrical recollections. "Fly," like the album as a whole, allows the music to breathe and the lyrics to find purchase where they may; Ambrose feels no need to fill every bit of available space. "Booze Brothers" is a demented, countrified romp in which electric guitars mix with mandolin and bass lines while driving ahead, telling the tale of a particularly drunken night. The album closes with "Taj Mahal & the Toilet Bowl," a wistful, rather morose portrait of dysfunction, love, and misunderstanding. All in all, Get Stolen weaves together bits and pieces from old-school college rock, country, and improvisation with an indie/punk sensibility, allowing plenty of elbow room between words and music. And it's done with a sense of pacing — a quality not often found in life, let alone a rock album. By Dominic Sirianni

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