The Bots rnEy be f resherfaced than your itt e ilro,

bui they're far f .om bab esn the \,!or d of punk.

TEXT

OLIVER PELLII{G

PHiTOGRAPHYDAN WILTON

me oftheir nerves before they tookto the stage,

this dynamic duo show no signs ofanxiety as

theyquip back and forth and fevetishly exhibittheir brand of youthful, punk-inspired rock'n'ro11.

The venue is packed wall-to wall and,despite thej r relatively smali stature, The Botsare putringon a fully-grown show. Mikaiah and

his guitar are tearing around the stage, stillmanaging to come together on every riff, lickand chug, whileAnaiah is a whirlwind behindthe drumkit dressed in a dinosatr costumefor Halloween no less - wildly smashing hissnare andtoms with allthe force he can muster,

looking like a punk-rock Questlove in thepyocess, The Bots, itwouldseem, havearrived.

The brother., from Glendale, Calilornia.have been hailed as the 'future ofpunk', which- oxymoronic as it may sound - isn't a badappraisal for a couple ofkids that started outplaying music for visiting relatives. "lt wouldbe like: 'Boys, bust out the instruments, it'stime for a show!"' laughs Mikaiah, perched

nefi to his brother on a raggedy sofa in theirBarfly dressing room befote their gig. "Thenit became less ofthat and more ofus actuallybecoming truly fascinated and passionate aboutcomposition and whatnot, so we took it uponourselves to make music we wanna play."

The Bots produced their flrst record, SelJ_

Titled Alb m, in 2oo9,when Mikaiahwas fifteenandAnaiahwas iust twelve. Since then, th€y'vereleasedthree EPs and are currentlyworking ontheir sophomore aibum. They oscillate from )

::1ey're not old enough to buy a beer in theit..-.me country, but Califomian brothers Anaiah.:d MikaiahLei are making a markedly mature::.ket as The Bots.

''who here thinks I'm a girl?" iokes afro-.-ldi-g Anaiah inLo the m:crophone l^overi-rg

::ove his drumkit. The crowd gathered at the:amden Barfly chuckle at the 6fteen_year_r:J's jibe before erupting into laughtet whenI,iikaiah, nineteen, retorts | "Yeah, you look like.' rlonce ii Au.l in Pov er"l Despi(e in[ormi'1g

sounding like furious, fi lthy garage'punk played

by two youngsters who know what they're doing(see: 'Northern Lights') to sweet, melancholyfolk music played by two youngsters whoknow what they're doing (seej'Naked'). Poinris: whatever genre they draw from, The Botsseem to know what they're doing.

"It's experimental, it's indie, it's just rockmusic," olfers Mikaiah contemplatively. "Wejust take influence lrom great bands, andwhatever we can do with our two person

capabilities, however big we can make thatsound, or how small at times.., we justwant itto be dynamic, that's what it's about."

Mikaiah speaks with aneloquenceand selfassurance that hammers home just how firmlyhe's got his head screwed on. He talksofwakingup at 8am, practicingyoga, drinking lots ofteaand generally looking alter himself not yourtypical nineteen-year old's routine. "Itkind ofsounds like I'm quite lazy, I don't do much," hesays, offering a stark contrastto his hyperactive

6F

stage presence. "I'm quite homebound. I jrsttry and find inspiration for music. I painr, Idraw and I create... I kind of miss that a lotactually, talking about it now. It's been reall!'nice touring, I'm doing what I love our here.but I kind ofcan't wait to get back home andjust keep to myself."

The Bots'creative streak was capturedrecertly in a'zine, put togetherbyclose friendand photographer DanWilton as avisual diaryof last summer's tour of Europe. As good aninsighi into the character ofthe patu as you'reiikely to find, STOB EHT documents thebrothers skateboarding and mischief-makingacross the old continent, and rhey even tie-dyedslipcases for each limited'edition 'zine by hand.

Despite their parents having separated.family has played a big part in The Bots'swellingsuccess story Their mother, Akosua Lei, travelswith them and acts as management, and thevcredit their farher. Alex Lei. [or inrroducingthem to music, buying their first instrumentsand supporting them since day one. "He'svery intense about our passion," says Mikaiahsincerely. "He understaods music, he gets iriust like us." Anaiah pipes up, adding: "Heunderstands how hard it is and helps us withbehind-the-scenes things. He's our all-round go

to guy, and he was thejumpstart for everlthing.'As the topic olconversation turns to their

first gig, Anaiah, tired lrom a day ofdoingthepress rounds, rests his head on his brother'sshoulder. "Ifthis was onvideo itwould be reaihawkward,"he says. Mikaiah laughs, thentalksabout the minor disaster that was their first

show - in a church, to a crowd of ten people.They played three songs, sciewed up a WhireStripes covet then played the 6rstthree songsagain. "From thento this point onwe'vebecomesomewhat berrer. sa) s lhe guirari"r wirn a grir."I do thebest I can within my capabilities andAnaiah is a fantastic drummer." 'Ah, thankyou," replies Anaiah. "I give mybrother credirfor everything, we just try and do what we do.This band is just our feelings, our awkwardfeelings on a record."

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and peaceful," says Mikaiah. with an alr ofwisdom about him. "It's what most bandsshould do. A lot ofpeople lose their heads inthis situation, get carried away and becomesomeone else. But it's good to stay the waywe are. and we're having fun doing it." O

To get your hatrds on acopy ofSTOB EIIT, a limited-editiof, 'zide by Dan Wilton, visit danwilton.co.uk.

Shi,l"t and tie or tie-dye?AN^rAH: We've been doing shirtand tie forever inourvideos andstuff.l think I wanna saytie-dye.MrxArAI,: Tie dye... l've gota reallysick tie-dye shirt mygirlfriend made. It's blue.Ifs good

for sornething different to wear,

BlackFldg or White Stripes?Mtr.ArAs, White Stripes for me-

ANAiAH, I love both bands. I'mjust going to have to gowithboth.Grey Stripey FIag?

Arcade Fi1,e or. arcade ganes?BOTH, ARCADE FIREI

Crofids rfrng or shatebodtding!ANArArr: I love bothlM1(ArAH: Skateboard crowdsurf?ANATAH; Yeah, skateboardcrowdsurf, how about that?MrI<AIAH: How about getting on askateboard, o11ie, ditch the boardin mid air and aim for the crowd?ANArArr, Hopefullyyou ditch itbefore the crowd, because ifyoudon't it's justgoing to slam fiem.MTKATAH, That was good, I likethat one,

ANAIAH, I love bothl

Faceboohot rc&lboohs?BoTr]: Realbooks.M1(AIAH, I hate Facebook.

J dck Blach or J ach White?r"lIxAIAH, Aaaah come onl I knowJack BlacklANAIAH, I wanna meet Jackwhite, because I don't know himand because he's a rockgod.MIKAIAIIi YOU Can',t Compare an

actor to a... oh noJack Whitedoes acting, nevermind.

^NAr^H, Yeah, JackWhite

has been in a couple offi1ms,to be fair.MTKATAH, Just Jack BlacL I'll say

JackBlack.

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-. -fi'

Ir.}!+

There may be a fair amount ofbrotherlyrle floating around today, but the Lei bros

:rankfully - are no ciean cut clichd. Like any:rormal siblings, they squabble and bickeri.ur first interview had to be rescheduled:iier a fall'out that left the boys refusing to:alk to each other for an entire afterrroorr.lur in lots ofways that's where regular teen.:tu begins and ends.

Having already toured with the liLes oflefused, Bad Brains, the Warped Tour, Damon\Lbarn's Africa Express and Tenacious D, the:oys have some pretty serious credentials-.n their fledgling CVs (they've met Paul\lcCartney, too). They've been away from.r 'nr^'o-.he be"l parl o a )e"r now. living in:!-ndon while !heirtour schedule snowballed,:nd they've picked up some pointers fromriher more experienced musicians along the'i. a\'. Most notably from Bad Brains frontman:tR. who also happens to be a family friend.''He was qujte sagacious and iust basically.ld us to keep calm, stay level-headed

ANATAH, So you sayJack Black?

Hi Jack... but I'll sayJack White.MIKAIAH. Yo JacKI

ANATAH: lhope he neverreads this.