Good Times Roll: A Look Inside The Bites

The Irish Times Pub and Restaurant, a classic pub that features pool tables and a plethora of beer on tap. As I walk into the establishment, I scan the room for two members of the new LA rock band, The Bites. The pair are easy to find, in a room filled with 50-year-old day drinkers, rocking all black and having an attitude that screams “Fuck yeah!”. We quickly get acquainted, grab a few drinks, and head to the back patio to discuss rock n’ roll.

Jordan Tyler is the lead singer and front man of The Bites. Mark Hylander is the drummer. Both have known each other for a few years and have been involved between 20-25 different bands before starting The Bites. The other two members, Dustin Coon and Jono Richer, are on the guitars.

Interviewer: How did you guys meet?

Jordan: We started oddly enough. Um, I guess technically he's still our bass player, but long-time buddy of ours, we started in his band back in Boston. And we, we didn't know this at the time, but we technically joined the same day, not knowing that the other had joined that day as well. It was for a music video that he was shooting.

Mark: Jordan was so competent. I was like “Oh, he has to be in the band.”  Jordan moved down here like 10 months before I did and started The Bites. And then I visited with that buddy, who I was just talking about they're in the band together. And Jordan was like, well, you know, I'm looking for members, you guys moving out here and we're like, yeah, sign us up. Yeah. Which is great. And then it just kind of kept rolling from there.

Jordan: And I know a lot of people who come here and it's just like putting the band together is literally pulling fucking teeth. Really. Like you can go to shows, you can go to bars all the time, but like finding the right people, you know, it's, it's brutal.

Jordan comes from Chicago and Mark from Boston. Jordan ended up in Boston for college where he attended Berkley College of Music. The two ended up meeting through the bass player of The Bites, who also attended Berkley the same time as Jordan.

Interviewer: What year did you start The Bites?

Jordan: That was…

Mark: 2018?

Jordan: Yeah. 2018 was when I started that. I moved to LA like Thanksgiving of 2017. I came up with The Bites early that year and I just started writing that kind of old school rock and roll. The first record was very Stonesy. I produced it all myself. The goal was to, as I'm sure you hear on the record, like be very one take, on tape sound, very bare bones.  Poorly produced, to be frank.

Interviewer: It still sounds good though. Very reminiscent of early-70s Stones. A lot of trumpets and piano with the tracks. Y’all have that one song, “Women”, and it sounds similar to “Honkey Tonk Women”. But it’s cool because you don’t hear that shit right now.

Jordan: Exactly.  And a lot of, again, I don't want to bash any rock music cause that's why gatekeepers are keeping this industry so dead, but like a lot of modern rock, it doesn't sound like the classic rock field. It sounds very contrived and like forced-

Mark: Diluted.

Jordan: (laughs) Diluted is absolutely a word for it. And that's why a lot of it sounds the same, you know?

The Bites released their first album “Open Your Mouth” in 2019 and recently released a new single, “Knockin on the Door”, that is reminiscent of the upbeat, hard rock from the 80s. Mark also helps produce the music for The Bites.

Interviewer: Okay, so you produce?

Mark: Yeah, we write all the songs together and then he'll make a demo and be like, “This is kinda what I'm thinking.”  And then I'll come in and be like, “Oh, what if we change this? What if we do this?” And then just add whatever stuff we can to make it full and bombastic and us.

Interviewer: Okay. And this is the sound that you’re going to keep pushing forward?

Jordan: Absolutely. And it's diverse, but everything really blends together, you know? And you can hear all our influences coming through, even like song to song, they're just like five different influences in one. But at the end of the day, it still sounds like us. It doesn't sound like we're riffing from anybody. Like the first record I wanted to write a “Sticky Fingers” or an “Exile on Main Street”. I was trying to emulate that.

Mark: Mission accomplished.

Jordan: Thank you, thank you. Tips hat (laughs).

It’s refreshing to listen to a new rock band who releases original music that sways into different genres like blues-rock and hard rock. Bands like Aerosmith and Great White have done this before, but The Bites were able to take a sound that’s been absent and push it into the modern age of rock.

Jordan: This cat cut his chops doing the blues.

Mark: Yeah, that's how I started. I started playing drums when I was 12 going on 13. And my dad's a drummer too, he's been a drummer all his life. He used to play in all the blues bars around our area. By 14, he was taking me to his gigs and let me sit in for like a song and then a few songs and then a set. And eventually it just became like the whole night, people would be hiring me out. So, I'd be playing, you know, one to two times a week. And I was like sixteen, in high school, just playing in dive bars, getting hit on by cougars, which was so uncomfortable.

Interviewer: Did you ever get laid?

Mark: No. Not that I'd want to by any of the ones there. One of my favorite stories is I was packing up the stage and I was bending over, putting my cymbals away and this Cougar, who was just on the prowl, came up behind me and just got two handfuls of hands on my cheeks. And I screamed like a little girl at a horror movie. I was like, “AH! What the hell?!”  She's like,” I want YOU.”  I was like, “I don't!”  Yeah, that type of stuff. But the music was cool. I know every blues standard song under the goddamn sun at this point. That was an influence whether I wanted it to be or not, but I do like a lot of that stuff.

Interviewer: Nice. And how did you get into music?

Jordan: I was introduced to rock and roll at a very young age. I was like four years old. My dad gave me an Aerosmith CD and a Van Halen CD. I don't know where the fascination came from, but it was just there. I wanted to learn more. I spent a lot of my childhood in a car. I listen to a lot of radio and CDs. I'd be in the backseat of the car and my dad would have Led Zeppelin on and I'd be like, “Who is this?” Led Zeppelin. “What song is this?” “Black Dog”. “What's the singer's name”? Robert Plant. It was just 20 questions, you know, just learning everything about it until then, Mark I'm sure can relate, we just became rock and roll encyclopedias.

Jordan: But like in terms of playing, my dad's a standup and he's a performer, he used to sing and do theater in high school. He's a great singer, but he was never a band guy, like we are. So that's where I get like the front man aspect, but I just, I really wanted to sing and really wanted to play. And I looked at my heroes like Steven Tyler and Axl Rose. And I was like, that's what I want to do.

The music industry needs more front men like what Axl Rose was in the current landscape of music. While there are many great underground bands, the music industry has become less interested in elevating these bands to the next level. Only a handful of bands like Greta Van Fleet or, older bands like Foo Fighters, have that place. The Bites seem to be one of the bands that can bring back the trend from the 20th Century of Front men led bands that radiate great energy.

Jordan: Back then, people were just making good music to be good music, you know? Cause, they were all using the same instruments. Sure, you can branch out and get kind of different lanes. But at the end of the day, they just wanted to make great songs and that's what they did. And nowadays it's trying to follow trends, which I get. We're all trying to make a buck and a dime doing this, you know, as much as much as we were like, no, it's not about the money. We do it because we love it. But we're trying to make a living for ourselves and with Spotify paying us. 00002 cents for your stream…

Mark: We love you Spotify!

Jordan: Put us in your playlist!

For the first time, the younger generation seems to be reaching back to their parent’s generation for content in a cultural sense with music, clothing, and media. Usually, each generation rejects the previous generation as being old and uncool. But this is good news for bands like The Bites, as rock music is bound to have a comeback that hasn’t been seen since the emergence of Nirvana in ’91.

Mark: I mean every decade has its kind of counterculture and I'm not trying to say where the zeitgeist to that by any means. I think a lot of people are just starting to reject the sad boy thing, sad girl thing that's been going on so much. It's a lot of downtempo, it's a lot of mid-tempos. Which is why some of the songs that are a bit more upbeat can break through like a lot of the Dua Lipa stuff is very disco inspired, which is cool.  I mean even looking at the Silk Sonic thing, that's just a throwback to the seventies. It's like the Delfonics and the Spinners, all that stuff that they loved growing up and they're like, yeah, we're going to just put this out. And it turned a whole new generation or two onto that style of music, which I love.

The Bites have recently been signed by Earache records. The label mostly focuses on the metal side of rock, making the band an interesting choice to sign.

Jordan: My very first conversation with Al, the guy who signed us, was like, “Yeah, you know, we've all been through this pandemic for a year and a half now. Like everyone is just kind of sad. And like the music has been reflecting that and just kind of the general tone of people has been reflecting that. People are so ready to get out and fucking party and have a good time and be happy and be jovial. And he sees that in us, he feels like our music represents that.

Interviewer: How did y’all get signed by the label? How did that happen?

Jordan: Literally out of nowhere.

Interviewer: Really? He just called you.

Jordan: He just slid in my DMs.

Interviewer: No way.

Jordan: I saw he had a little checkmark. And I was like “Oh shit, this is a legit label.” And so, he called me, and we chatted for a half hour

Mark: It was great. They were very excited. We were obviously excited. We think it’s a good fit. They hear what we want people to hear in the music. And they want to be a part of this which is incredible.

The band kept the news about the offer on the down low, waiting until the contracts were finalized. After almost two months, the band finally was able to get the deal done and released their newest single after holding off until the signing was official. Jordan and Mark are both comedic guys and notes that their favorite things to watch include Wayne’s World, The Simpsons, and Ace Ventura. Their music reflects their care-free attitudes with their party-like headbangers that will get people moving and grooving.

Interviewer: You guys are that flip with music. You’re bringing back the energy of some of those 80s rock bands that were just fun to listen and rock to.

Jordan: You know, and very much like Guns and Roses, they were like the fuck you band, you know? And I'm sure Mark and I agree on some level, but like a lot of this new stuff, that's just super-duper trendy-Wendy. I'm like, “Fuck you.” I'm gonna poke fun at you. And I'm gonna make you feel bad about the way that you are living your life, because you wanted to do it like last week.

Mark: Friendly jabs. We never mean anything bad by it. Like if we met any of these people, we'd obviously be nothing but nice to them. It's the same way he and I make fun of each other all the time. Jordan comes in wearing a ridiculous shirt and I go, “Where did you get that? Your grandmother buy that for you?”

Jordan: It looked great on your mother last night.

Mark: (laughs) Leave her outta this! She’s a lovely little lady!

Jordan: It’s shit like that. It’s just how we operate.

Mark: It’s like what you said. It’s supposed to be fun, to be larger than life. Just take things and look at it with different perspectives and have a good time with it. How we are as people, we are on stage.

While the band is now signed to a label, they note the creative hoops they had to navigate in order to produce their own rock records. Jordan previously produced the music on his own before Mark stepped in and helped. Jordan notes how much of a difference it has been with Mark being involved in the producing process.

Interviewer: So, the first record was created in your room?

Jordan: Both records were.

Interviewer: It doesn’t sound like it.

Mark: Thank you.  That’s the idea. We were talking about our influences earlier and like for both of us, Lange is a huge thing. You know, “Back in Black, Hysteria, The Cars, it’s all larger than life. It's so bombastic and so rich and full. And he was like,” I want it to sound like that.” And I was still very new to production. I went, “Okay, let me go do a lot of research overnight.” And I just like to try all these different techniques and we'd try and figure it out together.

I’m always curious what it’s like for bands in LA that are trying to make it, especially since the city brought the massive wave of hard rock that was dominant in the in the previous decades.

Interviewer: What is it like being a new band in LA? With the history of the Sunset Strip and all the bands that have come out of this area.

Jordan: Not only is it like being home, but it's being like the popular kid in school, you know, that kind of sunset strip scene, obviously I'm a sucker for all of that. And The Rainbow is my favorite place on earth. But no matter what anybody can do about it, it’s not gonna be the same as it was decades before.

Interviewer: You don’t think it’s ever going to be as big as it was in the early-mid 80s?

Jordan: I don't think there's going to be a bunch of cool motherfuckers like us tearing up the streets and doing that. I still feel like One Oak, that's next to the rainbow, is still going to be a hip-hop and EDM club. And that's fine. I want the music to be great. I just don't think it's ever going to be the same, but I want us to lead the charge and being like, “Hey, it's about the music. It's about great fucking rock and roll that is truly organic and not something that we, you know, piss.

The Bites have already performed at a few of the Sunset venues like The Roxy and The Viper Room, which was the first venue they performed at. The Bites are just one of the many new rock bands in the country that is bringing back the genre in a new way while also nodding to the classic bands that did it before them.

Mark: We are fortunate that a lot of friends in the scene are like doing different takes on like a lot of the classic rock stuff. Like we have one buddy who's like, I almost call it something like Meat Loaf.

Interviewer: Really. I love Meat Loaf.

Mark: Me too, I think “Bat Out of Hell” is a great album. He hates it. He’s an ass.

Interviewer: You don’t like Meat Loaf?

Jordan: I don’t hate it. I just don’t understand why it’s one of the greatest selling records of all time. Yeah, it’s good. It’s kinda Springsteen-ey, musical theater like. And he has a great voice.

Mark: He was a hell of a performer. He was like 300 pounds of boulder!

Jordan: (laughs) I think you mean of meatloaf.

Mark: There is like a fledgling scene. There are people that want that rock sound.  I think too, you know, not to hype ourselves up, I think we're doing the most pure and organic form of that.  We're not relying on ridiculous stage shows. We're not trying to emulate anyone sound too hard. We're emulating a bunch of sounds and making it our own, you know, good artists borrow from great artists who steal from everybody.

Jordan: And you can smell a phony smell, hear a phony from a mile away. There are so many artists that brand themselves as rock and roll and will dress rock and roll. But the music their doing, it's like, alright, that's a cool pop song. Not that it's a bad song by any means. But like, Hey, like if it's not rock and roll…

Interviewer: Cough, cough Machine Gun Kelly.

Jordan: (laughs) I was going to mention him earlier, but I was like “Oh Jordan, that’s a four-hour conversation.”

Mark: That’s how you get into Twitter beef. Credit to him for having that fan base, I’m not about to take them on.

Jordan: (laughs) I mean, if he started beef with us, that means we’ve established good publicity.

Mark: We can just hire Logan Paul to box him.

Interviewer: Or you guys should go box him.

Mark: Eh, alright.

Jordan: I’ll take a few punches for the publicity.

Nowadays, many hip-hop artists and pop artists are starting to take on the rock genre by putting their own spin on it. But The Bites want to be established as one of the bands that are truly representing rock music, to have a seat at the table with Zeppelin, Bowie, and Def Leppard. The band is currently working on their second record. “Knockin on the Door” is the first single off the new record that’s been released.

Interviewer: How far in the process are you on the second record?

Jordan: The first tunes go back to summer of 2019. “Cold Clean” was the first, right? So yeah, that was the first and then “Pretty Boys” followed. They’ve just been growing and evolving. We've done AB like comparisons of what they are now versus what they were. And they’re laughable.

Mark: I wouldn’t say their laughable, it’s just the natural process of growth and experience. I mean, we finished the record and then we went back and did more. And then we wrote a new tune or two, and we just kept doing that. And now it's at a good place. Now it's just final touches and making sure everything's cohesive. We don't want to add any more to it. There's a quote, I'm probably butchering it, it’s like, “Don't overlook greatness in the pursuit of perfection.”  There's no such thing as perfect. And we’re just going for greatness. It’s been a two-year process, but it’ll be worth it.

Interviewer: I’m assuming it’s going to come out in the next year?

Jordan: We’re looking at an April or May release. Defiantly with some single trickles. “Knockin” was like “Welcome to the new sound and era of The Bites” but “Pretty Boys” is gonna be the monster.

Mark: It's like 98% to a hundred percent. We knew “Knockin” was gonna like go, “Oh, okay. Let's get after it.” And the Spotify editorial playlists picked it up out of nowhere. We're like, “Yeah, Great!”.

Jordan: It got picked up by two of them actually. It was fucking awesome.

Mark: That’s why we’re excited for the next single. Cause we know that one’s even better and a little more, I don’t want to say accessible or even digestible. It’s a little more straightforward.

The Bites plan to release their next single no later than February. Check out their first album “Open Your Mouth” and their newest single “Knockin on the Door”, as well as the music video for the single. Their music is available to stream on all major platforms.

Catch The Bites live at Harvard and Stone this Monday (Jan 10th) at 9pm. Details are on the band’s Instagram account.