The Skinny On... Bikini Body

What’s your favourite place to visit?
We really love visiting other cities to play gigs! We had the most fun on tour with The Bug Club last year, blasting round the highlands in a nine-seater. It’s so nice to connect with folk in a new place, and spread the message of post-gutter-skunk-funk, of course!

What’s your favourite food?
Essentially anything that’s totally inappropriate to consume prior to performing. For example, a whole camembert for one, which I ate before our first ever gig, or perhaps a massive greasy kebab.

What’s your favourite colour?
I would say our favourite colours right now are yellow and blue because you can find these prominently featured on our *shameless self promotion time* upcoming EP and our brand new merch!

Who was your hero growing up?
My hero whilst I was growing up as a baby singer in a band was, and still is, Ari Up of The Slits. She showed me that you don’t need to sing in a conventional manner to be in a band. More than that, she showed me that primordial screeching and pissing yourself on stage are okay too. The former technique I use frequently, the latter I’ve yet to try.

Whose work inspires you now?
At the moment it feels like we’re getting super inspired by the ethos of our label, Optimo Music, and that crossover between punk and dance championed by them and others like DFA. That’s probably reflecting our desire to lean more into the dancier side which started with the post-COVID six-hour Bucky-fuelled, disco-inspired writing session that spawned our latest single, Mr Tinnitus.

What three people would you invite to your dinner party and what are you cooking?
I feel like Kyle and Josh would definitely want Nick Cave in there but to be fair, old Nicky C would be stellar company I’m sure. Dan would love Mark E. Smith, who I think would be a terrible guest but entertaining at least. For me and Harry, let’s stick Caroline Polachek on the invite as she is our idol and queen. Don’t think we’d waste time on cooking, plus it’d be fun to see what each of their McDonald's orders would be.

What’s your all-time favourite album?
Kyle’s favourite is Radiohead’s OK Computer because "it’s perfect, never gets old and it reset my brain when I heard it for the first time when I was 15." Mine is The Slits’ Cut because it’s given me the confidence to pursue my creativity. Harry chose Susumu Yokota’s Sakura as, whilst they don’t really have a favourite album, they find they return to this one as it’s serene and calming with lots of interesting texture. Dan’s is The Fall’s The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall, as it’s a "tight and energetic album but has some catchier and more melodic moments." And Josh says his is Darkness on the Edge of Town by Bruce Springsteen.

What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen?
The worst film I’ve seen, especially relative to how excited I was about seeing it, is that CBGB biopic about Hilly Kristal, played by Alan Rickman. My god that was bad. It’s basically Alan absolutely phoning it in, in a terrible wig, wading through mountains of dog shit, both literal and figurative, whilst a supporting cast of C-listers slaughter impressions of our heroes. Rupert Grint as a pound shop Johnny Rotten is particularly distressing.

What book would you take to a desert island?
I’m not sure about its desert island suitability but I’d love to give a mention to Simon Reynolds’ Rip It Up and Start Again, about the original post-punk era. That book was hugely influential to us when Bikini Body was starting out.

Who’s the worst?
This may seem like Bikini Body marketing but honestly, the Daily Mail. I was on a flight the other day, reading it over the shoulder of a man in the seat in front of me. It was a reminder of the small-minded, arrogant, hateful things they write in order to stoke division for the sake of readership and relevance.

When did you last cry?
I cried the other day listening to To Zion by Lauryn Hill because I thought it would be so wonderful to be the child of someone who would write you such a beautiful love song. 

What are you most scared of?
I am very scared of wasps. We once played a gig on Leith Walk to hundreds of passers-by and when a wasp landed directly on my mic, I started running around screaming with mic in hand. All captured on video by various audience members. Great.

When did you last vomit?
Honestly, I vomit often. Pretty much any night of heavy drinking will end with me vomming. What’s worse is I have no shame, I will vom anywhere. 

Tell us a secret?
On the subject of vomming anywhere, I recently vommed in my hands in the back of a cab on the way back from drinks with work at like 9.30pm. Don’t tell my boss!

Which celebrity could you take in a fight?
As a band? The Beatles.

If you could be reincarnated as an animal, which animal would it be?
If all of the band could be reincarnated as the many-headed hydra then we’d never be apart and could make music all day, even if our heads got chopped off.

With festival season on the horizon, what was the first festival you ever went to?
As a band, the first festival we (almost) all went to together was End of the Road in 2019. It was there that we met our synth and guitar player Harry for the first time. I vividly remember the smell of Sebastian from Viagra Boys’ vomit as he ran offstage to be sick during their set.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever witnessed at a festival?
At End of the Road in 2022, we were camped next to a set of particularly rabid lads who had formed a cult around something they referred to as ‘The Porky Tent’. They could frequently be heard chanting, 'spend a night in the porky tent, spend a night in the porky tent’. There were honestly about 30 of them. On the last night, one of their own returned to camp in a drunken fury and laid waste to all of their tents and camping furniture. In the morning, he was loudly and viciously castigated by the entire group for about two hours with one particularly angry lad demanding retribution for the destruction of his uncle’s camping chair. It was like something from the Roman Empire.

You're headlining our stage at Kelburn this summer – what can we expect?
Cowbell, cowbell and more cowbell.

What other bands are you looking forward to catching on the festival circuit this year?
Well, of course we’re very excited to share The Skinny stage with our good pals Eyes of Others and Brenda. Eyes of Others recently blew us away with his hypnotic synths in the support slot for our Edinburgh headline show back in February. We’re playing Manchester Psych Fest later this year and we’re really looking forward to seeing A. Savage as a few of us bonded over Parquet Courts in the early days of BB and his solo stuff is excellent.#

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Weird Party is released 19 Apr via Optimo music

Bikini Body play Stereo, Glasgow, 19 Apr; Kelburn Garden Party, Kelburn Estate, nr Fairlie, 4-8 Jul; Manchester Psych Fest, Manchester, 31 Aug

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