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West
Coast Performer – November 2002
bitesize: big evil
words by Mike Henry, photos by Mariah Robertson
“I saw Sting in some movie recently. It made me want to kill him.”
To someone unfamiliar with the band Bitesize, an off-hand comment by drummer
Steve Lefevre about killing Sting might seem like idle, albeit homicidal,
chatter. But those who have had the pleasure of spending time with the
band recognize it as more than that. It is a reference not only to one
of the band’s latest punk-pop gems “I Killed Sting,” but
also a kind of band mantra. This band really hates Sting. And though they
may say it (as writers are fond of saying) with tongue planted firmly
in cheek, make no mistake, they also mean it with dagger planted firmly
in chest. “I stabbed him in the lung / While he was doing yoga,”
guitarist/vocalist Julie Serano sings joyously, “I asked him if it
stung / He just grunted like Abe Vigoda.”
Sound evil? Good. That’s exactly what Bitesize is going for. “Our
next record is going to be called ‘Evil,’” explains bassist/vocalist
Leslie Harrison. And Serano, an aficionado of the infamous Norwegian black
metal scene, adds, “Bitesize is officially going in the black metal
direction now. Because we feel like we’ve successfully conquered
pop and now we’re moving on.” And with those words, the members
of Bitesize launch into one of their frequent, loopy digressions, barely
able to speak over each other’s laughter. For a band that met through
musician wanted ads in Bay Area newspapers, Bitesize is remarkably familial,
like they’ve known each other all their lives. And on this afternoon,
they crack each other up with an in-depth discussion of the subtle differences
between black metal, death metal, thrash, grindcore and sludge. Not to
mention an early description of their own sound: “evil twee.”
“Well, we were a pop band and we were dabbling in evil. That’s
when we were evil twee.” Serano explains. Harrison completes her
thought for her, “But now we’re totally committed. We’re
just evil.” Once again, the three bandmates erupt with laughter.
You may be asking how evil manifests itself in pop music. Clearly, you
haven’t heard Bitesize’s latest CD, The Sophomore Slump. Twenty
songs (in roughly 40 minutes) of ecstatic post-punk-proto-pop that is
as sweet as death-by-chocolate, catchy as hell, and more fun than a barrel
full of those flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. Call and response
verses and roaring choruses feature Harrison’s honey-dripping vocals
vs. Serano’s carnival barker-on-helium hollers. And Julie’s
chunky, hook-laden riffs bounce like magic eight balls over the frenetic
heavy metal landscape of Lefevre and Harrison’s stop-start rhythm
section. In short, the ‘Size sound like cuddlecore played by the
Manson Family. Evil Twee.
But what’s it all about? “A number of the lyrics on Sophomore
Slump are about freaky adolescence,” Serano explains. This time,
Lefevre finishes her thought. “Like ‘Father Figure.’ The
uncomfortable feeling of seeing your father at an Ozzy Osbourne show.”
“That song is about being so god-awfully embarrassed that your father
is at the same show as you,” Serano adds. “Or the song ‘Bees
Knees,’ which is right out of Morrissey-style patheticness. Like
‘You’re so much better than I am.’ Or ‘Unadulterated,’
which is about the standard typical student-teacher love affair.”
Lefevre nods approvingly and adds, “It’s just all kinds of uncomfortable
stuff. Life…” He pauses dramatically, before sighing, “Life
can be uncomfortable.” And after another pregnant pause, he and his
bandmates are laughing yet again.
While teenage angst might not strike you as an atypical pop subject, Bitesize
songs do tend to have less traditional themes throughout. Most notably,
transgender issues. And they know whereof they speak. You see, Julie Serano
used to be Tom Serano. About a year ago Julie began transitioning from
male to female, finally revealing to her friends a long held secret that
she was transgendered. But the other Bitsesizers knew before anyone else,
and the experience has made them that much closer.”
None of us really knew what would happen,” says Serano, whose bandmates
describe the situation as a “social experiment.” “I know
of bands that have transsexual members, but none where they made the change
midstream. To be honest we didn’t know what would happen, and basically
what has happened is people who know have been totally cool with it.”
Not that there weren’t clues. Their first record, the brilliant Best
of Bitesize, is peppered with references to sexual ambiguity and confusion.
So earlier this year, when they played their song Switch Hitter, which
features the line “A year from now I’ll be the center of attention/After
I have had my sex change operation,” on UC Berkeley’s radio
station, their long-time friend and KALX DJ Ricardo Esway dead-panned,
“All these years and I never knew these songs were true.”
“Granted, 90% of our shows are in the Bay Area,” Serano continues.
“But when we play other places and people find out, they’re
cool. Other people just don’t know. Even though there might be clues,
people don’t think to think about that. Either we’re playing
in front of people who have no idea and assume I’m female, or people
who know already and they’ve all been OK about it. I think the main
thing is that we mostly play to indie rock audiences, and indie people
aren’t usually the type to walk around with baseball bats looking
to beat up certain types of people.”
“You don’t see many roving gangs of emo thugs,” Lefevre
offers.
“That would be something,” says Serano. “To be chased down
the street by a bunch of college radio DJs.”
“I was a little worried,” admits Harrison. “We live in
a bubble here in the Bay Area. I was afraid that people would glom onto
Julie’s transition, and that would be the focus more than the music.
But at the same time I thought it was a cool thing and I wanted to enjoy
it.” Serano clarifies, “Leslie was worried we would become a
transsexual rock band, but instead we’ve just become evil.”
So that’s Bitesize: an evil pop combo with a transsexual guitarist
that can’t seem to take anything seriously. Including their own…
umm… eccentricities. At one point, when Lefevre removes his shirt
to show off the Gashlycrumb Tinies tattoos that cover his entire back,
Harrison goads him, “Whip it out… like you used to.” To
which Lefevre offers the feeble defense: “I pull my penis out once
at a party and I hear about it the rest of my life.” [Note to Steve:
That’s pretty much how it goes.]
But to hear them talk, they’re just another Bay Area band, with the
same concerns as everyone else. Like touring. “We have the same issues
that everyone who’s in a band that isn’t just out of high school
has,” says Serano. “We love to tour. But everyone has jobs.
At this point we’re not in a position to tour for half a year. Nothing
really rock starrish.”
Harrison brings up another concern about going on the road, “Everyone
would get sick of each other. We’ve learned that we can spend a week
together before we hate each other.” But a week is plenty of time
for Bitesize to hit the west coast mainstays, like Seattle, Portland,
Olympia, or down to L.A.
“One of the benefits of being in the Bay Area and touring the northwest,”
explains Serano, “is that we have all these really good friends who,
a couple years ago, got really crazy and moved up to Portland and Seattle.
So we go up and hang out with our friends during the day, and at night
we play a show.”
“That’s what it’s all about,” Harrison concurs. “Hanging
out with friends.”
“Obviously there’s no buses and trucks and stuff,” continues
Serano. “It’s not really business-like.”
“Well, we’re as business-like as we can be,” says Lefevre,
clearly not wanting to paint the band in a bad light.
“Yeah, we have our crate of merchandise and we get to the show on
time,” says Serano. “But the rest of the day we’re not
at record stores signing record covers.”
“I think the only hard part is maintaining a positive attitude,”
adds Lefevre. “Because one night will be really great, you’ll
have a fun show, and then the next night: nothin’.”
“I think that’s pretty typical for most of the bands we know,”
inserts Harrison. “And in L.A., everyone goes out to smoke if you’re
not the band that they know.”
“The only bad experience I’ve had, was during the time when
I was in between [male and female],” says Serano. “Someone in
the audience was very disturbed because he couldn’t figure out if
I was a boy or a girl. And he came to the front of the stage and just
kind of pointed at me. And then he walked to the back and yelled something
out. I said ‘What did you say?’ And he said, ‘I was just
trying to figure out if you had tits or not.’ And then he said ‘Too
bad’ because he figured I was a boy. I said, ‘Just because you’re
attracted to me doesn’t necessarily mean I’m a man.’”
“But as for our musical experiences,” Serano goes on, “The
only noticeable change, as far as audience response goes, has been that
we always got a lot of comparisons to the Pixies in the past, and now
we’re getting more Breeders comparisons.”
The band has another dynamic that many musicians will be familiar with:
equipment geek vs. couldn’t-care-less. ”I’m the only gearhead
of the bunch,” says Lefevre. “Once a week I’m in a drum
shop, and getting catalogues, drum magazines. I’m just that into
playing drums. I enjoy being a drummer. I enjoy reading about what other
drummers are doing.”
Not so with Serano and Harrison. “The only time Leslie and I tune
is just before we actually play,” laughs Serano. “And then we’ll
go like three weeks without tuning.”
“We’re equipment luddites,” adds Harrison.
“As far as equipment goes, I know what I like and I have stuff that
gets the sound I want and that’s all I know,” says Serano. “But
we want to get to the point where on the back of our albums we actually
thank corporations. We’d like to thank Fender, Zildjian, Tama, and
Jagermeister.” Once again any serious conversation has gone out the
window.
And so after an interview in which things aren’t always as they seem,
Bitesize finally offers an uncharacteristic confession. “We called
our first record the Best of Bitesize, and the second one Sophomore Slump,”
Serano says guiltily. “And we didn’t know where to take that
joke for the third one. So next we’re doing Evil.”
But a final question remains. Will Evil really sound evil?
“They’ll be Bitesize songs,” says Serano, looking at Harrison
for corroboration.
“There may be a hidden track,” Leslie admits. “But we can
only get so far away from ourselves.”
take
me back to the TOP
 bEASTfest
2002 Program Guide
Bitesize is in a class by itself. The band finds itself genre-less,
a band without a country, in most Bay area music scenes. They've been
compared to a diverse mix of bands such as The Pixies, They Might Be
Giants, Sleater-Kinney, P.E.E., Superchunk, and The Butchies, yet they
don't sound like any of those. Probably the best way to describe the
band is by imagining those ridiculously catchy children's songs (you
know, the ones you sang in the back of the station-wagon to drive your
parents crazy) on steroids. Bitesize crams all that sugary goodness
with the speed and recklessness of your average punk song, clocking
in under two minutes, guitars screeching the whole way. Their back and
forth vocal harmonies are deceiving. A glance at a Bitesize lyric sheet
will astound you, with tales of little all-stars considering sex change
surgery, fantasies about murdering rock starts, and pony-people fetish
love stories. The lyrics are not dumbed down due to the unusual content
- indeed Bitesize has some of the smartest lyrics in Bay Area rock today.
The band (along with Blevin Blechtum and Gravy Train!!!) plans to sex
you up at bEASTfest's tribute to sex, Thursday, Dec. 12th. Don't forget
the lube!
take me back to
the TOP
 Splendid
E-zine
featured review 4/30/2002
The Bitesize kids
are a confident bunch -- cocky, even. Naming an album Sophomore Slump
is the sort of self-aware, self-indulgent folly that backfires on nine
bands out of ten.
Fortunately, Bitesize
are the one band in ten who can pull it off.
On the surface,
however, there's nothing all that special about them. They're a fairly
standard guitar/bass/drums trio, specializing in short-and-sweet punk-pop
songs that sound -- inasmuch as such a thing is possible -- like the
Pixies would sound if they took a bunch of ecstasy and cut an album
for Fat Wreck Chords. Bitesize use the same tools as everybody else;
it just happens that they get completely different results.
The first thing
you'll notice is the vocals. They're almost always a dual attack, pairing
bassist Leslie's honey-sweet croon with guitarist Serano's snide, nasal
Carrot Top/Fred Schneider-style proclamations -- and it's a winning
combination, to say the least. Although they most often work a call-and-response
pattern ("Surprise Ending", "Bed and Breakfast", etc) or split verses
and choruses, they're also capable of creating enticing harmonies (see
"Speed Demon"'s chorus in particular). Unlike most vocalists, they also
take full advantage of their limitations, playing their more discordant
vocal interactions to interesting effect (see "Pre-Med", "Proverbial
Old Guy" and others). Neither Serano nor Leslie stay on key consistently;
Leslie does a more powerful take on bog-standard indie-pop sweetness,
while Serano comes across like a caffeine-buzzed emo vocalist with a
sense of humor.
Singing skills ultimately
take a back seat to diction and enunciation. Bitesize have a fondness
for intelligent-but-obnoxious lyrics, and their cleverly-turned phrases
are crisp, intelligible and unexpected. "Pre-med", for example, dares
to rhyme "x-rays" with "protégés", while "Greta Garbo"
mixes relationship talk with sociopolitical commentary: "You could be
my Margaret Thatcher / and I'll be your Pinochet / you can loan me lots
of money / if I promise to behave." Even when the words aren't drop-dead
funny, they're interesting -- like Wire, Bitesize use language as much
for its rhythmic value as for storytelling, and their percussive verbiage
will quickly batter its way into your head.
The music is serviceable
stuff -- fast-paced, melodic and heavily rhythmic. It's not as rigid
as a lot of So-Cal punk stuff, but it's easily as catchy. There's only
so much you can do with one guitar, one bass and a drum kit, but the
band strives to keep the sound upbeat, punchy and a little bit rude;
it's as if they're clowning to get your attention. Other than occasional
extras -- a xylophone here, a bit of stunt playing (i.e. playing the
ultra-taut, trebly part of the guitar where the strings leave the fretboard
and attach to the tuning pegs) there, the tunes are surprisingly straightforward
-- businesslike, even. Because Bitesize seem to take a more holistic
approach to songwriting, their music becomes a little more special when
the vocals are added -- and, accordingly, diminishes a bit when considered
on its own.
Clocking in at just
under forty minutes, Sophomore Slump effectively triples Bitesize's
recorded output (their debut, 1999's Best of, was a more succinct
20:00 and change). Ironically, this long-windedness might one day be
their downfall. As previously mentioned, there's only so much you can
do with guitar, bass and drums -- and while the band's sound is relatively
unusual, it gets a little long in the tooth after the thirty-minute
mark. There are still surprises, but once you've sussed the Bitesize
formula, it becomes a little too easy to anticipate the next sing-song
verse or call-and-response chorus. We're not at the dawn of the CD era
any more; it's okay, if not downright trendy, to make a thirty-minute
album, and nobody will think less of you if you do. The trick, after
all, is to leave us wanting more...
However, even if
it ultimately reveals the limits of Bitesize's pop-punk formula, Sophomore
Slump is terrific -- a must-have disc for summer rabble-rousing,
not to mention a much-needed injection of creativity in a dangerously
stale genre. I just hope that the band will remember the meaning of
their name when they start to think about album number three. -- George
Zahora
take me back to the TOP
This
interview by Jason "JJ" Smith took place in March of 1999 and
first appeared in UC Berkeley's KALX (90.7 FM) Spring 1999 Program Guide.
The first time I saw Bitesize was a total accident. I was at the Bottom
of the Hill to see another band and little did I know, the show I was
at was the record release party for Bitesize's debut EP More Songs About
Cars and Body Parts. When Bitesize took the stage and started blowing
through their set (most of their songs clock in at about a minute and
a half) I was simply amazed. In no time I was involuntarily bobbing up
and down to each song and smiling a really big smile. Here was a band
that played super-catchy fast quirky noisy pop songs just the way any
pop-whore likes it. I was in heaven. This trio which includes Tom Serano
on Guitar, Leslie Harrison on Bass, and Steve LeFevre on drums puts on
a really high energy (Tom almost spends more time in the air than on the
floor) fun show which should not be missed. I caught up with the Bitesize
Gang recently and had a chance to ask them a few questions. Here's what
they had to say for themselves.
JJ: Let's start off with a brief history of the band, when did you start,
how did you meet?
Tom: We met in a very fascinating way through musician wanted ads in papers
. . .
JJ: Like a personals ad?
Tom: Kinda like personal ads for musicians . . . like personal ads but
worse (laughing).
JJ: Are you guys the original line-up that answered the add, or were there
others who weren't successful in making the cut?
Tom: Oh we had some not so successful people (laughter) . . .
JJ: Give me some examples.
Tom: Well basically what happened was I met Leslie through the ad first.
Leslie: Lucky me.
Tom: Yes, and lucky me. So we basically we met and started working on
some songs and then we started looking for drummers . . .
JJ: Always the hardest part
Leslie: Uh oh . . .
JJ: . . . Did you find Steve right off the bat?
Tom: Steve was not right off the bat. No, we played with a number of drum
whores for awhile, people who would say "oh I'm really into your
band, but I'm going away on tour with my other band for a couple of weeks,
but when I get back we'll work on some songs".
JJ: Then some of them probably exploded and then you finally settled on
Steve over here?
Tom: Yes, several exploded, some choked on vomit, and there were some
gardening accidents, the whole nine yards, and then we met Steve.
JJ: That sort of thing happens . . .
Steve: I'm band whore number 38.
JJ: Tell me a little about your music. I'm wondering, when you make music,
is it all a part of some well crafted plan or is this just what we get
when we throw the three of you in a room together?
Leslie: A little of both.
JJ: Would you care to elaborate on that?
Leslie: Half the time we come up with songs out of jams and then the other
half of the time Tom comes up them and brings them in and we try to figure
out what the hell we're doing.
Tom: Yes (Everyone laughing). Are you asking whether we decided before
we started playing that we were gonna be this kind of a band?
JJ: Well, I've probably heard more than one person use The Pixies as a
reference when trying to describe your music . . .
Leslie: We don't mind that! (laughter)
JJ: Did you guys have a preconceived notion of what kind of music you
wanted to make or did it just fall into place?
Tom: Well, kind of. You have bands that you like a lot, and we met through
ads also because of citing those favorite bands that we all liked, but
mostly it's seeing other bands and you kind of know what works and what
doesn't, and it's kind of what comes together. Mostly we like catchy songs
and energy and stuff.
Leslie: Tom, he has weird subject material and that's always . . . interesting
(laughter). "What's this one about Tom?"; It's always a nice
little story.
JJ: Your Lyrics, on the surface, kind of seem like nonsense (laughter
all around) . . .
Tom: . . . Thanks . . .
JJ: . . . but a close listen quickly reveals that they're well thought
out and crafted. Who's writing them and what kind of process do you go
through to come up with those unique Bitesize lyrics?
Steve: Well, they won't let me write lyrics anymore.
JJ: And why is that?
Steve: They sucked.
Tom: Ever since that song about child molestation . . .(lots of laughter
all around)
Leslie: Tom really likes to ask people what they think the lyrics are,
and if it's better than what he wrote, then sometimes he'll use those
(laughter).
Tom: It's the best way to write lyrics.
Steve: Tom will write the lyrics, he'll come up with something, sing it
a little bit, and say "hmmmm, what did you think of that word",
he's always looking for these really exotic words. He likes to go off
certain words, sometimes he'll pick out a word and he'll go from there
. . .
Leslie: . . . He'll make a whole song out of a word!
JJ: Well, there seem to be some reoccurring themes in your songs . . .
Tom: Uh-oh . . .
JJ: I was wondering if you might want to identify some of those and comment
on them? (lot's of Bitesize laughter)
Leslie: You can have the floor Tom.
Tom: Okay, pick one.
JJ: I thought you might ask that . . . Sexual identity, hermaphrodites,
sex change operations?
Leslie: Hermaphrodites are underrepresented in pop hits today . . .
Tom: Yeah, so I just think about things that all of us can relate to.
Editorial note: They saw this next question coming a mile away and started
laughing before I could even ask the question.
JJ: And how is it that you relate to hermaphrodites and sex change operations?
(Laughter all around)
Leslie: Tom?
Steve: What would Freud say about that?
Tom: What would Freud say about that? I think there's something deeper
there . . . yeah. (more laughter). There are other themes in the songs
. . .
JJ: What are some of the other themes?
Tom: Like cars and body parts and we also have a lot of food references
in our songs.
Steve: Yes! Yes!
Tom: More than probably most bands, and food is one the best things that
all of us do every single day.
Steve: Ya' know ya' need food to live.
JJ: Eatin' and Shittin', eatin' and shitti'.
Tom: Totally.
Jason: One of the best things about Bitesize is the energy you bring to
the stage. Most other bands have the "cool-factor" to contend
with and just can't do it. What's your trick, share your stage secrets
with KALX.
Leslie: We respect our own inner dork.
Tom: Yes. The thing is, what's so cool about just standing on stage not
moving . . . what's cool about that?
JJ: Nothing?
Tom: Exactly! So there.
Steve: I just play the drums.
Leslie: He has lots of hair and it moves around all different ways . .
.
JJ: And it's been rumored Steve, that quite possibly, based upon how hard
you rock out, that you worship the devil. Is there any truth to this rumor?
Steve: Yeah, it's true, it's all true.
JJ: That's good to know, because I know that you are a recovering Mormon.
How's the progress in your recovery? (lots of laughter all around)
Steve: I just changed from one devil to another.
Tom: Oooh, that's getting too profound for this interview.
Leslie: Yeah, that's pretty heavy.
Steve: I'm sorry.
JJ: Leslie, although you've never been a statue on stage, you've recently
developed more of a stage presence, where's this coming from?
Leslie: I've been drinking more lately (laughter all around) and I've
also been watching my friend Erica (from Heavy Pebble) and she moves a
whole lot, and she's like a sex goddess to me, so I wanted to emulate
her. It's all to get boys.
JJ: And judging by your last show, it's working!
Leslie: Awwwwwwwww.
Tom: That's why Steve and I move around on stage a lot too.
Leslie: I just want to know about my G.B.G. population (Girl Band Geek).
JJ: You recorded your first EP More Songs About Cars and Body Parts with
Greg Freeman and now you're back in the studio with him recording your
next record, can you tell us a little something about this next release?
Tom: Okay, basically we recorded 10 songs with Greg and we're actually
going to be mixing them next weekend. So It's going to be called The Best
of Bitesize, it's going to have all of our best songs on it.
Leslie: It's all about our career retrospective.
JJ: And when is this album slated for release?
Leslie: When we can figure out how to use photoshop (laughter all around)
Tom: I think we can get it out in the three month span that is called
the summer.
Leslie: Yeah, I think so, I'm really excited about it, it'll be really
good, we're very happy with it.
JJ: And you guys are releasing that yourselves?
Tom and Steve: (in unison) Yeah, on our own record label (lots of laughter)
JJ: Packing Heat?
Leslie: Packing Heat, you know what that means . . .
The More Songs About Cars and Body Parts EP, out on the Packing Heat label,
is available from the band at their shows, at Mod Lang Amoeba in the East
Bay and Aquarius and Mission Records (and maybe Amoeba SF too) in the
City and is also available on the internet by going to www.tweekitten.com.
Morning after singles of Bitesize are for sale at www.unicyclerecords.com.
take me back to the TOP
Watching
the members of Bitesize plow through a recent set at San Francisco's Paradise
Lounge, I was struck by the sheer energy and enthusiasm emanating from
the stage. "Here's a band that really loves what they do," I thought.
Specifically, what Bitesize do is play loud, fast, noisy pop songs, with
little regard for how their music might be perceived by the Indie Hip
Gestapo.
Let's
face it, in 1999 it's no longer acceptable to simply ROCK. Everyone seems
to be so bent on out-cooling each other that venues are starting to resemble
morgues, not rock shows. {Case in point: the recent Promise Ring/Jets
to Brazil show at Bottom of the Hill. Will you people please lighten up?}
However, with Bitesize, which includes singer/guitarist Tom Serano, bassist
Leslie Harrison, and drummer Steve Lefevre, you get rock and plenty of
it. "Leslie and I listen to a lot of Pavement and Superchunk," Serano
tells me over the phone from his Oakland apartment. "We write catchy pop
songs that tend to be a little bit weird and fast and upbeat. There's
a little bit of quirkiness and weirdness in the lyrics." Serano's words
are borne out on the band's debut EP More Songs About Cars and Body Parts,
released on their own Packing Heat label. "You said,'What difference does
it make who ate that bottle of aspirin?'" he sings on "Headache Baby Yeah!",over
an uppity beat. "But this is only the tip of the ice berg/it's the straw
that broke my spine!"
The
band recently recorded 10 songs with local engineer Greg Freeman. They
plan to release them as a full-length album within a few months, either
by themselves or on an established label. Until then, the trio-which has
only been playing out for 5 months-will continue to win over crowds with
its disarming stage banter and kinetic shows. "The two things that we
try to concentrate on are writing really catchy songs and putting on really
energetic shows," Tom tells me. "We like to entertain people." Now if
only people would let themselves be entertained.
SPLENDID
E-ZINE Week of December 6, 1999 Bitesize / The Best of Bitesize / Packing
Heat (CD)
The Best of Bitesize is only twenty minutes long. It looks like it's thirty
minutes, but that's because of some sneaky hidden-track action. Naughty
Bitesize.
It is, however, twenty of the best minutes of music I've heard all year.
Bitesize makes brashy, noisy, skewed retro-punk-pop of the Pixies-on-crank
variety -- they pack more hooks and more energy into ninety seconds than
many bands can fit on an entire album. Give the lyrical pen of guitarist/vocalist
Tom Serano plenty of credit -- he's got a flair for creating mundane-yet-brilliant
choruses that work perfectly with the band's new-wavey guitar rhythm.
You'll find yourself bouncing around, babbling lines like "I need
a cigarette..." (from "Cold Turkey") and "I'm a hermaphrodite,
but that's beside the point" (from the utterly perfect disc closer,
"I Forgot My Mantra") because they've buried themselves so deep
in your head. Please make certain nobody else is around if you're going
to mutter about being a hermaphrodite, because rumor is a terrible thing.
I'm torn here -- I really wish Best of... was longer, but it's perfect
as it is. It's kind of scary to think that it takes as long to play the
entire Bitesize album as it does to listen to one Godspeed You Black Emperor
song, but it all comes down to economies of scale...and on the "short
song" market, Bitesize is priceless.
-- George Zahora
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 Satellite
Magazine, October 1999: "Take a Bite of Bitesize" by Ashray
Shah
If you ever turn on the radio and feel that what you're listening to makes
you gag, its a good indication that you need to try something a little
more Bitesize. This poppy East Bay trio caters precisely to the new ADD
generation-their songs all fall short of the three minute mark. Bitesize's
songs fail in only one respect: their brevity leaves you unfulfilled and
wanting to hear more. It's as if you took a bite of the best pizza you've
ever had, only to watch it slip from your hands and fall to the ground:
you're still hungry, but happy you had the chance to take a bite. The
concise songs seem more like a clever ploy by the band to hook their listeners,
but then again, what else can you expect from a band called Bitesize?
Even though their songs end by the time you make minute-rice, their peppy
tunes and odd lyrics will be embedded in your psyche and stay their indefinitely.
Bitesize met in 1996 and started performing their unique brand of pop-rock
locally in 1997. The band consists of Leslie Harrison (bass/vocals), Tom
Serano (guitar/vocals), and Steve Lefevre (drums). From 1998 to 1999,
the band broadened its fan base by playing larger shows at prominent San
Francisco nightclubs (Bottom of the Hill and The Paradise Lounge) and
music festivals ('98 & "99 North-by-Northwest Music Festivals,
1999 SF Noise Pop Festival. In September, they exposed themselves (or
should I say their music) to UC Berkeley.
In the fall of 1998, Bitesize recorded four songs, stuck them on a 7-inch,
and called it "More Songs About Cars and Body Parts." They released
the vinyl on their own record label, Packing Heat Records. The four-song
7-inch received airplay on local college radio stations, including Berkeley's
KALX. Bitesize released their first full-length feature album in August,
"The Best of Bitesize," which is pretty short by industry standards.
The album is cleverly disguised as a career retrospective, and consists
of ten songs of pure energy.
The album opens with the amusing "Sugar Car." It is difficult
not to smile when you hear lyrics like, "My car runs on sugar"
and "I'm rich and you're bitchin'/Take a ride in my sugar car sugar
car." From the start, it seems that Serano also runs on sugar, as
if he's had too many Jolts and doughnuts. While Serano spews out energy,
Lefevre and Harrison provide a solid backing that holds the songs together.
The energy does not wane anywhere in the album as the threesome continue
with "Tarot Cards." The third song, "Theme Park,"
gives us a chance to hear Harrison do lead vocals. Her voice alternates
between calm, low-pitched verse and sweet, high-pitched siren-esque chant.
"Switch Hitter" involves sex changes and baseball. Don't ask.
In "Hand Wash Cold," there is a cool play on the words "memory"
and "remember." Try repeating the words over and over, and see
how one melts into the other. The final song,"I Forgot My Mantra,"
is a catchy tune that will leave you singing, "I'm a hemaphrodite,
but that's beside the point." Scared? Maybe you should be, but the
odd lyrics make for catchy tunes. With their wide variations in style,
Bitesize is indie-Pop at its finest.
Bitesize is currently playing in support of its new album, "The Best
of Bitesize," which is available at numerous Bay area record stores
including Amoeba and Mod Lang, and at www.bitesize.net. Call up your favorite
radio station and request songs by Bitesize-and if don't have the new
Bitesize album, tell them to get it!
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Ink19, January 2003
by Julio Diaz
2002 was the year that sucked all my writing time away.
Try as I might, I could find little time to get any writing done. It was
my least productive writing year since joining Ink 19 in 1997. I'd get
a record and get excited about it, but by the time I finished handling
the day job, Ink 19 administrative and editorial duties, and the all-important
family time, well... a guy does have to sleep sometime!
But I was still listening...
From the stacks of records, I selected 19 that really moved me this year.
Many of these are receiving their first coverage in Ink 19 with this list,
for which I apologize, because they all deserved a lot more attention.
And that's putting aside scores of other deserving records that didn't
make the list, including efforts from John Doe, Nik Kershaw, Trio Mocotó,
Frank Black & the Catholics, The Wontons, Bis, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones,
Neil Finn, The Toasters, MU330, Interpol, The Distillers, Ursula 1000,
and others that will sadly get naught but a token mention here, plus several
others that came out late in the year that are still fair game to review
early in 2003.
One of my New Year's Resolutions has been to do more writing this year.
This article is the start of that, and I've been realigning some editorial
priorities to allow more writing time this year. Self-indulgent? Perhaps.
But one of the main reasons I got into this is to tell people about great
music (and comics, and movies, and books, etc.), and it's something that
still makes me very happy.
So without further adieu, here's my 19 favorite full-length discs of 2002,
counted down Casey Kasem style, naturallly.
...7. Bitesize, Sophomore Slump, (Packing Heat!)
When we first heard Ween, circa Pure Guava, my friends and I called them
"the evil They Might Be Giants." If that's the case, then Bitesize
are the bastard offspring of the union of the two, conceived during a
drunken encounter while The Pixies' Doolittle played at a volume of 10.
Sophomore Slump then, is the most mistitled record on this list, as it's
filled with raucous, catchy indie rock and often blackly comic subject
matter, an irresistible combination.
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Maximum
Rock N Roll
September 2002 #232
Ray Lujan's Top 10 of the month
Bitesize - "Sophomore Slump" CD
This local band puts out a strong second full length here. A quirky release
that brings to mind PIXIES, PEE, and even ATOM & HIS PACKAGE. Great
vocal play between the guy/girl vocals. Twenty infectious ditties that
overflow with enthusiasm and spirit on a pop level. Not so much for the
hardcores but twisted punky pop fans will enjoy this. (RL)
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AOL digitalcity.com
Bitesize
Next: 5/17, 10PM;
The Stork Club
2330 Telegraph Ave.
Oakland, CA 94607
510-444-6174
If you
canít stand a Bitesize song, donít fret - itíll be over soon. The groupís
standard pop ditty lasts less time than it takes to melt Junior Mints
over microwave popcorn. The unitís latest release ëSophomore Slumpí packs
twenty upbeat tracks in a scant 39 minutes chock full of noise, melody
and prominent bass. Enthusiastic trade-off vocals sound like a classic
Elton John and Kiki Dee duet hopped up on trucker speed and yelped into
spit-soaked microphones. The band exudes a purist aesthetic not often
seen since the dawn of the alternative-rock era. In addition to the 100%
gleeful abandon, Bitesize engages the listener with a unique perspective
and agitated twist on subject matter like sex toys, gender bending and
role switching back to Shakespeareís time. Bitesize provides a sugar-fix
like those candy miniatures from which they took their name, but itís
the one from last Easter with a tad of gritty gray decomposition around
the edges. The group mixes just enough contamination with the fizzy indie
pop to keep it interesting and a bit off. -- Leigh Anne Lewis
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me back to the TOP
the
19th Annual Folsom Street Fair (Program Guide)
September 29, 2002
Bitesize
Silly, sex-positive and self-assured, Bitesize brings a little bit of
sickness to indie rock, filling their otherwise perfect pop gems with
awkward stops and starts, weird bursts of guitar noise and quirky, comical
vocals. The band sings with gleeful abandon about genderqueers, SM, three-ways,
sex toys, masturbation, having sex with new surgically-reconstructed genitals!
Bitesize's second self-released CD is Sophomore Slump.
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pergormermag
august02
Bitesize - Sophomore
Slump
Recorded, mixed, and mastered at
Tiny Telephone, San Francisco, CA
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by
John Croslin
Reviewer -Mike Henry
When you're singing about transsexual understudies, flaming ice cream
trucks, and kissing old guys, you can pretty much expect to be saddled
with
the modifier “quirky.” It is certain that Bitesize knows this.
They've certainly
heard it before. But underneath all the eccentricities of their second
full-length
CD, Sophomore Slump, Bitesize demonstrates why their eclectic brand of
noise pop transcends its own wackiness. Simply put: hooks are hooks, and
Sophomore Slump is loaded with them. On songs, “Bath Tub Orgasm,”
“Speed Demon,” and “Proverbial Old Guy,” Julia Serano
and Leslie Harrison
spend the verses co-narrating their crazy tales before converging on
shout-along choruses so impossibly catchy you'll think you've known them
all
your life. Harrison's hypnotic, melodic bass lines are songs in themselves
and
one will find themselves singing along with them as much as the lyrics,
that is,
when not feebly attempting to bash an invisible drum kit. Props go out
to
Steve “Speed” LeFevre for ignoring the fact that he's in a pop
band and
keeping the heavy metal torch burning bright. Then there are Serano's
equally-hooky guitar parts, which occasionally strike one as sort of un-guitarish
(yeah, that's a word), alternating between saxophony squawks and DJ-like
scratches before launching into the meat-and-potatoes tones of each power
pop chorus. But it is in their Xacto-sharp lyrics that Bitesize truly
rise above
their post-punk contemporaries. Witness the tender side of adolescent
angst
in “Bee's Knees” versus its crawl-into-a-hole counterpart in
“Father Figure.” Or
compare the savage, but hummable vitriol of “Chicken Shit” to
the bouncy
you-and-me-babe sentiments of “Strapped For Cash,” and you'll
see that
Bitesize can turn just about any emotion into two minutes of... (Okay,
let's say
it)...quirky fun. Highly recommended.
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Shredding
Paper Bitesize-"Sophomore Slump"CD 20/38:49 Nice title. Of course it's
a joke, as it's their second CD, and it's no slump! Mixing the unconventional
hooks of the Pixies or They Might Be Giants with a whole lot of distorted
guitar noise and the high pitched whine(I mean that in a nice way!) of
primary singer Serano, this sugary blast of pop is absolutely endearing
without having any regard for what's hip or cool. You can't help but tap
your feet to the simple pop beats while the rest of the music goes off
in a different direction. You can't help but laugh at the occasional crack
in Serano's voice, or at the lyrics, which tackle subjects like the bathtub
orgasm, or being in love and saying I'll be your Pinochet if you'll be
my Margaret Thatcher. Hilarious and fun, this is just the kind of music
that would make Stimpy from Ren and Stimpy run amok and make his head
explode. Steve @www.bitesize.net (MP3s available)
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babysue/LMNOP April 2002 http://www.babysue.com/LMNOP-Reviews-April-02.html#anchor398303
Bitesize - Sophomore Slump (CD, Packing Heat!, Pop/rock) For anyone who
ever loved the music of The Fastbacks or The Pixies...Bitesize is sure
to be a welcome new contender in the ring. Bitesize tunes are just that.
The band's short and succinct songs are slightly spastic and feature male
and female tradeoff vocals. The band's super catchy ditties are characterized
by a decidedly skewed sense of humor, and this is obvious from the song
titles. Fans of underground pop/rock are almost certain to love odd little
numbers like "Father Figure," "Chicken Shit," "Press Junket," and "Proverbial
Old Guy." If you're looking for upbeat fun played with direct style and
intent, Bitesize are almost certain to fill the bill... (Rating: 4++)
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http://www.powerpop.org/shakeitup/reviews/bitesize2.htm
Bitesize
Sophomore Slump - (Packing Heat)
Bitesize up the ante on Sophomore Slump (also showing a sense in humour
even in the title, with their previous debut effort called The Best Of
Bitesize) by offering twenty tracks of buzz-saw punk-pop that is superior
to most of what passes within the genre.
Rather than simply embrace the "brat-core" movement, Bitesize
revels in a self deprecating humour and youthful anxiety. What that amounts
to in Sophomore Slump is a soundtrack for misfits, outcasts, and people
who just plain don't fit in. Bitesize comes by this honestly, by way of
Julia Serano's lyrics (formerly Tom Serano - check out http://www.bitesize.net
for details).
The end result are tracks like the gratifying "so there!" of
Surprise Ending, the embarrassment behind Father Figure (about seeing
your dad at the Ozzy Osbourne show - shudder!), and the hilarious BTO
(Bath Tub Orgasm, that is). All are delivered around hooky guitars and
Julia and Leslie's (first names only, please) vocal harmonies and counterparts.
Tracks like Unadulterated feature the vocal tag-team perfectly, but know
that the two always sound a little "off". Frankly, that's the
charm here - especially when you combine it with the bands uncanny ability
to find a song's melodic centre. Sometimes it turns into an addictive
singalong as with Double Knots, while elsewhere we have fist-waving supercharged
power poppers like Speed Demon. All of this is often done under the two-minute
mark.
Sophomore Slump - indeed not.
(* * * out of 5)
Claudio Sossi
September 2002
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Roctober
#33 Summer 2002
Bitesize - Sophomore Slump
Mormally quirky indie pop weirdo songs where the vocalist is doing an
Urkel impersonation would not rate high on my Not-Suck-O-Meter, but this
is actually pretty fucking great. Everything sounds funny and when the
nerd voice and the girl voice sing together it's very dynamic and the
humor is genuine and original. BUT all the songs are not strained jokes,
but rather honest, real-seeming stories of oddness with often a twisted
or sad or disturbing edge. Worth biting.
Ink
19
http://columns.ink19.com/outsight/jazzitup
Bitesize
Sophomore Slump
Packing Heat, POB 16218, Oakland, CA 94610
bitesize@yahoo.com
Bitesize is a punk-y power pop trio stylistically marked by the peppy
vocals of Leslie Harrison (bass, also) and Julie Serano (guitar as well).
It all sounds so saccharine on the surface, but underneath it is dark
and somewhat twisted. Bitesize self-styles this approach as "evil
twee" as a label for the mature core to their teen-sounding alt-rock.
Having started in 1997, the group has grown into a less outrageous version
of Butt Trumpet on their sophomore release of one-and-a-half-minute songs.
(3) -Thomas Schulte (Outsight)
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Geek
America
http://www.geekamerica.com/reviews/music/07-15-02.shtml
Bitesize
"sophomore slump" CD
Grade: B
Okay, this is an interesting one. Quirky pop/snot rock with dual vocals.
Leslie has the sweet vocals that with just a little bit of work would
be flawless. On the other hand, Serano has the whiny vocals that require
a generous ear, the type of stuff i could have easily digested in high
school. The press pack doesn't focus at all on this, because i'm sure
they want to focus on the music, but it's absolutely amazing, so i have
to make note of it: Serano is in fact transgendered, and in the process
of becoming a woman. I find it amazing that she is so open about the process...
at least on the website. The music is upfront, and often throws you off
with unexpected lyrics, often witty enough to make me laugh with lines
like "i'm not a medical student, but i know my way around a body".
This is all clever work, but possibly more fascinating is the people behind
the music. I'm going to keep my eye on this band. (BGW)
packing heat
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http://actionmanmagazine.com/index2.html
Bitesize
Sophomore Slump
(Packing Heat)
by - Julie "Binky The Doormat" Devroy
Well, this is just plain silly. Here we have twenty songs, apparently
classified as “evil twee,” performed by a girl, a guy, and
another guy who either thinks he’s a girl or wants the operation.
Bitesize are quirky to the point that no one is likely to take them
seriously. That’s probably just fine with them; any band who names
their songs “Bath Tub Orgasm” and “Chicken Shit”
is most likely having too much fun (or too many drinks) to actually
care what anyone thinks of them.
Musically, Bitesize are fairly straightforward, happy punk-pop, falling
somewhere between the Selby Tigers and some of Teenbeat Records’
more rockin’ bands. It’s when Leslie Harrison and Tom (Julia)
Serano open their mouths that the silliness begins. “Surprise Ending”
kicks off with Harrison deadpanning lyrics like “he made a comment
about her behind” with Serano responding “it was fine, it
was fine, it was fine, yeah.” Next up, in “Understudy,”
they harmonize about how they “will put the shake in Shakespeare…put
the ham in Hamlet.” It keeps going like this -- 20 silly pop songs
with some of the wackiest lines in indie rock.
Bitesize could fill the same sort of need for rock fans as Atom &
His Package or the Moldy Peaches. They could be the record a self-important
punk rock / indie rock fan pops in at a party for two or three songs,
just long enough to turn around and say to his/her friends, “Listen
to this! It’s so weird!” Then it’ll probably get set
aside once some humorless partygoer gets up and pops in some “real
music.” If Bitesize wanted to, however, they could probably win
over enough fun-loving rock funs to be taken seriously. I just don’t
picture that among their list of goals.
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Urban
View 10-03-01
Funny their new CD should be called Sophomore Slump, because it’s
a cheery nostalgia for those early high school years I feel when I listen
to Bitesize. It’s most likely their ‘80s alt-pop sound that
rouses the carefree bounce reminiscent of organized dances, but I like
to think that it has more to do with the just-long-enough-to-enjoy-without-being-annoyed
track lengths combined with clever lyrics. “I see you all the time/down
at the record store/I get my seven inches there/and I can’t help
but stare/I pay with pennies so? I can spend some time with you...”
the trio wails in “Bath-Tub Orgasm.” It’s quick and quippy
and somehow touches that oh, so cool, yet painfully insecure high school
ego still lingering in all of us. More-rock-less-pop Fluke Starbucker
and Baby Carrot open. Sat/6, 10pm. The Stork Club.
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Urban
View 4-4-01
excerpt from a review of the Mr. O Show
...Finally, Bitesize relieved the pain. The trio’s un stoppable pop
was enough to snap me out of the spell Mr. O’s minion’s had
cast. Playing the short, sweet, uptempo noise they are known for, Leslie
Harrison (bass and vocals), Steve “Speed” LeFevre (drums) and
Tom Serano (guitar, vocals and jumping) rekindled my faith in the miraculous
healing power of pop. They made their abbreviated set up of mostly new
material, due out on an album sometime this summer.
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http://www.thehotsix.com/kickbright/rr/2000.html
Bitesize The Best of Bitesize CD "i think that you're great. let's go
on a date." Bitesize are the equilvent of a rocket science experiment
with explosive results. Every song is punchy, quick and obscenely jumpy.
I love this! They could have not made a better record. The lyrics are
sweet and humorous with a rather lock-jawed bite. They go from sweet crushes
to songs about kicking butt. Just about every song, like "Cold Turkey"
and "Theme Park", are memorable and get stuck in my head all day long.
They boy/girl vocals are sweet. This is totally amazingly fun and it comes
highly recommeded. Reference: Mr. T Experience, Nerf Herder. Packing Heat
Records. PO Box 13833. Berkley, CA 94712. Bitesize webpage.
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this
review appeared in babysue and LMNOP, May 2000 Bitesize - The Best of
Bitesize (CD, Packing Heat!, Pop/rock)
Instantly LOVABLE. It takes a lot to really hit our prannie where it needs
to be hit, but Bitesize nailed the goddamn bull's eye on first listen.
Playing humorous, succinct, anxious pop rock the way it oughta be played,
this band reminds us in many ways of the much overlooked Lazy (from the
1990s). The tradeoff male and female vocals keep things interesting...but
it is ultimately the songs themselves that are the draw here. Fresh, young,
slightly sloppy, and simple...these tunes are the tasty pudding produced
by a band that possesses the genuine excitement of making music. Top faves
in this campground are "Sugar Car," "Switch Hitter,"
and "Yellow Belt"...but all the tunes are actually rather great.
Many lyrics had us giggling up a storm. College radio should be going
NUTS over this band. We SHO izz! Salute to Bitesize. They is Major FUN
FUN (!). Der webb site she izz http://www.bitesize.net.
(Rating: 4)
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East
Bay Express, December 8 - 14, 2000 KIRBY GRIPS, DEALERSHIP, BITESIZE,
LUNCHBOX, and THE BLAST ROCKS!
At the Stork Club, Oakland, Saturday, December 2
By Mo McFeely
The Blast Rocks! kicked off the bEASTfest Saturday-night showcase at the
Stork Club like Pop Rocks and RC Cola. Playing to the sparse crowd that
was clearly there to see them, the trio delivered some screamy, good-time
pop punk. Whatís not to love about songs called "My Boyfriend
is a Zombie" and "Donít Wake the Neighbors" played
with frenetic joy on a low-slung Casiotone MT-11 and a drum kit consisting
of a forty-gallon trash barrel, a glass bottle, and a coffee can in the
middle of a trash heap?
Fans of Dressy Bessy, Kincaid, and the rest of the Kindercore clan will
find a friend in Lunchbox. However, not everyone has a taste for sugary
retro-pop, as illustrated by the not-so-drunk someone who called out,
"Iím not drunk enough to like you yet!" At which time
lead singer Tim Brown graciously offered the heckler part of his beer.
But the comment seemed to put a damper on the moodñthe usually
lighthearted "bop-bi-dahs" they were singing lacked bop.
Bitesizeís two-minute bursts of hook-heavy noise pop were infectious
enough to warrant a quarantine. Saturday, they opened with "B.T.O."
an homage to sponsor Good Vibrationsí "waterdancer."
Named after bathtub orgasms, the song should logically have been titled
"B.O." though one can see how that might be misconstrued. The
bandís between-song banter about "back-to-the-crotch rock"
prompted a girl next to me to ask her friend, "Did he just say ëback-to-the-crotch
rot?í" Again, not something about which most would want to
hear a songñunless, perhaps, it was sung by Britney Spears.
To much woohooing and shouts of "Rock!," Dealership took the
stage. Woohoo is right. Like many in the Bay Area, I have been charmed
by their drowsy, fuzzy buzzydom. The trio swung through a quick forty
minutes of more pop than noise, full of lovely boy-girl harmonies and
guitar squall. When the crowd demanded an encore, the band came back with
"Green," an Imperial Teen-style rocker about a first kiss. The
chorus: "puke breath/ French kiss."
The Kirby Grips (British for bobby pins) closed out the evening with style:
Drummer Michelle Kappel took time to don pink fairy wings (which well
matched her hot pants) before sitting down behind the kit. If one were
to mix Bikini Kill, Nancy Sinatra, Cadallaca, and the Shangri-Las with
some tchotchkes and Chanel No. 5 in a thigh-high leather boot, it would
sound like these three girls. After five hours of moxie rock, the evening
wound up like a ball of aluminum foil so big and shiny as to make you
call over to your friends, "Hey, look at this big shiny ball, isnít
it neat?"
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Skyway
(www.skywayzine.com) 2000 #9
Best of Bitesize review
“My car runs on sugar,” announces guitarist Tom Serano in the
first moments of “Sugar Car,” the opening song on Bitesize’s
debut album (the “Best of” thing is a joke). Judging from the
energetic ultra-catchy pogo-pop tunes that fill this record, generally
clocking in at around two minutes each, it wouldn’t be surprising
if sugar was the band’s secret weapon as well. Serano and bassist
Leslie Harrison trade off sweetly snide vocals in a manner that brings
to mind the late great Seattle indie-pop band Incredible Force of Junior,
while drummer Steve LeFevre manages to keep the rapid beat all the while.
Slyly creative references to vampires and voodoo dolls midgets in pants
suits, hermaphrodites, and the struggle to quit smoking just zip right
past as “Best Of” rushes through its half-hour hook-and-chorus
showcase, leading to countless bemused examinations of the lyric sheet.
Any band that can maintain such a great sense of humor without coming
off as a joke themselves certainly deserves some respect. And that’s
on top of the fact that Bitesize consistently writes wonderful songs.
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Slide
the Needle, April 2000 BITESIZE "the best of..." CD (Packing
Heat!)
Don't let this band fool you in thinking they've been around and released
a bunch of releases...for, "the best of...", is Bitesize's 1st
full cd. What we have here is a band from Berkeley, CA doing Berkeley
styled pop-punk. Actually it's like as if the Pixies decided to get together
and do pop-punk done well. The songs are short and straight to the point
(most of the songs are under 2 mins.!). This band has all the right pop
hooks and punches to make great pop songs. At the end you also get a silly
interview that had me laughing so this is just all fun. A definite A+
in my book. (JK)
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UnSealed
Ezine, April 2000 Bitesize - The Best of...Bitesize...So Far
(Packing Heat)
SF three-piece This is the debut album from Bitesize, a SF trio known
far and wide for their self-described "reckless pop tunes" and
quirky lyrics. To paraphrase from one of their songs: "they're bitchin."
Lyrics such as "She's a watersign and I'm an asshole" had me
chuckling out loud and their brand of enregetic pop topped with boy/girl
vocals had my interest peaked throughout the album. For fans of quirky
pop, this is one to check out.
- Kim Callahan
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Summer*Salts,
April 2000 BITESIZE - the best of (cd)
No matter how much I try, I don't think I could dislike this band. They
pump out these perfect little pop nuggets that, on average, clock in at
less than two minutes each. I listened to the first few songs before I
left my room one day and consequently had them in my head for the next
two hours. Each song darts from influence to influence; a little bit of
Pixies, a hint of the Misfits, and a touch of Imperial Teen to top it
all off. So it's not the most original thing you've ever heard, but can
you deny lyrics like "you best get out of in front of me or else
I'll have to karate you"? How about "take a look at my headgear
/ knock you down"? That's right, you can't, and neither can I. I'm
not even going to bother describing individual songs because they'd be
over before I could finish this sentence. If you like your pop in short
bursts with a heavy dose of punk rock, then let Bitesize be your new best
friendÖor I'll karate you.
Plus: this stuff takes catchy to a new, ridiculous level
Minus: could we get some better cover art?
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indiegeek.com,
May 2000 Bitesize
Remember in high school, you found this band, and you didn't know why
but you liked them. Then you discovered that whenever you played their
albums, it drove your parents crazy, maybe even some of your friends,
and that just made you like them that much more? You can experience that
same joy all over again. Drive all your boring, stuffy friends and loved
ones crazy by playing Bitesized against their will. Lots of punch, A little
bubble gummy, garaunteed to cause hyperactivity in children. I had the
pleasure of seeing the at Bottom of the Hill in April of 2000. They are
truely adorable live. The guitarist hops around like a bunny and reminds
me of a grung version of Richard Simons. Maybe not as obnoxious but just
as entertaining. I couldn't sit still.
Support your local SF bands and buy their great cd.
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Aiding
and Abetting, April 2000 BITESIZE
The Best of Bitesize
(Packing Heat)
Jaunty power pop trio, with much more panache than skill. The songs are
full of obvious jokes and fairly stilted chord progressions. The playing
and singing is, well, let's just say I recognized this as music.
For all of its drawbacks, however, Bitesize did manage to release four
albums, and these are the best of the bunch (so sez the band, anyway).
And I can see how these folks earned an audience. For all the flaws, this
is an utterly earnest band.
There is an energy that's undeniable. From a technical standpoint, Bitesize
is a nightmare. But when it comes to some kicking some ass, I'd like Bitesize
in my corner any day.
Quality this ain't. But that's okay. Bitesize has more than enough attitude
and fuel to even the score. Just tap in and see what develops.
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KALX
90.7 FM Program Guide, Spring 2000 Bitesize 7"
More Songs About Cars and Body Parts
(Packing Heat Label)
A very nice debut from a local trio produced by Greg Freeman. Guiitar/bass/drums
with boy & girl vocals. These guys play super-catchy fast quirky noise
pop songs. Try to imagine Nardwar of the Evaporators fronting a cross
between the Pixies & Pee; great stuff! And they put on a very fun,
high-energy live show, well worth checking out (beautiful red vinyl).
-JJ
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Zero
Magazine October 10-November 10, 1999: Local Music Spotlight: Bitesize
Berkeley-based Bitesize quietly began playing Bay Area clubs in 1997.
By 1998, they began headlining at venues such as Bottom of the Hill and
the Paradise Lounge and started showing up on various showcases--Noise
Pop to name one. Earlier this year, they released their first full-length
CD, 'The Best Of Bitesize' on the band's own label, Packing Heat Records.
What is Bitesize? They are a noise pop trio that specializes in churning
out catchy two-minute tunes characterized by their trademark boy-girl
harmonies and quirky lyrics.
Both KUSF and KALX have been playying the band regularly and they recently
appeared at this year's North-by-Northwest festival in Portland. The band
is Leslie Harrison on bass and vocals, Tom Serano on guitar and vocals,
and Steve Lefevre on drums. The band claims to be into Superchunk and
Pavement but they are much poppier than either. Keep an eye out for their
upcoming dates and treat yourself to their high energy, highly entertaining
performances.
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East
Bay Express, Sept 10 1999 Rock in a Hard Place by Sam Hurwitt
You have two oppurtunities to chew on Bitesize's sweet li'l truffles at
one of two shows--for free at noon Friday at Sproul plaza on the Cal campus
or for a pittance Thursday at the Plough. The Berkeley-based band's brand
new debut 'The Best of Bitesize' is a charmer, if definitely bite-size
itself (zooming through ten songs in twenty minutes). With clever lyrics
and hook-barbed songcraft, the trio's fare is packed with a juicy filling
of squealy clanking distortion, perky co-ed vocals, and maniacal melodies
as catchy as any jump-rope rhyme. Imagine The Pixies forced into servitude
by They Might Be Giants, and you begin to get the idea. Favorite moments:
Tom Serano singing "She is a water sign and I am an asshole"
in "Tarot Cards';the whole of 'I Forgot My Mantra' ("I'm a hemaphrodite
but that's beside the point"); and the darling "here we go,
here we go-ee-oh-ee-oh" back-up vocals to the sweetness-fueled "Sugar
Car."
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Willamette
Week
Official Program Guide for the North-by-Northwest Festival: NXNW 1999,
Friday 12 am at Club 21
BITESIZE
Is it any wonder that Bitesize cooks up tiny songs? Weighing in at 2:58
minutes, "I Forgot My Mantra" is epic compared to the other
morsels on The Best of Bitesize. The song, like the rest of them on
this fakie Greatest Hits album, is a fluffy rant; silly lyrics such
as, "I'm a hermaphrodite/ But that's beside the point" (Bitesize
are quite the rhymers) indicate the trio's goofy irreverence. Sounding
a bit like Weezer plus one chick, this Bay Area band is unrelenting
in its stream of consciousness raving, as in this line from "Cold
Turkey": "She sat next to me in the waiting room/I had the
common cold, she had a stomach flu/ I was reading Time when she turned
my way/ and said that my breath smelled like an ashtray." Right.
(CM)
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Shake
It Up! November 1999 BITESIZE
The Best Of Bitesize - (Packing Heat)
Screw Blink 182 and the rest of the "bratcore" contingent. You
want fun? You got it in Bitesize - and it's almost more than I can stand!
Bitesize are a three-piece from Berkeley, California that load their too-short
and snappy tunes with thick 'n' chunky hooks, fun lyrics, and a hyper
energy that works wonderfully with the boy/girl harmonies and counterparts
that appear throughout. This is sugarcoated, punk-fueled pop thinly disguised
as a "best of" compilation, but could very well have been one
in earnest - these songs are all top notch.
The opening Sugar Car pretty much sets the pace here ("I'm rich and
you're bitchin'!") and will have you singing along with the "here-we-go-here-we-go-ee-o-ee-o"'s
in no time flat. Yellow Belt is enough to make you want to pick a fight
with that oversized jerk that suddenly showed up in your bar (the one
that's always in your favourite chair) before realizing that "yellow"
may not cut it. Everyone can relate to the chaos of Hand Wash Cold (I'm
personally still paying for shrinking my wife's favourite shirt!) and
hey, Switch Hitter has more ball-talk than Take Me Out To The Ballgame
(more fun, too!). Then there's the seemingly random I Forgot My Mantra,
which at 2:58 is the "anthem" here.
Leslie Harrison's bass and Tom Serano's guitar chug along throughout The
Best Of Bitesize and drummer Steve LeFevre displays an impressive amount
of energy all over this thing. Harrison and Serano spend their vocal time
bouncing lines off of each other, most effectively of the driving Crash
Course.
Now, we're not talking highbrow cerebral statements here - don't look
for me to use words like "lush" and refer to "arrangements".
This is simply three people picking up their instruments and having a
good time - almost desperately yet still without an annoying "we're
so irreverent" attitude.
Lighten up and you may find you NEED Bitesize - I know I do!
* * * * out of 5
Claudio Sossi
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Shredding
Paper #4 (fall of 1999) Bitesize-"The Best Of..." CD 11/33:34
This band probably won't like being thought of as a novelty band, but
their songs are pretty wacked out. They have a pop sensibility that reminds
me of the Breeders, with light-hearted quirky lyrics that recall They
Might Be Giants. I think some folks are going to go for this in a big
way, although the silliness doesn't really do it for me. The boy/girl
vocals work best on "Sugar Car", which is kind of like a lighter
weight Pixies. I like Tom's voice, and he writes funny lyrics. I'm not
a fan here, but Bitesize have a good reputation locally for their live
shows. Mel
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SF
Weekly
Riff Raff by Mark Athitakis
Listing Toward San Francisco Having done some hard time in the world of
music journalism, Riff Raff has devoted a fair amount of effort to reading
-- and sometimes compiling -- best-of lists. So we took a special interest
in the Chronicle's enumeration of the "Bay Area's All-Time Best Bands,"
which appeared with much fanfare in the Dec. 19 pink section. Pondering
the list for a while, we came to two conclusions: 1) A top 50 list would've
been more honest and less embarrassing, and 2) Even Chron columnist Ken
Garcia realized this.
Really, thinking of Van Morrison (ranked 19th) as a Bay Area artist is
a bit like thinking of Reggie Jackson as a California Angel. Giving Eddie
Money (85), Pablo Cruise (91), and Mr. Big (100) any credit -- any --
for doing something musically useful, let alone great, is being too kind.
And if the list's assemblers (Joel Selvin, James Sullivan, and Neva Chonin)
confess that Jefferson Starship (99) was a purveyor of "hollow, empty
pop," what's so "best" about that group of hacks?
However, what's most striking about the list is that, as a catalog of
what people talk about when they talk about Bay Area pop music, the Selvin-Sullivan-Chonin
brain trust got it exactly right. Few local bands or musicians who have
made a dent on the national scene got omitted -- though the unlisted Operation
Ivy was a much better and more influential band than its listed spinoff
Rancid, and alas, Night Ranger couldn't crack the top 100.
To be fair, the list does do justice to locals' contributions to punk
(Dead Kennedys, Flipper, Avengers), hip hop (DJ Shadow, Invisibl Skratch
Piklz, Spearhead, Too Short, and Tupac, that last being questionable as
a "local"), altrock (Imperial Teen, Red HousePainters, American
Music Club), and wonderful weirdness (Negativland, the Residents). The
question has to be asked, though: Why do the list at all? Right -- to
sell newspapers, but let's think a little harder on this one. In many
things, not just pop music, the Bay Area is rigorously assertive (and
defensive) about its place on the worldwide scene, often to the point
of absurdity. There's a tone of "Hey, we're important too!"
to the list, both in its prose and in its concept. The defensive stance
stems mainly from the way the Bay Area gets treated by the cultural power
centers in New York and Los Angeles, which is to say, receiving condescending
little pats on the head, as eager schoolchildren do when they've aced
their spelling tests. Your little band charted on Gavin? Good for you!
When are you going to move to L.A. and get serious? As one music industry
insider infamously put it, the local rock scene suffers from an "enthusiastic
mediocrity."
We trust that in saying all this, nobody will interpret us as having some
sort of bad attitude toward local music -- although we confess that we've
sat and stood through a whole lot of enthusiastic mediocrity from locals
this year. But when it came time to sort through stacks of records and
recall the good ones, we had little problem coming up with a sizable pile
of local CDs we got a genuine kick out of. So, then, here are 25 we remember
quite fondly, listed in no particular order:
El Stew (Om)
Mushroom, Analog Hi-Fi Surprise (Innerspace)
Joe Goldmark, All Hat -- No Cattle (HMG)
Quannum Spectrum (Quannum Projects)
Halou, We Only Love You (Bedazzled)
Matmos, The West (Deluxe)
Oranger, Doorway to Norway (Pray for Mojo)
Blackalicious, A2G EP (Quannum Projects)
Paula West, Restless (Noir)
For Stars, Windows for Stars (Future Farmer)
Tin Hat Trio, Memory Is an Elephant (Angel)
Johnny Dilks & His Visitacion Valley Boys, Acres of Heartache (HMG)
Mumble and Peg, This Ungodly Hour
Beulah, When Your Heartstrings Break (Sugar Free)
The Old Joe Clarks, Metal Shed Blues (Checkered Past)
Grandaddy, Signal to Snow Ratio EP (V2)
Joaquina, The Foam and the Mesh (Future Farmer)
Tilt, Viewers Like You (Fat Wreck Chords)
Bitesize, The Best of Bitesize (Packing Heat)
Tom Armstrong Sings Heart Songs (Carswell)
I Am Spoonbender, Teletwin (GSL)
Beth Custer, In the Broken Fields Where I Lie (self-released)
Rodriguez, Swing Like a Metronome (Devil in the Woods)
Brian and Chris (This Record Label)
Various Artists, Bay Area Rockers: San Francisco Rockabilly and Rock 'n'
Roll, 1957-1960 (Ace)
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Here
is an article that appeared in the SF Weekly October 6-12, 1999 issue
about Tiny Telephone recording studio (where we recorded our 7-inch and
CD). Bitesize gets a mention towards the end of the article!
Little Voice
In two years, John Vanderslice and his studio, Tiny Telephone, have become
unlikely focal points of the local pop-rock scene
By Mark Athitakis
Last month, Tiny Telephone studio celebrated its second anniversary. Actually,
there wasn't much of a celebration -- the day pretty much came and went.
In fact, the place's owner, John Vanderslice, has to consult a notebook
lying on a table in the control room to recall the exact date he opened
it. On the inside cover of a Tintin blank book, he's written: "Tiny
Telephone studio opened 9/11/97."
The notebook is a sign-in sheet for the bands that have recorded there,
filled with "typical bored musician junk," as Vanderslice puts
it. "But there's some great poems in here. There's funny stories."
Not to mention random doodlings, scraps of lyrics, and other creative
detritus. But more interestingly, the notebook has become a sort of snapshot
of the local independent rock scene of the past two years: Creeper Lagoon,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Granfaloon Bus, members of Counting
Crows, Dieselhed, Beulah, and Richard Buckner, among many others, have
all spent time in Tiny Telephone.
The studio itself isn't much to look at. Most studios aren't -- by definition,
they're simply spaces, large enough to fit musicians, instruments, and
the equipment required to record them. Vanderslice jokingly calls Tiny
Telephone's location a "shantytown" -- it's nestled on a Potrero
Hill side street surrounded by a variety of metal-paneled buildings. Kal
Spelletech's Survival Research Laboratories is nearby, along with a body
shop. Heaps of car parts, in various states of rotting and rusting, clutter
the parking areas around them.
Tiny Telephone started out as a co-op rehearsal space, used by a handful
of local musicians, including Vanderslice and his now-defunct power-pop
band MK Ultra. As other people dropped out or moved on, he looked into
converting the place into a fully functioning analog studio. Borrowing
some start-up funding -- "mom money," Vanderslice jokes -- he
started gathering equipment, from amps to pedals to a vintage 16-track
recording deck from Hyde Street Studios that, legend has it, was once
owned by Beach Boy Brian Wilson. (As it happened, the deck turned out
to be a bit too vintage and unwieldy, and Vanderslice has since disposed
of it; it's now in the possession of local pop-rockers/Beach Boys obsessives
Oranger.) The place is riddled with keyboards of all shapes and sizes
and tones: a Moog, a piano, an organ that belonged to the Mommyheads,
and a Hammond organ that was worth $6,400 in 1965 which Vanderslice bought
from some kid for $300.
Tiny Telephone's first year was mainly about working out the kinks of
managing a 1,700-square-foot recording space, assembling the right equipment,
and keeping things in order. Today, Vanderslice is griping about a band
that's left a $3,500 tube microphone exposed. "Humidity," he
explains, placing a plastic bag over it. Later, he'll be spraying the
control room with anti-static spray. The obsession with keeping things
in order is a result of two things. First is Vanderslice's knowledge that
recording can be an intimidating experience. "A lot of people know
that I'm in a band," he explains. "They know that I've been
through the whole thing, and this place is set up for convenience.
"People go [into a studio] and they're exposed. They're spending
a hell of a lot of money, and they need to feel comfortable where they
are. I've been in big studios spending more money than I had."
Studios are expensive; at the high-end level fees can go up to $1,000
a day, and while record labels cover recording costs, those costs are
expected to be recoupable, meaning the label plans to be paid back through
royalties from the resulting album's sales. In the Bay Area, there are
enough big-time studios to go around: Hyde Street, Toast, and Sausalito's
Record Plant all service the Third Eye Blinds, Metallicas, and R.E.M.s
of the world. But smaller, more affordable spaces aren't quite as easy
to come by, and San Francisco recently lost Brilliant Studios.
The other reason Vanderslice pays close attention to goings-on around
the studio is that the place is starting to become successful. "Slowly,
people started hearing about us," says Vanderslice. "After a
year, after we had some credits and people started hearing about us. Then
people from out of town started hearing about us." For those who
pay attention to names in the indie-rock world, the list of those who've
recorded at Tiny Telephone is impressive, including Washington cause cÈlËbre
Death Cab for Cutie. The space has also attracted respected producers
like Jawbox's and Burning Airlines' J. Robbins from Washington, D.C.,
Shellac's Bob Weston from Chicago, and Austin-based John Croslin, who
played in the jangle-pop bands Zeitgeist and the Reivers, and produced
one of Vanderslice's favorite records, Spoon's 1997 Soft Effects EP.
"The first time I heard Soft Effects I just went nuts," says
Vanderslice. "I thought it was the best-sounding record I'd ever
heard." Vanderslice was inspired to try to track Croslin down and
sell him on the studio. He succeeded: Starting in January, Croslin moves
to San Francisco and works as Vanderslice's partner and house engineer
at Tiny Telephone. "I've been in Austin for 20 years, and I love
it," says Croslin, "but it was time for a change." Adds
Vanderslice: "Bringing Croslin in expands the opportunities to bring
in the bands we want to record."
And that means bands that aren't just part of the local power-pop scene,
though even a cursory glance at the groups that've recorded there -- and
the resulting albums -- reflects some of the best rock and pop that's
come out locally in the past year. Beulah's magnificent When Your Heartstrings
Break is perhaps the most popular title, but there's also a fine string
of EPs: Charmless' Nothing Nice Rhymes With Your Name and Oakland-based
Bitesize's The Best of Bitesize, a 20-minute disc rife with perfect, perky
harmonies and shimmering guitars -- an album so unapologetically immersed
in goes-down-easy pop you don't so much listen to it as gum it.
"I'm a Beatles guy as opposed to a Nirvana guy," says Vanderslice.
"I like heavy melodies and vocals. Whatever the dressing is underneath,
I don't really care." Still, he doesn't describe himself as any sort
of local rock patron, nor does he feel any particular need to promote
Tiny Telephone, which is booked solid through the beginning of next year
anyhow. His hesitation stems from his day job as a bartender. "For
four years, I've been working at Chez Panisse. Their whole thing from
the very beginning was just to spend an outrageous amount of money on
ingredients -- their kitchen has no budget, the chef can order whatever
they want without clearing it with anybody. They also decided to never
advertise, and that really impacted me. I thought that's pretty brilliant.
Going by reputation gives it more of an underground feeling."
But if Vanderslice is more a hard-core fan than a patron, he's also working
to get the word out about the bands he loves. This week, he launched an
MP3 site at Tiny Telephone's home page (www.tinytelephone.com) featuring
songs from bands both local (Granfaloon Bus, Chantigs, Mommyheads, MK
Ultra) and national (Spoon, Sunny Day Real Estate's Jeremy Enigk). Despite
much of the ongoing debate about the usefulness of MP3 files, Vanderslice
stands his ground. "It's really in their [the bands'] best interest
to give away their songs for free," he says. "I just think if
things are available for free that your audience is much, much larger,
and people are willing to take a chance to listen." All of the postings
are done with the musicians' permission and input. "It's important
to allow them to really understand what I'm doing, that this is a fan
page," he says. "I have a visceral love for this music."
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Flipside,
issue #117 Mar/Apr 1999 Bitesize
More Songs About Cars and Body Parts, 7"
This is some real basic pop punk. Pop like if Mickey Dolenz from the Monkees
teamed up with Luscious Jackson to cover the "Sixteen Candles"
soundtrack. Punk like the Mr. T Experience, which I guess isn't really
punk at all. So this is real basic pop. It's not a bad gift for your girlfriend
if she's getting real sick of your Minor Threat albums and there's another
room for you to hang out in.
-Juan Bastos
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The
War Against Silence July 1999 Bitesize: More Songs About Cars and Body
Parts
Bitesize are a trio from Berkeley. They play like a goofier version of
the Muffs who learned tempo from the Ramones, but guitar chords from Voivod.
"Headache Baby Yeah!" is a bouncy, petulant diatribe against
somebody who consumed all the singer's aspirin, in the mold of the American
Measles' "God Took My Bike". "Jumpstart" careens,
"The Bee's Knees" borrows the hook from the Archers of Loaf's
"Web in Front", and the pounding and strident "In the Know"
conceals a lonely domestic tableau worth of Tullycraft. I noticed only
two body parts, and no specific cars, although there is a garage. 45rpm,
lovely translucent red vinyl courtesy of Packing Heat Music!, whatever
that is.
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UNDERPOP,
December 1999: Review of Bitesize 'More Songs About Cars And Body Parts'
7" (Packing Heat Music)
There's a certain brand of boy-girl punk pop that bis fans love and everyone
else hates. Bitesize fit in this category, along with the likes of the
Teen Titans. Two of the songs are very similar in places, but regardless,
this is a record you'll love or loathe depending on how many question-and-answer
lyrics you can stomach in one sitting. 'Headache Baby Yeah!' is the most
catchy song of the four, a girl/ boy tug of war over a bottle of aspirin
(in case you couldn't guess from the title!). Recommended to anyone who
ever ate a lollipop in public... and enjoyed it. (C)
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Willamette
Week
Official Program Guide for the North-by-Northwest Festival: NXNW 1998,
Thursday 1 am at ROCCO'S PIZZA
BITESIZE
With the exciting bang and sizzle of a package of Pop Rocks, Bitesize
plays a plethora energetic songs that start and finish in two minutes
flat. With quirky lyrics, plenty of feedback and male/female vocals, Bitesize
could also be compared to the sugar rush one gets from a pixie stick--or
the pop-punk music of the Pixies. (JK)
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BAM
magazine, January 30, 1998 Night Fever by Greg Heller
The Paradise Lounge. Wednesday night (I think). Lunchbox and Bitesize.
Bitesize, so named, I guess, 'cause the lead singer/guitar hopping spazola
is a borderline dwarf (for the record, so am I), rocked good and hard
in an intentionally off-key (at times taken overboard), atonal Pixies
kind of way. The songs were solid, the delivery emotional and the playing
skilled. While still indie and strange enough to enthrall the cross-armed
militia (who are these people anyway and how come they go out all the
time if they hate dancing so much?), Bitesize are just a rock band and
thank God for that. The drummer, however, yapped incessantly and is here
only spared from big time heckling by the fact that someone told me his
actual first name is Speed, which, given his insistence on detailing a
recent ski trip to Tahoe to the rock-thirsty crowd, I can only hope he
was on.
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http://www.inmusicwetrust.com/articles/13f03.html
NORTH BY NORTHWEST: Conferences and Music
By: Alex Steininger
Portland, Oregon -- With a thriving music community already receiving
healthy participation, anything that draws attention to the 'scene' is
a good thing. Enter in North by Northwest, the annual music/media conference
that focuses on the up-and-coming starts of tomorrow.
Buzz words penetrating every performance, hopes of being signed and plastering
your face all over MTV on the minds of every budding musician, North by
Northwest may not be all it is glamorized as, but with its growing status
amongst the music community, it proves to be a vital festival that has
nothing but good intentions.
Taking place August 20-22, I got a chance to scour both the clubs and
the conferences to check out what everything was all about. There were
a lot of good moments, and some things that can be improved, so here is
my interpretation of the events that took place.
Working Thursday morning, I didn't have a chance to attend any of the
panels. But once night hit, I put the pedal to the metal and started to
absorb the musical life that was clearly visible everywhere throughout
Portland.
Starting out with the Panties at Stage Four, I got to catch the last three
songs. Popping in during an instrumental jam number, I began to wonder
if I made the wrong choice in picking this band to begin the evening with.
But when this guitar/drums duo busted into their next two numbers, I was
quickly reminded why I came to check them out. Very impressive, the pop
hooks had razor blade edges, allowing the right amount of pop to leak
out, before cutting you up with some ferocious guitar riffs.
Watching as the crowd quickly disappeared as the Panties left the stage,
I decided to stick around and check out Seattle's Speed Twin.
With just a bit of knowledge regarding the band, from the tiny bit I had
heard about them, they seemed like a positive act to check out. Sure enough,
they were...during some portions of the songs. However, with their obsession
of metal and Glam rock, they somehow were able to sink a few otherwise
quality power-pop numbers with their muddy guitar work. But that's not
to say they didn't sparkle during other times. With a nice pop drive,
the majority of their set was quite intriguing. Sitting back and enjoying
their set, a few times they almost got me out of my chair to get up and
jump around. But being as shy as I am, and with so little people in the
audience, I didn't feel like making a spectacle of myself.
Half way through their set, I decided to walk up a few blocks to check
out the Negro Problem, a NxNW buzz band for the past few years. Folk-rock
with both a serious nature, and a humorous side, the packed house was
sitting back and absorbing the atmosphere.
Taking in a few songs, I loved the music, but my body was craving something
a bit more aggressive. So I walked back down to Stage Four and caught
the last few songs on Speed Twin's set.
After that, I went to my vehicle and tossed around a few notions, before
settling on Stage Four's Love Nut, a tremendous power-pop band from Baltimore,
Maryland. And boy was I glad I stayed, because their music was both refined
and sweet. Each song a new candy morsel, I was on a sugar high just from
watching their forty minute set.
So blown away by their set, and what a tremendous set it was, I hung around
after the show to talk to the band and get their publicist's number. As
a result, you can read their CD review in this issue (October 1998).
In the mood for pop, I once again headed down to La Luna to check out
Outpost Recording's newest signing, Marigold. Four twenty-year olds on
stage playing decent Brit-pop, after four songs I was ready to sleep.
The music was soft and submissive, too fragile for its own good.
But I stayed for the whole set, always expecting the next number to wake
me up. But that never happened. As I stumbled out of the club at 12:40
am, I was contemplating the drive down to Rocco's Pizza to check out Bitesize,
some Berkeley pop-punk band. Against my better judgement, I passed on
some extra sleep and headed down to the little pizza parlor to check them
out.
Dueling female/male vocals, Bitesize truly kept with their name, offering
up songs that were two minutes or less. Always a nice thing to experience,
especially when you're half asleep. But their set was able to instantly
wake me up. Centered around catchy, three chord pop hooks, Bizesize knew
if they were going to sustain an audience they had to get you singing
along within the first thirty seconds. They did it too, which was all
the more amazing.
The female had a cute, innocent school girl voice going for her, which
was quite the turn on, while the male had this annoying voice that destroyed
a few of the songs. After about five numbers however, I learned to cope
with the male's vocals, and soon even began to understand them.
Ending their set at 2am, it was time for me to take the voyage home and
get some sleep....
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San
Francisco Bay Guardian
November 12, 1997 Two Live: Bitesize
Nervy
Just prior to a recent Bitesize performance at the Paradise Lounge, singer-guitarist
Tom Serano paced about onstage, making last-minute adjustments to his
gear when he wasn't wiping his hands on the sides of his jeans. It seems
as though anxiety was the fuel for a frenetic show. A glance at the set
list revealed that Bitesize played what seemed like 15 songs in a 35-minute
blitzkreig.
From the opening of "Lunchdate," a tale of a botched Certs encounter,
Serano went off - leaning tiptoed into his microphone stand and making
fidgetyblur with his strumming hand. With a fevered look in his eye, he
was never at a standstill, dividing his time between singing at the microphone
and stalking in circles. The guy next to me suggested that Serano taught
an aerobics class in his free time. I saw images of Chucky, the nefarious
doll-come-to-life in the slashe serial Child's Play.
By comparison, bassist Leslie Harrison was laid-back, providing a steady
rhythm and cooking backing vocals while Serano snarled Black Francis-isms
like "I'm rich and you're bitchin'/Take a ride in my sugar car, sugar
car/My valuable sugar car." Drummer Steve LeFevre tailored his playing
to the action before him. Whether it was a venomous lyric or a bombastic
chorus, LeFevre always seemed to know when to hold back and when to put
a little muscle into his accents.
I can't remember a slow song - just 35 minutes of hyperactivity. Serano
made many trips to his guitar to mine precious feedback and other noises.
Not just a meat-and-potatoes power-chorder, his hands were as unfetteredas
his feet - they wandered everywhere in inspired bursts of soloing. The
last song, "I Forgot My Mantra," prompted someone to say, "Ordinarily
lines like 'I'm a hermaphrodite, but that's beside the point,' would really
irritate me, but somehow the energy glosses all of that over." Bitesize
plays Thursday/13, 9:30 p.m., Tip Top Inn, 3001 Mission, S.F. $3.
Howard Myint
take me back to
the TOP
San
Francisco Bay Guardian
October 15, 1997 Demo Tape o'the Week
Bitesize reminds us of the joy of playing in a band. It's cute the way
guitarist-singer Tom Serano and bassist-singer Leslie Harrison play call-and-response
on "I Forgot My Mantra." This sweaty rocker recalls the Pixies'
wildest moments, in which Black Francis shouted gibberish and non sequiturs
in Spanish as his bandmates bashed away, matching his intensity. Harrison
and drummer Steve LeFevre give Serano that same solid backing for his
flights of fancy. It seems, for instance, that someone eschewed medical
school for rock and roll on "Pre Med": Harrison's sweet backing
vocals evoke some comic visions (she rhymes "CAT scan" with
"bed pan"), and LeFevre's strenuous drumming stops on a dime,
allowing Serano to let loose with "I'm not a medical student/But
I know my way around a body" in a creepy falsetto. On this fine demo,
Bitesize bristles with the energy and charisma of the immortals.
Howard Myint
take me back to
the TOP
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