Roll of the Dice: 7 questions with Bite Me Bambi

Bite Me Bambi have a full-length album coming out in February! You read that right, a full-length LP called “Eat This”. It contains 8 songs, with some brand new ones filtered in with previous released singles. Fresh off finishing up their A Spoonful of Ska tour Mike Berault and Tahlena Chikami from the group joined us for a round of Roll of the Dice interview questions.

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Bite Me Bambi is known for releasing singles with videos throughout the year, as opposed to writing and recording a bunch of songs at once and releasing an LP. I’ve heard the reason is because a lot of people don’t buy full albums anymore. Is this the reason for this strategy or is it more of an artistic reason?

Mike Berault – Traditionally if you were to record 12-15 songs for a record, the majority of people only hear about 1 or 2 songs. That doesn’t work for us…for a young band it’s too expensive to record all those songs to have 2 actually make their way to human ears. Also, a lot of people listen to music on YouTube these days. We wanted to capture the YouTube viewers/listeners as well as get our singles heard. Our thought was to put everything, all singles, and videos out there for free, the die-hard fans will buy the album when it’s released with all the singles on it and some extras at all the end of the year. Not scientific but trying to be proactive for an ever-changing business model.

What’s more fun, coming up with a cover version of a song you love or writing your own new song?

Mike B– They are two different animals. Recording originals is almost therapeutic. It gets your message and your ideas about a specific topic or moment of your life out there-when done right its extremely rewarding and (at least for BMB) collaborative. By the same token…making a loved cover song your own is great too. I love our covers and consider them a tribute to those who came before that have influenced our sound.

On that same tone, you tend to go all out on your music videos, what’s the ratio of fun or fulfillment between writing and recording songs versus making videos?

Mike B – The videos are how everyone will get to know you, so we like to put a lot of effort into them and consider videos another part of the creative process. To answer your question though the writing and recording are much more time consuming its and rewarding when it comes together just right, I would say it’s the videos are 90% fun 10% fulfillment, and the writing/ recording is probably the opposite ratio…10% fun and 90% fulfilling.

I don’t personally know much about Twitch, but I know the band is heavily involved with the platform, can you give our readers a quick rundown on what you have going on there and how they can get involved?

Mike B – I’m not much of an expert either. I know that Twitch began as a “Gamer” platform and a lot of people will watch others compete and play video games. However, during the Pandemic, they had a big push to get more content creators on the site. So that’s when we began. It is a way for our fans to keep in touch with us on a weekly basis. Twitch is an app and is on most Smart TVs (anywhere you can use an app so phone, iPad etc.) and is free to view. You just have to create an account and follow Bite Me Bambi. Tahlena does a solo set once a week and we have a community kind of hang out on Sundays. Our Twitch community has become a family, and the Bambinos (Bambi Fans) often meet up at other concerts and take group photos to post to Bambi discord threads. We are proud of the family we have created on Twitch, it remind some of going to a Ska show in the 90s: You may have come to the show alone but you’ll leave with 20 friends… which in a time where people are feeling alone and at times alienated or ostracized is a pretty special thing.

The band has had some lineup changes recently with Brian Mashburn and Tbone Willy no longer actively in the band. With Brian being very involved with much of the song writing in the past, do you think this will have any effect on the future sound or direction of the band?

Mike B – I have personally been friends with Brian Mashburn since middle school and Tbone almost as long. It is sad to see them go; however, we have experimented with writing with others and as more of a collaborative on “Eat This” and with other writers. Jason from Dance Hall Crashers contributed to “Gaslighters Anthem” on the new record and we basically did all the melodies and arrangement within the band as a collaborative. It was a lot of fun and feels more intuitive for us which I see us doing a lot more. Nothing against Brian’s way of writing but many of us have been in bands and have had song writing roles, we are capable and comfortable writing our music.

Do you have a new permanent lineup or is the plan not to have a lineup set in stone? 

Mike B – We see ourselves as more of a collaborative now. We have our same core (Tahlena, me, Edgar on Sax, Ryan Brown on Bass ad Dan Evans on Drums) A lot of our core members are unable to tour due to life (Spouses, Kids, Jobs etc…) I hate to call the other players “fill In” guys at this point (particularly the current touring line up) because we have jelled together so well. Let’s call it a collaborative and if you ever see a picture of Bambi and there is like 20 people in it…don’t be surprised. (Are we the Polyphonic Spree of Ska?)

Lead vocalist and guitar player Tahlena Chikami is a foodie and vegan (editor note: vegetarian), so this question is more directed at her, unless other members of the band fall into that category (Smirnoff Ice doesn’t count) what’s your go to quick eat spots while on the road?

Tahlena – I’m back on the vegetarian train these days. If I’m in the states, it’s gotta be Taco Bell. They have lots of veggie options and it’s always a crowd pleaser. If I’m in England, you’ll find me with a Gregg’s vegan sausage roll.

Thanks so much for your time! I really wish we had rolled more than a 7, I didn’t get ask any questions about working with Lee “Scratch” Perry, or ask Tahlena any tax questions.

Mike B – Working with the Upsetter was awesome. That’s a whole story in itself. Save it for the next interview!

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Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed. The interview may be lightly edited for content and clarity.