Gaye Bykers On Acid was formed in Leicester, England in 1986 by vocalist Mary Byker (AKA Mary Mary, Mary Millington, real name Garfield Hoxley), guitarist Tony Byker (Anthony Horsfall), bassist Robber (Ian Reynolds) and drummer Kevin Hyde. DJ Rocket Ronnie (William Samuel Ronald Morrow) was later added to the lineup. The media probably had a hard time to put a label on this strange band, but they were often mentioned together with other British bands like Pop Will Eat Itself as being part of the ”grebo” scene.
You could easily get the idea that this was another crappy ”image” band like Sigue Sigue Sputnik: The name, with its implications of alternative sexual preferences, bikes and drugs; the transvestism of the singer ; imagery borrowed from Hell's Angels and hippie psychedelia. But I guess these guys know that trying to be weird is not enough: they can play too. In my opinion, there are few things that can get you into party mode faster than a GBOA song.
Another trademark feature of the Bykers was their alternative identities for the band. The performed as the eastern block trash metal band Rektum (Berzerker, anyone?) and my favorite: the New Zealand band Lesbian Dopeheads on Mopeds.
The first releases of the band got them signed to Virgin, where their first full length release ”Drill Your Own Hole” caused some problems for buyers: True to the title of the album, there was no center hole in the vinyl release. The Virgin deal was apparently not very satisfactory, since the band left that label in 1989 and founded their own: ”Naked Brain”
In 1990 the band broke up. Mary went to play with Pigface and Hyperion and eventually (s)he ended up in Apollo 440. Tony formed Camp Collision together with Brad Bradbury, Hyde went to G.R.O.W.T.H., Rocket Ronnie to the Grid and Robber started touring as a DJ.
Discography: