Sweating it out in the underground music scenes of Istanbul and points beyond, Reptilians From Andromeda have forged a vibrant sound very much in the spirit of Iggy Pop and The Sex Pistols, with echoes of everyone from Elvis Presley to The Ramones. The group thrashes in trademark garage-punk manner, yet is well balanced with an earthiness that translates well across continents and time zones.
The band has just released its latest album, Reptilians From Andromeda Must Be Destroyed. While the band’s music has long possessed a jagged, punkish edge, the new album finds the band more cohesive and confident than ever before. Lead singer Aybike Celik Özbey suggested that the band long knew its best bet was to recreate in a recording what it’s like to be at an RFA gig.
“We had been playing live some of the songs in this album for a year, year and a half,” explained Özbey, who, along with the rest of the band, talked to Garagerocktopia by email. “But our previous albums and eps are not like today’s Reptilians. When people listen to this album, they will finally be able to remember the concerts of ours that they watched but couldn’t remember because they were too drunk.”
Previously, the band’s music has ranged from raw-dog punk, similar to the sound of the latest album but less assertive, to sounds recalling the atmospheric side of early ‘80s New Wave and Post-Punk. The new album, though, is no-nonsense rock and roll, unapologetically elbowing its way to a space somewhere between The Stooges Raw Power and the first wave of British punk. If you’re looking for something sensitive and sweet, you better keep looking, because it’s pedal to the metal all the way, baby, on this outing.
The musical territory staked out here is, to be clear, very well explored by many other bands. But RFA manages to pull it all off well thanks to a tight, raw and confident set of songs. Özbey suggested that success may just be the simple result of camaraderie.
“We understand each other and get along well,” said Özbey. “We did some guerrilla tactics on the tours as well. We have fun together and trust each other, and this too may have a reflection on the music. Compared to the old Reptilians, this band is tougher and faster right now, and I love it this way.”
Added drummer Onat Hafız, who joined the band in 2019: “We can say this is the effect of the new lineup adapting to each other very quickly. Everything was already in place by the second rehearsal.”
Bass player Kerim Gönençer also suggested that the increased muscularity and self-assuredness was the result of having the precise right lineup together.
“The band had a post-punk/new wave genre of sound, way before my arrival,” said Gönençer, a veteran of groundbreaking bands bands like Moribund Youth and Turmoil. “They were trying to break from that point by making much rawer and more energetic garage punk songs, beginning in 2019. I think that sound was always in Tolga and Aybike's portfolio, but sometimes you are limited by your band members' tastes or abilities.”
“Tolga knew I always was into what RFA wanted to come up with, and after a while, we burst with that raw garage rock on the stage. Still, Tolga and I were playing in different influential bands on the new Turkish punk rock scene in '90s, and after 25 years of absorbing all kinds of music -- ska, oi, rockabilly, hardcore-punk bands -- you filter all sounds and with that experience, produce a distilled sound.”
A changed recording setting and finding the right people with whom to work has also paid off handsomely for the band.
“The recording of this album was so different from past releases,” disclosed Tolga. “We did lo-fi home recording in the early days, and sometimes we tried to capture our recordings with unusual ideas, like making drum recordings in the basement. We have also used some cheap studios.”
The history of rock and roll has no shortage of bands for whom it took many years to release a studio album which bore any resemblance to how the band sounded live. It took The Who almost a decade to achieve that, and there are many bands who never get there. On this album, RFA recruited the exact people that could re-create the frenzy of a Reptilians From Andromeda bar gig.
“This time, we recorded our album in a bar -- I guess that’s the most common place for Reptilians From Andromeda,” said Tolga. “Rammy Roo, our producer, on this recording. He worked many years in Karga Bar, so many times he also worked with us as the tonmaister for our shows. We wished to catch our sound in a proper way, one which expressed the unique soul of the band. We got this energy from touring, from so many concerts. Live performances are what made the band tighter.”
As the album moved into post-production, the band could see it had something really good on its hands.
“People liked the recording,” said Tolga. “I guess they get the feel of actually coming to a Reptilians show, which was what we really wanted to do. We are so lucky to have Fran Ashcroft (Dandy Warhols, Gorillaz) make the last touch on mastering.”
Gönençer also made clear that what the band wanted, above all else, was an album that put the listener in one of those sweaty watering holes all across Europe where RFA does its best work.
“We wanted to put out our craft out the same as we did in our prior concerts,” said Gönençer, “like we do in Turkey, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Greece. The new album will prove what we can put out while we are on stage, since it was recorded live, without any editing
whatsoever. This album is a benchmark of RFA, a hard proof of what we are now, and hints at what you will come up with if you see us on stage.”
Hafiz also pointed to a bit of national pride with the release of ...Must Be Destroyed.
“This is our first album which has been released by a turkish label,” Hafiz commented. “Also it’s from a label that is a major in Turkey. I think it's a big step proving to people that “that” kind of music has an audience in TR.”
The band has, through its ability to assemble memorable riffs for its own music as well as choose just the right covers, already built a following in Europe, plus given them the clout to enlist the likes of Ashcroft to master the album, while famed Canadian comic artist Darren Merinuk crafted one of the coolest album covers of the year.
Emerging from the ashes of previous musical involvements, The Reptilians From Andromeda, known for a brief time as Solar Chaos, was formed in 2013 by Aybike Celik and Tolga Özbey. They would also, soon after, become husband and wife. The band largely derives its name from the 1966 Hammer horror cult classic, The Reptile.
It would take a couple of years for the band to gell and to be ready to play any gigs or record any music, and like most new bands, the sound would be fairly fluid.
“Tolga and I started the band in 2013, but we didn’t actually play live until 2015,” Aybike recounted. “In 2013, we were mostly a home duo then, and we were playing with different groups of friends. Between 2015-2018, we changed bandmates quite often, and because of that, we musically did not stay the same.”
Members of the band profess a wide variety of influences. The Stooges are the most obvious influence, though the band incorporates far more sounds and influences into its music.
“There are so many different sounds from our backgrounds,” acknowledges Tolga, whose background includes the band Rashit, trailblazers of Turkish punk rock. “I mean we are a just rock ‘n’ roll band who are fed by punk, garage, goth, psychobilly, ‘60s rock, proto-punk, New York rock to name just a few. Basically, We are addicted to rock ‘n’ roll. We listen to everything we can.”
“I love rock ‘n’ roll and all things born from rock ‘n’ roll,” said Aybike.
Of course, anyone with the most cursory knowledge of geography knows that Turkey straddles Europe and Asia, and as such, has over centuries absorbed many traditions from both continents and has long been a musical powerhouse.
What’s less known, particularly on this side of the Atlantic, is that Turkey has produced no shortage of quality pop and rock music. Having a punk or garage rock band can, though, present some challenges.
As far as the quality of punk and garage bands, though, Tolga says that part isn’t even in question.
“Robotat, Tampon, The Mobbers, The Dirty Duo, Astronotun Bir Günü, to name a few,” said Tolga, “so many good bands and friends!”
And, sadly, rock and roll bands do have to take a bit of care with what they do in Turkey, where political and societal pressures create challenges those bands might not face so much in some other places.
“Most of the audience in Turkey is patriarchal or secretly patriarchal,” said Aybike, whose singing, tattoos and punk clothing style may not be appreciated to those with more conservative tastes. “There have been many who have said bad things to my face, though they disappeared when it was clear I didn't care about them. And politically, you can go to jail when you criticize the president in a song. Or you may sing about wanting peace and your song might get banned. And if you're in a leftist band, you may not survive the hunger strike you just went on so you could start making concerts again.”
Aybike said one place she did find support was from her parents. It may have taken some doing, but she did finally get their approval. Aybike said her parents had their own artistic leanings.
“My mom was always supportive,” recalled Aybike. “My mother used to paint and my father wrote poetry, and they both loved to sing. Sure, it wasn’t rock’n’ roll or punk, but they knew about punk and DIY culture since they lived in London in the early 80's.”
“My father was not very supportive at first but later he changed. He died two months ago, but we were fine in recent years and I knew he was proud of me.”
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