The Bots
2 Seater
Big Indie Records
Wednesday, September 8, 2021
For the better part of the past 12 years, Mikaiah Lei (Eskimo Kisses) of The Bots has spent his adolescence in the spotlight. The Bots released two studio albums, toured around the world, landed glossy magazine spreads, and performed live everywhere from Coachella to Glastonbury in that time. Lei was just 21 years old the last time The Bots put out an album, 2014’s Pink Palms. Now, after seven transformative years, Lei has a brand new outlook on life and himself — and he’s got the remarkable new album 2 Seater to show for it.
2 Seater is a massive evolution from the early days of The Bots. Back then, Mikaiah Lei spent most of his time channeling garage rock with his younger brother. Instead, this new album sees him putting a pop spin on his own creative indie rock flair. Drawing influence more from Talking Heads and Cocteau Twins than Black Flag or Minor Threat, these songs capture Lei’s natural ability to pen catchy melodies without sacrificing any of the raw guitar work that established The Bots as a force to be reckoned with.
“People would never refer to our band in the way I viewed it,” Lei says of The Bots’ early days. “We were always labeled as a ‘US punk band.’ I love punk music and I get why those references stuck for so long, especially because we started out trying to play as fast and as loud as we could, but we were a younger group who wanted to prove everyone wrong who thought kids couldn’t play rock. I love all genres of music and wanna continue to make pop music at its core, but I’m definitely interested in exploring many genres and styles of music.”
With a new drummer, Alex Vincent, by his side and producer Adrian Quesada manning the boards, Lei uses 2 Seater to capture the struggles of his young adulthood. Each of the 10 tracks that make up 2 Seater were written between the ages of 19 and 22 when Lei was undergoing a rapid burst of self-growth. Now, as a 28-year-old, Lei has rewritten and recorded those songs to articulate themes he struggled to find words for back then: the ups and downs of young love, the need to nurture friendships, and the sentimental work of taking care of yourself each day.
“I was going through a lot of hard changes, and I was changing my living situation as well,” explains Lei. “My partner and I separated and that, unfortunately, inspired deep writing, as it does. I wanted to make myself feel better, and people who were very close to me saw me go through that heartache. They were concerned it would make me feel pain to sing these songs. To be honest, it was painful. It was a lot of putting my heart on my sleeve and writing super emotional songs that still sound like rock songs. But ultimately, I had enough space between the music and what I was going through that, now, it doesn’t bother me. I can reflect on those bad times and see the happiness and the good times that it eventually brought to me.”
Lei draws inspiration from everything around him for The Bots’ new album, be it “sad girl” movies like Eighth Grade, rock climber Alex Honnold's jaw-dropping achievements, or endless YouTube videos of unlikely animals forming close bonds. He filters these through his personal experiences, lending his songs broader themes of relatability, perseverance, and curiosity despite their unlikely, and rather specific, origin stories. Album opener “5ft Friendly” is a story of seduction and dark deception in the vein of Under the Skin—the title nods to Scarlett Johnasson’s height—but Lei pins it up with a commanding order to be confident: “I get what I can/So should you.” Later, on “Girl Problems,” Lei recalls the offhand, Mean Girls-style backstabbing he witnessed by his childhood friends. True to his personality, though, he gives the song a compassionate touch: “Complain, but lately you seem fine/New waves and soft favs are all phase/Touche, just act like you’re okay.”
The reason these specific jumping off points mesh so well with Lei’s lyrical themes is because he balances details with heart. 2 Seater boasts a diaristic style of songwriting that may not be narrative in a novelistic sense, but it’s poignant and relatable in an honest way. “I have a deep appreciation for artists who are storytellers because I don’t write lyrics like that,” says Lei. “I’m trying to better myself constantly and I’m always looking to other things for inspiration.” For him, that means allowing the songwriting process to permeate nearly every facet of his life. Lei is always writing songs, no matter when or where he finds himself. Ideas come to him when he least expects it: while watching TV on the couch at home, eating out at a restaurant in Los Angeles, and even trying to fall asleep in a hotel on tour.
“I specifically remember writing one song in a Taiwan airport in 2015, oddly enough, down to the outfit I was wearing,” laughs Lei. “We had a lengthy layover, so I busted out the electric guitar unplugged and sat there for over an hour knocking out a little tune that I’m now playing today. It made me feel good then and it still makes me feel good now. You never know when it’s going to hit you, so I try to stay open to ideas whenever I can.”
Unsurprisingly, 2 Seater captures Lei at the top of his guitar game once again. His unruly guitar line makes lead single “See It” feel like it’s barreling down the highway at 100 mph, a dozen cops trailing behind. Arguably the most thrilling sound on 2 Seater, though, is Lei’s masterful use of vocal harmonies. Without straining his voice, he’s able to pack vibrant, joyful punches into his singing on “Girl Problems”, where he plays up 2000s’ indie rock stylings with dreamy guitar riffs and wordless coos. Afterwards, during “DYKMN,” he uses his voice as a backing melody to radiate warmth. Even on a stripped back number, like “Looking Back,” he opts for a lower register that gives the album a mood-boosting feeling. It’s the type of singular songwriting that brings to mind similarly creative luminaries like Peter Bjorn & John or Bombay Bicycle Club. The difference between them and The Bots, of course, is that only one has the inimitable heart of Lei’s coming-of-age experience.