I’ve been a fan of BEES! since I had the good fortune of seeing them play at the Rusty Nail in Ardmore, PA, on a bill with Scoopski and Phil Yates a while back. Since then, they’ve been busy with a number of projects. Perhaps most notably, they recorded a cover of “I’ll Be Haunting You” for a Rudy Reboots compilation titled Giants: A Ska Punk Tribute to They Might Be Giants. They’ve also started work on a compilation project of their own, a collection of thirty-second songs by various artists. Curious to learn more, I dropped front-man Mike Huff a line.

BEES! have been busy since we last spoke! I really enjoyed the “Real (Fake) Facts about Phoenixville” videos you shared on social media in advance of your gig at the Soundbank on February 27. What was the inspiration there? 

I hate marketing. Hate it. So I always try and turn our marketing into something I enjoy – like the video game and Mario flyers. We’ve played in Phoenixville so many times that it felt boring to just say “Come see us in Phoenixville again!” I forget exactly where the idea came from, but we had a lot of fun brainstorming the different fake facts. There were a few pretty funny ones that didn’t make it cuz we didn’t actually want to make fun…

You had two shows that day, right? What was that like? 

It was great! We played in Phoenixville then ran down to Swarthmore College to open for Soul Glo! Swarthmore just reopened the Olde Club, which has hosted live music since the 70s and they’re putting on a lot of great shows. We had a ton of fun, met some great new people, and everyone was really kind. 

BEES! has also gained a new drummer recently. How’s that working out?

Yes! Ralph LePera from the band Jima recently hopped on drums for us and he is awesome. I think he knew half our songs the first time we played together! And not only is he absolutely nailing the parts we have, he’s adding lots of creative, musical stuff to both new and old songs. We’ve always put on some fun live shows, but now they’re even better!

How did you get involved with the Rudy Reboots compilation? 

Berg from The What Nows?! is a friend of ours and they put out the compilations.  We’re both huge fans of each others’ music (punctuation bands ftw) and were playing a gig together in Reading, PA. Berg mentioned that the next compilation was They Might Be Giants, who we love, and I volunteered us from the crowd! Then I realized that we aren’t a ska band and didn’t have a horn section. So I got some fellow music teachers to write and play horn parts, and ska’d up the song while still trying to keep the BEES! sound. I’m really proud of how it turned out!

I’m curious about your choice of songs for that compilation. I know a bunch of songs by They Might Be Giants, but I wasn’t familiar with “I’ll Be Haunting You.” Why did you choose that one to cover?

The bass line! It has a super cool motown feel to it. We joined a little late, so all the hits were taken. I spent a few days listening through songs and that one really caught my ear. 

I don’t think of BEES! as a ska band. How did you adapt your sound to the needs of the compilation? 

We are definitely not a ska band! We just play one on the compilation. It was actually fairly easy to ska it up. We kept a lot of it the same, just changed some chords from on-beat to off-beat and added horns. Colin Sharp wrote the horn parts, and I actually jumped in the air and shouted the first time I heard them. The guitar/bass/drums is great and all, but the horns really tie the room together on this one. 

You also recently started a compilation project of your own, a collection of thirty-second songs by various artists. What’s the idea behind that project?

As a kid, I found an album in a CD store called “Short Music for Short People.” It’s a Fat Wreck compilation with 101 punk bands doing 30 second songs! We have a joke in BEES! about anything longer than 3 minutes being prog rock, and were thinking about writing some 30 second songs for the next album. Then, at a show, I was talking to Greg from Unlucky Mammals who was also interested in the idea. I realized that, if I got other people to write the songs, it would be a lot less work! So the album became a compilation.

How’s the project coming along?

We have some people who are really into it and super responsive and others who said they were interested but haven’t gotten back to us since. So…good, I think? We even already have a submission! I think that guy’s name was something like Mark Shoester.

Ha! Are you at liberty to mention the artists involved? 

Sure! Jokes aside, Marc Schuster has already submitted! Some friends, Scoopski and Unlucky Mammals will be contributing a song too, as well as Party Nerves from NJ and Kai Rush from CA. We’re hoping to get as many people on board as possible!

Is the project still open to submissions?

Mike: Yes! Email beesphilly@gmail.com or message @shortmusicfor on Instagram for more info!

Thanks for taking the time to talk! 

Thanks, Marc!!

Catch Bees! with Wisher and Haha Charade at Silk City in Philadelphia on July 14, 2023!