The Binges - Biography
The Binges is a Los Angeles-based four-piece hard rock band that is known for their intense all-or-nothing live shows and Dylan Squatcho’s screaming hell-driven vocal delivery. With a rhythm section that’s comprised of Japanese sisters Mayuko Okai (guitar) and Tsuzumi Okai (bass), along with Travis “Skanky” Smith on drums, the band uses raw, chip-on-the-shoulder energy both in the recording studio and in its legendary live shows when the “gang of four” becomes a whip of collective hair, Hemi-revved locomotion and snaking guitar riffs. Since coming together in 2006, The Binges have become a staple on the Sunset Strip, have toured the United States—including a recorded performance at Amoeba Hollywood in 2009—and have released one full-length album.
The Okai sisters—Tsuzumi 17-years-old and Mayuko, 18, both already virtuosos—moved to Los Angeles in 2000 from Japan specifically to rock; though they didn’t speak English when they arrived, they were well familiar with bands The Beatles, Pink Floyd and AC/DC. Taking a residency house-band gig doing hard covers at Sunset Boulevard’s Cat Club, the sisters honed their chops during a three-year stretch playing Black Sabbath, Metallica, Deep Purple and many other covers. Having learned to achieve maximum intensity with their respective axes during this time, they eventually began playing larger venues and performing their own material. After joining forces with the live-wire Squatcho and skinsman Smith, The Binges was born. Their raison d’être became to blow away usually hard-drinking, 21-and-over audiences up and down the Strip (Viper Room, Roxy, Whiskey, etc), with a straight assault on the senses, which they refer to has “honest rock.” It was hailed as a new generation of rock.
They recorded their debut album, The Binges, in 2009. Though they had an unlikely—and hugely versatile—producer in John Fields (Miley Cyrus, Switchfoot, The Jonas Brothers), the album was as close to the vest as possible to the loud energy of the raucous live show, recorded in its entirely in a week’s time and honoring the band’s unofficial slogan to “rock the fuck out.” Tracks like “Motorcycle Song” and “Hear Me Out,” already monstrous in concert, were caught in show-stealing thunder on tape. Some of the tracks from the The Binges would end up on Sirius Radio. They also put together a music video for “Motorcycle Song,” which featured Squatcho pumping his fists while screaming the lyrics and the tandem of the Okai sisters dervishing on their instruments behind him.
