Covered in Bees keeping it real, fun

It all started with a burrito and a dream.

“I’d given up on being in bands. Everyone’s drunk and insane, and it seemed more work than it’s worth,” said the man known as Boo, lead singer for the Portland horror-rock band Covered in Bees. “I was working with Doug at Granny’s Burritos [in Portland] and we just started talking. Then Tristan signed on, and he can play everything, and within a couple of months we started a band.”

Four years later, Covered in Bees is made up of the same four people – Boo, guitarist Doug Porter, bass player Ed Porter and drummer Tristan Gallagher.

“Doug and Ed are from Bangor, Tristan is from up north, so he represents the northernmost quadrant. And I’m from Portland,” said Boo. “We all come together to represent the state of Maine in a rocking juggernaut. We just need a guy from Down East and we’ll be all set.”

The foursome will play with fellow Portland bands Confusatron and Pigboat (both of whom share members with Covered in Bees), along with Bangor-area bands Clinic Bomb, Adelaide and Augustine on Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Kave in Bucksport, in an epic meeting of north and south. Sort of like the Civil War. Except no one’s mad at each other, and instead of guns, it’s guitars.

The band has amassed a devoted following in southern Maine, thanks to their open-minded, have-a-good-time attitude. The fact that they make totally awesome, totally heavy rock ‘n’ roll doesn’t hurt either. They sing about monsters, heartbreak and the good ol’ Pine Tree State. They play punk that’s also kind of metal. They’re really funny. What’s not to love?

“Sometimes I think we’re just an excuse for those 85 people or so to congregate and have a good time,” said Boo, “We tell ’em it’s OK to leave the house and have a great time. People get wrapped up in crappy jobs and 15 kids and a broken car. We say, ‘Hey, remember fun?’ And then they come out and party. And then they go home and watch ‘CSI’ or pay bills or whatever.”

Covered in Bees has had to make time for rock ‘n’ roll, since all four members live, work, go to school and raise families. They don’t tour, per se, but instead keep building strong relationships with the fans and clubs that they do play for.

And they find ways of keeping busy and engaged in other, more unique ways, such as their recent collaborations with both local and national filmmakers. Covered in Bees were featured on the soundtrack to a feature by Portland-based studio Emptyhouse Films, and a song also ended up on the soundtrack for the Troma film “Poultrygeist.” For those who don’t know, Troma is an independent movie production company, known for its extremely low budget, extremely high violence-factor films.

“Troma was by accident. They had started ‘Poultrygeist’ and needed a theme song. We were gonna write chicken lyrics to our old songs, but it totally didn’t work,” explained Boo. “Then we were at a horror convention and gave a bunch of CDs to the guy working at the Troma booth, and that was that. Now we’re gonna be in some Danish zombie film. Some kid saw us on the Troma Web site. We’re going international.”

One thing the band’s particularly proud of is the fact that they managed to record not one, but two albums – “Portland Death Punk Vol. 1,” and it’s appropriately titled follow up, “Portland Death Punk Vol. 2.” It’s a testament to both their friendships within the band and their friendships with their fans. If there’s any band that gets the gold medal for representing the Maine music scene, it’s Covered in Bees. They don’t care about being famous or getting a big record deal. They just want to rock your face off.

“A lot of people get the idea that they’re gonna hit it big. That takes the fun out of it,” said Boo. “We want to play for our friends. We like to see what kind of weird opportunities come up. Being in a Troma film is a lot cooler than a lot of other things we’ve done. People get wrapped up in making it and having the big single. We just want to have fun.”

“Until next year, anyway,” he added. “Then we’re planning on selling out and stabbing everyone in the back and making a record that sounds like Wings and Nickelback. That’s the goal for 2009.”

Covered in Bees, Confusatron, Pigboat, Clinic Bomb, Adelaide and Augustine play on Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Kave in Bucksport. Doors open at 6 p.m., admission is $10 and the show is all ages. For more information and directions to the Kave, visit www.myspace.com/coveredinbees or www.myspace.com/thekave. Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net.