As september's Band of the Month, I got the chance to ask Black Bikini alpha some questions. Read on to find out about their London-based inspiration, schizophrenics, and trashing Reef's dressing room!

First of all, I have to ask about your name. How did you come up with it?

The name actually comes from the terminology used by the Ministry Of Defence to stipulate the level of terrorist threat in any particular area- its called the “Bikini Belt” with Black being the highest and Amber being the lowest. We were a 5 piece band and on tour in New York when our manager at the time suggested a name change and came up with Black Bikini Alpha. He explained that Alpha was the lowest and we all agreed on the name change. When we returned home we all discovered that the lowest level of threat was Amber but had all become accustomed to Alpha so kept it.

You've supported some great bands like Feeder and Fun Lovin' Criminals, did you get to hang out with them much or did you only see them onstage?

We didn’t see much of the Fun Lovin Criminals- only to nod and say hello to and the same was with Feeder. However we supported Reef who we all actually got on with quite well- to the extent that they offered us their dressing room to stay the night in as we only had a beat up old and cold transit to sleep in. Like the true gents that we are we managed to smash it up and let off a fire extinguisher in the room....not the best way to say thanks I guess...

Who would you love to support on tour?

We’re both heavily into the electronic side of bands so anyone like MGMT or Does It Offend You Yeah would be great to support. Their shows are more like a massive party with the whole crowd getting into not just the music but also the entire spirit of the night.

What would you say to people to make them come and see you live? How are you different from other bands?

We are only a two piece band (three piece live as we use a session drummer) so when we play live we like to make up for the fewer people on stage by playing with more energy than most. We also do a mean cover of Gloria Gaynor’s I will Survive- not your usual cover for a rock band but its worth coming to see.

Your site says that your "songs are inspired by growing up, living and working in London " such as ' London Town is Falling Down.' Do these issues play a big part in your lives or do you just think that they're good themes for songs?

We’ve always written songs that have a meaning or message directly related to us. London Town Is Falling Down not only relates to us personally but to everyone living London and all over Britain .The obvious message in London Town Is Falling Down is to not give up hope on the city but it applies to all the major cities over Britain . We’re constantly hearing of someone getting stabbed and killed due to senseless violence. We’re also hearing about all the terrorist activity since 7/11 so we are all slightly on edge and conscious of what’s going on. There was two young men recently killed in South London which made the national news- Eoin lives in the same area as both of the killings so it really brings it home when it’s happening right on your doorstep.

Our inspiration is not all as serious as London Town Is Falling Down. One of our tracks “Dance Like A Whore” is about the seedy clubs in Soho and a role reversal where men are strippers and women are pushy aggressive punters.We pull inspiration from anywhere but as we live in London it’s perhaps the easiest place to draw the inspiration from.

Who are your main musical influences?

Our influences span a vast range of styles. We both met each other at a studio and discovered that we were both equally obsessed with Jeff Buckley. Eoin is a massive U2 fan, I’m as equally obsessed with The Red Hot Chilli Peppers (for more their early stuff though). We are both big fans of electronic music as well as early punk which comes out in most of our songs at the moment.

As Rock Pulse's Band of the Month, who would you make band of the month and why?

Does It Offend You Yeah- we both got into these about two months ago and unlike a lot of albums that you hear, we haven’t got bored of it yet- we just keep playing it and playing it and it still sounds as fresh and exciting. Their starting to get a fair bit of radio play now and it’s almost like our little secret is becoming common knowledge with everyone. Well deserved I reckon.

On your site you mention that you gigged in New York for a while because of an obsessed schizophrenic fan...any chance you could explain that?!

That is a very long story that’s best told over a pint..or two. The long and short of it is that a girl offered us the chance to go to New York sponsored by a large American airline company. We accepted and were dealing via email with their representative. Lots of questions were asked us about our opinion of the girl that offered us the trip by the one that was booking the trip. We found out literally one day before the flight that the two girls were in fact the same person...there is lots more to this story and we are happy to tell it over and over again so come down to a gig and ask us over a beer.

Apart from that, have you had any other random experiences while in the band?

We’ve had many episodes that we can tell our grandchildren when we’re older such as the smashing up of Reefs dressing room (then having to sleep in it), driving all the way to Bristol to find that our gig had been cancelled at the last minute- then managing to find a stage to squeeze onto at the last minute elsewhere that evening. Being approached by a Hells Angel at the urinal of a festival that offered us gigs and management (which actually turned out to be ok in the end). Playing on a boat on the Thames that broke down and had to be towed back to the bank and the gig was then cancelled. Getting mistaken for the Streophonics in New York- we obviously rode that wave all night sponging free Guinness in an Irish bar till the early hours of the morning.

Finally, what do you have planned for the rest of 2008?

We’re releasing London Town Is Falling Down in September followed by another single (which is still being decided on). At the time of our third single we’ll also be announcing the release of our album.We’ve also got a video coming out very soon and more videos recorded for the next singles.

Thanks very much to Black Bikini Alpha for that insightful interview! Not many bands have that many random stories to tell us so it was a very interesting read! Make sure you check out their myspace page to find out more!