Sounds Like BS

The B is Dan Busheikin. The S is Mike Searle. Together, the
ex-Calgarians are Sounds Like BS. But they really sound like two guys
with a beatbox, keyboards, microphones, a home studio -- and plenty of
twisted inspiration. White-boy nerds who think they're mack-daddy
hip-hoppers, the BSers deal up bloopy '80s dance-pop laced with
foul-mouthed geek-raps and comically crooned choruses. Sounds like a
winner.

Sun Rating: 4out of 5

VERDICT: "Raising BS to an art form."

-DARRYL STERDAN - The Calgary Sun

There is no way of predicting what will happen next in this crazy sequence of events that is my life, and it has taken me many years to accept that I can't control everything. And when Dan Busheiken spoke the words "Without Limp Bizkit we would be nothing," and Mike Searle quickly agreed with him, I knew that the two members of Sounds Like BS were not messing around. They were serious.

But I laughed, because they're funny guys. After making a statement like that, I knew that this interview would at least be entertaining... and I was right.

I downloaded a sampler from their third release, BS3, about a week ago. As of April 10th, the record became available through their website via digital download. It's a pay-what-you-can deal and from what I've heard it's very entertaining and fairly catchy. They describe their sound as: "Party music - you put it on at a party. It's what's for."

I recommend the track Bitch, You Got Way Too Many Dresses. This is not indie rock; they plan on "heading to the top40". It's two guys, a sample, some guitar, entertaining lyrics, and a whole bunch of energy. Regarding the light and humorous content to their songs, I wanted to find their inspiration.

Dan says "a lot of it references what happens in our everyday life," to which Mike adds "Like that song 'Double Gulp. That's just about partying at our house. Just direct references."

In fact, from all the tracks I've heard the three prevalent themes are partying, girls, and love. Wait, there's just two themes - scratch love.

I don't want to be the one to make this public, but since Sounds Like BS went there, I'm going to go there. Apparently, while they are totally cool with Ashlee Simpson (like top-MySpace-friends-cool), they are not down with Lady Gaga.

"Lady Gaga is horrible. She's fucking terrible, and we hate her. She hates us too. Well, we haven't really talked about it, because we don't talk. Maybe she likes us, but we'd never know about it because we would never talk to her," explains Mike.

"Maybe she's jealous of us," quips Dan. Mike elaborates: "She's a hack; she's done nothing. She's blown it; she's done." And Dan continues: "She fucked it up the first time I saw 'Just Dance' on MuchMusic, and I was like 'Why? Why are you doing this? Why do you exist?'"

On the flip-side, Justin Timberlake is "the man" for them; Miley Cyrus is fine with Mike as well. This led to a discussion on pop music. While it would make most people's ears bleed, I got right into it. Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift, Len, Rhianna... we were all over it. And then it happened again.

"We love Limp Bizkit. Love them. We would be nothing without Limp Bizkit. We were just listening to them the other day," reveals Mike. "Every day," Dan concurs.

Sounds Like BS will be having their official CD release party on Thursday, April 16th, at Rancho Relaxo. According to them, they're going to "blow your minds, sock, tops, and cocks off!" Sounds like a crazy crazy party! But that's what BS sounds like. - blogTO

Interesting name for a band yes, and to be expected, their record is equally full of laughs and giggles. It’s easy to compare the SOUNDS LIKE BS malarchy brand of humour to Chromeo – with obvious differences of course. It’s difficult to swallow the Calgary duo’s lyrcal content whole considering the nutritional content has been substitued sweet and sour rhymes.

Dan Busheikin and Mike Searle, who make up Sounds Like BS are childhood best friends forever. In 2004, the pair followed the only sensible life path and formed the pop-rap duo Sounds Like BS. Borrowing the first initials of their last names, “B” and “S”, they forged not only a razor-sharp moniker, but a lifestyle. The following year they independently released a debut self-titled album, making and selling copies by hand. The release was primarily techno and electronica, with minimal lyrics. Just one year later in 2006 Sounds Like BS released their second album, Revelations, which showcased a more advanced sound and musicianship. The duo put on a few live shows together but were forced to part ways due to undisclosed commitments.

After a two-year hiatus, Sounds Like BS has returned – slamming harder than ever. The duo has relocated to Toronto where they have self-produced their third and most exciting album appropriately entitled 3, and playing regular shows to nubile young female fans and their confused ex-boyfriends.

- Manalogue

Dan Busheikin and Mike Searle want to take over the world.
Photo courtesy Sounds Like BS. Dan Busheikin and Mike Searle, who together form hip-hop duo Sounds Like BS, are both full-time students at Ryerson University.

At least, that is the professed goal of the guys in pop-rap duo Sounds Like BS, who grew up in Calgary but are currently in the process of taking over the Toronto indie scene, while also studying at Ryerson University.
“You kind of have to have that mindset, like ‘We are the shit,’ or else people won’t take you seriously,” says Searle. “I think it would be hilarious if people were talking about us all across Canada, or even around the world — we want to take over the world!”

Sled Island Spotlight
Sounds Like BS
Show: Thursday, June 25 @ the Royal Canadian Legion — Upstairs at 10:30p.m.Website: www.soundslikebs.com

Though that goal may be somewhat ambitious for the full-time students, Busheikin and Searle are hoping their recently completed third album, appropriately titled 3, will help propel them onto bigger stages.
“We’ve sold our souls,” says Busheikin. “We’ll do anything for to get our music out there, we just want to push this thing as far as we can.”
“An unbelievable amount of our time goes into BS,” adds Searle. “A large part of our days — sometimes we have to do stuff for school, but most of the time BS takes precedence.”
As well it should if the guys are at all serious about making it — and they are. Searle and Busheikin created this latest album entirely by themselves, taking “an incredible amount of time mixing, recording, writing all the lyrics, mixing, mixing and mixing again …” Searle reminisces.
Their efforts culminated in the first album by Sounds Like BS with heavy lyrical content, a move away from their techno-instrumental sounds of their first two self-recorded discs.
Photo courtesy Sounds Like BS. The third album from Sounds Like BS, creatively dubbed 3, relies a great deal more on vocals then their previous work.

Photo courtesy Sounds Like BS. The third album from Sounds Like BS, creatively dubbed 3, relies a great deal more on vocals then their previous work.

“We always had dreams to one day infuse vocals into the music,” says Searle, and “it was really just a matter of time before we actually sat down and created some lyrics,” Busheikin adds.
Despite wanting to add words to their franticly catchy, electro-rap beats, the duo freely admits their lyrics are hardly Shakespearean sonnets. Their verses tend to describe the girls at their shows, parties, girls they meet in daily life, the boyfriends they are stealing those girls from, the looks on the boyfriends’ faces while their girlfriends are being stolen, and chicks in general –— especially the ones without boyfriends.
“We do talk about lots of stuff from everyday life, because we want to give people a glimpse into a famous person’s life,” Searle deadpans.
“It’s really just shooting the shit in a basement, is what it’s like,” reflects Busheikin. “One time the two of us were walking to a friends’ house and we started throwing out verses, rhyming, and we came up with a song.”
Those simple and relatable lyrics will be on display during the Sled Island festival, where Sounds Like BS will perform twice for their hometown crowd, their first gigs away from the bright lights and smog of Toronto in a long time — “this is like a world tour for us,” jokes Busheikin. But through all the sarcasm and self-debasing, the BS guys really do long to make it big.
“A lot of it is just being in the right place at the right time,” says Busheikin. “Like the Black Eyed Peas, their lyrics are no better or worse than ours, but they caught a few breaks and got some bigwigs working for them and made it huge.”
“Pop-rap is a passion of ours,” adds Searle, “and it’s a lifestyle. We are really proud of this album because we worked so hard on it and put in so much effort from start to finish, we really do want to get out there and take over the world.” - The Reflector