The Schizophonics

Garage rock band from San Diego, California, formed in 2009, consisting of husband and wife Pat Beers (guitar, lead vocals) and Lety Beers (drums, backing vocals), with a revolving door of bassists. Patrick (Pat) Beers and Leticia (Lety) Mora met in high school in Casa Grande, Arizona, where Lety recruited Pat to play bass in her Ramones cover band. They met again in Tuscon seven years later, in 2008, just as as Pat was moving to San Diego to start a band. They began dating, and Lety soon moved to San Diego as well. When Pat's drummer quit, he and bassist Jim Accardi asked Lety to play drums. Though inexperienced, she learned to play, and they named their group the Schitzophonics. Pat and Lety married in September 2011 and, with Accardi having left, recorded a demo CD which they began selling at shows. In 2012 they co-founded Ship Records (5) along with members of The New Kinetics and musician Spencer Gallop. Adding bassist/backing singer Tom Lord in 2013, the Schitzophonics started to build a local buzz and were noticed by Robert Alan Lopez, AKA El Vez, who recruited them and Diana Death to be his backing band for his "Punk Rock Revue" tour of Spain. The Schitzophonics also played as openers on the tour, which led to their first single, "Can't Take It", coming out on Spanish label Munster Records. After this they dropped the "t" from their name, becoming the Schizophonics. Over the following year they launched two side projects: With Diana Death they performed David Bowie covers as the "Bowiephonics"; and with eight other San Diego musicians including Birdy Bardot and members of the New Kinetics, Mittens (7), Cash’d Out, and Shake Before Us they formed the "Schizophonics Soul Revue", performing James Brown-influenced soul covers with a horn section, backing singers, and a keyboardist. In 2015 the Schizophonics released another single, "Put Your Weight On It" b/w "Red Planet", on local label Ugly Things Records. They also started a Little Richard tribute band, The Little Richards, with Robert Lopez, Diana Death, and The New Kinetics' Brian Reilly, releasing an LP and a single. The Schizophonics and Diana Death also backed El Vez on his single "Liz Renay" (released a few years later, in early 2019). Lord left to focus on his own band, Badabing. Kyle Hoffman filled in for a time, then Adam Gimbel (ex-Rookie Card), then John Falk (ex-Shake Before Us), who took part in some recording sessions with them until Brian Reilly joined the band (The New Kinetics having broken up). In 2017 the Schizophonics released the EP Ooga Booga on Pig Baby Records and their first LP, Land Of The Living, on Sympathy For The Record Industry. Both releases have contributions from multiple of the band's bassists. Reilly departed the group; moving forward, Pat would play bass on the band's recordings while they would have a revolving door of friends in the role for live shows and tours, including Blake Lindquist, Takumi MacIntyre (ex-The Cavemen (8)), O (2), Paul Ryu (Mittens), and Stephen Rey. In a 2018 interview, Lety estimated that about eight different bassists had come and gone from the lineup. In October 2019 the Schizophonics released the album People In The Sky on Pig Baby. In early 2020 they formed a new project, Bobby And The Pins, with Robert Lopez, Paul Ryu, and Dave Warshaw (The Creepy Creeps, Creepxotica). That July the Schizophonics released a single on Pig Baby consisting of two cover songs, the MC5's "Black To Comm" and Roxy Music's "Remake Remodel". The Schizophonics have won a number of San Diego Music Awards, being named Best Hard Rock Act three years in a row (2013 to 2015), Best Live Performer in 2015 and 2019, Best Rock Act in 2017 and 2019, and winning Best Rock Album in 2020 for People In The Sky.