That's a 10 years hiatus since the last regular The Bats LP.
What made The Bats return now? Why now?
Kaye - We started talking about a new album not that long
after “1000’s of Luminous Spheres” (2000 Compilation) came out
but it took us a couple of years to get that happening because
Bob was busy with The Clean and his solo album, "The Creeping
Unknown".
Paul, Malcolm and I busied ourselves in the meantime doing Minisnap
stuff, lots of gigs and 2 EP’s ("In My Pocket" 2002,
"March Hare" 2004). Over Easter 2003 The Bats recorded
on 8 track analogue then digitised it to continue at home, we
had made a good start on editing and overdubbing when in August
we were burgled and had to go back to re-digitising and getting
a new computer. Summer is busy for us, work and family wise, so
the bulk of it had to wait till the following winter (2004) and
was finished by last Christmas, this year has been artwork, label
hunting etc and here we are.
Paul - “1000’s of Luminous Spheres” contained an extra
track hence we where still recording. We also got together every
year for gigs in Australia and New Zealand.
The last LP "Couchmaster" was a bit of a departure,
what can we expect from the new album, the "Couchmaster"
sound, "more traditional" The Bats sound or something
different?
Kaye - “Couchmaster” was more of a return to “Daddy Highway”'
and “Law of Things” with The Bats producing. This was after extravagant
use of US producers, expensive studios with the resultant pressure
of time constraints and playing it safe. “Fear of God” and “Silverbeet”
are still great albums but flawed and “de- sparkled” (for the
above reasons) New stuff is more in the vein of “Couchmaster”,
don't think we'll ever be as hyped/intense again as we were on
“Fear of God” and “Silverbeet” which were our big budget/American
producer albums.
I remember going back the next day to listen after recording
the rhythm tracks for “Silverbeet”, we thought there was something
wrong with the machine because it sounded way too fast. We had
played them at breakneck speed because we were so uptight in the
studio so we had to do it all again and it's still pretty speedy,
I heard that album recently and really enjoyed it but had to have
a wee nap afterwards.
Is it the same four The Bats? Who is on vocal duties/song
writing duties? Who else (if any) is featuring, producer? When
was the LP recorded?
Paul - The new album features the same line-up - mostly
Robert's songs but with studio jams evolving into tracks and one
of my songs. We got Alistair Galbraith to play violin on a couple
of tracks which was much wilder than last time (which was in 1988
on “Law of Things”) and sounds cool, Paul has played more guitar
this time, he has a much looser style than Kaye or I and it really
takes off on tracks like “Mir”, “Hubert” and “Flowers and Trees”.
Production was mostly myself but input from all and help initially
in the studio from John Kelcher.
Initial studio session for the album was Easter 2003, all the
rest done over the next year and a half at home.
The songs on the new LP, have these been collected over the
10 years of are they more recent affairs?
Paul - Bob had a couple of weeks of intensive song writing
once we had settled on the recording dates and sent us a whole
lot, the Christchurch contingent chose some to work on and that
makes up most of the new CD. There were also a couple from old
stock that we had wanted to do and a few that were born in the
studio and one of Kaye's.
How do you think writing now compares with writing say in your
early twenties?
Paul - Bob might be better to answer this one but don't
think it's changed hugely. More are finished arranged songs from
Robert and Kaye though these days.
Back then they had an element of chance as we all learnt how
to play our instruments and we all played a larger part in the
song development - still learning and leaving some room to capture
the valued elements through chance and improvisation to meld into
new songs. Influences are continuing to broaden as music styles
evolve. Some of Bob's songs have got more complex but some are
still really simple 3 chord songs E.g.: “Flowers and Trees”. Bob
and David Kilgour arrived in New York to play some shows with
The Clean on Sept 10, 2001 and woke the next day to watch the
twin towers collapse from Hamish's flat which is very close. A
couple of the songs are to do with that I think.
Bob - My writing has changed in a few ways. I am more
inclined to work on a song for longer, I used to bash out a simple
3 chord, verse chorus kind of thing, now I will second guess things
a bit more. The song will have a few more versions before it comes
out. I am into different tunings now as well although its a big
hassle live..they take the vocal to another place, as it can sound
quite different to me. Also as we cant practice and jam much as
a band I tend to bring songs a bit more finished to the band,
in the past they would have been more half done.
There is one song on the album that is linked to Sept 11, "Single
File". I was in New York on tour with The Clean when it happened
and was hanging out in a flat in Brooklyn and wrote that song,
its kinda about feeling displaced and alone when something like
that happens.
There seemed to be a point in early to mid nineties that The
Bats fortunes picked up in the US, why do you think this came
about?
Kaye - We toured there in 88 and then in 92 and 93, we
had great college radio support and that was starting to build,
we played clubs of around 2/300 capacity and always got good crowds
and great reactions. Those guys are so enthusiastic, people would
be lining up after the show to chat and say what they thought,
whereas in N.Z. or Australia they just dance all night then go
home (which is fine!). In the end the touring was getting a bit
much especially with 2 pre-schoolers in tow and some of us had
a problem with the prospect of a tour bus lifestyle so we went
home. We could have perpetuated it by endless circumnavigation
of the U.S. but we wanted our kids to go to school and have home
cooked dinners. Since we've had our website we've had lots of
mail from people in the states (some from Europe too) telling
us where and when they saw us play and asking about the new stuff.
It's made us want to go back and play there again, Europe too.
Returning to "Couchmaster" album. What brought
about that change on sound?
A relaxed approach to recording, - return to Nightshift studio
where we were the navigators, helmsmen, inspiration. “Fear of
God” involved being totally isolated from each other to record,
poor Malcolm was set up alone in the middle of a big room with
a click track pounding in his headphones (and us all watching
from the control room) being made to do take after take until
it was "perfect". With “Couchmaster” the time was right,
we were 5 minutes from home and I think it shows something of
the human side to the band after “Silverbeet”/”Fear of God”. The
new one is like that too.
Why do you think the band have has such longevity?
Kaye - We don't make it our whole lives - great song writing,
the combination just seems to work.
Bob has never told us what to play, he presents the bare bones
of a song and the rest of us take it where ever it goes, he's
open to whatever we do. I think it can be the death of a good
band if the musicians have to play what the songwriter say’s,
a band which has a few different minds at work is likely to be
better than the sum of its parts. Also there's absolutely no fun
in playing what someone else tells you to.
Is there no longer any relationship with Flying Nun?
Kaye - They are releasing DVD compilations that include
us and back catalogue as well as “1000's” but they didn't want
our new one, the staff has completely changed, it hasn't been
an independent label run by music fans for a long time, it's just
part of Festival.
Back to "The Bats at The National Grid" I understand
the LP initial session was live. Just to clarify was this live
gig recorded and then overdubbed or was it a rehearsal session?
Not a live gig - we did try to do that a few years ago but the
recording wasn't up to scratch - too much leakage of unwanted
sounds. We meant “live” in the sense that we all played together
in a room to record rather than going for total isolation of instruments.
It has misled a few people so we're not saying that anymore. This
method works for us because we feed off each other and have a
good time so we get good versions and we like a natural room sound.
- Aug 2005
The Bats at The National
Grid will be released on CD, vinyl and download via Egg Records
(UK), Flying Nun (NZ), Little Teddy (Germany) and Magic Marker
(US) and others territories to be confirmed.
The Bats at the National Grid |
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Tracks Listing
Western Isles
Horizon
Hubert
Bells
Single File
Pre War Blues
The Rays
Things I Can't Leave Behind
Mir
Up to the Sky
We Do Not Kick
Flowers and Trees
Crazy Crowd
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Samples
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Hubert |
mp3 |
1.12 mins (1.7 Mg) |
912 Kbits/sec |
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Bells |
mp3 |
0.54 mins (1.2 Mg) |
912 Kbits/sec |
Samples provided with permission.
