The Bats North Island Shows
The Bats are pleased to announce two must-see shows in November at the Leigh Sawmill Café and Bodega, Wellington.
That great band-of-the-south are back to remind us how sweet, lovely and connective pop songs can be. Though of course, The Bats never went away. They've just taken the occasional break in a career that goes back 30 years.Thirty years, eight albums and four Bats - the same ones since 1982: Robert Scott (lead voice, rhythm guitar, keyboards), Kaye Woodward (vocals, lead guitar), Paul Kean (bass) and Malcolm Grant (drums).
On "Free All the Monsters", their new album they sound how they've always sounded - folksy, sweet and sad, fragile vocals and keening lead guitar lines serving simple, alluring songs. Their music has grown deeper with age and somehow never become slick. Other long-run bands have to stretch to find themselves again with each album, while The Bats have simply stayed the same. All their songs could still sit together without a bad word between them.
For "Free All the Monsters", The Bats took themselves to the remnants of old Seacliff Asylum, north of Dunedin, with producer/engineer Dale Cotton (HDU, The Clean, Die! Die! Die!), settling in and soaking up the atmosphere and isolation and recording 17 songs which they trimmed down to the dozen tracks that make up the finished product.
The album is a lovely thing, swinging between sweet, delicate folk laments like the gorgeous Robert/Kaye duet "Simpletons", the spooked psychedelia of "In the Subway" and the instrumental "Canopy". It adds up to possibly The Bats' finest full-length moment yet.
SHOW DATES:
Friday 2 November
Leigh Sawmill Cafe, Leigh
Saturday 3 November
Bodega, Wellington
Tickets available at http://www.undertheradar.co.nz
