The Bats announce North Island shows

The Bats are pleased announced 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.

Maybe it’s their maturity, maybe it’s the simple fact of playing with the same other three people all these years, but “Free All the Monsters” reveals a Bats sound that’s even deeper, darker and more affecting than before.

Show Dates Are As Follows:

Fri November 2nd
Leigh Sawmill Café
142 Pakiri Rd, Leigh 0985
Doors from 8.00pm
Show from 9.30pm
Pre sales undertheradar.co.nz & the venue

Sat November 3rd
Bodega, Wellington
101 Ghuznee Street, Wellington 6011
Doors from 8.00pm
Show from 9.00pm
Pre sales undertheradar.co.nz & Rough Peel Music

www.thebats.co.nz