2006 Bats at SXSW INTERVIEW with Gearwire.com
There's always someone at a gig who's curious about the gear we use. Here's some basic info.
When we 1st started playing together in 1982, Kaye used a 16mm movie projector metal cabinet as seen on right (with a 12inch. Goodmans speaker) along with a New Zealand manufactured Jansen 25 amp and a Jansen Teardrop guitar rumoured to have a genuine Fender neck.(Beverley Bruce & Goldie) Great sound and it looked cool too. (I enjoyed those simple days)
When we 1st went to Europe in 1986, Kaye bought a Fender Princeton combo for 100 pounds and Bob found an AC30 Top Boost combo for about 150 pounds. I bought a Laney amp that didn't survive the 1st gig in Fulham so we borrowed an awful Trace Elliot rig. When we recorded in Glasgow I played bass through the Princeton. Both Kayes and Bobs purchases were shipped back to NZ and we managed to avoid custom duty by claiming them to be domestic stereo speakers which were exempt. Kaye traded up the Princeton for a Fender twin and Bob still has the AC 30.
Kaye plays a very nice black Gretch Roc Jet through a Fender Twin Reverb (manufactured in NZ) and uses a Paul Crowther Hotcake distortion pedal.
Robert plays a Fender Telecaster Custom and a hand crafted teardrop guitar made by Bob Scott (no relation - but he' is Tom Scott's brother) through the original AC 30 (Top Boost) but occassionally uses a Rocket combo.
The Framus Semi Acoustic Bass built in the Heart Of Bavaria (1960's), has been a favourite for playing and writing with, unplugged at home but I've recently fixed it up with a replacement 2nd pick-up and have performed with it amplified at practices. It has served as a back-up on a couple of big Bats gigs and has recorded beautifully on a few Minisnap songs on Bounce Around album.
It worked and that’s the bass I’ve been using since 1978. It’s had a couple of re-frets.
It got left behind at a venue in Berlin in 1988; we didn’t discover it missing until we were in Sweden but luckily Thomas Zimmerman our German tour agent and Beat Happening who we were touring with up until that point found it behind a door before leaving for Koln (Cologne) We picked it up on our way back through to England. I managed to hire an Ibanez Roadstar for our dates in Norway which wasn’t too bad but I sure missed my bass.
A
proto type for the Barracuda was made back in 1976. A couple of
friends (Oliver and Nicky) were into making their own guitars and I was
having trouble finding a bass I was comfortable with. I decided to
create one marrying the good points of all I had trialed or owned. I
had tried Fender Jazz and Precision Basses. I liked the Jazz neck and
the Precision sound. Both were a bit clunky shaped. I'd also owned a
Gibson EB3 and the Stereo Rickenbaker none of which satisfied totally.
I was looking for a 'piano bass' sound. The proto type had a body made
from mahogany . It didn't feel right; the grain was too open and the
timbre was dull and spongy. The acoustic tone of the bass (without
amplification) is very important to an electric: so I decided to make
another body this time out of a native Red Beech.
white Jansen Teardrop guitar
(like a Vox Phantom)