The Bats (& Minisnap)
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• 8th March 2008 - not much happening on this page unless you're interested in our diary of happenings over the lasy 5 years.
  Most current news can nowbe found on the Home page or go to our MySpace page for news, songs, blogs, bulletins, comments etc
  

  8th September
  we were sent an NZ Herald report written by Elizabeth Binning about using NZ music for an international Tourism Campaign. Turns out that they used a german song, Forever Young from 20 years ago that was given a new lease of life by an Australian band then re- recorded by the boys from Pluto for the advert! Among suggestions in the report for an alternative Kiwi song was our very own North By North, alongside Private Universe (Crowded House), Home Again (Shihad), Can't Get Enough (Supergroove). I would've picked Horizon myself. We're doing some backing vocals and final mixes for Minisnap album at the moment - then video making time before we get stuck into polishing off the Bats new album.
  Sorry if you've been experiencing dificulty with the Merch site. It should be working now.
  
  29th August 2007 - we went into John Kelcher's new purpose built National Grid Studio in Heathcote Valley last weekend. An amazing sounding room with five walls and a high ceiling with 5 triangular panels - the sound was perfect. We arrived with a few songs we were familiar with from a demo session earlier in the year and a fresh bunch of interesting new songs from Bob that explored some different chords and structures - I guess a progression from songs like Up To The Sky off the last album, The Bats At The National Grid (John's old studio where we recorded last time around). I was a little apprehensive as I felt my bass parts were all sounding a bit samey and safe but once we were underway, with Mal at the drums, the songs developed strong individual characters. The Bats magic also resulted in a couple of new songs, (Guilty Office, Two Lines), that grew out of studio jams - some of our best work has evolved this way - eg. North By North, Smoking Her Wings, Afternoon in Bed and Horizon.
  We're now building overdubs and mixes around the very sturdy foundation and framework of our new album which we expect to have completed by the end of the year. A bit of planning and negotiating with record labels and distributers to do plus a video or 3. If there are any labels and film makers out there interested in offering their support and services - please get in touch.
  
  Update 1st August - in July Bob toured Australasia with Clientele while Minisnap add finishing touches to mixes oftheir new album and will play at Flip Grater's Cookbook launch on 14th August.

• 31st July 2007
  I've been a bit slow on updating the news page. It's become more an archive as I've been favouring the front page for posting news. An overview of the last 6 months has seen a quiet period for the Bats apart from doing some demos last Feb and working on new material for the next album we've not done a lot. Minisnap, Clean and Bob's solo projects have taken front seat. Bob has just been touring with Clientele in Australia and NZ (Auckland gig last night and Wellington tonight). We've not heard from him for a week so not sure how it's been going. Kaye and I went to see Liam Finn last week which was very good and very packed. Minisnap recording and mixing is coming to a head. It's sounding great and Kaye's songs are infectiously superb. We've asked Michael Morley if we can use a linocut print for cover art and he's said yes. Working on ideas for videos and trying to figure how to get the CD out to share with as many people as possible in the world.
  Ladybird lightened up our Summer and Minisnap played a few interesting gigs with Victor and Luc joining us on stage along with Andy Scott on Chirango and Chinese banjo. We were hoping to get some on the recording but Andy and Angus have just had a baby so that will wait.
  Bats are into John Kelchers new studio (National Grid mark2) late August.
  

  Update - 15th July 2007
  Buy our CD's and T-shirts directly from this site - we now have PayPal available on our merch page BUY CDs and T'shirts
  
  The brand new National Grid studio has been booked with John Kelcher for The Bats next recording session in August/September.
  
  Did you see the 2 Glassons TV commercials using Bats songs? Weird and wonderful. Helped to buy a couple of dinners.
  There's also a great Snowboarding DVD out there with Bats song For The Ride, from Couchmaster, as the soundtrack.
  
  Radio NZ has a very good series on Flying Nun which feature the Bats - source it HERE

  Jody Lloyd's remix of The Bats song "Up to the Sky" reached number ONE on Kiwi FM top ten charts on it's 3rd week in. Stayed there for 5 weeks.
  see below for details about Jody's album and a link to a website with how to buy it. It's a bloody good CD with Trillion, Jon White from Mestar, Flip Grater, Mea plus ...
  
  The Clean completed a Tour of NZ.in March. Lots of great reviews from around the country and word of sold-out gigs.. Christchurch dates with Minisnap at Jetset and Harbour Light with Undercurrents finished the tour on a high note.
  Minisnap also played at Waipara Wine and Food Festival on the Sunday 25th March. The crowd warmed to the band - weather was bloody warm too - some braved the heat to dance but unfortunately the Sound System generator blew before the set was complete. Sold lots of CD's.
  
  - Greg Franco toured from LA with Rough Church- played at Dux de Lux 19th April with Minisnap - plus lunchtime gig in Cathedral Square on Fri 20th April. Greg has recorded an album along with Robert Scott and David Kilgour.
  - Ladybird, Glasnost and some of Minisnap played at Wunderbar - 26th April.
  - Minisnap with Mestar at Al's Bar on 27th April
  
  BATS GIGS
  last gig played was a Private Party on 17th Feb 2007 over at the wonderful Governors Bay Hotel near Christchurch - 3 x 1/2 hr sets - weird in a good way.
  Also took the time to record some demos for a new Bats album which we plan to record in August. Will put samples up on our MySpace soon. http://www.myspace.com/thebatsnz
  Otherwise .. no more Bats gigs till later in 2007. Bob's doing Clientele support in Oz and the others are onto Minisnap. Watch our videos instead!

• 2nd Nov 2006
  The Bats toured USA in March this year and have had a very successful 12 months since release of their 6th album, "At The National Grid" at the end of last year.
  Way down below on an island near the south pole, we've been busy in a town called Otautahi (Christchurch) - Bats have recorded a Go Betweens song, Right Here for a Grant McLennan tribute album being released by US. label Rare Victory Records - GRANT LIVES ON!!
  *We're also in writing mode for a new Bats album.
  **Bats are going to Ak's Kings Arms with The Shrugs, Bridget Martin and Minisnap on Sat 2nd Dec after a Christchurch gig on Fri 1st at AL's (as in Parks) Bar along with Khaela from The Blow and Black Market Art
  ***We have a Christian Curruthers animated Bats video for Flowers And Trees due out very soon - I saw some very cool sequences from it last Thursday.
  **** We are also waiting for Gorilla Pictures to release the Acoustic Biscuit video session featuring an excellent live unplugged Bats, Pine and The Undercurrents gig.

  #Kaye and I (Paul) recorded with Hamish Kilgour (The Clean) and Lisa Siegel (his partner - both based in New York and with The Mad Scene) when they were over visiting a couple of months back with their new baby boy Taran - the results were surprisingly good for a essentially unrehearsed recording session and are destined for a 10" piece of viny under the band name, The Archers to be released by the Cakeshop.

  Minisnap are recording a new album (Marcus W from Undercurrents also plays with the 'Snaps and recorded some very nice guitar overdubs - just this last weekend) and in the meantime we are releasing an album of our 1st 2 EP's along with some fresh stuff over in Australia and plan to tour there early next year.

  AND
  Calvin Johnson from K records USA is coming to New Zealand accompanied by French Canadian singer/songwriter Woelv.
  They're in Christchurch on 10th November and Minisnap will be hosting them for their gig at Zebedees.

  Calvin's Background ..
  Based in Olympia, Washington, Calvin's work in underground culture started as a teenage fan volunteering at the local community radio station, KAOS-FM. He moved on to writing for fanzines, organizing music and film events, playing music in various ill-fated bands. Calvin established K, a locally oriented media outlet, in 1982.

  In 1993 Calvin founded Dub Narcotic, a recording studio, in which he has documented the work of the Somehow Is and Never Was, such as Mirah, the Blow, Versus, Built to Spill, Fitz of Depression, Make-Up and Little Wings. It has also been the incubator of many Calvin experiments in collaboration and self-expression, such as Beat Happening, Halo Benders and Dub Narcotic Sound System.

  The decade of the double zeroes has seen Calvin Johnson set out into the world, acoustic guitar in hand, as a solo artist of musical platitudes. Last year's release of his album Before the Dream Faded… [KLP170] is one byproduct of such venturing forth.
  Venue
  They have asked to perform at an all ages venue (emphasis on ALL) and Zebedees is it ... although little known by your average gig goer this Blenheim Road venue is a diamond, albiet a little rough from the outside - the comfortable atmosphere within and quality sound and lighting system make it the perfect venue to see these performers at a ticket rate unseen in Christchurch for touring international acts.

  for info and photos please go to
  K records http://www.krecs.com/html/press/

• We now have a new sensible URL
  www.thebats.co.nz
  cheers,
  Paul

• 28th Oct 2005 - for the record, the below are our dates for the USA tour in March and lead up NZ gigs around Orientation. I hope to expand on these with a few anecdotes and gig reviews.
• to start with - 4 weeks out from departing NZ we found out from our US immigration agent that we needed to go to the US consulate in Weillington to get approval for our work visas. Fingerprints, interviews and photos. We thought we'd try for an Orientation gig and we were in luck. Then under 2 weeks out Kaye discovered by chance that Wellington didn't offer that service so we'd need to go to Auckland instead - YIKES! BFM made it worth our while and we got to do a lunchtime gig along with the Reduction Agents at AUSA between a visit to the embassy and our flight to Welli for the evening gig. What a day! - good training for the US Tour though.

  Feb 2006
  27th - NZ -
  - 12 noon - Auckland Uni Students' Association BFM Lunchtime gig
  - 9pm - Victoria Uni Union Hall Orientation gig, Wellington NZ
  March
  3rd - UCSA Ballroom Orientation gig, Christchurch, New Zealand (farewell gig) - Chris Knox's Band and Slipstream
  10th - leave NZ gain a day and arrive USA via LA. Lost our guitars!
  11th - rest day at Irene's in Bushwick . Thank god the guitars arrived.
  12th - Maxwells - Hoboken, New Jersy - Minisnap (side project of The Bats) and Gary Olson and band (of Ladybug Transistor)
  13th - The Cakeshop instore - Manhatten
  14th - TT The Bear's - Cambridge (Boston), Chris Colbourn & Hilken Mancini, Temper.
  15th - Knitting Factory - Manhatten, New York - Mad Scene & Annie Hayden
  16th - travel to Austin's SxSW festival, Texas
  17th - 1pm - End of an Ear instore - Austin, Texas
  AND 6:30pm - at Ms Bea's for FREE patio party on the Rambler stage.
  - interview and live to air on KVRX. Interviewed by Gearwire.com
  18th - Austin - Texas - Tullycraft, The Owls, Galactic Heroes, ObsoleteInc (2-6pm) with free beer AND @ Halle Cabana (evening)
  19th - Super Happy Funland - Houston - Die!Die!Die! & Cortina (Super Hippy Funland - great vegan Chilli Con Carne in this oaisis in a concrete motorway jungle)
  20th - Travel to San Francisco - 12 hours wait in Dallas airport!
  21st - media day - live to air at KFJC
  22nd - 6pm Instore at Amoeba, San Francisco
  22nd - Rickshaw Stop - San Francisco - Guillemot, Dear Nora
  23rd - Starry Plough - San Francisco - Bel Hevis (a bit of Minisnap until Kaye's voice lost it) Interview on KLAX
  24th - Los Angeles - El Cid - (a bit like the Gong show without the gong)
  25th - depart USA from LA
  26th - where did that day go? And why did we go to Fiji and sit in the plane and starve?
  27th - arrive New Zealand - after 18hours stuck in a Jumbo!!

  
  Media Club - Armagh St., Christchurch - 19th January. All welcome.
  Big Day Out - 4.15pm, Auckland Fri 20th January 2006
  PLUS ...
  Jetset, Christchurch - Sat 29th Oct - with The Undercurrents and The Pick-Ups
  the Dogs Bolix, Auckland - Fri 4th Nov - with Motocade and Gina Rocco
  Bodega, Wellington - 5th Nov - with MESTAR
  Arc, Dunedin with Opreation Rolling Thunder - Sat 12th Nov
  TICKETS FROM REAL GROOVY

older stuff - 2005, 2004, 2003

• Jetset -Sat 29th Oct. First gig of the NZ tour - great atmosphere with a comfortably full crowd - Pickups were very good as were the Undercurrents - harmonies have developed well. Surprise guest for the night was Stellan Viking who we first met (and last met!) in Malmo, Swedan, 1988. There's a tale to tell - check the "Stories" pages soon.
• Kaye and I (Paul) have just been in for an interview on RDU breakfast with Wammo. A rather fun morning with lots of guests including 3 of The Bads who played a couple of pleasant songs with a country tinge, Tim the Cocktail man from Mainstreet, Clear Skies and Yardina. Manhattens were the cocktail of the day - I sipped a little of Kayes and got tipsy, she finished it off and was on form. Talked about FMR being bought by Warners (still not a 100% confirmed deal) and how that would impact on Flying Nun who didn't even rate a mention on the Warners media release. (neither did Shihad!) - what will happen to The Bats back catalogue??
• CD released in USA and doing very well on CMJ Radio with over 180 adding it to their playlists. Great reviews coming through - we only notice them when they're good otherwise it's the wrong person who got to review! See our main page for links
• Latest word from Magic Marker is 20th September release in USA.
• South Island gigs were great. All very different. We warmed up in small provincial towns - populations of about 40, 000. Got weird and wonderful mixes of people along. Timaru has a great CD store called Radiant Records on the main road through town with Warren at the helm - serve great coffees too. In Oamaru we played in the Grainstore art gallery in their historic area. We were surrounded in weird sculptures and paintings and they'd made a huge Bat with a wingspan of 6 metres that flew over the dancefloor. Sammy's in Dunedin got recorded and some videoed - great big venue -  a bit too big for a pre- release gig but great fun. Home town at the Harbour Light was perfect - a real buzz of elation ran through me on stage.
• Bats play (ed)
  *Fri 29th July, Timaru's SHED 101, 
  *Sat 30th July, Harbour Light Lyttelton
  *Fri 5th August, Oamaru Grainstore Gallery
  *Sat 6th August, Sammy's in Dunedin
  
• Minisnap at the Dux in Christchurch 17th June.
• Very happy to announce that Magic Marker from Portland will be releasing "The Bats at the National Grid" in the USA in August. Dale Cotton is mastering the 12 track CD.
• TOY LOVE
  Paul once played in Toy Love along with Chris Knox, Alec Bathgate.Mike Dooley and Jane Walker. They finally got their vinyl singles and album released on CD by Flying Nun in NZ with a bonus disc of unreleased demos that gives a strong feel of the true live power behind this infamous act.  Release date for "CUTS" was 26th April 2005. Spent 4 weeks in the top fifty!! An adapted poster of famed comic artist, Colin Wilson has been used for the cover art whilw another well known comic artist, Joe Wylie's animated clip of Bride Of Frankenstein single was re-released with remastered soundtrack and is getting some viewings on C4. Also heard that live vid of Sheep was shown.
  
• Must get cracking on a Bats video for Horizon. Mal has an idea of getting a whole bunch of short MPEGs or Video phone clips from people walking in through their front door to out their back door from all over NZ. Take them up the country from Bluff to Reinga.Couild even do it from round the world.  send your clip to us
• March 2005 - after a hiatus of a couple of months over Christmas and the Campus Orientation Festival period where Paul has been busy pushing other peolples music, we're finally back into creating and releasing our own. Planning tour dates for Minisnap in April /May. Kaye and Paul have done demos of new songs to be included on their future soon album. Innocent, Coppice and In the Morning fell together with so much ease they're destined for your ears before long. Itching to play live again.
  
• December - Minisnap played Creation's farewell Party for Marcus W along with Dialtones, My Dad Bill and a bunch of others.
  
• October 31st - we've finished mixing the new album!! Next step is track listing, artwork and releasing. Can't see it out before Christmas though.
  And it sounds great - I gave it the eyes closed headphone listen test and even after hearing these songs 100's of time over the last 18 months as the overdubs and mixes took shape, I was still sent to that magic place where your head swirls, imagery I'd never seen before manifested itself, the foot tapped, the body moved and I couldn't help but hum along - I even cried during Kaye's song "Mir".
  
• October.  Minisnap play at the Media Club (Armagh St Chch) with Dialtones and Leper Ballet - Sun 24th Oct. Mainz studio are doing a big production and Dr Suess set job on this gig - should prove to be a fun night on this Labour weekend Sunday night gig.
  
• September - we've been putting all else aside to concentrate on the Bats recording. Bob came up to Chch to help out and Alastair mhas sent some crazy electirc violin to add to the mix.
  
• August - "Horizon" hits number ONE on RDU's top ten and is climbing up the NZ Alt Charts - and it hasn't even been released yet!!
  
• July - Warm gigs at Creation and Bodega over the weekend 30th & 31st with below Zero outside. What? A frost in Wellington?  Thanks to all those who braved the cold to make these nights well worthwhile. (and calling for 2 encores) Next stop Auckland with the Boxcar Guitars, Minisnap and The Bats.
  
• May 2004 - played National Anthem on TV2 celebrating the end of NZ Music Month. Great sound live but the TV sound was god awful.
  
• We're back working on the Bats new album - overdubs and mixing is in progress. Hope to offer a sample track for Bnet stations by July and we're heading to Christchurch's Creation - Fri 30th July, Wellington's Bodega - Sat 31st July and then Auckland for a Kings Arms gig on August 14th with The Boxcar Guitars
• Minisnap interview and March Hare CD EP release profile on Radio NZ with Jody Lloyd to be broadcast Sat 29th May not sure when - not sure what! The interview verred down some skewed subversive political paths that might get edited out.
  
• A new Christchurch double CD compilation will feature The Bats "Trouble In This Town". We're dusting it off to play live at upcoming gigs.
  
• Flying Nun have released an excellent DVD of 41 music videos spanning the labels history titled "Very Short Films" - from Clean, Gordons, Bored Games to Pan Am and Mint Chicks. Features North By North which has received screening on C4.
  
• The Bats and Minisnap play at Arc Cafe in Dunedin Fri 28th May then up to Christchurch for the live TV2 NZ Music Month 24 hour marathon. Both play there on Sunday 30th May in the UCSA Ballroom (90 Ilam Rd), Minisnap 2pm and Bats 5pm. Free entry - come on down and help us out being a live audience - it's hard to empathise with an audience that's sitting at home watching telly.
• Minisnaps "Lovely Guitar" and "It Won't Be The Same" from March Hare EP have been added to RDU playlist. Bfm have been giving March Hare plenty of airplay. Thanks guys
  
• Minisnap's mini tour with Fur Patrol and the Accelerants was interesting. First time out with new guitarist, Marcus Winstanley - on the road through lush green grasses and golden autumn colours with snow on the mountains, listening to Franz Ferdinand, Kings of Leon, Darkness, new Low Hum compilation (featuring great tracks from Marcus's other band, The Undercurrents plus Ghostplane, Batrider ...) and a dip into the past with Supertramp (I still don't like them but Kaye and Mal do) and Pink Floyd! First night at Re fuel on campus in Duneidn up against the opening night of the Capping Revue. Quick interview with Radio One. Enthusiatic crowd and we have fans in the Accelerants cheering us on. They're a young beefed up 60's La De Da's/ Cramps/ Chants R&B. My favourite night of Fur Patrol. Next, home to Christchurch and the doubtful Rocky Cola that has just informed they must enforce room capacity limit of a measly 142. Looked half empty ( or was that half full) good response from a new audience and a wired Bennet from RDU (as usual - he's lovely). Last night in a full Indigo in Wellington - fly up at 6pm Sat - sound check, interview with Miles from Uncharted over tea, perform to a very receptive audience,(Kaye was on form)  off to see Mestar but it's full, bed then up for the flight home at 7am next morning. It worked - we're content and happy. Thanks Accelerants and Fur Patrol.

• Minisnap released a limited edition of "March Hare" CD SINGLES (with "Catseye"as the "b" track) - on  Fri 19th Dec 2003 and celebrated with a gig at Creation in Christchurch along with the Shocking Pinks and The Undercurrents. A few CD's are still available at NZ$5 plus postage. Email through your order and we'll figure the best way to pay depending on where you live. Also selling "In My Pocket" CD EP for NZ$10. Sorry to say our 2nd CD EP wasn't completed to our satisfaction so we're holding off release of that till .... when it's ready!? (will soon do?). The gig was great fun apart from a couple of broken strings. Undercurrents played some lovely hypnotic guitar grooves with a hint of country coming through on occassion. The Shocking Pinks Punked up some disco Funk. Creation is a very good place to play - great acoustics and nice vibe. Thanks Marcus and Julian for helping make this a fun night.Minisnap vid of "In My Pocket" to feature on new TV One music programme HUM, Fri 14th Nov 11pm - midnight.BATS GIG IN CHRISTCHURCH - at the Dux de Lux,
  Sunday 26th October - Labour Weekend. Minisnap play at Harbour Light in Lyttelton with The Brunettes on Fri 17th October. Looking to organise a Bats gig in Christchurch the following weekend while Robert is in town doing overdubs for the new album."The Hill Is Alive" compilation from Arch Hill Records has been released with a 4 star review from The Chch Press. Minisnap's "In My Pocket " has been included along with Pine, Mestar, Fang, Dave Malcahey, Gasoloine Cowboy, The Pencils plus .. It works very well as a comp. - all nice compatable acts from the broad genre of Indie Pop. Check it out and buy at Smoke CD's
  

  The Bats & Minisnap played Kings Arms, Ak with Joed Out, Aug 1st. Great packed out and warm house - a real sense Bats music was still well and truly alive and kicking. Lots of new songs from album in progress played in the set. Minisnap's 1st Ak gig too - well received - lots of positive feedback from the audience. We were interviewed by Jo from Space the next day.

  Bodega, Wellington with Ghostplane, Aug 2nd was fun. The Wellington crowd actually danced!

  We had our MacG3 Laptop and brand new G4 E-mac burgled. Luckily had most stuff backed up but lost a couple of weeks of  work entering tracks and doing EQ's etc from the Bats Easter session. Taken about 7 weeks to replace E-mac and now we're catching up with the Bats album project and Minisnap's next EP, "March Hare".
  

  Minisnap @
  22nd May opening of "This Is A Stick-Up" 25yrs of NZ music posters exhibition at Creation. Chch
  UCSA's Cloud9 with "Eight" from Ak - Fri 30th May
  Wunderbar - Lytellton, June 13th with The Sweet Hearts
  Arc - Dunedin, June 28th with The Sweet Hearts & D.Baser
  Queenstown Winterfest - "Big Night In", June 29th
  Dux - Chch, July 3rd with "103

• May 2003 update (sorry it's been a big gap since last post - we've been busy)
  As a warm up to Australian dates, The Bats and Minisnap played at The Jetset in Christchurch and at Refuel on campus in Dunedin during Orientation.
  The Australian promo tour included gigs at The Annandale in Sydney with support from Knieval and La Huva and at The Corner Bar in Melbourne with The Bites and Cassette. Both exceeded expectations; we had no idea how The Bats would be received after an absence of 10 years or how Minisnap’s debut would go. However the audiences were great, with plenty of punters and enthusiastic responses to new and old material. We played against The Dirty Three in both towns unfortunately, but they’ll get over it. We sold out of our tour stock of Minisnap CD EP’s at the venues and FMR are finally releasing The Bats “1000’s of tiny Luminous Spheres” in Australia.
  Paul McNeil designed a beautiful pole poster for the Annandale show; there are a few left over if anyone’s interested.
  
  Back in NZ over an Easter session, The Bats laid down rhythm tracks for a new album at “The National Grid” in Christchurch. We’ll now spend our winter evenings working on overdubs and mixing ready for a spring release.
  
  Minisnap also have new material about to jump onto a follow-up EP to “In My Pocket”. A South Island tour is being planned which will take in the Queenstown Winterfest late in June
  
  go to MORE OLDER NEWS that's not realy news anymore but traces our recent history