Flying Nun darlings The Bats have today released ‘Warwick’, the first single from their forthcoming album. Foothills will be the band's 10th album, recorded with the same line-up they've had for 38 years.
The Bats formed in 1982 in Christchurch and must hold the record for the Kiwi band that’s stayed together the longest. No split ups, no reforming for nostalgia’s sake.
The Bats 'Foothills' Photo: Supplied
So far, half the band have spots in The New Zealand Music Hall Of Fame, vocalist/ guitarist Robert Scott (The Clean) and bassist/producer Paul Kean (Toy Love), and it’s only a matter of time before lead guitarist Kaye Woodward and drummer Malcolm Grant find themselves in there too.
The band’s 10th album Foothills was recorded in Spring 2018 at a country retreat on their home turf in the Canterbury foothills of the Southern Alps.
“Time marches on... finally, we found a gap in our busy lives and chose a week to convene … The songs had been written, demo’d and arranged for some time, but still with a little room for trying things out in the studio,” Robert Scott says.
“Many carloads arrived at the house, full of amps guitars and recording gear, we set up camp and soon made it feel like home; coloured lights, a log fire, and home cooked meals in the kitchen.
“We worked fast, and within a few days had all the basic backing tracks done, live together in one room, the way we like to do it - it’s all about ‘the feel’ for songs like ours.”
The video for ‘Warwick’ was made during New Zealand’s lockdown by Auckland based Conor Bowden. Conor directed, filmed, edited and acted in the video.
Foothills tracklist:
1.Trade In Silence
2.Warwick
3. Beneath The Visor
4. Scrolling
5. Another Door
6. Red Car
7. Field of Vision
8. Change Is All
9. As You Were
10. Smaller Pieces
11. Gone to Ground
12. Electric Sea View
