The Bats

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The Bats
Origin Christchurch, New Zealand
Genre(s) Rock
Years active 1982-present
Label(s) Flying Nun
Members
Paul Kean
Malcolm Grant
Robert Scott
Kaye Woodward

The Bats are an influential New Zealand rock band formed in 1982 in Christchurch by Paul Kean (bass), Malcolm Grant (drums), Robert Scott (guitar, vocals) and Kaye Woodward (vocals, other instruments). Though primarily a Christchurch band, The Bats have strong links to Dunedin and are usually grouped in with the Dunedin Sound bands that emerged from that southern city in the early 1980s.

The quartet released two EPs (By Night and ...And here is Music for the Fireside) before releasing their first full-length album, Daddy's Highway, in 1987.

The band took a break, with Scott joining his former band The Clean on a reunion tour, while Woodward gave birth. When the band resumed recording, the result was 1990's The Law of Things, which saw the quartet joined on violin by Alastair Galbraith.

Scott is a prolific musician, and The Bats have suffered to some extent from his many musical commitments. As well as The Bats and The Clean, he has also been involved with several other bands, notably The Magick Heads, and for this reason, albums and tours by these bands have been organised largely on a rotation basis. Primarily due to this, the other members aside from Robert Scott are in a side-project band, Minisnap.

1991 saw the band switch labels, to Mammoth Records, and then release the full-length Fear of God. Other albums and an EP have followed: Silverbeet (1993), Spill the Beans (EP, 1994), Couchmaster (1995), and two retrospective compilations, Compiletely Bats (which collected most of the tracks from the band's two early EPs and several singles) and Thousands Of Tiny Luminous Spheres.

The Bats' latest album, At the National Grid, was released in September, 2005 on Little Teddy Records in Germany, Magic Marker in the US and Egg Records in the UK.

[edit] Discography

Date Title Label Charted Country Catalog Number
Albums
1987 Daddy's Highway Communion - - COMM5
1988 The Law of Things Communion - - COMM15
1990 Compiletely Bats Flying Nun Records - - FNCD143
1991 Fear of God Rough Trade Records - - R2832
1993 Silverbeet Flying Nun Records - - FNCD260
1995 Couchmaster Flying Nun Records - - FNCD301
October 2000 Thousands Of Tiny Luminous Spheres Flying Nun Records - - FNCD413
2005 At the National Grid Magic Marker Records Egg Records Little Teddy Records - - MMR034 EGGREST020
EPs
1984 By Night - -
1985 And Here is "Music for the Fireside"! - -
1986 Made Up in Blue - -
1993 Courage Flying Nun Records - - FNCD261
1994 Spill the Beans Mammoth Records - - MR0070-2

[edit] External links

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