#thebats

Photos of New Zealand-based band The Bats, as taken by me at T.T. the Bear’s Place in Cambridge, MA on November 13, 1992.

I posted photos of openers Honeybunch yesterday; here are some of headliners The Bats today.

These photos that I took sat in an envelope for almost 25 years before I finally digitized them for publication in the (very) long-delayed second issue of my fanzine in 2017. They accompany my interview with Robert Scott that I conducted right before the show.

Flying Nun Records 1993 calendar featuring the month of July as illustrated and designed by Robert Scott of The Bats.

I posted about this amazing calendar way back at the beginning of the year. Yet I somehow forgot to revisit it in the subsequent months, to share the unique art provided for each month by various NZ musician/artist luminaries.

I’m rectifying that here, at mid-year, with this spread for the month of July. The artist responsible for providing the art here is none other than Mr. Robert Scott of The Bats and The Clean. The rock club scene in the top panel is painstakingly detailed, and actually eerily familiar.

Original drawing by Robert Scott of The Bats along with the mailing envelope containing multiple other illustrations of his, envelope postmarked from New Zealand on March 23, 1993.

I wasn't even looking for it, but when I went to file a record today I stumbled across the envelope in which I'd stored those Robert Scott drawings I referenced in yesterday's post. So they were the obvious thing to post today.

When I interviewed him in November 1992, Robert offered to send me some of his art to include in the next issue of my fanzine. Almost five months later, what landed in my mailbox was this envelope. Inside was five or six sheets of paper with up to 8 different illustrations on each. It was an amazing gift, one that took me almost 25 years to share in print.

Postcard for The Bats’ 1993 album, Silverbeet, and U.S. tour with Straitjacket Fits and JPS Experience.

The Bats had spent November of 1992 in the Boston area recording what would be their Silverbeet album. They also played some shows in the U.S. around that time, including this one at T.T. the Bear’s I recorded after interviewing frontman Robert Scott for my zine.

So news of a return U.S. visit? Hurrah! And with fellow Flying Nun label-mates Straitjacket Fits and JPS Experience? Double hurrah! While I’d been lucky enough to catch Straitjacket Fits when they swung through town the summer of 1991, JPS Experience hadn’t ever played in the U.S. This triple-threat bill was dubbed the “Noisyland” tour, which perhaps didn’t quite fit the amped-up folk-pop of The Bats, but was more than suitable for the Fits and even JPS Experience at that time. All three bands played to a very respectable crowd in the newly-opened Middle East Downstairs room. I was of course in Kiwi pop heaven.

Mailing address of Robert Scott of the The Bats, as written onto a scrap of paper by the man himself on November 13, 1992.

I guess you could consider this a followup of sorts to my post about The Bats on Tuesday, as I referenced my seeing The Bats in November 1992 and interviewing Robert Scott immediately prior.

After our interview, we exchanged mailing addresses. He was to send me some original artwork to be published in my zine, and I was to send him a copy of said zine plus a cassette of some Magnetic Fields music.