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 One of Australia’s hottest indie bands – BIT BY BATS – have just released their debut album Go, Go, Go!; a culmination of nearly four years of relentless gigging, three EP releases and several overseas shows. JACK LANGRIDGE talks with bassist PETER J GRAVESTOCK about the trio’s career trajectory.
North London’s Islington, the suburb of easy-buy Monopoly fame is a long way from the wide, leafy streets of Melbourne. In 2007, Islington’s relative cheapness on the block-laden gaming board ($100/£100) appears to have been seriously undervalued. Boasting the longest escalators in Western Europe, the moving staircases of potential knee-shredding steel at the district’s Angel Undergound station have, until now, been an untapped resource for Winter Olympics-hopeful chavs training for the downhill. Daredevils with handy-cams, skis and stocks have filmed themselves negotiating the treacherous metal slope at horrendous, spine-cracking speed. Not too far from the practice slope, Bit By Bats’ bassist Peter J Gravestock is hunkered down in a friend’s flat, languishing a sunny spring morning in the English capital. He and the band are in London to play an invitation show in Soho before returning to Melbourne to start a string of shows in support of their debut album Go, Go, Go! The last time RAVE talked to Gravestock, the long-haired bassist was returning to his new Melbourne home from a full day at university. Gravestock and the rest of Bit By Bats had just relocated to Melbourne from their hometown of Adelaide where he, vocalist and guitarist Owen Eszeki, drummer Ben Macklin formed the band in 2003. It was mid 2005 and the trio were on the verge of releasing their third EP, the arty Let’s Go Romeo – a set that revealed the band’s, or rather, Eszeki’s predilection for patterns. “Owen likes to work in patterns,” Gravestock told us. “He claims to see patterns so it’s something that we worked with,” the bassist said of the release. The songs from the EP: Neon Flux, Mercy Green, Tiger Blue and Golden Radio were a veritable crayon box of melodic, primary-coloured art-rock. The pattern concept picked up from where the band left off on their self-titled EP (2004), in which every song “had to have ‘the’ in them.” Now, the band have just released their debut album Go, Go, Go! It’s an apt title, for unlike the Bats’ earlier releases, there are no distinct patterns on Go,Go,Go! Instead, the band have delivered a set of white-hot, Theremin-manipulating, post-punk scorchers. “We have one slow song…and we put it in the middle,” laughs Gravestock down an antipodean phone line. Referring to the sparkling charm of She Was Venezuela, a song that features backing vocals from Magic Dirt’s Adalita, is a reflective lament with petted guitar lines that descends in and out of hellish mayhem with Eszeki’s piercing vocals. Recorded at Birdland studios in Melbourne, Bit By Bats reinstated Let’s Go Romeo producer Dean Turner of Geelong stalwarts Magic Dirt for Go, Go, Go! Adalita’s sultry backing vocals provide poignant moments on the album’s title track, Let’s Heart Attack and She Was Venezuela. The first lady of Australian rock & roll has brought a new feel to the Bats’ sound. And with such an extensive and diverse back catalogue, Bit By Bats’ show on Go, Go, Go! that new ideas and the progression of their sound is still at the forefront. “I’m not sure if it brings a different perspective, but working with Adalita did allow for a different feel to the songs,” Gravestock says. Since the release of their last EP, Bit By Bats have found themselves playing to audiences further and further from home. On their way to London, the band dropped into Canadian Music Week for a performance that, according to Canadian music website ChartAttack scored an 86/100 - a fraction that translates to: “rocked us so hard we peed our pants.” “We don’t tend to read press but a friend of mine sent that one to me. It’s a good one,” the softly spoken bassist says modestly. While blitzing the Canadians, Bit By Bats’ were simultaneously picked-up by British rock bible NME. The rag’s New Music Editor, James Jam, plugged the band in their Radar section, describing them as a band he will be following “intently from here on.” This vital recognition from such lynchpins of industry has got Gravestock and the band thinking of bigger horizons. Of late, a string of Australian bands have taken the financial and career make-or-break plunge, spending extended stints overseas. Wether successful or not, the bands appear – at the very least – to be a stronger force from the experience. Although, upon return home many have found the routine of Australian gigging in front of smaller crowds stale in comparison to the electrifying buzz of the music scenes in cities such as London and Tokyo. “I’d really love to keep playing overseas,” Peter says of the UK. “I can’t wait to come back – it’s great over here.” Before any decisions are made however, there’s the matter of a lengthy Australian tour to launch Go, Go, Go! to the masses. The tour will take in Fremantle and Perth in the west, Adelaide and Melbourne, Sydney and two Brisbane shows. The second of the two Brisbane performances – the Pauhaus festival – marks the grand re-opening of the Powerhouse Arts Centre, and is set to be a celebration of Australian’s finest indie talent. Taking the stage along side the Bats’ will be Red Riders, The Grates, Expatriate, The Panics, Children Collide and Macromantics. Bit By Bats play the Troubadour on Friday, April 13 and Pauhaus at the Brisbane Powerhouse (New Farm) on Saturday, June 9. Go, Go, Go! is out now through Shiny Records. A BIT MORE BIT BY BATS WHO: Owen Eszeki (vocals, guitar & Theremin), Peter J Gravestock (bass, vocals & guitar) and Ben Macklin (drums). SOUNDS LIKE: Frantic, Cure-inspired arty post-punk with a melodic edge to make you dance, dance and dance some more. ALBUM: Go, Go, Go! (Shiny Records) KEY TRACKS: Dance The Dance, Maurie & Marie, Neon Flux
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