The Bats formed originally in Christchurch in 1982 in the aftermath of the initial break-up of The Clean (in which Scott continues to play bass in that band’s occasional shows and records). Remarkably, The Bats has retained the same lineup of Scott, bass player Paul Kean, guitarist Kaye Woodward and drummer Malcolm Grant for its entire 31-year existence.
“The dynamic within the band hasn’t really changed,” Scott says. “We’ve pretty much always done things the same way – I’ll start off with the basic bones of the song, which is usually a chord pattern, which is what I write the melody and singing over. Then I’ll take that to the band, and they’ll work out what they want to do in terms of arrangements and parts. And it’s the same onstage – we still play the same way.”
For its most recent record, Free the Monsters, The Bats did something they certainly hadn’t done previously – renting space in a decommissioned psychiatric asylum in the village of Seacliff in the Otago region, north of Dunedin. “The asylum was decommissioned in the 1940s or 1950s, and there’d also been a big fire there,” Scott says. “The kitchen there would have been a hundred metres, by fifty metres, and that was just for keeping the patients and staff fed. They basically took anyone with a mental illness from the Otago area, and there were hundreds of patients there at the height of the operation.”
After guitarist Kaye Woodward had suggested the Seacliff Asylum as a recording venue – “it’s built like a big castle in this idyllic setting on the coastline, which is why we chose to record it there, because it’s away from the town and shops,” Scott explains – The Bats chose the stone stables annexed to the asylum complex to record the album. “In the late 1800s horse power was obviously pretty important, so there were huge stables, with big blocks of bluestone, a concrete floor and wooden beams,” Scott says. “So we set up for a week or ten days and blew through it.”
Despite having been decommissioned as an asylum over 60 years ago, Seacliff Asylum retained some of its original eerie atmosphere. “Subconsciously, when you’re thinking about some of the songs, that atmosphere does creep in to some extent,” Scott says. “I’d pretty much already written the songs, so it wasn’t like the writing was affected by the place, but possibly the execution and playing. It was definitely quite spooky at night.”
The spookiness of the make-shift studio provided fertile grounds for Scott and producer Dale Cotton to indulge in some late-night space jams which, while not included on Free the Monsters, may yet see the light of day. “After the others had gone to bed, Dale and I tended to stay up a few extra hours and make some very interesting noises,” Scott says. “The best reference was the ambient side of Krautrock, with a dash of Eno. I’ve got them on my laptop, and I listen to them now and then, and they sound pretty good. I’m sure there’ll be some huge box set that they’d warrant going on,” Scott remarks dryly.
Outside of his work with The Bats and The Clean, and occasional solo project, Scott continues to teach music at a local primary school. “We write a lot of songs with kids in the classes – we sing about the frog lifecycle, or healthy eating, or whatever else it is that they’re studying,” Scott laughs. “In some ways, that keeps my songwriting fresh – you don’t disappear too far up yourself when you’re working with kids. You keep a good perspective on things.”
Scott agrees with the adage that writing a song for children can often lead to a good pop song for any audience. “I find that writing a simple melody that the kids can sing, or a simple chord pattern on a cheap crappy guitar, if you can make that work, you’ve usually got a good melody,” Scott says. “I tend to get a lot of ideas while I’m plunking away on this cheap guitar at school, because the songwriting side of your brain is just hovering there, and waiting to be used.”
This week The Bats return to Melbourne for the opening night of Melbourne Music Week, playing alongside Sonny & the Sunsets, Montero and Boomgates (with whom The Bats have just released a split 7”). “We played with Sonny & the Sunsets when they opened up for The Clean when we came over a few years ago,” Scott says. “I don’t know too much about Boomgates, but what I’ve heard online so far I’ve liked. It’s always fun coming over to Australia – the crowds are always really good, and loyal.”
BY PATRICK EMERY
