Bats & Battleships

Life.

2011-08-28T22:20:00.001-07:00

It can be simultaneously glorious and frustrating. Things have been great for us recording and we're all really happy, but at the same time we're annoyed, tired and sometimes filled with doubt regarding this project.

Our non-band lives and personas have blocked our band lives, for the mean time at least. Many, seemingly more important things like study, jobs and families have ultimately all taken priority at a time when we were being carried forward by the momentum of our recording.

What this means, is that The Week That Was won't be released until January & furthermore, we won't be touring until then either. But this also means we (or more specifically myself and the lads at Oh, Silence) won't be so stressed out getting everything ready. We have more time to make it a better experience for ourselves and the people who will see us/hear our material.

Now, we will be filling in this time with shows, which we will announce soon, provided booking agents can remember how entertaining we were all those months ago.

- Jason

I've really let myself go.

2011-07-17T06:26:00.000-07:00

Hey there people, I thought I should finally get this old blog out again to give you a more detailed update of how everything has been. As you are aware, we have been recording our first full length since June, and boy has it been a learning experience/roller-coaster ride and a half already.

Dylan recorded his drums in 2 days with conjunctivitis. I spent three weekends being hungover making way too much feedback in someone elses house. Chelsea spent 5 hours recording her parts, nailing most of them on the first attempt. Fitzy is screaming his hole out and making the interface clip at low volume settings. For the most part it has been fairly smooth sailing.

I think the majority of issues has come from my own over-analysis of everything around me. I tend to stress when I do this and never see clearly when it happens, which then causes the issue. Michael and Daniel have done a good job of keeping me composed enough to get the job done. Being a micro manager is rarely a good thing for everyone involved.

Since we began, we have decided to change the name of the album. It is now titled "The Week That Was". This was changed for a number of reasons, but my main reason for the change was that I no longer wanted this album to written out of spite. Despite saying that, it does make a brief appearance.

So now, I present the track list for "The Week That Was"

1. The Annual Reminder

2. A Toast

3. On The Cusp

4. 47°

5. Introjection

6. Your Jacket Pocket

7. Backdating Karma

8. Recreational Gaslighting

9. Hunting The Great White

10. She Found God In Loneliness

We have been filming the majority of the recording session and have been throwing them up on our youtube channel, youtube.com/batsandbattleships. Hopefully you will hear a full track before release.

In regards to shows, we have one booked on August 6th at Hamilton Station, with a couple of others before we have our release show and subsequent run of shows in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, so keep your eyes/ears peeled and help spread the word! Hope to fill your life with inane ramblings again soon!

- Jason.

Moar Words!

2011-06-07T05:04:00.000-07:00

I'm No Frost, But...

Stop, I don't know where that cock has been

I don't think it's fair on you

I don't think it's fair on me

I don't think it's fair on

Lift, your hands off my chest

I can't go down this path again

I won't spend this night, with you

I've been down this road

More times than I can recall

Please, promise me that mark is a bruise, from a fall

And not

From the teeth of a child I abhor

Please, don't bite my neck too hard

I gotta go play his girl

You know I can't always be yours

I've been down this road

Too many times to recall

I've been down this path less traveled

More times than I can recall

Zenith, three times.

I began to walk down the road of bills and marks

With the same fear and determination as the soldiers we drank to that day

The only single thought in my head being the taste of your forehead from the hour before

My feet sweeping up the leaves into their own spandau ballet

Now, 1255 days on I find myself walking down that same road

No bills, no marks

The autumn leaves replaced with a cold winter wind

The taste of your forehead replaced with flesh etchings of question marks

It doesn't look the same

But it certainly fucking feels it.

I've been down this road before.

A Toast

So, here we are

The five of us

The anniversary

Of self fed misery

A toast,

To soiled bedsheets

And soiled friendships

A toast, to you

Me, them, us

And all that we have shared

God, I'm horrible

Despicable

But if I didn't have a finger to point

Or a tongue to fork

Tell me, would I be,

Inadmissible?

Was it worth it

Was my finger just long enough?

Was my tongue lace with gold?

A metallic tang on your pierced lip

A toast,

To the copious times I've put wedges in my door

And how I always seem to let you bite my ear

And make it all go away

Look at this Rorschach

Tell me what you see?

I see body parts

Fragmented and joined in two

Look at this Rorschach

Tell me, what do you see

So, I'll raise your glass

Go hunt mother

Redeem yourself beyond blue lens

Then I'll say to you

Go find the one

You're never gonna find it

Here again

Words

2011-06-06T06:04:00.000-07:00

I don't like words. I'm never good with them. They always seem to tangle up on my head, only to worsen as they try and come off the tongue. It feels similar in the context of writing for this band. The connection between my brain and my hand, to the pen and the paper feels like a journey all of its own, not in the epic sense either. It just strains me in many ways.

It's because of this I have felt almost ashamed of having typed up lyrics of my songs. They are jagged, rough melodies that don't translate well on paper, making the words seem even more ridiculous when they are only read, not heard. Still, I have been asked by a few and on more than one occasion to put some up. Who am I to deny?

47°

Glisten,

The sweat on your thigh

It brings me back

Primal,

This heat can't keep me away

A leg parts,

Off to the side

It forces me

Reach out.

This heat

Reels me in.

It reels, me in.

Calloused onto, smooth

Bumps on the thigh

A whimpered call

A deep let sigh

Picked up, thrown down

Saw raw, so real (*sup Buckley?)

French lace, the finest of shackles

Tie me up and keep me here

We lose all of ourselves

We sweat pure instinct

Lucid

Nothing underarm**

*Not actual lyrics

**Recently adapted, so much so Fitzy doesn't know yet.

Hunting The Great White

There's nothing more in sight

There's nothing more I can see

Even the dreams I had when I

Knew not of this beast

There's nothing more in sight

There's nothing more I can see

Only the fire in your eyes

And my future drowned at sea

I have navigated this sinking ship

Across the globe

For the fourth time now

Each time around, I've battled you

Sometimes, being, victorious

But this time, I've waited

And prepared myself

Going to encounter you

One last time.

Baiting you

With precious words

And feelings of security

Wearing you down

Drawing me

In closer

It lends itself

To launching the

Harpoons

It sticks in your neck

Masked as a passionate kiss

Throw across the net

Disguising itself as a warm embrace

Covering your whole, body

Squeezing out the life through your chest

But then it pulls away

Flailing violently

Across the ocean

Ripping me clean off my ship

Seeing it sink behind me

Holding on for dear life

As it pulls me into the deep

I'll throw a couple more songs up soon.

- J

Night Zero.

2011-05-10T06:30:00.000-07:00

This is not me burning bridges.

This is me destroying entire cities full of men, women and children who all share your face.

This is me tearing through blazing buildings with my bare hands and chewing through ash scarred mortar to find every last memory of you.

This is me destroying my future.

This is me destroying my dreams

Word by word, brick by brick,

This is me destroying everything I loved.

This is me not getting what I want.

This is me not getting getting what I worked for.

This is me not getting what I deserve.

All this is you.

Getting what you deserve.

Dusty

2011-04-14T21:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

We've been busy playing some shows around Newcastle and making our final preparations before we get stuck into recording. We still have 6 weeks or so before we commence, which gives us enough time to finish off the tracks we haven't done yet and get all our ducks in a row.

We have enough time to get in one more show before I head off with one of my other bands to play some shows along the east coast, with possibly one more after that. The first will be on the 24th at the Hamilton Station hotel, at around 9pm. We're going to try and fit in as much as we can material wise, so we'd love to see as many people there as possible. Tell your friends! bring your puppy!

For now I'll leave it at this, but I have some posts coming up very soon which I need to work on a bit more. Keep your eyes peeled.

-Jason.

Hunting The Great White

2011-03-28T03:34:00.000-07:00

A little clip from our new track "Hunting The Great White" which we'll be playing at the Cambridge this Wednesday, the 30th of March.

Hunting The Great White (CLIP) by batsandbattleships

Progress, progress, progress...

2011-03-21T03:58:00.000-07:00

Hey gang, just through I'd pop my head in here and tell you all how things are progressing.

We have officially finished off another track for the full length, titled "Hunting The Great White" which we're aiming to play at the Cambridge on the 30th. Along with this, "Your Jacket Pocket" is complete and will be on the set as a definite.

In terms of track listing/completion ratio, it now stands at.

- Intro (50-60% complete)

- A Toast (Complete)

- Backdating Karma (Complete)

- Your Jacket Pocket (Complete)

- 47° (Complete)

- Hunting The Great White (Complete)

- Recreational Gaslighting (60% complete)

- She Found God In Loneliness (40% complete)

So we're aiming to have "Recreational Gaslighting" and "She Found God In Loneliness" finished by the time we start the recording process, then to finish the intro in production. Along with this, I have begun the initial writing stages for two new tracks, tentatively titled "Battling The Bens" and "Knives". One or both of these will most likely suit the rest of the album, so hopefully we can sink our teeth into them soon.

So in a nutshell, we're busy. We're finding every oppurtunity available in our very busy lives to work on this material and make it the best we can. Right now we're really proud of it all and hope that you will enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoy playing it.

On other semi related news, Dylan has begun working on the cover art for our split with I Am The Agent and it looks pretty awesome thus far. Hopefully he will share some initial designs with you in an upcoming blog.

Peace,

- Jason

Being Something Bigger.

2011-03-08T04:54:00.001-08:00

What, exactly, does it mean

To be something bigger?

Bigger than what?

Bigger than an object?

Bigger than a person?

How is it measured?

Is it literal?

Is one physically just bigger?

Is it a matter of personal perception?

Or simply, to be heard more than others?

Can that then, be measured by one's reach?

Or perhaps by more primitive forms, such as volume.

CAN SCREAMING THESE WORDS MAKE ME A BIGGER PERSON?

Is it measured through education perhaps?

Does learning make one bigger than their peers?

If so, then we all have a long way to go.

Now, given these factors

How can anyone see themselves as bigger than others?

How can you even tell if you're big at all?

To me,

None of these things you may hold so dear

Can measure the volume of worth a person holds.

They certainly can not

Measure me at all.

-Jason

Getting Our Track On

2011-03-02T20:07:00.001-08:00

It's been a fairly busy month for us at Bats & Battleships, along with playing a couple of shows and getting a feel after a few weeks off whilst Dylan was away on his honeymoon, we have also began to sink our teeth into the new tracks for the album, along with beginning the initial plans for our October tour.

So far, we have three tracks which are finished and ready to be recorded for the album. A recent decision has led us to change the tracklist for our split with I Am The Agent, so we will be using "Backdating Karma" on the album and putting "My Mistake" in its place. We are also reusing "A Toast" and "47°" from our October demo.

We also have six tracks which are being worked on, with two near completion. The track names are as follows:

Prince Of Wolves
Your Jacket Pocket

Hunting The Great White

Recreational Gaslighting

She Found God In Loneliness

False Alarm Sunrise

Along with this, I am working on a spoken word intro to the album. We have a lot of stuff we're throwing around and a lot of material to work with, so we hope and believe that we will be able to throw our best works to date on this full length.

In the coming weeks we'll throw up a couple of rehearsal videos of the new tracks, along with some footage and pics from the split recording. Hopefully you will be able to hear a couple of new ones at the Cambridge on the 30th. Until then, watch this space.

- Jason

Welcome

2011-02-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our blog.

This blog will be a place for us to write and share information about upcoming shows, recordings / recording process and writing process, in greater detail than our Facebook account will allow. This is quite handy as we will be doing a lot of the above this year.

This Wednesday for instance, I will be tracking / recording drums with Oh, Silence, a recording label started by Michael Gale and Daniel Lambert from Newcastle / Central Coast band I Am The Agent.

I will be recording drums for two of our newer tracks, "We Gotta Go, It's Too Safe Here" and "Backdating Karma". These two tracks will be released exclusively at a later date on a split EP with I Am The Agent.

Really excited to get these two tracks recorded as they have been well received at our most recent shows, "Backdating Karma" in particular. Look forward to giving more people the opportunity to hear said tracks and look forward to finding out how they feel about them.

We have also been doing a lot of writing of late in preparation for our debut album ,"The Annual Reminder That We Can All Be Something Bigger", which we hope to start recording in June. Thus far we have three new tracks written for the album, "Your Jacket Pocket", "Prince Of Wolves" and "My Mistake", an instrumental track we have been playing at recent shows.

In regards to shows, we have some pretty solid shows coming up over the next few months, as well as a few to be confirmed and announced. For now though, here is a listing of our upcoming shows which are locked in and confirmed.

UPCOMING SHOWS

FEB	23	w / I Am The Agent, The Art & The Protectors	Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle
MAR	30	w / I Am The Agent & Young Revelry	Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle
APR	9	w / I Am The Agent	Lass O'Gowrie Hotel, Newcastle

That is all I have for now, so thank you for your time and hopefully we can keep this blog updated on a fairly regular basis. Jason has been writing a fair bit of late, so I'm sure he will have something to say or share in regards to that in the very near future and I will definitely be back to give an update on this Wednesday's recordings.

Cheers
- D