Mushroom Music Publishing

Yet another outgrowth of the seminal Clean, the Bats were an institution on the New Zealand music scene, their melancholy jangle-pop sound and infectious melodies consistently defining the kiwi-rock aesthetic at its very best. The Bats were formed in
Christchurch in 1982 by ex-Clean bassist Robert Scott, ex-Toy Love bassist Paul Kean, singer/multi-instrumentalist Kaye Woodward and drummer Malcolm Grant; with Scott adopting lead vocal and guitar duties as well as serving as the group's chief songwriter, they issued their debut By Night in 1984, the first in a series of EPs which also included 1985's "And Here Is 'Music for the Fireside'!"and 1986's Made Up in Blue. (All three were subsequently collected as Compiletely Bats.)

The Bats finally released a full-length album, the stunning Daddy's Highway, in 1987; soon after the group went on hiatus, with Scott participating in a Clean reunion tour and Woodward giving birth. The quartet came back together in 1990 to release The Law of Things, another critical favorite which received almost no commercial interest.

Fear of God appeared in 1991, and two years later the Bats resurfaced with Silverbeet; an intermittent series of EPs (including Live at WFMU and Spill the Beans, the latter
recorded with Superchunk frontman Mac McCaughan on guitar) followed as Scott again focused much of his energies on another Clean reunion, but in 1995 the group returned with a new LP, Couchmaster.

~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

The Bats ... at the National Grid
- independently released by Pocket Music and distributed through
Rhythm Method in NZ - 03/10/05.
- released by Magic Marker in the USA 20/09/05, Little Teddy in
Germany and Egg Records in Scotland/UK 04/10/05
- recording session was captured on analogue multitrack at John
Kelcher's National Grid studio in Christchurch, NZ.
- Overdubbing and mixing was completed at the home studio of
Paul Kean and Kaye Woodward.
- Dale Cotton from Audioworkshop in Auckland has applied his
mastering magic to the final mixes.
- A pre-release version of Horizon from the album was distributed
to Bnet stations and reached number one on RDU and 2 on BFM.