BATS magazine

FYI: the competition below has now ended

thanks to LICK IT MEDIA and MODULAR RECORDS we have some double passes to giveaway to the upcoming Van She 'Ze Mixes Tour' shows as well as a copy of Van She's 'Ze Mixes' album1. We have two double passes to giveaway to the Van She 'Ze Mixes Tour' at the HiFi bar thanks to MODULAR RECORDS


winners will be notified by email

Nick Simpson... has a blog

check it out: I Dinnae Ken

WHO? or add them on their myspace

By Bette “look, I’ve never really written a review before” Ward

Friday the 26^th of June saw the release of Yves Klein Blue's long awaited studio album Ragged & Ecstatic which coincided with a show at the Brisbane Powerhouse, in which BATS were lucky enough to score some sweet press passes (which in hindsight got us absolutely nothing, but hey, it's the thought that counts). The sell out show brought hundreds of fans from the four corners of Brisbane, from The Gap to Kenmore and everywhere in between, to celebrate the album release with supporting sets by Last Dinosaurs and Philadelphia Grand Jury... and of course Yves Klein Blue or as one young man dubbed them "Ives Kelin Blue".

Brisbane “sick as” band, the Last Dinosaurs, got the “paarrtaii started” with a bunch of tunes that the crowd seriously loved. Even though bassist Sam described the set as “shit” - the screams coming from the crowd were sure fire signs that he was dead wrong. Sean, in a “colourful” jacket (nah, I’d steal it from you), with the backup of younger brother, Lachlan (Happy 16th for last month bro), accompanied with Sam on bass and Dan on drums provided a handful of mad beatz that had one young man shouting, “Sean Caskey I love you”. Well Sean Caskey we lovv ya’ll too and your mouth watering blend of music that had us wondering, is Brisbane the new London? The answer is “yeah”. Crowd favourite as always was Honolulu though we were slightly disappointed at the lack of audience participation, it's okay guys, we put our hands up and said, “Hey!”. Special props go out for dedicating a song to the one and only Michael Jackson (R.I.P.), though a slight feeling of disgust on our part at the crowd's lack of knowledge of who “MJ” was, seriously look it up you ignorant grade nines.

Philadelphia Grand Jury followed, giving the crowd some freaking weird stuff, weird, but good. With a really energetic performance full of exciting and strange little pauses and my personal favourite - the little voice over that came on between each song. The live set made them out to have a little more of a punkish sound then their recordings let on and though they were a band I wasn’t really too familiar with before, they were freaking good. They were also an interesting choice for Yves Klein Blue to have as a supporting act. Their sound differed from both Last Dinosaurs and Yves Klein Blue and was a really interesting way to break up the sounds of the evening.

Finally the arena was full, hundreds of teenagers were tapping their feet saying, “I want Yves Klein Blue” or other slight variations of the phrase. The lights dimmed (I daresay because of my slow clap, or so I will tell myself) and Michael Tomlinson, Sean Cook, Charles Sale and Chris Banham came to the stage and in Kelsey’s words - “A Beatle like mania hit and I had to check my phone to make sure it was not the mid 60’s, and rest assured it wasn't."

This was it, they started to play (I’d tell you what song, but I left my notepad somewhere and therefore was unable to write it down) and man, the communal tap of Doc Marten covered toes filled the air and the jumps and screams of heaps of kids (girls) started all around me and as a 5'2 girl, I feared for my life. It was just two short years ago at Pauhas Festival 07 in this very same theatre that YKB played to a crowd that in all seriousness was made up of 15 people - an obvious exaggeration but 70 - 80 doesn't have the same ring (including myself, fellow BAT Kelsey, our good friend Michaella Harrison and a few of the bands personal friends with a couple of people strewn about the floor muttering the phrase, ”oh I quite like them”). Well it’s obvious a whole lot more people quite like them now.

The boys played the songs of their new album as well as a couple of the old favourites. The screams were loudest during Getting Wise, so loud that it came clear to me that my death was inevitable by the crazed crowd, and if not that, then being crushed to death by the pulsating speakers next to me or by the loss of hearing, which would lead to depression and then consequently - suicide. This song was a perfect example of the boys’ stage charisma and the ease in which they perform together. Drummer Banham setting the perfect beat for bassist Cook and guitarist/keyboardist Sale to effortlessly play along, intertwined with the words of Tomlinson who showed his pure genius as a lyricist - seriously if, "when we make love, it's like a great conversation" is true, well then, let's talk.

Soon after Tomlinson jumped into the crowd and left a good dozen teenage girls wet... as he poured the contents of his water bottle over them - though we did have a LOL at the fact that the only person to make a move on Tomlinson’s package was a teenage boy named Hopper.

The album itself is cheeky and innocence, light hearted and deep and incumbencies a number of qualities you’d expect from a bunch of young men barely out of their teens who list their influences as "Porn, Casual Jobs and Wrapping Paper". The album, for what they describe as “the most important thing in our lives up to date”, is in all honesty brilliant and something they should be freaking proud of. Cause seriously, I wish I had come up with it.

photos by Kelsey Heinrichs, Michaella Harrison and Bette Ward



Last Dinosaurs:




Philadelphia Grand Jury:

Yves Klein Blue:

'i used to skate once' 5 was last night
cool music, amazing decks (dick and balls was a highlight for me) and good company (lol)

full lineup for tomorrow night.. going to be so sick

we have 3 double passes to giveaway to this:



email batsmagazine@live.com.au with the subject as 'BANS' + your first and last name inside

entries close Friday night (26th of June)
winners will be notified by email

hope to see you all there on Sunday, should be a fun afternoon/night

Can You Hear Birds, Flightless Birds is an experimental music project that aims to create noise and lullabies.
it consists of: a kid, a computer and a guitar.

and in the spirit of free music, it's maker has created three songs and placed them on a CD to give to the people, free of charge. The songs range from dreamy, to quiet and to loud. The pacaking is all hand done using paper and ink. Hopefully you will like it.

the CD is entitled '7 days in winter'd and suns' and we (the BATS team) will be handing out some free copies at the Valley Studios this Sunday.

If you aren't able to make it on Sunday, please visit the link below to reserve a copy by other means or to just listen to some beautiful music:

Can You Hear Birds, Flightless Birds Myspace

We can dance, we can dance.

last night a few of us went to the hangar show
DZ, Toy Balloon, Comic Sans and Swaying Buildings played and it was awesome
of course I only remembered that I brought my camera until after all the bands had finished and most people had gone

saturday:


sunday:

There is no denial that Yves Klein Blue are at the forefront of the best bands Brisbane has to offer
and there is also no denying the hoard of teenage girls that follow their every move (seriously, give the boys some space)

Hot off their overseas tour, local lads YKB are back and ready to release their debut album RAGGED & ECSTATIC

and thanks to Dew Process Records, we have a free mp3 download of the album's opening track Make Up Your Mind

click the image below to get the free track



Yves Klein Blue will be launching the album next friday at The Brisbane Powerhouse - ALL AGES -

check the poster for details.. and get your tickets now as it will sell out!

the winners of the FANS high school band competition, VASY MOLLO will open the Rocketsmiths' Man With A Gun Tour - ALL AGES - show at The Valley Studios on the 28th of June

and thanks to the Rocketsmiths we have a free mp3 download of their track 'Man With A Gun' for our readers

click here to download

Man With A Gun is from Rockesmiths' EP 'Parts, Pieces' - out now through MGM Records

this thursday, going to be so killer
we have a double pass to giveaway
email batsmagazine@live.com.au with the subject as "MOTH MOTH MOTH" + your first and last name
entries close this tuesday night
winners will be notified by email



p.s. sucked in everyone still on exams.. QCA finished yesterday wahooo

thanks to THRASHINGTEENS.TV

like, seriously, if we had to marry one band....

yeaahhhhhh!!!!!!!

FANS club night are having an ALL AGES show on the 28th of June at the Valley Studios

sorry for the lack of posts...
this week brings many exams and assignments to be handed in by the BATS girls

in the meantime, here is a video of Bette riding a segue at greenfest on saturday



did anyone catch tame impala? they were awesome

friday night has once again presented us with a problem: way too much on
i'm not going to tell you where to go.. but I will narrow it down for you with three possible options (all of which are equally cool)

in no particular order:




i hate making decisions

i love the castle, it's a classic