The Bats

The Bats

The Bats are a New Zealand rock band from Christchurch, active from 1982 to the present. The group consists of Malcolm Grant, Paul Kean, Robert Scott and Kaye Woodward, and they keep the same four-member line-up that forms when they start in 1982.

Style and background

The Bats work in the indie pop, indie rock and jangle pop area, and they are also associated with the Dunedin Sound. Although based in Christchurch, they have strong links with Dunedin and are usually grouped with the early 1980s musicians from that scene.

Career

The band records and performs with a sound at the jangle and indie end of the pop spectrum. They gain significant attention in the United States during the 1980s alongside Flying Nun label-mates The Chills and The Clean. During the 1990s, they tour the United States and Europe and support acts including Radiohead, Belly and R.E.M..

By the time they have recorded and performed for nearly a quarter of a century, the band has released seven albums and completed five world tours with the original line-up intact.

Other projects

Paul Kean, Kaye Woodward and Malcolm Grant form the side-project Minisnap. Robert Scott also releases solo material and appears in The Clean and The Magick Heads.