bats brew

https://batsbrew.bandcamp.com/track/headin-for-the-weeds *Headin for the Weeds - my anti war rant. the whole 'war' section in the middle, was a blast to come up with. i just wanted cacaphony, and even tho i tried to impart some angst, it still comes off fairly groovy and proper, exactly opposite of what i was going for! hehe, so i just went with it. this was written about 5 years into the Iraq war. another sony ACID drum track. the drum groove was written for this song, but i liked it so much, i have used it in a more recent song as well, one of my "formula One trilogy" songs, called "Silverstone".

howdy old joad! yep, i like that tele! it's made out of Catalpa, it's super lightweight, feels great to play, very resonant.

hi wookiee! this song was inspired by a friend who, as the title says, was waiting to shine. just needed the right breaks, right circumstances, right planet alignments, etc... his was an older riff i had, that instead of the maj 7th thing, it was a minor diminished chord. i still like that riff, and might right another song around the original riff....

thank you tom! appreciate it

thank you daryl! i appreciate that

hi rik! thank you for listening and commenting... yes, the swagger was quite intentional on this one! it's a fun little riff to play

Hey tom!thanks

Freddy, Yea, that tele strat combo really pairs well. Thanks for listening

Hey Terry! Loved 10cc, don't hear that name dropped often... Harmonies are always the fun part

Thanks Jack!

covering ozzy, is one thing. covering DIO, is a step up! great effort here, you can hear the sabbath fandom coming thru loud and clear.

i tend to agree on this, the drums could come up a bit and still sit well in the mix. i like the dark tone, but if you decided to eq them a bit brighter, maybe the level is fine. as it is eq'd, i'd bring them up. that's all i'd change. it's all good.

excellent tune! i like the voice, reminds me a bit of ty tabor from kings x nice dry capture. sounds like it was recorded in a closed coat closet. how did you mic this vocal track? i like the darker tone of the drums for this mix... the bass is still the loudest element, but i kinda like it that way. it's carrying the rhythm. great guitar tones, all around a great effort. good tune.

REMINDS ME of floyd just a bit.. and some of the changes sound like something that would fit right into a sci fi sound track. wonderful tones.

nice groove! love that swampy vibe effect on the guitar. well done!

used my Catalpa tele build with the fralins, for all the rhythms on this one... used my USACG strat build with lawrence pickups for all the solo work.

https://batsbrew.bandcamp.com/track/waiting-to-shine from the new bats brew album

Thanks gary!

ha! you mean, getting older... yea, i don't have the range i used to have on the tenor end, that's for sure. i guess as i continue to downtune guitars, my voice will follow! LOL, thanks for listening, glad you like this stuff.

THANKS TOM!

well thanks jack! i had to work hard to get the backing tracks to 'hit' a little...

i think i need a grunge pedal! that totally does the trick, eh? it's not exactly fuzz, but it is... like if you dialed a fuzz in with a parametric EQ nice groove there joad! just throw a vocal on top, and you've got a finished 70's style arrangement with the grunge tones!

https://batsbrew.bandcamp.com/track/speak-to-me Speak to Me: this is a remake of a demo i did back in 1999 with a buddy of mine, i met on the roland VS Planet website, last seen in florida. i took him my original demo, and said 'do whatever, 'carte blanc', the entire backing track, sans guitars and vocals, he created on top of my demo, using Nuendo and a host of samplers and virtual instruments, and it rocked! he sent me a MP3 of what he had, and that was all i ever got! still liking the tracks, i just decided to aggressively process the 256 kbps mp3 file i had, and that's what i used for the backing tracks. i converted it to 24 bit (with TONS of audio losses) and tweaked it quite a bit! it gives it an almost 'lo-fi' feel, that actually works. the shoegazer track of the album. njoy!

a lot of folks want me to put this to a full band treatment, but that's not how it was written, not envisioned that way, so doing it any other way, is just not being straight up about the intention. would it work with full band..? of course. does it work as it is...? of course! it was designed to. that's what makes it unique. follow your inner voice on stuff like that. the guitar i used has quite a story: The Williams Special is a Les Paul-Strat-Mustang-Explorer hybrid, with hollow body cavities, Mustang scale length, built like a paul with mahagony and maple top, a short tenon neck glued in, with an ebony fingerboard, mother of pearl diamond inlays, with vintage-dimension strat body, and explorer headstock. a custom build (obviously!) i think it's pretty unique... started out with a EMG SA assembly, that was changed to a pair of Bill Lawrence Wilde L-280's in neck and middle, with a Duncan Lil 59'r in the bridge. folks sometimes think that the bridge pickup is moved out, but it's really the neck and middle that are moved towards the bridge, because of the scale length and the 24 frets... it's kinda like brian may's red special that way.....

Thanks again Mark I have messed with repitching stuff, Its fairly easy with studio one. But the sound of the real thing is one I'm so accustomed to, I couldn't bear to hear it altered. Cicadas! Yep, I grew up in the southeast, yes, I know that sound well. Thats a cool idea to capture it.