bats brew

hi starise! thanks... and i hope it starts to do well!! heheh, i'll leave the light on, for any interviewers.....

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/middle-of-nowhere this is off of the new Bats Brew album "The Wild Animals" if you want to pick up a copy and support your vitual local musician, it's here: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/batsbrew13 SONG INFO: ah, the middle of nowhere, is the center of everywhere~! just when you think you are lost, you're not. that is, if you are where you want to be. sometimes i want to be in the middle of nowhere. it is compelling. this tune came about as a direct influence from listening to an older Queens of the Stone Age tune... or rather, an album: Songs for the Deaf. i had been listening to this album, and when i was done, i had this beat in my head. nothing i had heard from my listening experience, but still, this beat was in the head. it's almost like a backwards shuffle! like if you turned it around, played it backwards, you could jam to La Grange or Tush. LOL i guess the message is, when you are with who you want to be with, anywhere you go together, is the center of everywhere. lyric: Middle of No where Stand, in the middle of no where Fly, to the center of everywhere Look around and get your bearings, Your moving on the path i'm sharing We're looking out for each other You are my only lover Middle of no where is the center of everywhere Center of everywhere, Center of everywhere Middle of no where, Middle of no where Center of everywhere, No where, everywhere, No where, everywhere, No where, no where, No where, everywhere, No where, no where. recording specific stuff: the drum track was written in superior drummer 3.0, with a custom kit where every piece was taken from multiple kits and edited for sound. ok, pulled out all the stops on this one, as far as guitar stuff goes... guitars used, left to right: '82 Carvin DC200K, with duncan custom custom in bridge; '77 Ibanez Artist 2618, stock; "86 custom build, strat/paul/explorer hybrid, with bill lawrence pickups and a lil 59'r in the bridge; '04 custom USACG strat build, with bill lawrence pickups. Demeter silent Speaker cab with celestion V30; used for clean rhythm track. (2) Roland 1x12 cabs, closed back, one with celestion Heritage G12h-55, one with Carvin British series; Avatar Vintage closed back, with old celestion G12C-30 '82 Mesa Boogie Mark IIb. Palmer PDI-09 for one of the rhythm tracks; miced roland cab with 57 for other rhythm track; Shure sm57 miced onto Avatar for the solo; PDI-09 for solo harmony track. every track used a different guitar, with the white strat used for the solos. i used a little ibanez short scale bass, a Mikkro model, thru a Sansamp Bass DI. surprisingly enough, the little short scale bass sounds BIGGER than my full scale Carvin LB70. Vox were done with a ADK Hamburg, being driven thru a ART DPS preamp. percussion done into a Shure KSM44.

the salesman turned gray, when he went to ring it up, after the deal was struck. he went in the back to get the case, and looked pale when he came back. LOL they go for anywhere from 900 to 1600 on verb and bay i use it a lot.

bumpin this one before i take it down...

i found THIS, in the consignment section at GC: 1977 Ibanez Artist 2618 I walked into GC to look at Les Paul Double cuts. They didn't have any. What they DID have, was a 1977 Ibanez Artist 2618, priced out at $899 (which is about $400 cheaper than anything I’ve found on EBay).... I talked them down to $599. Really good condition, one small chip out of the finish on the back, and the pickup selector knob is broken off, but the selector still works fine. Looks like the original frets. No checking in the finish, it's beautifully worn, gold finish is coming off the hardware at a very normal rate, for a 34 year old guitar. Serial # E775404 Mahogany Body with Maple top Maple neck Ebony fretboard with dot abalone markers Machine Head Smooth tuners Pickups Super 80 Controls 2 vol, 2 tone, 3 way pickup selector Harmonomatic bridge Hardware Gold Finish Antique Brown 24 frets all in pristine condition. NO wear at all on frets or fingerboard. Almost just like the one I bought in 1979, which was a 2619, meaning, it had block inlays and a phase switch on the bridge humbucker. I wished I had never sold it. This sort of makes up for it. This is the SECOND time I went into a store shopping for a Gibson Les Paul, and left with an Ibanez Artist. LOL Built in Japan in 1977. Research on Ibanez can be difficult as they supported all sorts of numbering systems and numerous factories in different countries. This was the second year of production for this model. Based on the “E” designation in the serial number, it would have been built in May of 1977. The Ibanez Artist was only built with these specs for four years, from 1976 through 1979. Sometime in 1979 they cheapened all of the appointments and changed the model to the AR200, which made the earlier models hard to find and very much in demand by serious Ibanez players. The guitar features a mahogany body with a carved solid maple top, hard maple set neck, bound ebony fretboard, abalone dot fretboard inlays, original Flying Fingers ceramic pickups, and gold plated Hardware and pickups. The finish is a rich antique brown sunburst. It came with a hard shell case, but I cannot say for sure if it is the original case because it does not say Ibanez on it. Having said that, in 1977, Ibanez may not have been putting their name on the outside of their cases like they do now. Bottom line is it’s a nice plush lined arch top, very well padded case that fits the guitar like it was made for it. The lining inside is lime green, if that sheds any light on the originality of it, and amazingly, it DOES NOT stink! LOL Whoever had this before me, possibly the original owner, took incredibly good care of it, and did not play it very much. Info i found, that i could not vett: This guitar was made at the Terada Plant, Japan, 1977, Production Number: 5404. I was actually shopping for a Gibson Les Paul, back in '79, when I bought my original 2619. I had just finished about 6 months of demoing every les Paul I could get my hands on, waiting to find the right one. This guitar has a nice warm tone and sustains for miles. It’s actually the closest thing I’ve found to a Les Paul without being made by Gibson. This Ibanez is the only guitar I’ve ever heard that can compare to the Les Paul, which amazes even me. The Flying Fingers pickups are killer. A pic from the original 1977 catalog:

i never go into GC asking questions. i ALWAYS go in already knowing what i want, how much it costs, and whether it's in stock or not.

thanks symmetry!

another newly posted tune off of "The Wild Animals"... "Middle of Nowhere" https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/middle-of-nowhere

hello paul! thanks for the kind words, and yea, you're right, those breaks let your brain relax for just a second! heh.

hello harryC! yea, there is some cool dynamics happening, by design, it just seemed that the arrangement was so 'go for it', that it needed breakups...

hey douglas! thanks for listening to this one, yea, the bass part was fun, but kinda hard to give that galloping vibe and keep in the pocket..i took a few passes to get it the way i wanted.

i've never had ANY issues buying from waves directly. i typically only buy something when it hits that magic $29 mark, has worked out well for me. plus, i use my own credit card, which has a bunch of protections on it, whereas paypal seems to be very problematic for a lot of people.

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/michaels-house #02- "Michael's House" this is the 2nd song on the album. One of the songs, "michael's house", was a rowdy romp that i wrote back in 1998, for my friend who had recently moved into an older house, in a neighborhood that had been a very nice family neighborhood back in the day, but had fallen into disrepair over 30 years time, and was known as a 'crack' neighborhood when he moved into it... he truly thought he would turn the neighborhood around, one neighbor at a time, and pull all his friends that were wanting to buy houses, into purchasing a house near him. when i wrote the song originally, it was really just a demo, but a celebration of his audacity and belief in the 'good' of people. he died in that house, about 8 years ago. i'm not sure how, but he had been hospitalized previously, a health issue, i think it was an accident. now i've written a new version of it, to basically celebrate his life, or as a kind of 'thank you' to the ether. recording specific info: bought a new fuzz around the time i started working on this song, made by Barber Electronics, it's called the "Exacta". great fuzz, i use it quite a bit in this song. Lyrics: Michaels House Michaels house, used to be Kind of place, yeah, you want to be Now it’s got a new friend, Going to be the place again. Michael is a trusted friend Favors given, to the end Road trip taken and he took my queen, All the way to New Orleans! Michaels house, was party town But a friend in need, could hang around Michael left without a sound In the afterlife, he’ll be around. Michaels house, used to be Kind of place, want to be Now it’s got a new friend, Going to be the place again.

good luck wookiee, with your speedy recovery

alright paul!! thanks for checking out the title track to the new album..... this album took a year to write and record, working very slowly, obviously........ but still, i think is a good album overall, i think a lot of folks would dig getting it. appreciate the comments!

last bump before i take this one down

ALRIGHT GEEARE! thanks for the vote of confidence!

bumpin this for anyone who missed it

wow. you slay me , gary, that's so cool, i appreciate your support!! let me know once you get it... if you care for high def files, i'll hook you up. man, i'm humbled, thanks again.

oh yea, forgot the most important aspect of my reply.... heheh the person(s) that wrote that song, knew EXACTLY who their target market is. kids like simple sing-song rhymes, ear worms for slothful thinking..... it's like the genius of coming up with the formula for selling mcdonald's hamburgers.

for what it's worth, that frozen song, is like a ball peen hammer on my forehead. absolutely hate it. ?

no lyric lives in a vacuum. lyrics are always tied to the performance and how they are delivered. case in point: Louie Louie, oh no, you take me where ya gotta go, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, baby Louie Louie, oh baby, take me where ya gotta go A fine little girl, she waits for me Me catch the ship across the sea Me sailed the ship all alone Me never think I'll make it home Louie Louie, oh no no no, me gotta go, oh no Louie Louie, oh baby, me gotta go Three nights and days I sailed the sea Me think of girl constantly On the ship, I dream she there I smell the rose in her hair Louie Louie, oh no, me gotta go, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, baby Louie Louie, oh baby, me gotta go Okay, let's give it to 'em right now Me see Me see Jamaica,… ....was a HUGE HIT... people still want to dance to it constantly. but, i feel your pain. as a modern songwriter, i'm constantly trying to balance artistic license, personality, performance, and proper form. and rarely achieve it. but i'm tryin'

bumpin' for MLKjr day! seems appropriate, somehow....

thanks freddy this is a working demo

thanks tom, for your support and simple straightfoward feedback. you know, i've posted EVERY song on this album here, as i was working on the mixes, and used a lot of the feedback i received as i did final mixes. no one has heard the final mixes of the tunes on the album until now. i appreciate the feedback i get here from the folks that listen and critique, and now, the final product! i hope more folks will give it a chance.