BAT HEARSE self titled 13 track C.D by BAT HEARSE
Officially Released: November/December 2020
Reviewed: By Dave Diamond on the 21st December 2021
The band hail from Detroit U.S.A. and Nina is originally from Russia.
BAND MEMBERS:
Ajax: Drums
Jungle Josh: Guitar
Bass: Nate Knox
Vocals: Nina Friday
Vocals and Fire: Rick Ruiner
Songs Written by: Jungle Josh and Rick Ruiner
Lyrics by: Rick Ruiner
Camera Crew: Ajax, Andrea Kahn and Austin Kahn
Recorded: Live at The Pharmhouse Studio by Gabe Doman
Mastering by Jim Diamond
Ghetto Records Copyright 2020 ASCAP Ruiner Music
Cover photo's credit: AJ “Ajax” Kahn
Distribution: self distributed on iTunes and Facebook page: https://m.facebook.com/Bathearsedetroit
Band Influences: dark 50’s heartthrobs, 60’s Garage, 70’s rock-n-roll revival glam, 80’s goth, Russian music, surf and B-movie soundtrack type stuff.
Let’s have a listen to the tracks –
BEAT IT CREEP - LET ME SEE YOUR SCARS – Boom, we’re off with a bang…nice ooh’s backing vocals and Nina’s haunting vocals kick off a strolling pace for the first 30 seconds…Nina explains “Beat It Creep!”…the music stands still, then here we go with screams, screeching guitar strong drums and slap bass…over to Rick’s vocals to rock it up and for sure this track is moving at a great catchy speed… I’m hooked…roll on the next track!!
BLOOD & POSION IVY – Written about a murder that happened in Detroit back in 2014 so it’s based on a true story..This one’s has a chugging beat, growling vocals and a fab crashing snare beat, loving the great staggered stops with Nina and Rick taking vocals, the slap bass really cuts through on this number…continues with Rick and Nina interchanging vocal duties, 4 minutes of great rock ‘n’ rolla, this one will be awesome to see played live….”Night demons delight!!”…
BRONZE FONZ – Staggered start, well catchy intro and yet another great scream…hey hey hey Nina shouts…over to Rick, “he’s got a leather jacket and motorcycle boots”, fab guitar solo on this number, nice breakdown section mid-way….he’s gonna rock it he’s gonna roll ya…love the fast speed change at the end .it’s The Bronze Fonz – now sit on it…..!!
COFFIN FOR CHRISTMAS – Guitar kicks this one off playing the opening riff of the funeral march with sleigh bells too that’s for sure is not your Chopin version ! This leads into a 1,2,3,4 and we’re in, with a up-tempo hot twanging guitar, and growling vocals with lots of echo on the owws, great backing vocals once again. “How could you do it, I got a coffin’ for Christmas!” I’m really digging this one –pardon the pun!
DO THE BELLA – A real head shaking foot tamping tune…I hear you say…do the Bella….do the Bella…..Lugosi, it’s the new dance craze, even the Mummies are doing it….and it goes like this…!
GO LITTLE BASTARD – Half way point… wow loving this album so far….Rick explains…”Alright all you bastards gather round”, I gotta go and rock n roll….mid paced tune with stops and starts…”my heart is pounding like a bongo”… (James Deans Porsche 550 Spyder - he called “Little Bastard”) this is so very catchy indeed and another great live track me thinks with audience participation definitely required!
I FELL IN LOVE WITH A DEAD GIRL – Drums start this number, powerful vocals and dig dig dig backing vocals, this one will rock your socks off, a stand out track on this album for me, great catchy chorus indeed.
THE DAY DON MCLEAN DIED – written as a sequel to the 1971 hit American Pie, All straight in on this one, a real stomper, great key change, offbeat drums and you can see the bands musical pedigree on this one…nice breakdown section 3rd of the way through and nice bass too…its actually written about further deteriorating circumstances in the world…high crime, divorce rates, and Pogo the clown a name used for someone who led a double life, beloved community member by day and killer by night….
THE DAY I BECAME JAMES DEAN – Starts off with a car engine, Rick says “I hear the tyres squeal the devil takes the wheel”…real powerhouse rockin’ track, love the harmonica on this one too and the slapping bass…fab middle section interlude once again, .this track is pure kick ass with great lyrics top fave so far! The final 2 trax are gonna have to wait a while as I’m playing this one again folks!! Over 6 minutes of stompin’ rock n roll!
UP FOR GRABS – Ok so penultimate track of this 11 track album..This one has a more strolling paced vibe, with breaks “waiting for someone to come along”, the harmonica this time grabs a well earned solo, a bluesy rockin, garage, haunting tune…turn up the volume folks!
WHATEVER’S LEFT OF ME – Straight in with this rocker, fast paced take your coat off and lets g-o-o-o-o… the dance floor sure going to see some action and beer spilling when you hear this one…harmonica once again features along with the guitar, bass and drums…”yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah alright” “baby like I said you can have whatever’s left of me!”
BAND BIO….The band started in 2020 with a few of us quarantined together. Me, Nina and Jungle Josh are also in the Ruiners. Our drummer is a neighbour (and also my dentist). He came in from another band the “Thrillbillies”. He’s the main brilliant guy doing the photos and filming/editing our videos. We film most of it at our band farmhouse, west of Detroit. I sort of script stuff and drag out a bunch of wacky props from the barn. Ajax and his wife Andrea and teenage son Austin do a wonderful job filming and editing the videos. It started off with me, Nina and a young energetic guitarist “Jungle Josh” drinking wine and writing gothabilly songs in the basement while we were isolated from our other band. We were listening to Alvin Stardust, 70’s goth, The Trashmen surf, old Russian and creepy old sounding gospel music at the time. We really didn’t set out to sound like anyone so the record is a bit of a “juke box” record that is a variety of goth, punk, psychobilly and misc. creepy stuff. Mostly, we did it for fun but then it started sounding better than we expected. We found an incredible upright bass player (Nate) to play on the record. The band is mostly visual artists. Ajax is a world class photographer, Nina is a painter for a living and I build unconventional hot rods. Jungle Josh is a wild factory worker who often has stitched up hands. The band is named after my “Bat Hearse” a car I created and welded together in 2004. It was symbolic of lost heroes and the final of the Batman vehicles. George Barris really liked it. Nina arrived from Russian with the clothes on her back and managed to become a successful visual artist—not bad for someone who was homeless, is blind in one eye and taught herself how to paint on alley acquired scrap wood. We’ve been married for seven years. She is the lady on our record cover. The rest of us are not as photogenic!
CLOSING COMMENTS ABOUT THE ALBUM
The band are currently recording at Jim Diamonds Ghetto Recorders in Detroit and are just finishing up their second album so stay tuned folks!
Rick tells me they have only played live twice and both times were in Detroit, for sure they have to get in their Bat Hearse and kapow over to the U.K. to play some gigs here one day very soon!
This 5 piece band is pure high octane stuff but clearly have a lot of variety in their armour aswell as fantastic well written songs… I can hear so many different influences in their music and not just the obvious psychobilly ones! I can hear sounds of The Cramps, The Gun Club, Sin Alley, Screaming Lord Sutch, Death Cult, Furious, The Trashmen, just to name but a few
I really love this album, bat-tastic I say! it really does stomp right from the start and it’s great to hear both vocals interchanging on the trax and the mastering of all the tunes is excellent…All the levels are mixed really well allowing the lead vocals to stand out but just at the right levels. Fantastic lyrics and great real life stories too is a must for any album. For sure I am really looking forward to the follow up album that should be out early next year…
YOU TUBE CLIPS
Reviewed by: Dave Diamond
