So after disappointing your dad (again) on Father’s Day, fill the void by seeing your fave local basement bands. But get this, they are growing up and moving on to cooler joints like the Middle East Upstairs. June 19th, (this Sunday) Bat House returns to Boston from their tour adventures across the country. The band will be playing with other local gems: Daephne, Skinny Pigeons, and Ricecrackers.
If you haven’t heard Bat House, I’m shocked, get thee to a basement ASAP, they play all the time. You can listen up on them before the gig on their bandcamp. For beginners, Bat House is math-rock meets psychedelia. The lyrics to their single “Twist” read like a stoner’s epiphany, not entirely coherent but in the moment profound.
Tours are loads of fun, but they also test the limits of what a band can handle. Good bands are lucky if they don’t hate each other or break up by the end of it. Considering Bat House hasn’t broken up, they are going to be feeling pretty much invincible after the hellish experiences they’ve had on tour. Ranging from driving through a huge mid-western storm on unlit highways to playing a triple-booked gig, Bat House is happy to be back. We’ve asked Bat House drummer, Pompy, to tell us some of their wackiest tales from tour:
Good Cops: “We had nowhere to stay in Des Moines, Iowa, so we determined to suck it up and drive through the night to Minneapolis. Speeding through the Minnesota border, we get pulled over by a policewoman who had such nice hospitality and demeanor that people only have in that section of country. She gave us a warning.”
Bad Promoters: “Our date in Eau Claire, Wisconsin was at an adult arcade- the show was originally us, our dear Boston friends Sports, and our new Minneapolis friends in Falling, and a local closer. We soon discovered that there were a total of three other events were scheduled to happen in the room our show was happening, cutting each event to a one hour run time. Understanding how damn absurd this show already was, each band took its turn to make their short sets (2 songs) as reckless as possible. Falling’s set being half feedback half performance art, Sports‘ set being at double speed and our set involved a lot of hopping off chairs and flailing on the ground. “
Stormy Night: “[While driving to through the Minnesota border] The highway starts turning towards the direction of the storm and there is nowhere to stop for miles. As we ascend into a realm of lightning we are surrounded by trucks barreling at full speed and spraying us with road water as they pass. We were trapped under a storm cannon loaded with heavy pellets of rain that seemed to smack the car too quickly for the wipers to divide them. Frequent blinding flashes of light would strike alarmingly close to us followed by our exclamations. Just as we decide to abandon the mission at the arrival of a potential exit/escape, the downpour began to soften.”
Tour Buds: “During our set in Louisville, Kentucky, we spotted a very familiar face in the crowd, a friend by the name of Brooklynn that we met at Fool Mansion in Akron, OH. Brooklynn drove just about two hours from Cincinnati to see us play again. It was incredibly humbling experience. The fact that she was willing to make that drive to see us and hear our music again is really special and exciting to us.”