Bats – North By North

This New Zealand band came out in the 80s. I learned about this band through Graham on his Aphoristic Album Reviews site. I love the jangle and their power pop ways. It’s too bad they didn’t get heard more. They did tour the US a few times opening for Radiohead.

The Bats were formed in Christchurch, New Zealand. The original lineup included Robert Scott (vocals, guitar), Kaye Woodward (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Paul Kean (bass), and Malcolm Grant (drums).

This song was from their debut album Daddy’s Highway released in 1987. They would go on to release 10 albums and 8 EPs. This song was used as the theme song for a television show called The Hollowmen. It was also used in the movie: Topless Women Talk About Their Lives.

The band released Foothills, their tenth studio album in 2020. They are a band worth checking out. Daddy’s Highway was recorded at Mascot Studios in Christchurch, New Zealand. The recording sessions took place in late 1986 and early 1987.

They were on an interesting New Zealand indie label called Flying Nun.

North by North

Some people are happy most of the time
But they don’t know they’re in line
I don’t know what to do with you
I don’t know how to deal with you

North by north
I’m still following home
North by north
I know your name
North by north
I’m still wondering why

I find out what you’re meaning now
Your term is darkness anyhow
I can’t find out what it is with you
If there is one thing I can’t get through

North by north
I’m still following home
North by north
I know your name
North by north
I’m still wondering why

Absolve the waiting that you’ve done
Take away those moments of fun
There won’t be much left there for you
I’m taught we’ve a choice in what we do

North by north
I’m still following home
North by north
I know your name
North by north
I’m still wondering why (why, why)

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

35 thoughts on “Bats – North By North”

  4. I like it. It has a generic ’80s sound that reminds me of several other bands but not enough to really go ‘sounds like’. And by the generic ’80s sound, I don’t mean an insult. Pretty good tune all around. Obbverse- they’re from your neck of the woods… know much more about them?

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    2. They were a band I knew of but never got to see. There were a plethora of NZ bands at the time, a ton of them on the Flying Nun label. The Bats are from Christchurch where I live but a lot came from Dunedin, to our south. The world famous (in New Zealand) Chills, Clean, the wonderfully named Straitjacket Fits and more. Most I found to be snappy musically but weak vocally. Just my opinion! The NZ accent seems to not project well. The mainstream bands here in NZ were Split Enz (I Got You, I see Red etc) Dragon (April Sun In Cuba) and Hello Sailor (Blue Lady, Gutter Black) Th’ Dudes with their ode to joys of getting pi- hammered, ‘Bliss.’ If there was ever a song that sounds like it encapsulates playing in a pub, with the beer flowing and the pints being drained with relish, that is it!

      There was a big scene for indie bands at the time in NZ.

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    1. lol…topless girls with car movies! Well tomorrow I’m posting a series of films…odd, wierd, strange films by David Lynch…I do want to branch out a little more than just music at times…it’s fun covering some movies.

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  11. Pingback: Bats – North By North – MobsterTiger

    1. No it was you…no one else would have known them even from New Zealand that I know…I don’t think you posted them but I believe you mentioned them when we were talking about New Zealand’s bands at one point. It’s been in my drafts for a year or so.
      I did remember that book you posted about as well that talks about that record label.

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      1. OK, then. I was listening to a lot of Flying Nun bands a couple of years ago, I need to go through and cover them on my site. Kind of amazing that Dunedin (a small city by world standards) produced The Bats, The Clean, The Chills, The Verlaines, and Straitjacket Fits in a few years.

        The first solo album from David Kilgour (from The Clean) was one record I really got into during my Flying Nun phase.

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      2. I really like the Bats sound…well now I’ll check the others in time.
        I also remember at the time I was looking up some 60s and 70s bands from there as well.

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      3. NZ popular music is actually pretty thin on the ground until the mid-1970s, just a few good singles before that. Do you know ‘She’s A Mod?’ Ray Columbus used to live over the back fence from my mum in Christchurch, so she heard him practising.

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