The Bats Vs Boomgates: “What’s Your Favourite Vegetable?”

Sharing a split 7” and opening-night gig for Melbourne Music Week, BRENDAN HUNTLEY of Boomgates puts some questions to ROBERT SCOTT of The Bats.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] I wanted to ask you a bunch of questions about music and your life in bands and writing music but I figure you get hounded about that stuff enough so I’m going to try and steer clear of it ... Do you like to garden?
Yes, I like to garden.

If you have a garden do you like planting vegetables? What’s your favourite vegetable?
I like growing leeks and peas.

Do you have a big house or a little house?
Medium-sized house. Big section though, with a forest at the bottom of the garden.

I hear real estate in NZ is a lot cheaper than, say, Melbourne. Is this true?
Yes, I think a bit cheaper here, but expensive to build.

Do you eat eggs? If so, which way do you ask for your eggs to be served at a cafe?
I don’t eat eggs.

Do you/did you like living there? Do you go hiking/camping?
I love living here. I like to go camping and bush walking.

On the big boat that ferries between the north and the south island, it can get a bit rocky with the big waves on a stormy/rainy day. Have you ever thrown up on that particular ocean crossing?
No, I have good sea legs. I was once on a crossing where everyone was throwing up, but not me.

The song ‘December Ice ’… I got to hear it on the radio today. It’s pretty solid! I dig the bass and drums … kind of rolls along like a warm wave. Is it cold there in December? Or is it metaphorical?
Ta. No, it’s warm in December. The words just came out like that.

Speaking of winter: New Zealand have a brand of winter jackets called Swanndri. I have a few myself. I’ve found them at op shops here in Australia and one at a trash-and-treasure market on my travels in New Zealand in 2009. The one I found there is a light smoky grey colour with black cuffs. Do you have a Swanndri? If so, what colour and style?
I have three – a red and black shirt-style one, a green and black big one that comes to my knees and has a hood, and a jacket style one in a nice rust brown. They are fantastic.

It’s a shame that they have recently gone off-shore, to be manufactured in China. That must have been a sad day for Kiwi farmers, campers, hunters and fisherman, and the New Zealand wool and sewing trade. Does this kind of thing bother you from time to time?
Yes, things like that should be made here. I hate it when things are made offshore. Money rules. I always try to buy locally made.

‘Made Up in Blue’… Great song! The lyric “My minds made up in blue”: what does this mean? I think I get it but I just thought it’d be nice to ask you.
It’s a dig at right-wing thinkers.

OK, I better hit the hay. Cheers for doing the split with us. I think it should be a good one for the record player and the 7” collection.
Cheers. Great questions.

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The Bats headline the opening night of Melbourne Music Week next Friday (Nov 15) at The Residence, with Boomgates, Montero and Sonny & The Sunsets, followed by an official afterparty at Boney. Tickets here. The Bats/Boomgates split 7” for MMW is out now jointly through Bedroom Suck and Mistletone; The Bats’ contribution, ‘December Ice’, had its Australian premiere on M+N.