The Battery Kids

Why is it exciting?
It's really something different.

Gee thanks, you've totally sold me on this, jerkwad..
OK, I admit that's pretty unspecific. The thing is, the guys in this band are young. Younger than me. Yet they're all quite talented musicians and singers.

So?
They're also particularly solid songwriters for their age. And that's where this "something different" comes in.

Ahh yes, what's that line you keep using?
You mean "they sound like a young Matt Bellamy and Josh Homme getting drunk together and deciding it's a good idea to write a soundtrack for a non-existant B-grade horror movie"?

That's the one. Care to explain that a bit more?
The Battery Kids' Horror-Pop sound has always been clear. While anyone could write a song about how much Adelaide could really suck at times, The Battery Kids really make it sound like a "Ghost Town". While many songs have been written about going out and getting wasted, The Battery Kids turn it into a Jekyll/Hyde story in "Ancient Curse" - though ultimately, with a grin, it really is still just about getting smashed. It's this subtelty that makes this band [and their future] interesting.

And the Homme/Bellamy references?
This is a riff-heavy band. Every second of guitar on this album sounds like it could be a Queens Of The Stone Age or Them Crooked Vultures riff. And the overall 'dark' feel of the album is reminiscent of Homme's recent Producing credits.
Lead vocalist Shannon Juvan obviously takes heavy influence from Matt Bellamy's vocal styles, and many of the songs have a distinct "Muse" feel to their structure. "Dancing In The Shadows" in particular feels like it could fit right in on the next Muse album.

Them's pretty big words, Luke.
Well, I'm not saying that this band is ready to be as big as Muse, or that any particular member has the midas touch of Josh Homme - but don't be surprised if, in five years' time, they manage to live up to that.

Are you gonna name-drop anyone else, then?
Yeah. Right in the middle of the album lies the 5+ minute epic "Stay Out Of Trouble". With its huge intro, regular changes, and solemn lyrics, it's as though "Bohemian Rhapsody" were written by Michael Jackson and produced by the dude who did Green Day's 'American Idiot'.

What do you make of Matt Hayward's "semi-negative" review?
Hayward mentions in his review that the band is an "'alternative' rock act in the same way Grinspoon are an alternative rock act", which did make me re-consider The Battery Kids in a different way. Sure, they "wouldn't be out of place on the Nova FM playlist", and do kinda have a "camp PG-rated horror theme", but I really think that was their point. That was their aim. I think The Battery Kids set out to make a radio-friendly rock sound that actually has some depth to it, and I really feel they have achieved this. They've released a "Concept Album full of singles" in an era of digital singles.

And yeah - Nova should be playing this.

Leave us with one more quotable?
"Numb, Blind, Death and Dumb" would be a perfect fit on the next Twilight soundtrack. Y'know - if they actually had real vampires.

8.5/10

The Battery Kids launch their debut album 'We're Just Hanging While The Rats All Gather And The Vultures Circle Overhead' at Jive this Friday, with support from locals The Amcats and The Killgirls, and Victorians Radio Star.
- Play / Pause / Play

Thursday 25 February 2010 saw the second of the Fuse Festival showcases take place in Adelaide. Fuse Ignition was held at 18 venues across Adelaide, where a total of 55 Adelaide and interstate bands flooded the live music scene, which no doubt led to some serious partying throughout the city.

Out of all these venues, I chose to see The Battery Kids at Jive, partly because after listening to the MySpace tracks of the majority of bands above I decided The Battery Kids had the most rocking, but non-conforming-to-indie-rock sound ... and partly because I had met the singer Shannon Juvan at Fuse Explode! the night before and I kind of promised him I’d go.

Having done my research, I’d read other reviews of The Battery Kids and a common theme emerged. These guys knew how to pour their heart and soul into their performance; they were going to play like they were playing to a crowd of thousands. And they did. Bassist Tom Krieg is the kind of artist who still manages to sound good and keep in time even when lying on his back on the stage or swinging his bass around his head.

The Battery Kids hit this show hard from the start. Opening with the powerful "Ghost Town", the band had the crowd engaged, and the tone was set for the rest of their set. "Ghost Town" was a great example of the balance The Battery Kids set between sharp organ melodies, big driving basslines, crisp guitar, Shannon’s vocals and the harmonic backing vocals.

The guitars were soaked in distortion throughout the show, which created a more effective sound for their songs live, however Bowl Lipson’s keys struggled for a clear place in the sound, which was disappointing as they really stand out on the MySpace tracks. Jive is a good sized venue for The Battery Kids sound however, even if the subtleties of the keys were lost in the mix.

The third track was their epic song "Ancient Curse", a catchy riff based rock song with a great chorus. It’s the type of rock and roll you leave the venue singing in your head

After three strong tracks, I felt the pace was lost slightly due to a heavy, distorted instrumental, followed by a song that had great arrangement but a confusing chorus.

The next couple of songs, including "Swinging on a Thread", the lyrics of which form the title of The Battery Kids upcoming album, really cemented one thing for me about the band – their liberal,but suitable use of smashing, hard staccato rhythms. All members stayed tight throughout the whole gig, and this was driven largely by Shannon Simpson’s superb timing behind the kit.

The vocal harmonies continued throughout the show, Shannon Juvan sang like he wanted to lose his voice the next day, and Tom kept the energy high, easily being the most physically active member on the stage. I could list of a number of artists I heard in their sound, but the one that stuck out was the simple, structured riff based rock they pulled out towards the end of the show, progressively getting heavier on the most basic riff. These guys were writing Them Crooked Vultures riffs long before Homme and Co.

Ending out with their latest single and a cover of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ "Red Right Hand", in which drummer Shannon really consolidated his amazing effort all night with a standout performance, The Battery Kids left the audience with no doubt they work hard for their music. On a night where I could have gone to any band in the Ignition showcase, I was satisfied I had made the right choice.

The Battery Kids debut album We’re Just Hanging While the Rats All Gather and The Vultures Circle Overhead will be released mid 2010.

- the AU review

Adelaide's The Battery Kids may embrace all things ghoulish and shadowy in their music, but really it's more to do with the fun side of horror television, movies and their soundtracks and comic book anthologies that motivate guitar/vocalist Shannon Juvan's lyrics rather than expressing any dark, troubled views or personal inner turmoil.



"I wouldn't claim that it's a concept album," firmly states Juvan of the band's debut, 'We're Just Hanging While The Rats All Gather And The Vultures Circle Overhead,' "although lots of my themes seem to run along the same lines as being dark so yeah, you might get that impression.



"If you look at each song as being individual stories you can appreciate them more rather than a songwriter pouring their heart out on the line about a girl," adds drummer, Shannon Simpson. "I didn't write the lyrics, but to me I just see them as ten different stories. You have to understand that there's also a cynical nature to our songs."



It's here that I suggest that the album does have that certain comic book appeal to it, much like the old 'Tales From The Crypt' series, especially when their music is appropriately backed up by artwork composed of classic horror images. "That's a good way to see it," agrees Juvan. "Some of them are fictional stories, like Stay Out Of Trouble is about being on death row and obviously I've never been on death row. The artwork is mainly from either horror movie posters or books that are from the 1930's, 40's and 60's, so it's all stuff that I could use without copyright issues."



Randomly picking out a line from Juvan's lyrics: "Somewhere there's a place that appeals to my taste and no one's going to call me an emo (Ghost Town)," brought an immediate response of laughter from the band. "Well if you see something that looks emo you immediately think that it's dark but you don't see the funny side of it," claims Juvan, whose appearance on face value could be easily mistaken. "That line's more about when you walk down Hindley Street and you get skinheads wanting to start on you. If anyone else thinks that I'm emo then I think that's a bit stupid because they haven't really looked in what our band is about. Because our themes are dark I can understand why they might think that we're emo, but we're really just poking fun because that's what we do. I don't even really know what an emo is," Juvan pauses to consider, with bass player Tom Krieg interjecting: "I don't think anyone ever claims to be emo, it's just something to call other people as an insult."



So do all the band members share the same level of interest in horror stories as Juvan? "Not as much," responds Krieg. "Shannon kind of writes everything himself, then he'll pretty much record everything on his computer so the main ideas are already down and then we'll come along and record our parts and give them our own tastes."



"I'll often demo a song and then show it to them," Juvan elaborates on their creative process. "Like, we do also jam song ideas and develop them until I get to point where I'll go and actually write the song. If I record a demo and I put drums on it or anything it's going to be really crappy sounding drum beats, or there'll be no bass line so they'll come up with their own bass lines, fills and drumming patterns. We give Bowl (Lipson, keyboards) a solo every now and then but he mostly plays chords so he's got it easy, but he's not here so I can say that," Juvan jokes.



Simpson continues: "I guess the common thread that we share in our approach is that we all bring in a certain element of dirtiness and rawness, and that compliments the sort of themes that Shannon writes about. And that's particularly evident when we play live," noting that the recording is far from 'dirty.' "We did try to make it dirty, that was one of our aims but we didn't get it as dirty as we wanted," quips Krieg. "Anj (Malavazos, Capital Sound Studios) is pedantic at getting the right sounds," Juvan praises. "So I was constantly trying to make everything sound dirty and he was trying to pull everything back and make it perfect, you know? It's definitely great for a debut album so people can hear that it sounds really good and polished."







The Battery Kids will be launching their debut album 'We're Just Hanging While The Rats All Gather And The Vultures Circle Overhead' at Jive on Fri 11 June with The Killgirls, The Amcats and Radiostar (Melb). - dB Magazine