Launch Party... Promised Land.. May 16th

Our Launch Party is shaping up to be a gooden, we can now announce all four bands playing our free show on May 16th.
So without any further ado

The First band announced is...............

The Gush

Noise rockers from The Rhondda, these guys combine punk rock and noise to create a noiseblast of greatness and pain.

Check them out at:
http://www.myspace.com/thegushrush

Second band announced is...............

Bee to the Itch

Grungey Noise Punkers from allover South Wales, combining the crazyness of Mudhoney with the messier bits of Sonic Youth to create a cluserfuck of noise.

Check them out at:
http://www.myspace.com/beetotheitch

The Third band announced is............

The Damn Dogs

Post Punk Noisemongers Damn Dogs make straight up dirty DIY noise punk, reminiscent of past punk bands Wire and Black Flag.
These guys will give one hell of a show

http://www.myspace.com/damndogs666

The 4th band to be announced is........

Zail

The math rock experimentalist are one of the best bands in Wales and make the most mind blowing hip shaking tunes this side of the alabama river.
These guys will get you jigging in no time. Zail are never to be missed.
Check them out at:
http://www.myspace.com/zail


Also making an appearence will be our mystery special DJ Evil Superstar Soundsystem, who will be playing a few tracks to get us jigging and swaying throughout the night

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

This show is going to be off the damn hook baby, so make sure you get your ass down to The Promised Land, May 16th for what is going to be one hell of a night.

Things should be kicking off from 7.30pm

Also dont forget its free entry, oh yes FREE ENTRY...........How kind are we

Gig Review - Goodtime Boys

Saw The Goodtime Boys at the Cardiff Arts Institute on Tuesday and I think that their performance can be summed up in one word...... Energy.

I'm talking straight up crazy ass, non stop so much action going on you think your eyes are about to fall out kind of energy. From start to finish this band do not stop moving, with the lead singer launching himself around the dance floor like a 12 year old who's drunk too much lemonade its pretty hard to keep up with.

My problem with this kind of performance though is that with so much going on for the eyes to see are we being distracted from the music thats hitting us.
       The music in question is straight up hardcore, and is pretty dam good, with the guitarists and bassist doing some very interesting stuff to accompany the lead singers hardcore screams and crazy movements.

Now hardcore is not usually my cup of tea but there is enough going on musically to keep me interested, would be nice to maybe see these goes slow things down a tad in the performance department to let the music take charge but apart from that a very good show.

Check them out if you get the chance
 
Visit their myspace at:
http://www.myspace.com/forgetgoodtimeboys

Music Festivals in May

Below is a list of Music Festivals coming up in Wales throughout May, have a look to see if theres one near you

Peches Mignons Bijou Festival
Cardiff
May 2nd @ Gwdihw Bar

£5.00 (3:00pm – 10.30pm) £3.00 after 10.30pm

Folk, flamboyance and the charmingly fabulous from Cardiff's cheekiest of party hosts.
Live music and DJs plus outdoor bar, fresh cooked food and stalls.

Line Up Includes:

Boris 
Love Parry III
Splott Bottom Boys
Silimbo
Barefoot Dance Of The Sea
Headlight Séance

Tickets available from GWDIHW or email - toclifrench@pechesmignons.co.uk

Bailey Hill Festival
Mold
May 2nd - 1pm - 8pm @ Baileys Hill

Free entertainment for all ages, including dance, music, poetry and story telling.

Free Entry

Meillir 
Rosville Band 
Heal The Last Stand
poet Sophie McKeand
Welsh dancers Dawnswyr Delyn
The Parti’r Pentan Choir.

For more info:
Call 01352 758532
http://www.cittaslowmold.co.uk/

Creative Sound and Music Festival
Newport
May 7th + May 8th @ Riverfront

£8/£5 Concessions

The Creative Sound and Music degree at newport university are putting on their final year degree show.

Line Up Includes
Darfts
Trwbador
Jangle
Take The Floor
Ghosts in the System
Dane Lloyd
3D Breakfast

For more info visit:
http://creativesoundandmusic.com/010/

Las Music Festival
Aberdare
May 28th - May 30th @ Aberdare Rugby Club

£5 Each Night

Bands include:

The Keys
 I Am Hope
The Gubbins 
Hey Tonight
Accident Music 
Jets To Zurich
Heavy Flames
Add-Mission
Aulos
For more info visit:
http://www.myspace.com/lasfestival

The Trip Festival
Holyhead
May 28th - May 30th 2010 @ Carrgewlyd Estate

Tickets £70 for weekend adult

Line Up includes:

Meic Stevens
Beth Jean Houghton
Django Django
The Tim and Sam Band
Erland and the Carnival
The Soundcarriers
For more info visit:
http://www.thetripfestival.co.uk/Trip/About_The_Trip.html

Kings Fest 2010
Llanidoes
May 28th -  May 30th @ Kings Pub

£5

Line Up Includes:

Oui Messy
Twisted Tales
Son Capson

For more info visit:
http://kingsfest.co.uk/

Release Thee Bats Launch Party

On May 16th Release Thee Bats will be working with the nice guys over at I think we're outnumbered to put on a little launch party for our noble blog.


This will include 3 bands intersperesed with a DJ Set playing all our favourite Welsh bands incuding Future of the Left,Exit International, Strange News From Another Star, Attack + Defend etc etc etc

So if your not doing anything on May 16th then head over to The Promised Land,Cardiff for a night of welsh music goodness.

More news of the party will be released over the next few weeks
Here's some links for you to check out:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=115412998485439 - Launch Party Events Page

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=129183450388 - I Think We're Outnumbered group page

Record Store Day

Record Store Day is an international event that started in 2008, it celebrates all that is good about the little independent record stores that seem to be going out of business everywhere.

Basically its just one day of one off releases,performances etc to celebrate these stores, but trust me if your planning on attending a record store on this day then your gonna want to take a lot of change, as last year I spent 60quid in Spillers in just 1 hour, Good Times.

Since Record Store Day is this Satuday coming (Saturday 17th April) I thought I would inform you of whats going on in our record stores in Wales.

Heres a list of participating stores in Wales:

Andys Records (Aberyswyth)
Catapult 100% Vinyl (Cardiff)
Spillers (Cardiff)
Diverse Music (Newport)
Derricks Music (Swansea)
The Tangled Parrot (Carmathen)

So if you live near one of these stores then pop along and see what goodies you can pick up and who you can catch as their will be special instore performances all day.

Find out exactly whats going on at your local store by clicking on this link:
http://www.recordstoreday.com/Home

But

Once the day finishes the night just keeps on celebrating, so head down to Clwb Ifor Bach to catch these little beauties:

Threatmantics

Welsh Rockers play 1st gig with new line up, the Alt Rock band released awesome single Big Man in 2008 but have been quiet since,seem's Record Store Day is the time for them to come back and explode onto the scene.

Gallops


Had the pleasure of seeing these guys at the Swn Fest and I must say they were my personal higlights of the weekend, the electronic math rockers have turned a lot of heads recently and its safe to say the North Walians are not to be missed.

Vvolves

These local Eletro Indie lads play the sort of music that sounds like The White Lies and Foals having a dance off. Some nice indie dance on display here, so you are planning on attending Clwb on Saturday then it may be worth getting there early and checking these guys out.

Anyhoot, I hope to see you all on Saturday celebrating your local record stores and having a darn good day.

Up the Alamo

Gig Review - And So I Watch You From Afar

Saw the amazing And So I Watch You From Afar at Barfly recently and considering I had to change my pants twice during the first song its safe to say it was an amzing show.


With this being the last show of their UK tour they definetly pulled out all the stops, starting with some ear splittlingly delighful riffs that'll make you think you skull is exploding.

they toar through the set playing tunes from their new Letters EP aswell as their amazing 1st Album. With amazing tunes like S is for Salamander and A little bit of Solidarity goes a long way they had everybody in the room moving somepart of their bodies.

I can highly recommend both the EP and the Album and I can imagine they definely picked up a lot more fans with their amazing live show.
Outstanding from start to finish,was definetly a night to remember
Boooo Yahhhhhhhhhhh

New Releases - All The Damn Vampires

All The Damn Vampires - Live From The Gutter


 Atttended the EP launch of All The Damn Vampires debut Live from the Gutter recenty, very impressed yet again,  theres something about this band that I just can't quite get enough of, so after giving the EP a listen I thought I would share my views.

So what exactly does this EP have............

Loud heart thumping monster riffs....check(Redneckin). Raw and Catchy choruses....Check(First Loves/Last Rites). Immense walls of sound that'll grab you and pull you in.....check(101 Damnations), Great tracks that'll get you hooked and become your new favourite song....Check(What Happens at Sea,Stays at Sea). Straight up attacks of noise that'll make your teeth bleed and your blood itch....check(Hells Bells and Hail Marys)

An all out top notch debut release that everybody should have a copy of....check(Live from the Gutter).

A rather dashing EP

head on over to http://allthedamnvampires.bigcartel.com/ and get yourself a copy

Gig Review - Exit International

Had the chance to catch the outstanding Exit International at Clwb Ifor Bach on friday, and yet again I was not dissapointed.

With Fudge moving around the stage like he's ready to pounce and Scott looking like he was carefully scanning every member of the audience with his scary and amost crazy eyes it was a very intense but great show.

Starting the set with the all out attack of Lights Out the band quickly assert there autority on the ever growing crowd. Moving onto 2 newer songs the boys give us a taster or things to come when their album is reased later in the year, Shake Your Bad Ass in particular is an all out crazy punk singalong that got everybody moving.

These guys look like they were born to play live and all that gigging and touring have made them stronger, how they can create such an amazing sound with just 2 basses is beyond me but some how this band have not ony managed it but made it sound like the best damn noisefest theres ever been.

I think its safe to say that Exit International are one of the best bands in the country right now, so if you haven't had the pleasure of catching these boys live yet I would get to one of their gigs asap. As the skys the limit with these lads.

Also managed to get our hands on a set list, so here's the set they played:

Lights Out
Sherman Fang
Shake Your Bad Ass
Chainsaw Song
Lay to Watse
Voices
Sex With Strangers

Thee Bats.........are released

ENJOY

Open Mic Night

You may have noticed that there are a lot of Open Mic Nights in Cardiff, an amazing chance for artists and bands to showcase their talents, but theres one problem, what kind of Open Mic Nights are they... Accoustic? Rock? Jazz? Bulgarian Tango?

So here at Release Thee Bats we decided to help you out, so over the next few weeks or so we shall be reviewing some of the Mic Nights to let you know just what kind of things go on there.

Well here we go

Open Mic Reviews #1


The Promised Land, Cardiff, Wednesday nights from 8pm free entry

...one word.

blues.

but reef alcopop and good poppers refreshing blues.

stupid amounts of talent on show.

stuff like baby-faced 20 year old white boys wailing into mikes and touching up their guitars like 77 year old black men from the 50s and beyond who have struggled and failed their whole meaningless hard working class lives with nothing but calloused fingers,bloated livers and the clothes on their broken backs to show for it.

also, a nice serving of ice-hot jazz violin through wah-wah pedal....you heard me, and it's as good in reality as it sounds in the theoretical world.

diverse participants and clientel; old men with beards, baby student girls, old skool rockers, moose, student types who haven't gained enough empirical experience of the world to realise that nu-metal t'shirts are a badge of stupidity, naiveness and shame... etc etc.

be sure to line a pocket with a bottle of liquor of your own choosing.

drinks are fucking expensive...but wetherspoons is opposite the venue, less than a bottles throw/projectile vomit away, so despite short 5-10 min change-overs between acts, you can stuff a few down ya gullet, savvy?

right.

Nice.

arturo bandini

Gigs you dont wanna be missing

Here at Release Thee Bats we try to get to as many gigs as possible and it seems I spend most of my life travelling to Cardiff on the train to check out a new band or whatever.

With over 150 gigs listed for April we're going to have a very busy month, so heres the 5 gigs not to be missed this month:

And So I Watch You From Afar @ Barfly

The Experimental Punk noisemongers will bring their amazing show to Barfly on 11th April, having never seen this band live this is a real treat to me. Also with top support from Local rock Bands I Am Hope, Circa Regna Tonat and Irish punks Lafarlo. This is going to be a corker.

Check them out on myspace 1st:
http://www.myspace.com/andsoiwatchyoufromafar
http://www.myspace.com/lafaro
http://www.myspace.com/iamhopemusic
http://www.myspace.com/circaregnatonat


Doors open 7.30pm and Tickets are £6 in advance.
Tickets Available from Spillers,Barfly and Ticketweb


Trash Kit @ Cardiff Arts Institute

Post Punkers with an Afro Beat sound, Londons Trash Kit have been putting on some great shows lately and they bring their crazy sound to The Arts Institute on April 20th as part of the Venue's FLUX=RAD Nights.

No word as of yet on support but if you like something a bit different then check this band out. Plus with free entry who can say no.

Check them out on Myspace 1st:
http://www.myspace.com/trashkit

Show sould be starting about 9ish, Free Entry


Three Trapped Tigers @ Cardiff Arts Institute

Now this one is a treat, as not only have you got Three Trapped Tigers, quite possibly the best thing in the UK at the moment, but you've also got support from the amazing Talons. Both bands play the kind of mind blowing math rock noisefest that'll have you flailing around on the floor in seconds and on 23rd April they bring that noisfest to Cardiff Arts Institute.

From Three Trapped Tigers mind altering electronics and drum lines to Talons amazing Guitars and Violins.

This shall be amazing

Check them out on myspsace at:
http://www.myspace.com/threetrappedtigers
http://www.myspace.com/gotalons

Show starts 9pm. Tickets £2 before 10.30pm and £4 After. So make sure you get there early


Strange News From Another Star @ Tommys Bar

Now these boys have been making quite a name for themselves in Cardiff of late, and with this being their final show before playing the Camden Crawl its sure to be corker. The noise these three guys generate is amazing so make sure your there on April 30th to see Jimmy,Mark and Harry do their thing.

With support from local bands Dont Tread on Spiders and Cutting the Beef

Check them out on Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/strangenewsfromanotherstar
http://www.myspace.com/donttreadonspiders
http://www.myspace.com/cuttingthebeef

Doors open at 8pm, for ticket prices contact the venue

Gig Review - All The Damn Vampires

Had the pleasure of seeing All The Damn Vampires last night,and its fair to say I was not dissapointed, tearing straight into their set of Emo/Prog Noise Rock they ripped though about 5 songs with such velocity I thought the walls were gonna cave in, from the heart thumping bass lines to the eardrum smashing guitar on to the simple but effective thumping of the drumline these guys put on a hell of a show, highly recommend checking them out.

They have a list of gigs coming up so head on over to our Gig Listings to see if they are playing near you. Great Show Guys.

Also should mention that their gig was part of the new Rock Nights that are being held by Smashed Monkey Promotions every Thursday at the Malsters Arms,Pontypridd.
Comprising of a few bands and a rock dj.

So if you like your noise and have nothing to do on a Thursday then head on over, only £3 at the door and a guaranteed good night. Especially when yu get to see All The Damn Vampires play.


To check ut All The Damn Vampires or to find out more about Smashed Monkey Promotions then visit the follwing links:

All The Damn Vampires: http://www.myspace.com/allthedamnvampiresband

Smashed Monkey Promotions: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=143851979923

Cheers

Welcome

Welcome to Release Thee Bats, Wales' newest music blog