Read a track-by-track breakdown of the four-track split that was written and recorded by the friends and bandmates in a single afternoon
———————————————————————————————
Beyond obvious perks like pleasant company, fun times and a safe space to share and be yourself, the best friendships are often rooted in something more active—the act of creation, of collaboration.
As a kid, my BFFs and I built Barbie worlds, and in middle school we choreographed lip-sync routines to “No Scrubs.” When high school hit, we crafted lies to sneak off and drink Smirnoff Ices or elaborate excuses to get out of soccer practice, and come college… uh, I’m pretty sure we mostly just made mistakes.
Of course, this post isn’t intended (just) to be a trip down my personal memory lane. The idea here is that bonding is often based on the act of building—of combining individual ideas, being inspired by another’s imagination and working with someone else to make something out of nothing.
This idea is most obvious, of course, when it comes to musicians, whose at-home hangs can sometimes turn into spontaneous jam sessions—and occasionally, in the case of buddies and bandmates (many times over) Dale Jr. and Bat Kid, an entire EP written in one afternoon.
And with that, I give you the result of the friends’ recent impromptu writing and recording session, a natural collab that in straightforward fashion the two simply dubbed Dale Jr. Bat Kid.
“I was hanging out at Dalton’s house one day and just had this idea that since we already play in 4-5 bands together including Dale Jr. and Bat Kid, we may as well just do a split EP, and call it Dale Jr. Bat Kid,” DJ O’Loane (Dale Jr.) told me of the split ahead of its release. “It was nice because we had no idea prior to the recording session of what we would do, or what was about to happen. The recording took place in a single afternoon, and we just went for it and made everything up on the spot, which was a freeing experience. We tried to make use of the many noise-making objects in Dalton’s apartment.”
In addition to the background provided by DJ, Dalton Patton—the Bat Kid himself—offered some insight on each of the eclectic EP’s cohesively chaotic songs.
DALE JR. BAT KID –TRACK BY TRACK
Grocery Store
“This song depicts the dynamics of being in a grocery store. It focuses on two different perspectives, both the customer and the employee and their struggles to get through their daily lives. A sense of morality is examined between the trust of the employee to let the customer decide whether to abide by a system based on honesty. The self check out line becomes self referential in the sense that you should be checking your own self out.”
Neon Gazebo
“This one is kind of a flow of consciousness and selectively taking notes on observations in daily life or ideas that would pop into our heads and mashing them together to give them a different context. It feels kind of like a collage that describes a supernatural presence that an admired person can give off.”
To The Bone
“Something from deep within guides all of us in a way that we need to go. The presentation ends up changing and becoming the defining qualities of our character. It unifies us in a way that we all have to try to accomplish something in our brief time here. The only way is to do it as best as you can in a consistent manner and be where you want to be.”
Earth Will Collapse
“Something I wrote on a frequent bike ride. As the trucks passed by me while waiting on my bike at the red light, I could feel the asphalt shifting beneath me. Sometimes, I worried one day the street would open up and crumble into a pit while on my commute. I couldn’t help but think about the weight of the trucks to shift the ground. They carry so much and somehow become a necessary evil toward our inevitable collapse.”
—
Beyond making cool stuff, the second-best thing for friends to do is go see shows (duh), so please grab your own pals and don’t miss the opp to catch Dale Jr. and Bat Kid together liiiiiive THIS THURSDAY at The Nest with The Fictionals, Uncle Pizza and The Thing—
Doors at 7:30 // $10 tix // BYOBFF.
———————————————————————————————
Follow Bat Kid at @that_bat_kid, buy music on Bandcamp and add the songs to your Spotify playlists!
Follow Dale Jr. at @_dale_jr_, buy music on Bandcamp and add the songs to your Spotify playlists!
Feature image provided by the band.