VIDEO BY BATT Dan John Anderson, Grant Earl LaValley, Aaron Lee Hawn - with help from: Jae Choi, Genevieve Dellinger, Cody Montgomery, Kelly Gazlay, Neil Doshi, Jamie Beechum, Rookie & Hershel. Jetski was recorded by Jamie Hafler at Boehm's Basement.
LIGHTNING - How did the band start?
AARON - The three of us went to see Fred and Toody of Dead Moon play an intimate acoustic set at Domeland. After they played we saw a rare performance by this super heavy and totally bombastic local band called A'rk. Our minds were blown. I think the birth of BATT was talked about within minutes of A'rk finishing their set.
DAN - We had all been hangin outa bit here and there, becoming friends, maybe looking for creative things to do around here with other people. Aaron and Grant had been jamming a bit and around that time we went to see Fred and Toody Cole play at Domeland. After those guys played, which was fucking amazing, this radical local doom-stoner-metal band called A'RK played - they were insane! That place was insane, that whole night was! I think we were all super high from the whole thing, it filled a void in our experience out here up to that point and we were like "yeah, we gotta start a band!"
Grant and Aaron needed a drummer and a place to play. I couldn't play drums but I had a place they could play, good enough for them I guess and so BATT was born.
GRANT - Basically,batt started after Aaron and I met ,I moved out to jt ,and I believe we talkedover Sunday brunch at the palms about getting together to jam,we met up in the garage where I was staying at the time with two guitars and a couple practice amps.we started moving in the rite direction immediately we probably had two or three rehearsals like that ,before we started playing with dan,dan had mentioned to Aaron that he was interested in playing drums(he never really had before),so I borrowed a kit from a friend ,.dan came over and layed it down with awesome primal fluidity.we just took it from there musically. keeping things simple and just feeling good about the sounds we were making.
Dan's HIGH WAY SPACE Photo: Kristy Campbell
Batt Playing in the pool at Wilson's Ranch House Inn Photo: Hans Wagner
LIGHTNING - What was going on in Joshua Tree at the time? My understanding was that part of starting the band was consciously having something cool to do out in Joshua Tree. Can you guys talk about that?
AARON - We all have friends on tour that try to play out here but we never know who to get as a local opener so that also helped motivate us to get BATT going. Plus with Dan's High Way Space at our disposal we had the perfect set up for practice space and a place for shows.
DAN - There was a lot going on at the time I guess, has been for a while - you know, for the amount of people out here and all, but with respect to those who have paved ways out here and made it more viable, it felt that there was still room to kind of make another road out here to do some of the things we were more interested in and at best maybe even play a humble part in creating something that is a positive addition to the experience of this place for other people.
LIGHTNING - In terms of the scene out here, the venues are all pretty unique - you guys play house parties that you host, in pools, and host a festival out at the Palms. Can you guys talk about the places you play and how that relates to your music and the scene?
AARON- Besides our own space for shows we've tried to play some of the more out there venues. Our first show was at the legendary middle of nowhere roadhouse The Palms in Wonder Valley. This is also where our annual festival Summer's Eve takes place. The inside of an empty pool was one of the most interesting places we've played
DAN - The three of us all have pretty different back stories from each other and moved here from different places, but we all come from some kind of a creative community where there was pretty healthy amounts of DIY and subversive spirit present. It seems our ending up here, each in our own way was on some level in the interest of keeping that spirit alive. Starting a band and playing shows, throwing parties and making a couple videos was kind of the most we could do to that end, with what we had to work with at the time.
GRANT - The first show we played was at the palms,we have basically just played at whatever spot was made available to us or by us.we have played at dans alot.acctually dan and Aaron have done most of the show set ups .but we have played a handful of out of town shows ,bay area San Diego ,la
Photo: Genevieve Dellinger
Summer's Eve Fest, Photos: Tyler Quinn
LIGHTNING - Can you talk about the people out here in Joshua tree? Your friends and crew that come to the show?
DAN - Most the people I hang around here are some form of scrappy, gritty, resourceful hustlers of sorts - usually with some kind of creative drive, often a sense of adventure or romance who are usually coming from somewhere else and often with some good stories in tow. The few people that come to our shows fit around those general lines, basically down to hang - or maybe they just don't know better.
GRANT - As far as people who come out, I don’t know if you can call friends and coworkers, girlfriends and boyfriends, locals and yokels a following exactly, considering a lot of the time there is not much else to do out here - not to say I don’t appreciate it, I’m sure they like the music and everything, but I can say that the happy time funky hippy shit definitely rules the school out here as far as crowd pleasing goes - we are def not that kinda thang.
LIGHTNING - Do you think there is a spirit to Desert Art that you guys relate to being here and has impact on the music and the scene?
AARON - The desert totally influences the music and art that comes out of here. The stillness of the land and made me want to play louder and more abrasive music. Not in a disruptive way but in balancing of energy that I personally needed.
DAN - I don't know, I think there's a pretty wide variety of art and music out here. The people that make up this place are varied with different influences, from different places and eras, which I think is a good thing and I hope that that continues to be the case. The common denominator must have something to do with the psychological space that this place provides, but what that is and how it adds up is still pretty wide open to interpretation.
I don’t know if it’s place as much as it is time, but for me, since I’ve been out here I’ve felt a melting between ideas of good and bad or dark and light moving more wholly toward just real or true. I think you could say that BATT is somewhere in that zone.
GRANT - For me playing music in the desert specifically has been very fulfilling.i think the open spaces open your perception of musical space.but rite there its hard to say.iv spent a lot of my life living in cities and never really had thecapability to write songs .but on the other hand maybe it’s a time thing ,like maybe I would have musically fruited in a city if I would have stayed. at the same time its really impossible to say.
LIGHTNING - Can you talk about Mythical Beasts, the band you were in before Batt on Not Not Fun and how you ended up moving out to the Desert?
AARON - Mythical Beast, as a band is a bit nomadic. We started in New Orleans in 2004 and since then have lived together and separately as a band across 6 states. We released a few split LPs on Not Not Fun with Pochahaunted and Cloudland Canyon before recording our full length in Philly with Greg Weeks of Espers. He started a new subsidiary label of Drag City called Language Of Stone which put out the CD with Not Not Fun releasing the vinyl. I eventually moved back to New Orleans for a few years before seeking out a completely different environment. The desert is about as different from the swamps as you can get.
LIGHTNING - You made a record out in Pioneertown when you moved here - can you talk about that and how that process of sound and writing influenced Batt?
AARON - Within the first few months of living in Pioneertown California I recorded my 1st solo record, GHUNZ. The tape was released on Sonic Meditations out of Kansas City. With this record I went pretty minimal. I realized afterwards how limited I was in trying to recreate in a live setting. The process of recording at home was incredibly satisfying but I was beginning to crave the intensity of a live band. BATT turned out to be the perfect outlet.
LIGHTNING - You moved down here from Portland where you used to have a big space and throw shows - can you tell us about the shows and scene in Portland at the time?
DAN - Yeah, for a few years I lived and worked out of this warehouse space in inner southeast Portland. I didn't play in a band or anything, was more of a visual artist, but I knew some people from around town and for those few years we'd do these Halloween parties at the warehouse with like six or seven bands that would play on our table saw. A lot of people would come like 400 or so and the place would be packed. The ceilings were over twenty feet high and we built a balcony above that people could walk up the stairs to and look down and watch the bands and the people in their costumes below. From up there we had a projector projecting different videos from different local artists on the big wall behind the stage. We built that balcony days before that first party, not really sure how it would hold up, but it did and good thing - the bar and dozens of people were underneath it. It was mostly punk/rock bands that played - the Mean Jeans, Guantanamo Baywatch, Boom, Savages, some band fronted by a waify naked dude (maybe they were all naked), my friend Kyle's band Darryl Strawberry where he was dressed up like a big chicken and our tall, pretty, blonde friend Emily strutted around the stage thrusting this huge purple dildo at the crowd that she had strapped on. Rob Wal-mart drove their box truck in to the warehouse and had people jumping all over it. White Fang played too, in fact they put the second party together with bands that played on Gnar Tapes. It was called Night of the Living Shred, the first one! I think they're still doing it like seven or eight years later now at their place in LA.
LIGHTNING - It seems like some of those musicians are coming through Joshua Tree now?
DAN - Yeah, quite a few - a lot of them I never knew up there, but we might have a friend in common that puts us in touch. It's been pretty cool like that, I've gotten to know a lot of great people out here in the middle of nowhere.
LIGHTNING -You throw a good party - do you have a philosophy of throwing parties?
DAN - Ha! Yeah, I was born to party! I'm joking, but it's kind of true. I grew up pretty wild in the inland northwest mostly around my mom's side of the family where everyone played music or was a ham of some sort and generally liked to cut loose. Entertainment and celebration played a pretty big part in my growing up. Everyone was pretty working class and had their own personal struggles probably and some with each other even but at the end of the day when they would all get together it was pretty joyous and uplifting. Everybody was down to have a good time and that was something they could all agree on and bond over. I think it's important to experience people in this kind of context, disarming and even kind of primal - free from yourself and more in the moment with others. Working hard and facing the struggles life presents is part of the deal though - a cold beer tastes best at the end of a well earned day.
LIGHTNING - You are also a visual artist and woodworker, and did stuff like floating a box down the river in PDX. It seems visual arts sort of brought you out to the desert, and now you are working with sculptor Alma Allen here, can you talk about what you are up to now/next in the visual arts, and how the arts and music scene interact out here?
DAN – Yeah, for a few years now I've had this old three-room motel in Joshua Tree that I've been slowly fixing up as money and time from my day job allow. I'm calling it the High Way Space. We've put on a handful of shows there, a couple dance parties and it's been a place friends and friends of friends have stayed on their visits here. I hope to get it a bit more put together in the coming months to rent it out more on the up for short term stays. That's sort of the bread and butter idea, but personally I'm more interested in the space becoming a kind of living showroom for my work and maybe others too. While continuing to host other artists and musicians my hope is that ultimately the High Way Space will become an organism unto itself made up of the energy put into it and the collection of experiences shared there.
[CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE VON TUNDRA PROJECTS]
LIGHTNING - You came down here from Northern CA - what was the scene like up there before you moved here? What drew you here? You are building out an old homestead cabin now off Solar that you live in - can you tell us about that? You have a solo 7” coming out soon right? Can you talk a bit about how that was made?
GRANT - Im from Columbus o Ohio (which I loved ,and still love, but had to leave)and moved to Mendocino county7 or 8 years ago to make enough weed $ to get a new start in sf. In sf I bought a trailer to live in to save $ on rent and worked as a bicycle mechanic in ggp,and an office plant delivery gye all over.i considered my main objective to have art shows of my drawings play some music meet fuckers and have a great time.i always went back and forth from mendo to the bay tho and at one point I decided I wanted to buy property somewhere .realizing that I would never have the personal finance to do so in most places .i worked my my ass off for a year in mendo then pulled my trailer down to the desert where I once had a next level cylacyben experience and also herd about cheap plots. So that I could purchase and rebuild a small off-grid shaqu .the heat ,oh god the heat that first summer in my windowless shack almost got me.no water.very minimal solar set up,my dang ole cat Gardner ran away or got eaten by coyotes. guess I'm kinda a hippy to but I like to think I'm more of acrass(the band) sorta hippy.see the negativity, process it, let it go through you ,change it to neutrality,don’t pretend it dose not exist.
My project that is my name,grant earl lavalley, came about from my attempts at writing songs while living up a mountain side in Mendocino.they were the first “real”songs I feel that I have written.i began to take them more serious two weeks after I moved to jt when my now friend,martin craft( who I just met that thanks giving nite)wanted to record and produce them.since then I have been writing non stop.theand currently have a 7” coming out on exit stencil records.with a couple videos to go along with the songs.i mainly focus on this project now and hope to be putting out a full length and touring in the near future .
Check out Grant's 7" on Exit Stencil Records here - http://www.exitstencil.org/
Photo: Kristy Campbell