WTF's A Databat?

Hey!

Have you gathered yet that I dig music?
No?

Then you probably have yet to gather that I make music! (unless you've hit my profile).

For the past year or so, my primary creative outlet has been a little entity called The Databats.

...Yes, The Databats.

"WTF's A Databat?" I can hear you asking. Well now, jump with me and I'll tell you all about it.

To call The Databats "a band" isn't exactly a misnomer, but a bit of an oversimplification.
To be honest, I think we prefer the looser fitting title of "collective" as, in essence, The Databats are an arts collective. Certainly the primary focus of the group is to write, record and perform music, but it doesn't end there. The Databats produce art in a myriad of media from the aforementioned music to poetry, mixed media visual arts, databending, videos and whatever else might fit our fancy.

I digress though, as I've yet to answer the titular question for this post. What the fuck is a Databat?

Well, it's complicated, I must admit.
Essentially, anyone can be a Databat. For you see, Databats are an infectious, electronic/social phenomena.

Spread via various forms of information and communication networks, a Databat seeks out suitable candidates and infects their various instruments of creation,  beginning to commandeer them - sort of like a computer virus. At this point, an individual and their instruments are assimilated symbiotically with the Databat, and access to the Databat Hive (think Daleks, not the Borg) is granted and creation begins. Sightings and/or reports of Databats are rare (albeit increasing), and as such their very existence is often questioned by sceptics. Take this post as definitive proof of the existence of Databats. Do not be alarmed, Databats are amiable creatures and only seek to document and reflect upon the current state of human advancement in this volatile age.

So, now that we've established what a Databat is, and what they do, let's take a look at how it's done.
All songs originating from the Databats are conceived and realized in a place we lovingly refer to as Batcave Laboratories Incorporated or, often "Batlabs" or the "Batlab" for short.

Take a look see!

here's a small overview of most of the operation from rasiqra/revulva. in use here are a maschine from native instruments, a Kaossilator Pro from Korg, and a Macbook Pro and Logic 9 from Apple.

Two Databats in action here, lots of fun.

here's the maschine up close. this guy is a whole lot of fun, and has a tonne of great samples.

this here is our primary MIDI controller, an axiom 25 from m-audio.

this here is an analog ribbon synthesizer, dubbed a "montron" manufactured by korg. so. much. fun.

this is one of several guitars in our rotation, a danelectro u2 baritone

here's some action featuring the kaoss pad and the macbook pro. note our cool mask.

this is our current go-to microphone in the batlab. our sideboo as rasiqra/revulva calls it. it's a bluebird. from blue. get it?

Below you'll find the video for "Enter the Batcave", The Databats debut single and initial rallying cry.

this is just the promo version, lacking certain hallmark samples, like bill paxton from aliens.

you can find and download this version on our soundcloud page.

Take note of the heavy use of samples, loops and synthesizers, all calling cards of The Databats. The art displayed in the video is the cover art for the "Enter the Batcave" promo sampler, created by band member Rasiqra/Revulva. Rasiqra/Revulva has created corresponding artwork for nearly every Databat track, which are viewable both on her blog, our YouTube channel, and our Tumblr page. Below is another such example.

Seen here is another piece of art created by Rasiqra/Revulva for a Databats track - this mermaid looking individual is the basis for the majority of our video for our song "Deep" which you'll find below.

The track "Deep" is a fun one, an example of a short(ish) instrumental(ish) songs project the group has undertaken. This one focuses on the plight of ocean animals in our age of increasing pollution. The song again  features samples, and an 8bit twinge, two of the more identifiable calling cards of The Databats. The video itself features many databent versions of the original artwork for the video - this two stands as a bit of a calling card for the band. See below for more examples.

not much discernible here.

or here

and almost certainly not here.

The Databats as a creative entity are both proud and inspired by the country and city that they call home. This too features heavily in some of the art they create. Note below for examples.

here the CN tower takes a bit of a bend

and here it seems Yonge St has a bit of an issue.

in the case of these, the Databats, the assimilation and inspiration has crossed over into analog realm as well, evidenced in these examples from founder and artist Rasiqra/Revulva

still art from the "hello, i love you" cover video from rasiqra/revulva

still art for the "herr schlange" video from rasiqra/revulva

Now, it'd be a bit of a dick move to preview the art, but not the songs, so here are the videos for "Hello, I Love You" and "Herr Schlange" the first represents our first in an ongoing series of pop covers, the second our first foray into a writing excercise of producing shorter songs. Enjoy.

the doors may have been an odd choice to cover, but we like it.

herr schlange is filthy rich, and he doesn't care.

now, just in case you're getting the wrong idea, there are various places to find our music online. obviously our YouTube channel is a good source, but our SoundClound page has all the same songs - AND Free Downloads. Go ahead and TRY to beat that.

We apparently can't embed those songs here though, so go ahead, scamper on over to:

SOUNDCLOUD.COM/THEDATABATS

for all sorts of downloads, and likes, and shares, y'know all that cool kids that the funky kids do.

So now that you know what a Databat is, you certainly know what to look out for.

Certain areas are more populated than others, particularly twitter, instagram, tumblr, soundcloud and youtube.

Tell your friends! Spread the news! Databats are real!!