Sunday, September 09, 2007
Don't Give My Love to Kevin...
Battant - Kevin (1989)
Battant have been around for a while now and have released a couple of very collectible singles. But their next release sees them taking their rudimentary (but perfecly formed) electronic sound to newer heights with the single 'Kevin (1989)' that's being released next month on Kill The DJ records. The B-Side also features an Andrew Weatherall remix.
They now sound like a fully formed band, all punchy guitars, catchy vocals and jump around and shake your fringe* rhythms, but still retaining elements of their earlier electro-pop-isms.
The song was written by Battant singer Chloe based on the diary entries of a bloke called Kevin.
6 or 7 years ago Chloe's friend was helping refurbish a North London pub. Down in the basement there's a door, padlocked shut. They pry it open to find a room littered with betting slips, with a small folding cot bed and a blue Langham Diary from 1989. Inside the book is Kevin's provisional driver's license. Her friend tries to work out who this Kevin is, but never gets anywhere with it. A few years later the diary is passed on to Chloe.
This Kevin bloke sounds like a right tosser, and not someone I'd ever like to know. But his misogynistic meanderings from the late Eighties have led to this song being recorded...
But I wouldn't go playing it round your Mum's house or your great Aunty Edie's as you'll probably get a bloody good clip round the ear.
Great song though.
Visit - Battant
Visit - Battant demos on MySpace
Visit - Kill The DJ
Read - Kevin's diary entries here & here.
* Not that I have a fringe anymore, but if I did it would be a shakin'
Simon
x