A Quick Chat with Boats
Boats has returned with Bats of Mullumbimby, an album deeply rooted in the themes of resilience, nature, and the balance between chaos and renewal. Set against the backdrop of devastating floods in Northern NSW, the album draws from the heart of Boats' personal experience during a time of upheaval for both his community and the landscape that surrounds it. It's a project that captures both the harshness of destruction and the beauty of rebirth, offering a journey that reflects not only on loss but also on the hope that inevitably follows.
The album’s title, Bats of Mullumbimby, might at first seem whimsical, but it holds a much deeper symbolism for Boats. Bats, as he explains, are not just nighttime wanderers, they are vital pollinators, quietly working to foster new life. Their presence around his home became both a comfort and a muse, embodying the album’s themes of renewal in the face of adversity.
Join us as we chat with Boats to explore the making of Bats of Mullumbimby, the role of nature and community in his creative process, and how the people and landscapes of Northern NSW helped shape the album’s journey.
Your album, Bats of Mullumbimby, is set against the backdrop of natural disaster but also highlights themes of resilience and renewal. How did the recovery of the landscape and the community around you influence the sound and narrative of this album?
It was the catalyst for the light and the dark, the harsh and the soft and the chaos and order. I really just said nothing, but I also said everything. It literally destroyed people’s lives and homes, flushed some people out and at the same time forged others into a state of belonging and positive localism. Getting back up is the only option. Most of it was written during the floods, so you could say it had a huge impact, apart from losing my studio it was quite an inspiring time. Light and dark, flood and new flowers.
Can you tell us more about the significance of the album title Bats of Mullumbimby? Why did you choose to highlight bats, and how do they symbolically relate to the overall narrative of the album?
Bats are great pollinators, carrying huge amounts of pollen in their fur. It's not just the birds and bees. Their presence in town always made me smile, following the Brunswick river towards the ocean at sunset. Much like seeing the same cat in your street or saying hi to an old lady who walks your way a few times each week. It's somehow comforting. They would wake me up at 4am every morning eating figs from a tree in my backyard. So they literally screamed their way into the title. I was half asleep most of the time they would swing through and I'd sometimes dream of them stealing my dreams with their echolocation. Dream stealers and smiles.
What role does Northern NSW, your hometown, play in shaping the identity of this album?
Everything, the people, the place. If you spend enough time up in the Northern Rivers you know. I don't need to say too much. Nature speaks for itself. The album draws on personal experience but I suppose much like life, nature always wins and so knowing this drew a nice conclusive bow over my life at the time.
What was the most surprising or unexpected element that came from creating Bats of Mullumbimby? Did the album take any creative turns that you hadn't initially planned for?
Yeah, I started writing more 90s orientated music. I'm starting to find my voice and my sound, it's not miles away but it's getting close. I worked with and met more great musos who I call good friends now. It's not really surprising, but it does astonish me the journey my music has taken me on so far. Singing without a guitar during "The Mullumbimby Convent" performance was also novel. Take the guitar off me and I start moving, for good or for bad. ha.
You touch on the idea that "no one's wrong, no one's right" and that we're "just running round in the chook pen in the night" in the song It Takes A Bird Two Wings To Fly. What commentary are you making about society or human nature with this metaphor?
As dogmatic as we become with our beliefs and increasingly so, it always takes progressives and conservatives to work together to make the bird fly, unless of course you're in a dictatorship which the Western world is not. When we don't acknowledge or accept the other wing we cannot fly. It's really that simple. We seem to just be stuck in a chook pen pecking at each other with a wolf at the door.
Was there a particular track on the album that felt especially important or cathartic to write?
Fraying.
Are there any particular musical artists, visual art, songs, or albums that influenced the sound or message of the album as a whole?
Nup. Life just keeps rolling, I take it in and write music.
What is one message or moral thought that you hope listeners of the record take away with them after listening?
That you're most likely wrong about many things, as we all are. With that said, we should be open, this takes work I get it, but being closed, dogmatic and a cement fortress of ideas is not only boring but harmful to yourself and others.