Batavia's Blog

Charlie Nichols:  Are you two ready or are you still unpacking?

Batavia: We're ready!

Kurt Zemlicka:  [to Ricky]  You go first.

Ricky Spenner: Me go first?  I'm not the one asking the questions!

CN: All right, all right!  So first of all, how long have you been a band?

RS: We've played together for a year.  I guess it's not fair to say that we've been a band for a year because Kurt goes to school in North Carolina so he's only home collectively four months out of the year.  We basically write songs through email and then when Kurt gets back to Wisconsin, we try to get those words put to music.

KZ: We take whatever's said and we do a very unfair thing.  We take a really talented guitar player, either Ed or Steve, and we force them.  We're like, "We're gonna play this and then you just solo over that."  "What are the chords?"  We're, "I don't know.  Just solo."

CN: [laughing]  You said that two of your members weren't present this evening.  Who were they and was it difficult to play without them?

RS: One is Ed and, on the recording we just did, he played the bass, electric guitar, trombone, and banjo.

CN: Wow.

RS: And then there's Steve, who just joined the band, and he plays acoustic and electric guitars and he sings some back-up vocals with me.

KZ: [He sings them] beautifully. 

RS: Both [Ed and Steve] had other things going on this evening and they couldn't make it, but they both tried really hard.

KZ: And they wished us good luck.

CN: Was it difficult playing without them?

RS: I thought it was going to be more difficult, but Kurt and I started playing together.  When we first started Batavia, it was just me and Kurt. 

KZ: And we had a plan [tonight].  We had the whole set list planned out of how we were going to play it and after the first song, we just kinda gave up and started messing around. 

RS: [laughing] Basically.

KZ: And now, two hours later, we're in a parking lot talking to a camera.

CN: [laughing] Truth.  So what was the name of the first song where you incorporated the trumpet?

RS: That was called "We've Caught God by the Arm."  [When we recorded it together], everything turned out like a mistake and it just kinda came together.

CN: I thought it was gorgeous!

KZ: It's about Polish solidarity.

RS: That it is.  Actually, we tried writing three songs that link together.  "We've Caught God by the Arm" was the first one and then the third one is called "A Statue That Reads…," which we played shortly after [in the set].¹  It is about two people—two American people—during the Polish Solidarity Movement.  [The song is about] the husband who goes out to protest and ends up dying.  There were only about 13 people killed out of about 40 million people in Poland in the '80s during the Polish Solidarity Movement, so I made it that he was actually one of those 13 people that actually died.  These three songs are about this married couple and the wife is basically just trying to move on and cope with this.

CN: That's amazing.  I noticed you also covered a Neutral Milk Hotel song.  What made you decide on covering that song?

KZ: Because it's probably the greatest band of…ever.  And we, in Batavia, have an undying love affair with the lead singer, Jeff Mangum.  We had actually done that song originally at a set we played at the beginning of the summer at Ricky's college, Concordia University.

RS: [correcting Kurt] Cardinal Stritch University.

KZ: Cardinal Stritch.  That's right.  [to Ricky] I'm sorry; I love you.  [back to me] And so then we had to play acoustic stuff and it was kinda crazy because usually we're not so acoustically-oriented.  We had to come up with new songs, and what's the easiest way to come up with a song very quickly?  Cover a song!  And we immediately went to that one.  This was the first time we had a trumpet, though.  [We usually just have] drums and bass.

CN: And how about the Johnny Cash cover?  ["Folsom Prison Blues," originally recorded by Johnny Cash in 1956]

RS: I am a big Johnny Cash fan.  I never liked country music.  My grandparents only listen to country music because country radio is the only [station] that comes in out where they live.  So when I was little I listened to country music all the time and I couldn't stand it.  But there's something about Johnny Cash that just—I just find his attitude toward everything and his whole demeanor to be incredible.  A lot of his songs were so unbelievable that I got really attracted to his music.  "Folsom Prison Blues" is still one of my favorite songs.  I decided to try playing it, but I didn't want to play it like [Johnny Cash], because I knew I couldn't.  I did it the only way I knew how: by slowing the crap out of it.

KZ: For the longest time, he refused to play it for me.  He had a recording of it.

RS: I still have a recording of it.

KZ: He still has it; he won't play it for me.  The first time I heard it was last night.  I was really excited to add it into the set, because it's fricken amazing.

CN: Yea it really is.  As musicians, do your musical tastes and preferences compliment or conflict with each other?

KZ: Ricky doesn't like Pearl Jam.  And I have a problem with that.

RS: Yea, Kurt's favorite band in the universe is Pearl Jam and I'm not a big fan so usually that gets in the way.  But over all, we share the same tastes in jazz, post-rock, indie-rock.

KZ: When I'm in school, we keep sending CDs to each other.  We have this Kurt-Ricky CD Program where we just mail CDs to each other, and we always like what we get.

CN: Do you have similar musical influences besides jazz and post-rock?

RS: I can't speak for Kurt.  For me, the first person to ever make me want to pick up a guitar was my old friend, Jamie Lillie.  Bands came along, like Explosions in the Sky and Do Make Say Think.  And Kurt told me that one of my influences would be Death Cab For Cutie because Chris Walla and I have very similar styles.  I didn't like them but I learned to like them because evidently they should have been one of my influences.

KZ: I just thought drums would be cool to play, and a friend of mine had drums in his basement.  So senior year of high school, my friend, Chris Little, and I would sit in his living room—him on guitar and me on drums—and we would rock out.  And then we started a cover band and we pretty much just covered Pearl Jam.  That was called Guy Fawkes and the Roundheads.  And uh, yea.  Wikipedia him; it's sweet.

CN: How long have you been musicians?

RS: Since my sophomore year in high school, so four or five years.

KZ: I played the recorder in fourth grade and I've played the trumpet since fifth grade.  I don't know if high school bands counts as being a musician.  [thinking briefly]  No, it doesn't.  [laughter]  I started drums my senior year in high school.

CN: Have you had any music lessons or vocal training?

RS: No.  I spent all my money on the guitar and didn't have any money for lessons.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  I think I was too impatient for lessons and now I'm kind of kicking myself in the ass for it because I don't know anything about anything.

KZ: I don't think it's really self-taught.  It's just putting on music and trying to emulate what's being played over the speakers, for me anyway.  [to Ricky]  I don't know about you.

RS: I don't have speakers.

KZ: He doesn't have speakers.  He lives in a box with a guitar. 

RS: I hate fun.

KZ: He hates fun; he hates Pearl Jam.

CN: Well what did you think of the crowd tonight and how did it compare to other shows you've played?

RS: It was probably the biggest crowd we've had this summer.

KZ: Definitely.

RS: I thought the crowd was great.  I love our crowds.  Even if it's just six or seven people, it's still a lot of fun.  We're having so much fun and I try to make sure everyone else is having fun, too.

KZ: I don't.  I really don't.

RS: Kurt doesn't like fun as much.

CN: [laughing] I thought you were the one who didn't like fun because you don't listen to Pearl Jam. 

RS: That different.  When I play music I'm fun.

CN: Any familiar faces this evening?

RS: There were a few.

KZ: There was this one girl who almost died with us the other day.

RS: Yea, she was here.  That was cool that she could make it.  But there were also people that I'd never seen before and they came up after the show and congratulated us.  That was really cool.

KZ: Playing in a coffee shop venue is interesting because there were a lot of people who wouldn't normally come to our shows who showed up and they stayed.  It was incredible.  That was really awesome to not only see new faces but different ages hanging out and rocking out, and that was awesome.

CN: By the way, I'm still waiting for that "I Almost Died with Batavia" pin.  And I just wanted to let you know that everyone I talked to after your set had nothing but positive things to say of Batavia.

RS and KZ: [high fives]

CN: Since you played at Paradigm, which is a coffee house venue as Kurt pointed out, are you two big coffee drinkers?

RS: Oh yea.

KZ: Yea, definitely.

CN: What are your favorite drinks?

RS: You know what, just black.

KZ: Straight.

RS: The Alterra punch to the face.

KZ: Yea, seven in the morning or three in the afternoon.  Doesn't matter.  Just straight.

CN: The song where you incorporated the audience participation for percussion was outstanding.

RS and KZ: [high fives]

CN: I had to film it while you two were playing because the entire audience was just getting into it and you were feeding off that and feeding the audience and it just sounded amazing.  You had an energetic audience.  Now for the question: Was it that awesome the first time you did that?

RS: That was the first time we did that, but we played a show in Kurt's basement a couple weeks ago and we tagged "The Invisible Touch" by Phil Collins of Genesis in the middle of "A Statue That Reads…" and everybody was singing along.  That went well, but we tried that today and nobody knew what the hell I was doing.

KZ: But before that, in spring or winter, we played a show at the Port [Washington] Rec Center—[to me] you were there—and we played a Dead Moon cover of a song called "It's Ok""² at the end of a song.  We tagged it.  "Tagging" is basically when you play a song at the end of a song, so it's kinda like cheating, but not really.  And we didn't think we were going to get anyone to sing along with that, but we did, and then we promptly made fun of them for singing along to it.  So the idea [of the audience percussion] was a combination of that and I was listening to this Jeff Buckley bootleg—he has probably the most amazing voice of anyone I've ever heard—and he just did that clapping part in four-fourths, but we did it was in three-fourths.  And [Buckley's] was just [clapping] and singing, and that's where we got the idea for this.

CN: What would you do if you attempted to do something like you did tonight, with the clapping and stomping, and the audience was just completely dead and showed complete disinterest?

KZ: [sarcastically] I would hate them all, actually. 

RS: [laughing] No, we would probably keep going like nothing happened.  We have so much fun up there.  After every show, Kurt and I will talk about it for two days straight.  So even if people aren't into it, whatever. 

KZ: Well when we started Batavia originally, we were just playing music that we wanted to listen to and that's pretty much how it's always been.  It's always kind of been—I don't know if I should say this—kind of a self-indulgent sort of thing.  We never thought it would catch on, but it has so that's cool.

CN: Other than the two covers, is all your material original?

KZ: Yes.  Except for "The Invisible Touch."

RS: "The Invisible Touch" by Phil Collins and Genesis.

KZ: And "Virginia, Don't Drown."

RS: Yea, and in "A Statue That Reads…" we like to do a bunch of songs toward the end.  I hate doing covers and Kurt likes doing covers, so we compromise.  We usually do "Virginia, Don't Drown" by Chin Up Chin Up and "The Invisible Touch" by Phil Collins and Genesis, but that's about the extent of it, otherwise they're all originals because I hate cover bands with a passion.

KZ: I don't know how we're friends.

CN: Well, to be cliché, you seem to get along famously.  Do you agree on most things music?  Is it more of a blessing or a burden to have different musical tastes?

RS: Definitely a blessing.  You can't say, "Oh I love punk rock and that's it because everything else sucks."  You've got to be diverse because music is great.

KZ: That should be the title.  "Music Is Great: An Evening With Batavia."

CN: [laughing] So what are your three favorite genres and a favorite band for each?  C'mon guys, it's a fun question.

RS: That is a fun question.  Okay, I'll go first, I suppose. 

KZ: Hit it!

RS: In no particular order: Thelonious Monk, favorite jazz musician by far. [thinking] Um. [thinking]  Man, you're hard!  In the indie rock sort of sense, it's definitely Neutral Milk Hotel.  And post rock, I would say Do Make Say Think.  That's a hard question because Kurt and I love and hate a lot of bands to try and cycle through that is difficult.

KZ: And there's no in between.  We either love them or we hate them.  Okay, I'll go I guess.  Ricky stole a lot of my thunder and I don't like it.  I'll start easy.  For post rock, Do Make Say Think is really cool!  I like them a lot, so we'll go with that.  Indie rock: Neutral Milk Hotel, or really any of the Elephant Six bands.  Like Of Montreal or the Olivia Tremor Control or B.P. Helium are all really amazing.  Wikipedia.  Okay, jazz.  Bastard.  Jazz.  You can't go wrong with Miles [Davis].  And I'm gonna cheat, because I have to fit Pearl Jam in here, so we're gonna go with a classic-ish rock, which would be Pearl Jam.  The most incredible live shows of any band ever.

CN: Gotta have the Pearl Jam.  What's a favorite lyric of yours that you've written, Ricky?

RS: I guess I really like all of "We've Caught God by the Arm."  I don't even know how that came together.  I use the line "Tabby don't cry" a bunch.  The husband is Sam and Tabitha—Tabby—is the wife.  I just use that line in all three songs.

CN: So it kind of ties all three songs together.

RS: Yea.

KZ: And all of our other songs are about somebody dying or leaving, I guess.

RS: Yea, they're all about somebody dying or somebody burying somebody else and just coping with everything.

CN: Yea, I made a note of that tonight.  Your sound, in the first half at least, was kind of melancholy.  In the second half, you rocked out a little bit harder.

RS: Yea, and I don't know what that [melancholy] came from.  A few years ago, when I wrote a lot of the songs, a Milwaukee friend's mom died unexpectedly and a couple weeks later, an elementary friend I had died from cystic fibrosis.  He was really, really sick.  I just kind of started writing all these songs.  It wasn't meant to be depressing but more [matter-of-fact] and knowing that you have to move on with it.  And I just kept all of them and used them.  I don't mean to have everything about death and dying.  It's all I've got.

CN: Death and dying is all you've got.

KZ: Johnny Cash.  [laughter]  Elliot Smith is always more interesting to listen to than Smash Mouth, any day of the week.  I don't know why, but it is.

CN: True.  Where do you find your inspiration?  And influential bands or artists?

KZ: Pearl Jam. [laughter]

RS: Neutral Milk Hotel and probably any local band.  I try to check out as many local bands and musicians as I can.  I think I just like to see where they get their inspiration from and try and see what's fueling them.

KZ:  A lot of times we'll go to shows and say, "That's awesome" and try to incorporate those things into our live shows.  We just basically listen to other bands.  We don't come up with our own stuff.

CN: Where did you come up with your band name?  I know that's original!

RS: Seriously?

KZ: I got this one!  Okay, so!  I was sitting in for this different band that Ricky was in at the time called When Cars Collide and Ricky had mentioned to me at one point that'd he'd always wanted to do an indie side project.  And I was like, "An indie side project would be sweet because I can't drum hardcore for crap."  And so what happened, we were playing a show in Appleton and the day after we were shooting a video and during all the off times, we were sitting around making crazy music.  And actually, I think "Sellout Meets Deadbeat" came from that.  And so we needed something that sounded indie, and originally we were going to be called, Fist Carte, Swedish for "fish chart" for those in the know.  But then we were like, "Hey, there's this really crazy city by Oostburg, Wisconsin called Batavia."  Batavia!  That's genius!  So we picked it in about 15 seconds and moved on.

RS: We had the intention of changing it but we never did because we don't have any better ideas.

KZ: We were going to be called the Testicular Sound Express for a while.

RS: We spent too much money putting Batavia on t-shirts so now we're stuck until we sell all those shirts.

KZ: So if you guys really don't like the name Batavia, buy shirts!

CN: Okay, last question.  MySpace!  Do you have one?

RS: Yea we do, but we're both really afraid of MySpace.  It's www.myspace.com/bataviawi.  Make sure you put the "wi" after it because www.myspace.com/batavia is the site of this vampire girl, so you don't want to get that screwed up.

KZ: We always like to direct people to our PureVolume website.  It's just www.purevolume.com/batavia.

RS: Email us!  Bataviaband@gmail.com. 

KZ: Can I give a shout out?  Put this in your article.  Mike Bourbonais.  He's been the most helpful human being.  He's like the fifth member of Batavia, yet he shows up for shows so he's like the third!

CN: Well thanks so much for your time, guys!  Hook me up with any dates you're playing in Sheboygan!

Batavia: Thanks!

¹Batavia's second song in the three-song set up is still in production.