Spiritual Bat

The Spiritual Bat was also so long ago. Rosetta and Dario I can actually call friends from Italy. They were here on business. For a goth rock band, that means a tour. They were touring for the new CD Cruel Machine. They played Livewire Lounge on Milwaukee Ave, a 21 and up bar on a Saturday in September. To  miss this would have indeed hurt. When you miss something that you anticipated going to and the very event is on Facebook it eludes you all over again and it was the best show ever, meanwhile they go all the way back to Rome, and I have to get the CD from Metropolis or something like that.  Oh, wait but I didn't miss it, and I bought the CD from the band and a shirt that fits. The first shirt I got deliberately smaller so that it can be a muscle shirt....I know. It still fits me like a titty shirt. Anyway its so refreshing to go to a real goth rock gig, where people deliberately wear black. For me The Spiritual Bat do music that...ages with you. And more and more they are the reason I still like goth rock. That Saturday night I went saw people that I've known in the local goth culture for years. Some are old friends, that came from England for a family wedding. So I did not feel like I was surrounded by a bunch of kids in corpse-paint. We all still like this and it matures with us. It stays relevant and contemporary. And the musicians themselves are roughly our contemporaries.

   I was really happy for Rosy and Dario because they finally saw a good crowd for them. They were the headliners and people waited for them. The other times I've seen them in Chicago it was for smaller audiences as if only few knew they were there, and that embarrassed me. They once played for a Christian all ages venue and that felt weird. The pizza and soda were good but still....weird. I said goth rock eh? And that implies a way of sounding that The Bat has down. Can this appeal for one that is not already sold on those two words? Well I did not see many of my Empty Bottle friends that night. Does not matter. There are so many of us sold on the music already. Goth rock from the Bat means spooky atmospheric guitar, bass combo, Siouxsie-like voice of Rosy. On the dance floor the songs on Cruel Machine have a pace that is fast enough to attract youth but not too fast you lose all the aging goth rockers still trying to dance. Some of the tracks that are say 4-5 minutes long have segments that let you feel that goth rock engine. Chance  and Crucifixion have that bassy sprint in the middle. On stage it was Rosy wailing passionately away with the occasional mirror on her hand. Dario plays electric guitar. Pictures don't do Rosy's dreadlocked hair justice. It's the first thing I noticed when I met her, and I always tell her how fabulous they are.  She started out as the drummer of the band like over ten years ago. Live Rosetta free's herself from playing an instrument and so the small stage concentrates the performance to her voice and movements and hair. Thats the thing I don't expect on bigger venues where I expect distance. The capacity of the venue seemed to be less than Darkroom, but not by much...lets say just a little more than Whistler. As of this post they are home in Italy and this event I speak of is long behind them, one of many for them. Their operation is small enough for them to remember individuals that go to their shows. Its the coolest thing when after meeting the band, they tell you happy birthday on your Facebook page. What? I wasn't expecting it. Its those things that put you at ease when seeing them again and again. These are your friends that you want to see succeed when touring.
Zig