Battleship (band)

Battleship is a band from Oakland, California.

The members of Battleship are Aleksander Prechtl (ex-Hatemail Express, Short Eyes) on vocals, Daniel Martens on guitar, and Gene "bean" Bae (ex-Short Eyes) on bass. The band's original drummer was Joe Haener (ex-Rock'n'Roll Adventure Kids, Gris-Gris, Greg Ashley), who was later replaced by Drew Eastmen (ex-Manifolds), and finally Patrick Lynch (also Death of a Party). Scott Batiste (ex-Yaphet Kotto, currently metal band the Saviours) has also recorded with them.

Battleship was originally conceived as a three piece of just bass, drums and voice. Though Prechtl played guitar and sang in Hatemail Express, after reading an interview where Chris Thompson of the Monorchid claimed "singers that play guitar are lame," he elected to forego any instrument handling for this band. Martens joined the band because he was a friend of Haener's who was not currently playing music with anyone. Martens's fondness for exotic tunings also satisfied Bae's proviso that "if we get a guitar player, I want him or her to sound like someone who's never picked up a guitar before." Haener was let go by the band after it became impossible to juggle the responsibilities of being in both Battleship and the Gris-Gris. Eastman was chosen after several auditions as well as Tim Byron of the Mae-Shi's observation: "he's really fun to watch." Eastman left the band after their combined European and East/West Coast of the States tour in 2006. Lynch stepped in to fulfill some commitments the band had and stayed aboard until Martens and Prechtl moved away from Oakland in the fall of 2007.

Though often described as a "punk" band, Battleship's music is often more complicated. Angular rhythms clash with the insistent groove of the bass. The oddball tunings of the guitar create atonal washes of sound and feedback that is almost textural. Though the singing is often of the screaming variety, its nuanced phrasing hints at something deeper than mere punk rock. According to Mike Thorn, former Head Co-Ordinator of Maximum RocknRoll, "sounds like cocaine."

Battleship began practicing in the fall of 2002 and played their first show, as a three piece consisting of Aleks, "bean," and Joe, in April of 2003. between then and July 22, 2007 (their last show), the band played extensively in the California Bay Area, as well as up & down the West Coast. Battleship has toured the United States twice (summer 2004 and summer 2005), and Europe once (summer 2006). They have played with Against Me!, Erase Errata, the Mae Shi, Mika Miko, Numbers, Chinese Stars, the Mall, Wives, Mikaela's Fiend, Pterodactyl, the Gris-Gris, just to name a few.

They have appeared in many magazines. Maximum RocknRoll featured an interview in their April 2005 issue, and they appeared on the year end top ten lists of several of that magazine's staff members. The San Francisco Bay Guardian weekly featured Battleship on the cover of their Aug. 3-9, 2005 issue. They were also voted best band in the "Critic's Choice" section of the East Bay Express's 2006 Best of the East Bay issue.

Battleship has released two albums. Presents Princess (2005) and Hearts Addendum (2006) were both recorded by Greg Ashley. Presents Princess was originally issued as a 12" one sided LP with a secret track on the B-side with a hand screened cover by Mitch Cardwell's Raw Deluxe label. Its run was 100 white vinyl copies and 400 black). Kent McClard of Ebullition records fame is rumoured to have bought one of the white vinyl copies on eBay for over $200, at Amoeba Music in San Francisco the more common black vinyl fetches between $20-30. The CD versions of Presents Princess and Hearts Addendum were released simultaneously by On/On Switch records. A vinyl release of Hearts Addendum is still pending. They also recorded a cover PiL's Annalisa for a Los Angeles based zine called Musique Automatique. Double Negative Records also released a two song 7" by the band in 2006. Both the compilation track and the 7" were recorded by Jason Smith. There is currently a split 7" with Brooklyn's Necking in the works.

Though their last show was in July 2007 and members of the band no longer live in the same cities, Battleship has not officially broken up. At the same time, they have no current plans as a band.

References

# Maximum RocknRoll, April 2005, Issue 263
# San Francisco Bay Guardian, Aug. 3-9, 2005, Vol. 39 No. 44
# East Bay Express, May 3-9 2006

External links

* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Battleship Battleship] @ Discogs.com