The Batfish Boys (later simply called Batfish) were an English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band from

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

and

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, active between 1984 and 1990. They released three albums.

History

The band was formed by former

March Violets ''March Violets'' is a historical detective novel and the first written by Philip Kerr featuring detective Bernhard "Bernie" Gunther. ''March Violets'' is the first of the trilogy by Kerr called ''Berlin Noir''. The second, ''The Pale Criminal ...

vocalist Simon Detroit (b. Simon Denbigh) and ex-

Skeletal Family Skeletal Family are an English rock band formed in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in December 1982.Kelly, Danny (1985) "Waiter, There's a Bone in my Curry!", ''NME'', 2 February 1985, p. 8 The band was formed from the remaining members of an earlie ...

drummer Martin "Bomber" Pink, initially assisted on their first single, 1985's "Swamp Liquor" (their first release on their own Batfish Incorporated label) by Denbigh's ex-bandmates in March Violets, bassist Loz Elliott and guitarist Tom Ashton.''Shrinking Violets'' In: Sounds magazine, 25 May 1985 Their goth tendencies evolved into a more Stooges-influenced garage rock sound, and debut album ''The Gods Hate Kansas'' prompted comparisons to the likes of

The Cramps The Cramps were an American rock band formed in 1976 and active until 2006. Their lineup rotated frequently during their existence, with the husband-and-wife duo of singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy the only ever-present members. T ...

and

The Gun Club The Gun Club were an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, United States, which existed from 1979 to 1996. It was formed and led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Jeffrey Lee Pierce. History Early days (1979–1980) The Gun Club w ...

. By that point, the band had added bassist Bob "Diablo" Priestley and guitarists Johnny Burman and Murray Fenton. In 1986, Zero Rek (Martin Herbert) replaced Fenton on guitar. The Batfish Boys' second album, ''Head'', also appeared that year, laced with psychedelic blues overtones. With the band's sound getting progressively heavier, they were signed by

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...

's label, GWR, in 1987, and shortened their name to Batfish. The first release on GWR was 1988's "Purple Dust" single, a mash-up cover of "Purple Haze" and

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

's "Another One Bites the Dust". The third Batfish Boys album, ''Batfish Brew'', was released in 1989, but the band split shortly afterwards. Denbigh, who later issued an album under the name D-Rok, and reformed the March Violets in 2007, was declared Cult Hero No. 36 by ''Classic Rock Magazine'' in 2010.

Musical style and influences

The Batfish Boys' early music was classified as

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

and

swamp rock Swamp rock is a genre of rock music that originated in the mid-1960s as a fusion of rockabilly and soul music with swamp blues, country music and funk. The genre originated in Louisiana by artists such as Tony Joe White, but was subsequently po ...

, as well as grebo, before they changed their style to a

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and arena metal sound. The band, however, resisted classifying themselves as "goth" or "grebo".

Discography

Chart placings shown are from the

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

Studio albums

*''The Gods Hate Kansas'' (1985, Batfish Incorporated) *''Head'' (1986, Batfish Incorporated) (No. 16) *''Batfish Brew'' (1989,

GWR Records GWR Records were an independent record label active in the UK from 1986 through to 1991. By 1984, Gerry Bron's Bronze Records were in financial difficulty leading to a hiatus in recording activity for Motörhead. Eventually, Motörhead manag ...

)

Singles and EPs

*"Swamp Liquor" (1985, Batfish Incorporated) (No. 22) *''Crocodile Tears'' EP (1986, Batfish Incorporated) *"Justine" (1986, Batfish Incorporated) (No. 16) *"The Bomb Song" (1987, Batfish Incorporated) (No. 18) *"Purple Dust" (1988, GWR Records)

Compilation albums

*''Lurve: Some Kind of Flashback'' (1987, Twilight Records)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Batfish Boys, The English gothic rock groups English hard rock musical groups Post-punk groups from Leeds Swamp rock groups