The Beach Bats are two parts rock n’ roll, a weak shot of jazz fusion, fill the rest with punk rock and cheap margarita mix. Rim with rockabilly residue and garnish with fresh lime and cocktail umbrella. This Hamilton, ON, trio offer music that will put you in poor health and add years to your complexion like that sizzlin’ Florida sun.
The first lyrics of their song “Knockdown” feel as though they came to frontman Tony Doni out of a dream – one of those where you wake up sweating, unsure if what just happened was real or not. Through the metaphor of a rotting, dilapidated house, the song chronicles the erosion of a relationship from the inside out. The haze of indifference hangs around like dust. Portraits of better days adorn the walls, distant memories trapped in time. The song laments the loss of what could have been and reflects the pain of losing a love slowly, without the tools to fix what is left.
Limbo is the state in between life and death. A purgatory. Limbo is also about seeing just how low you can go. The double entendre was something that The Beach Bats wanted to explore lyrically over the course of the record with a mixture of lighter songs and others that were very personal. Hence, this seven track EP is titled Limbo.
Some songs deal with the difficult psychological dances people do together. Others deal with the violences that lay on the outer edges of our imaginations. Others still question why we trap ourselves in our personal Limbo’s to begin with. Ultimately, The Beach Bats have created a collection of music that they hope provides the listener musical variety and a chance to reflect and relate.
