Batrider never stand still. Since moving to Melbourne from their native New Zealand a few years ago, the band has undergone several line-up changes and further relocations to London, Adelaide and quite possibly some small moon orbiting Jupiter.

Led by raw-throated guitar-torturer Sarah Chadwick, the only other original member of the band is drummer Tara Wilcox. Somewhere along the way Toby Morris, who was responsible for the deeply throbbing bass lines that had lazy critics comparing the band to The Birthday Party, was replaced by their manager Sam Nopromo. Then guitarist and co-vocalist Julia Rouse departed, eventually resurfacing in The Twerps. Filling her stylish shoes is newest recruit Stephanie Crase of Adelaide bands Birth Glow and No Through Road.

Complex? You bet! But where a less determined band might have capitulated at such convolutions, Batrider have taken it all in their stride and are about to add another long-player, Why We Can’t Be Together, to their already substantial discography.

The first taster from their fourth opus is the ridiculously titled ‘Homie Gnomie’. Over clattering drums and tambourine, Chadwick sounds both jaded and borderline psychotic as she drawls her litany of domestic claustrophobia and ennui, before a big fuck-off riff sweeps the table clear and storms out of the room, slamming the door.

Short, sharp and vicious - that’s Batrider for you. But who’s going to clean up the mess? Because making a mess is what this band is all about. They’re not here to ingratiate themselves to the funky youth-culture tastemakers or network their way to indie stardom.

Their erratic moodiness and bleak world view is more likely to appeal to cultural outsiders and individualists. And isn’t that what “alternative” rock music should be – an alternative to the bland, shiny pap that the bleating herd of music consumers keeps lapping up? Too much supposedly edgy music these days has absolutely nothing of value to contribute in terms of actual attitude or lyrical substance. Thank fuck for passionately malcontent artists like Sarah Chadwick and Batrider.

by René Schaefer