Category: Blogs

Remembering Mittens

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Mittens batfarm cat mascot

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our beloved cat, Mittens. As some of you know, Mittens wasn’t just an ordinary pet. He was the unofficial 3rd member of Batfarm, and a featured player in many of our promos, posters, and videos. He was a precocious, vivacious and amazing cat who was there during the recording of many albums, and also for many major life changes and events. He gave us so much joy during his short time on Earth, and it breaks our hearts to have to say goodbye, especially when we weren’t prepared.

Dennis and I got Mittens 10 years ago around this same time of year. I had begged Dennis for months to get a kitten when we were together, and he finally, finally gave into my pleading just in time for Christmas. We got Mittens’s name after seeing the “Kitten Mittens” sketch on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. When we first saw this little black and white ball of fur, we knew we had to have him. He was so small, that you could fit him in the palm of your hand. Dennis even had to feed him initially with his finger; he hadn’t been weened yet. We both thought he was so cute and so passive, but little did we know that this itty bitty tuxedo cat would bring so much craziness and so much love into our lives.

Mittens had great comedic timing, and always knew the right things to say whenever we’d ask his opinion on any matter, giving us an approving (or disapproving) “meow.” He would do ridiculous things like growl at his tail, or playfully smack you if you walked by him without petting him. He always played and roughhoused with his Daddy, but he always cuddled and slept with his Mommy. We always made a point to include Mittens somewhere in our advertising, and whenever he was absent, we’d inevitably hear “where’s Mittens?” from someone on social media.

It’s going to be a really rough transition for us, because we thought Mittens was going to be in our lives for many more years to come. Though he was taken from us far too soon, we will do our best to honor our little baby, and keep his memory alive. We love you forever, Mittens.

-Mommy and Daddy

“In the Belfry” EP Coming Sept 24th!

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Batfarm In the Belfry album cover

Hey all! Our debut album, “In the Belfry” will finally be available at long last on September 24th! The 6-song collection will feature some brand new bangin’ tunes from your favorite darkedelic duo (some you may have heard at our live shows, others haven’t been heard until now). For now, you can preorder the EP via iTunes or Amazon, and it will be available for purchase at all major online retailers September 24th!

Filming “Get Out” Video!

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I know it’s been a while since our last post, but both Dennis and I have both been sick with this whole super flu that’s been going around. As I (Alexx) write this, I am bundled up in about 6 blankets and am completely immobile. I feel bad because Dennis had to set up and film a lot of today’s video by himself as I’ve been laid up. However, tomorrow I will (sick or dead) be filming this video if it’s the last thing I do. In addition to filming the video this month, we will also be rehearsing up a storm for our next show at Viper Room (it’ll be our first show in several months as we have been busy recording and filming videos). We are excited to be playing with Aeges and Franky Perez on March 29th. You can get your tickets here! More updates soon on our progress with everything! Also, we will be adding stickers and buttons to our merch page, so stayed tuned for that as well!

“Get Out” Video Coming Soon!

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Hi all! Apologies for the break in Batfarm blogging (how about that for alliteration?), but it’s actually because I’ve been writing for a plethora of other publications (I know, I’m sorry…I cheated). In addition to doing social media/marketing at GHS Strings, I’m now also covering social media for Roswell Pro Audio, and I’ve started writing for Music Connection, Guitar Girl and Bass Musician Magazine. It’s all been a super positive experience, and I’ve gotten to interview a ton of great artists (such as Mike Orlando of Adrenaline Mob, Jason Krause of Kid Rock, Justin Aufdemkampe of Miss May I, and more) and see a lot of cool shows, including Alana Davis’s at Hotel Cafe recently (be on the lookout for my review, coming soon!). As far as Batfarm is concerned, Dennis and I have been hard at work conceptualizing a video for what will be our first single, “Get Out.” Because we’re Batfarm, and we love a challenge (even if it kills us), we’re learning the Adobe Creative Suite so that we can create an animated video. We can’t say much more than that, so be patient young grasshoppers. We’re hoping to have that done in a few weeks. We’ll also be scheduling a single release show in the next month or two so that a) you can hear the new song and b) say hi to us. I know, we’ve been holed up too much in the studio, and we miss all you guys. Til then, keep checking back! We will also have some new merch up on our store in a few days! Rock on!

NAMM Fun!

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Alexx Calise, Charlie Waymire and Dennis Morehouse at the 2019 NAMM Show at Anaheim Convention Center
Charlie Waymire (Batfarm’s producer, owner of Ultimate studios), Dennis Morehouse, Alexx Calise

This year’s NAMM was an extraordinarily fun and productive one. It also marks my (Alexx) 1 year anniversary with GHS Strings as their social media/marketing manager. As always, it was great fun catching up with old friends, making new ones, and of course scoping out all the new gear the show has to offer (whenever I had a free minute of course. Who am I kidding? I really didn’t see much of anything aside from the GHS booth). In particular, I was very impressed by Lace Pickups, who I was introduced by Brian Klemm of Suburban Legends. I am hoping to finagle one of their glitter-gold glam pickups for my glitter-gold Airline guitar because it’s (duh) a match made in heaven, so cross your fingers that my powers of persuasion will work on them. We also had some great demos at the GHS booth from Doyle Dykes, Stu Hamm, Tengger Cavalry, Johnny Zostant and Rob Leines, and I had a blast hanging with my good friends Dan Corey, Dan Hegarty, Anabel Dflux, and Calling Kings (who we’ve played a number of shows with) at the Schecter Party on NAMM Saturday, which featured performances by Silvertomb (included members from Type O Negative and Agnostic Front) and Ice-T’s Body Count (I had no idea he had a thrash metal band–f’n awesome!). Dennis and I did the usual Hilton hangs a majority of the nights, and even caught some of our buddies in Love and a .38 play (we played with them for their EP release party last year). Side note: It’s completely irrelevant, but my hotel was absolutely bitchin’, and had a king-sized bed, and a very ostentatious bunk bed. Anabel, our Batfarm photographer was my roomie for the show, and like the good friend that I am, I took the bed.

New Batfarm Photo Shoot!

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We’re excited to announce that we will be doing yet another photo shoot with our absolute favorite photographer, Anabel Dflux in the next few days. Anabel has been Batfarm’s resident photog of sorts, and nearly every live or promotional photo that we’ve ever posted has been snapped at one point or another by Anabel. I actually interviewed her a little while ago about her experience for GHS Strings’s website. It’s a great article for aspiring photographers, especially if you’re really interested in concert photography particularly. Definitely check it out, and also be sure to stay tuned for new photos!

“Get Out” is Ready to Mix!

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Well, “Get Out” is FINALLY finished (or at least we hope. We said that last time, haha). I re-tracked all the original vocals and harmonies we had on there, and added some more sass. We also brought in my good buddy, Rob Johnson, who I work with in Sensitive Robot to track some lower harmonies since poor Dennis was sick and had laryngitis. Rob killed it as always; he’s a harmony machine!

This weekend, we’ll be heading back to the studio to mix and hopefully put this song to bed. After that’s done, we’ll get the promo machine rolling so we can release this bad boy in February! We think you all will really dig it! If not, well…you can “get out”. Wocka, wocka!

Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year everyone! We started off our 2019 at our favorite place, Ultimate Studios (where I happen to be right at this moment, because where else would I be?) Dennis recorded drums here last night, and I’m about to hop in the vocal booth in a minute. We’re completely re-recording our song, “Get Out” because Dennis, Charlie and I are perfectionists and gluttons for punishment, ha ha. In all seriousness though, we never want to let anything out of the gate unless we’re 100 percent sold on it, and we just weren’t getting what we wanted with the last version. All good though! We’re going to make it killer and bat-tastic as always. After vocals, I may be re-tracking some outro guitars because I have a crazy awesome Rocker 32 amp from Orange on loan, and I may just want to take it for a spin. Who knows?! We’ll keep you guys updated throughout the week on the progress of “Get Out”. Hope you’re all recovering nicely from your NYE hangovers. Rock on.

A Long December

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Dennis and I were just saying to each other how busy this past December was. If you happen to reside in LA, then you know that the industry pretty much closes up shop until the first week of January. Well, not for Batfarm! The Christmas song and video pretty much consumed our lives for the entirety of December, but it was also an incredible experience that showed us that we can do just about anything we set our minds to. For two people who know very little about videography and set building, I think we did a pretty damn good job if I may say so myself. In addition to that, we also flew in our friend, Keith Brinkley to do some bass on several tracks. Rock ‘n’ roll doesn’t take a holiday, people! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

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Well, it took us nearly 3 weeks to record the song and shoot the video, but it’s finally here! “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is now officially available on iTunes and all other online media platforms, and the video is now on Youtube! There’s laughs, action, drama…and even some Christmas magic! If you want to see a Christmas set that would make Bing Crosby proud, then you need to check out the video now! Also, be sure to have yourself a Merry Little Christmas (wah wah)!