Wonderland.

New Noise: Crystal Bats

The return of the coolest double act around.

If The Lost Boys had decided against terrorising beach-goers and opted to make synth-fuelled rock music instead, chances are they would have created Crystal Bats.

With leather jackets and perfectly quiffed hair, Will Vaughan and Will Jones are reinventing disco music with their glistening cinematic sounds and melodic vocals. Full of 80s nostalgia, the effortlessly cool pair will transport you into a neon-lit dream with their brilliant synth-rock tracks.

Back after three years, the duo have emerged with triumphant new track “Anyone”. Showing a noticeable rockstar flair, the song has everything you could ever want – hypnotising hooks, incredible vocals and an absolute belter of a guitar solo.

We caught up with the synth-rock pair to find out all about them.

How did you two meet?

We grew up making music together. “Childhood friends”, really. We’re closer than brothers. Brothers always fight, have disagreements and all that. We really have a relationship that’s way, way past that.

Did you have the same vision of how you wanted your band to sound?

It was never something we really had to think that much about. Growing up making music together, our tastes have always sort of run in tandem, so when we decided to do Crystal Bats it was just about making music that we’d want to listen to.

Where does the name Crystal Bats come from?

There’s a peripheral species in the Jim Henson film The Dark Crystal – released in 1982 (incidentally, arguably Yacht Rock’s greatest year) – called Crystal Bats. I was watching it a couple of years ago and I thought “Yeah, that will do”.

Your debut track “Falling In Love” had a huge response and became a viral sensation. What was that like?

It was great. You never know how people are going to respond. There’s something interesting about how once a track is released it takes on a life which is totally out of your hands. When you’re working a track, locking yourselves away in the studio as we do for long periods of time with little connection with the outside world, you can lose perspective on it because you’re so invested. So to have it out there and have it get a response on the level that it did was a really good feeling.

“We’re closer than brothers. Brothers always fight, have disagreements and all that. We really have a relationship that’s way, way past that.”

There was an 80s pop/disco feel to the track. Where does this come from?

Los Angeles, I believe, mostly.

How would you describe your newest track, “Anyone”?

Like “Falling In Love” but a bit louder. I suppose it has a slightly darker, harder feel too. Wiser.

What was the creative process behind this track?

We had a good idea of what we wanted to talk about lyrically, and the track just came together really quickly and naturally around the melodies and chords we were playing with. Our good friend Louis La Roche provided that vital pair of fresh ears to the mix. Then we did a solo.

What do each of you bring to the song writing process?

It varies song by song, sometimes one of us will bring an almost fully formed demo to the other and other times we just start something from scratch. Sometimes it’s more one of us than the other and vice versa, but ultimately it’s a very collaborative process.

There was a three year gap between “Falling In Love” and “Anyone”. What have you been doing between these tracks?

Mostly just working on that snare sound, really.

What else can we expect from Crystal Bats in 2017?

We’re working with a couple of other artists at the moment. We have a little collaboration with Whinnie Williams that should be out soon. Following that we have a couple of other singles and an EP to come by the end of the year and we’re really looking forward to taking it on the road later in the year.

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