Artist description KingBathmat was born in Walthamstow, London. He was raised by an ex convent nun and a meter reader, who fed him and looked after him until at the age of 16 he left school with very little else except a degree in truancy. At the age of 18, kingbathmats heart was broken by a germen girl which led him to embark on a mission to throw himself into music. Now 10 years on......over 100 songs written......many broken up rock bands and relationships left in his wake......he has decided to become a solo artist and a legend in his own mind.

Albums KINGBATHMAT CHRONICLES, SON OF A NUN

Press Reviews ------Review of KingBathmat CD "Son of a Nun" at MIUZIK.com ------------------------------The press release seems to be written by the man himself. Which is nice and all the nicer for not involving any kind of description of the music as a fruity drink or a soft cushion or repeatedly smacking your head onto a wall and hoping for death (which would actually be a refreshing bout of honesty in some cases.) This album is called “Son of a Nun” because the guy making this album is the son of…wait for it…an ex-NUN! WOW! But like most musicians he’s probably all about the music. So, the music, First song started out like something that sucked so much it turned inside out. Why does "psychedelic" so often mean backward noises and circus drum rolls? Then there was a guitar break and it ruled for a bit. Sounds as cool as "Inna garda da vida." Then the singer (who, don’t forget is the son of a nun. Not a gun. Do you see?) comes back and this first song is OK. It really didn’t need the opening weird bit though. The words are stupid, in the way all songs that claim to be psychedelic are words like starin’ and carin’ (never EVER with a G) are rhymed often. Second song? Chug, chug, and chug! It’s Indie Rock (!), not emo? (Yeah, let’s start THAT argument again.) Later it stops chugging along and being cool and goes all weird. This albums really warming on me. I feel like I’m in an episode of "That 70’s Show." I hope I’m Kelso. No in fact this album rules the school, because of track 4. Track 4 (King of the Fairies) is just a guitar solo. How cool is that? Then we have some "stoner rock" as in Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age. This is brilliant. What on earth’s going on? The first track was pretty average, track 2 was better, and track 3 made me want to own a van, track 4 and now track 5 RULE! I like anyone who likes guitar solos. I like Queen’s of the Stone Age. Track 6 isn’t as cool as 4 and 5 (but what could be) it sounds like the Seahorses, and not trying too hard anymore because, y’know, I’m John Squire Seahorses at that. It’s gone all spoken word on me now. But it sounds like that track on Angel Dust, the one where Mike Pattern tells us he sweats a lot. That’s pretty cool. I wish it would end though. Even as I listen to it, it’s growing on me. (And I really needed something to sell. Dammit!) Track 7. Anyone’s guess really. It’s called "Beg & Steal." This is really good. I don’t understand this, I think I’ll listen to track one again…. No it’s still weak. Everything else rules. If you have that trippy program on Winamp where colours follow the music or something like that, listen to this album and use that. It’ll rule. I don’t understand how come I really like this album. I don’t like how each song starts and I think "urrm, not sure about this one" then I think, "wait a minute" and then I think "WOW!" It’s a stupid album of stupid songs that should be older. Penultimate track is a bit of a let down but then all is redeemed by the last track. A Celtic guitar solo of a song that is a solo at the start. (Do that to track one and the album would be twice as good) The same solo in the middle and ending by doing the solo. Killer! I, for reasons I’m still not sure of, think that this album is absolutely wonderful. (Only loses half a star for track one and the fact that I shouldn’t like it this much. I don’t understand.) You should buy this album by the way. And yes some of it really does sound a little like Queen’s of the Stone Age. Don't think that I'll listen to an album and review it at the same time. It wierds me out. 4.5*/5*------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Review of 'Son of a Nun' at FreeCityMedia -----------------------------KINGBATHMAT – Son Of A Nun (Self-Released) John Bassett (a.k.a. KingBathmat) is a home-studio musician originally from Walthamstow, London, now living in Hastings, England. Before you take offense at the album title, I should say that he was actually raised by an ex-convent nun. Son Of A Nun is the first CD release from KingBathmat and it shows a distinctive yet somewhat diverse musical style with excellent production standards for a home recording. "Unfortunate Soul" starts out with a dramatic early Traffic or Cream psychedelic mood before settling into a metallic version of English folk music reminiscent of Jethro Tull at their creative peak. A few of the songs, such as "Post Traumatic" and "Virtual Cartoon", strike me as straightforward hard rock of the kind that was used for the soundtracks to many ‘80s movies. "Black Horizon" and "Asking The Gods" are the most successful of the songs in that vein. "Uncle Remus" would not seem an obvious choice for the character name of a calculating impresario yet the song of that name works well as a progressive ballad. "Beg And Steal" features a wah-wah organ that sounds like Walthamstow’s leading indie artist The Bevis Frond but the expressive octave-jumping vocals are pure KingBathmat. The measured piano and meandering synth line on "Not Born To Share" give the song as spacey pop ballad mood. Perhaps the highlights of Son Of A Nun come during Bassett’s clever hard rock restate ments of the traditional folk songs "King Of The Fairies" and "Johnny’s Wedding". Son Of A Nun finds KingBathmat in the process of developing his particular style but there are certainly plenty of moments for hard rock and psychedelic revival fans to enjoy. This is a promising debut. The CD is available through www.mp3.com/kingbathmat.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------KingBathmat's song 'Post Traumatic' was the Featured song in Computer Music Magazine issue 51 heres what professional engineer Adam Crute had to say -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Hastings-based King Bathmat, aka John Bassett, has spent the last seven months sculpting, crafting and nurturing the suite of three tracks contained on his snappily-entitled CD Son of a Nun. In the King's words, the tracks are about "... happy times, sad times, demented Satan worshipping dwarf pimps, the auction of wholesale gardening tools, basically whatever takes my fancy." Hmm... Perhaps a clearer way of describing the musical morsels on Son of a Nun would be as guitar-based pop-rock, much in the vein of Toploader or the Stereophonics. Instrumentation and arrangement Post Traumatic, the track under the spotlight here, is a good example of King Bathmat's style. It's not surprising to find that it started life as a bassline, as this features heavily, and is as responsible for the energy of the track as the various guitar parts. This is particularly true of the verse sections of the track, before the main hook arrives in the form of a very catchy guitar riff. Unlike the other tracks on Son of a Nun, there are no synth or keyboard parts on Post Traumatic. However, the guitar parts, while largely conventional in themselves, have all been heavily embellished with effects and off-line editing. This means that they have occupied the space in the track left by the lack of keyboard parts. Whether this has been intentional or not, who can say, but the results are very effective (no pun intended). For a good example of this, check out the sound that leads into the first instance of the main hook (at around 0:37). The arrangement of the song follows a familiar-enough structure, but the potential boredom of the verse-verse-chorus-etc format is avoided by a very melodic solo section (no six-stringed masturbation here, I�m pleased to report) and a lovely breakdown that follows the final chorus section to conclude the track. It would appear that some thought has gone into the whole layout of the song with respect to time � by this I mean that the track has energy and drive from the moment it starts, introduces the main hook within a minute and is not too long. Perfect airplay credentials... Engineering On the whole, King Bathmat has achieved a very high level of production quality from a fairly standard arsenal of tools. His studio is based around a PC running Logic, Sound Forge, Acid and Soundprobe. Guitar tones are provided via the ubiquitous Line 6 Pod and a couple of outboard processors; a BBE and an Alesis 3630 back up the formidable array of plug-ins KB has gathered from our coverdiscs over the years. My only real criticism in the engineering department would be that the vocal doesn't lie well in the rest of the track. This is nothing to do with the content and has more to do with the EQing: it sounds a wee bit scooped, meaning there's something of a reedy quality to the sound. It's possible that this is because the vocal has been processed with the BBE, but it may also be a result of using an SM58. I believe the BBE explanation is more likely, however, as KB's voice has the kind of sound that normally works well with a dynamic mic (horses for courses and all that). That said, and moving to the plus side, the overall balance of the instruments is very good, with no particular part jumping out or sounding out of place. The drum parts are particularly good, although I'd be stunned if I were to find they hadn't been assembled from a sample CD (if they're sequenced then perhaps King Bathmat deserves his self-appointed royalty!). One final point on the engineering front: KB describes his bass guitar as being a "manky old lefthander". This may be so, but it certainly doesn't sound like it. Just goes to show it's not what you've got... Overall Post Traumatic is a good, catchy song and no mistake. The amount of thought and effort that has gone into the track is plain to hear, and while it's not perfect (what is?), the execution and production of the song is something that King Bathmat should be deservedly proud of.

Location Hastings, United Kingdom - United Kingdom

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