Album Notes

In the fall of 2005, Mike Sempert moved to San Francisco from Boston, immediately after completing an 18 song demo called, "Nature vs. Nature". He took a job at the legendary Hotel Utah Saloon, doing live sound, seeing it as an opportunity to scout talent. That's where he met B&B drummer, Brian Michelson, who was playing there one night and B&B SF was born. The two started adapting the material from the demos to a live show, with laptop as a crucial tool for executing the synth programming and drum machines. Adding Julie Ann Thomasson (Or, the Whale) on keyboards and Jill Heinke on bass, B&B found the right combination of sounds and textures that well-reflected Mike's recordings, but also took them to a new level in a live setting. Birds & Batteries has since become a well-oiled machine, with dozens of shows in the Bay Area, a west coast tour and a national tour under their belt. Their influences include Neil Young and Daft Punk and they could be described as a cross between Gary Numan and Randy Newman. Before leaving on their first national tour (with friends, Low Red Land), B&B pressed a new version of their first recordings, called "selections from...Nature vs. Nature," which was newly mixed, mastered and cut down to 12 songs. Since their return from that tour, B&B has been working on a new album from sessions recorded at John Vanderslice's Tiny Telephone in SF and engineered by Ian and Jay Pellici. Tentatively titled, "I'll Never Sleep Again," the new record is due in June and will include on vocals, Daniela from Snowblink and Neil Thompson from Low Red Land on pedal steel guitar.