Its recent tour opening for Bettie Serveert just a mere memory, Seattle “grungeadelic” rock group Love Battery now is traipsing across Europe with Mudhoney.
Singer-guitarist Ron Nine can only laugh about their inauspicious beginning March 29 in Minneapolis.
“We got added on to the Bettie Serveert tour late in the proceedings,” he said, “so we flew from San Francisco to Seattle for one day and then flew to Minneapolis to meet up with them on Wednesday.
“Our gear was driven from San Francisco to Minneapolis, and we got there but the gear didn’t. So before we even met these people, it was ‘Hi, we’re Love Battery. We’re your opening band … by the way, can we use ALL your gear?’ But they were so sweet to us. Most musicians who’ve been around the block can relate to almost any situation like that.”
Love Battery’s Atlas/A&M debut album, “Straight Freak Ticket,” was released in late February, and after a slow start, it’s gaining momentum with the cosmic single “Fuzz Factory.”
Like the rest of the album, “Fuzz Factory” straddles the psychedelic-pop fence. Nine said there are a myriad of influences seeping through.
“I think it was Hendrix who really made me want to play guitar,” he said, “and it was punk rock that really made me want to be in a band. It’s all sorts of influences, pushing and pulling us in different directions.”