Tony Mantor's : Almost Live..... Nashville - The Musical Journey of Mike Batt

Episode Date: June 25, 2025

Mike Batt shares his fascinating journey from writing Wombles hits to collaborating with Justin Haywood of the Moody Blues on their new orchestral cover of "Like in a Northern Town." His career spans decades of evolution as a songwriter, producer, composer, and arranger working with everyone from Art Garfunkel to the London Philharmonic Orchestra. • Collaborated with Justin Haywood on a new recording using the London Philharmonic Orchestra • First gained fame writing songs for The Wombles television show after negotiating for character rights instead of a one-time payment • Wrote Art Garfunkel's hit "Bright Eyes" and has worked with numerous other artists • Balances classical orchestral influences with contemporary music in his compositions • Currently working on a symphonic project he calls "Symphony No. 9" • Released his memoir titled "The Closest Thing to Crazy" about his music career and adventures Visit mikebatt.com for more information about Mike's projects and to purchase signed copies of his memoir.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

in the entertainment industry has enabled me to work with a diverse range of talent. Through my years of experience, I've recognized two essential aspects. Industry professionals, whether famous stars or behind-the-scenes staff, have fascinating stories to tell. Secondly, audiences are eager to listen to these stories, which offer a glimpse into their lives and the evolution of their life stories. This podcast aims to share these narratives, providing information on how they evolved into their chosen career. We will delve into their journey to stardom, discuss their struggles and successes,

and hear from people who help them achieve their goals. Get ready for intriguing behind-the-scenes stories and insights into the fascinating world of entertainment. Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Almost Live Nashville. Joining us today is Mike Batt. Singer, songwriter, producer, composer, arranger, He has done so many things in this music business.

He was the songwriter behind the Wombles Hits, Art Garfunkel's hit song, Bright Eyes, and the list is just too long to tell. He's here to talk about his career and his latest endeavor that he recorded with Justin Haywood of the Moody Blues with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He has a great story to tell,

and we're happy to have him here. Thanks for coming on. I'm delighted to be asked. Well, it's my pleasure to have you. my understanding is you and Justin Haywood have got together to create a new project. Indeed. We did a project in the, was it the 80s, late 80s? It must have been about, I think it was 89, where we went into the studio at Abbey Road and we did an album called Classic Blue. The idea was no rhythm section, just a symphony orchestra and Justin's voice with me to kind of

backup vocals. And we did cover versions. Oh, nice. It went very well and became, you know, one of this well-known solo albums. And all these years, we've been friends. And so recently we just said, hey, that was fun. Why did we do some more? So we went into the studio with the same orchestra, the London Philharmonic. That sounds like a great project.

Of course, all different players, they've all probably moved on and younger players have come through. We went to their own hall, Henry Woodhall, and we took a mobile unit. I did three arrangements. three new ones, and I conducted. Justin took the tracks back to where he lives in Europe, and I joined him, and then we put the vocals on, and when I left, he mixed it. So that's the long version of have we got a new project? Long answer.

That's all right. So I understand on the song that he sang the verses, and then you sang on the chorus. Is that correct? Yeah, we had intended it to be a Justin's solo project, but it just turned out that I sang the chorus, because it's a big block of harmonies, effectively, that kind of African chant.

Okay. And so it turned out, and the adjusting said, hey, look, you're singing on this as much as I am. Why don't we just put it out as a duo almost? Nice. So you've been friends for a long time. how did it feel to get back in the studio and do some more music and collaborate with him on the new project?

Well, it was great. It was particularly great because we just trust each other. We worked together. In fact, the first time we actually worked together was when I did my project, just called The Hunting of the Snar, based on a Swiss Carol nonsense poem. To promote it, I did an Albert Hall concert,

and there was a character on the album. It was kind of a concept in the way that say War of the Worlds is a concept. The character on it sung by Art Garfunkel. He couldn't make it for the concert. So Justin and I were friends. So I say, hey, just, why don't he come and sing Artie's part? So that happened. That was in 1987.

So that does place a couple of years later. And he sang it really well. It's actually available for anyone who wants to look at it. They only have to look at YouTube and Google, the hunting of the snark and the mine as in Mike Bat. And it'll pop up. They can see the whole show and just in singing the part of the characters called The Butcher. Anyway, so I think he enjoyed working with the orchestra and standing in front of the orchestra and working. And that's what he did the first album.

That seems to be just a little bit different take than what he's used to doing with the Moody Blues. Well, it wasn't in one way. It was in one way, and it wasn't in the other, because obviously Justin's completely used to working with orchestras. Right. The Days of Future Past was, interestingly, the tracks, Justin's always, I've seen him point this out in interviews that he's done. The tracks that the band played on Days of Future Past, the Moody Blues,

they're not actually with an orchestra. The orchestra on them is provided by a melitron. Right. Peter Knight, the arranger, arranged kind of interstitial pieces that carried them on and joined the tracks together. So it was quite an unusual concept, but they were recorded separately. I think the same studio at different times. You're right. It's a slightly different thing from being the Moody Blues, because the Moody Blues is basically a rhythm-based band.

Yes. Sometimes with orchestral supplement. Yes. And the great thing is when you put all these people together in the studio, you've got it all charted out, and they're working on it. They put in their emotions and how they perform with their instrument.

You come out sometimes with a sound that's just better than what you'd hoped for. That's right, it does. And this track, like in a northern town that we just recorded,

well, we recorded it about a year ago, actually. It had been a hit in England 30 years ago, something like that, 35 years ago, can't remember exactly.

And I had remembered, I loved it. Another odd thing that happened with me, being quite active as an artist, particularly back then. I had a lot of phone calls from people saying, oh, Mike, I love your new hit, like in a northern town. It wasn't me at all.

It was actually a band called Dream Academy. And that band had one massive hit, which actually was big in the States, either number two or number one on the Hot 100. Yeah, I remember that song. And they did a few more records. They didn't have a very long life as a band. They split up with their own separate ways. and it was pretty because they were great

and that song was great written by somebody called Nick Laird Klaus and Gilbert can't remember the second name I'm afraid so I hope he's not listening That's not a problem But yeah that's where it came from So what was it like when you went in the studio

There have been many times When you go in the studio You've got all the musicians there And then everything just goes really well But something happens That just takes it to that next level Did anything like that happen to you on this song? Well, actually, I'm going to say no,

because the way this was done is why I did quite a lot of things, but I do understand that process and that feeling that you described, that process that you just described. And it's exciting when that happens, when the record builds into something you didn't expect. But when you go into the studio with an orchestra, you're not going to add a guitar solo, you're not going to add any rhythm stuff to it afterwards.

You haven't pre-recorded any rhythm to a click beforehand, just an orchestral performance. You have to have a pretty good idea of what it's going to sound like. I mean, that's my job as the conductor and arranger of it to do that. And also, you only have three hours to record three songs. So you just go, let's do the first one. We spent the longest amount of time on the first song, which was not this song, actually, wasn't the one we released.

In fact, we've entered into a pact not to tell anybody what the other songs are. Okay. One of the other ones was the favorite, and we spent, I don't know, two hours on it, and then we got this one down in two takes. The other one, the third song, was more of a personal one for Justin,

that, again, literally just took a couple of takes. Then we were out there. Of course, the vocals, yeah, they make a difference. Big, big difference. In this case, obviously, Justin's scene on it, just transformed it from being, an orchestral backing track into a phenomenal vocal performance. Yeah, you're 100% correct there.

The first one is always the longest. The musicians have to get settled in, get into the groove. Then once they are, usually it's just smooth going from there. Yeah, and everyone relaxes up that first one certainly can as well. Yes, yes, exactly. I've had opportunities to work with musicians from the Nashville Symphony and same there. So it happens with the best of them.

Brilliant, yeah. Was that like solo stuff? Yeah, it was a song that I recorded that had a full band. Then I wanted the texture of a symphony behind it. So I used different pieces from the Nashville Symphony to fill it all in. That's why I asked you if it went to another level, because with using these people, the way they put their feelings and emotions behind the strings of what they played, it took that song to a completely different level

than we thought it would go. Yeah, that happens if you've laid down a rhythm track and then you hear the orchestra coming on top. Yeah, and that's exactly what we did with that song. Obviously, with me, it's a bridge I cross. I've already arranged the music. Sometimes I've arranged a rhythm and the strings, brass and woodwinds, so that you could record it,

and sometimes we do, all at the same time, which is thrilling when you do that. Yeah, you're so right. There's no better feeling than that. You've got to have somewhere like Air Studios in London, Air Studio number one, where they have separation booths for the drums and guitars. So you don't get drums all over your string microphones, that sort of thing. Yeah, you definitely don't want that instrument bleed on separate tracks.

Now, what you do want, funnily enough, is bleed from the brass and woodwinds onto your strings. Yes, that adds a great texture to it, for sure. Exactly, to give you a nice fat sound. Absolutely. Now, you've done a lot of great things. You've evolved over the years. You started out with a band and it was part of a TV show. Can you expand on that some?

Yeah, well, I had my first hit when I was 23, which I thought was too old because I came into the business when I was like 17, 18, desperate to learn, teach myself to orchestrate and produce. Anna was writing songs. I got signed as an artist, but I spent five years, I mean, a few near-neux. misses, but not actually having a proper hit. And it was only when I was 22, 23, that the Wombles came along. And it was just the job I was doing, you know, would I please write a TV theme? And I just said, why don't I write you a song? And then they said, great. And how much would you like?

You know, we're off of you 200 pounds. And I could have really done with that 200 pounds, because I had tears in my jeans before it was fashionable. Yeah, I know that feeling, sure. And but I turned down the 200. I said, look, I'd much rather have the rights, the character rights, to make a band or just record. I didn't think I was even going to make a band. Because I was so much in need of a hit financially, I worked very hard to make it a hit. And that's why my first hit was wearing a very strange furry costume made by my mother. And I'd be known as Mr. Womble ever since, even though that was only two years of my life, really.

But it kind of got me on the road to being accepted as someone who can make a hit. Yeah, that's the big thing. Once you get that first hit record and people see that you can write and do things like that, the perception grows, you evolve, and then things can just take off from that point moving forward. Indeed. And my biggest problem was then to get people to take me seriously. I mean, oddly, to start with, I mean, I was signed to CBS records with the Wombles. I couldn't get them to take the Wombles seriously, which is in itself almost an oxymoron.

How can you take a Womble seriously? The whole point is that you don't, and a lot of people don't realize that you can be quite a serious musician, but still have a sense of humour. Yes, exactly. You know, I'm sure Mozart, I'm not putting myself on his level, but I'm sure Mozart used to, if he'd had a gorilla outfit, I'm sure he would have worn it quite a lot. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, look at the 60s. We had the monkeys and bands like that. Yeah. They were serious musicians, yet they were put together for a TV show band. Yeah. But I mean, then I wanted to be something other than a bubblegum kind of artist.

I actually did get the chance to do that in other countries where the one was work famous. So, for example, sadly not, I didn't break through in the States, but Germany, Austria, Austria, Switzerland, you know, Holland, most of the, European countries, I should say, Australia, South Africa. A lot of places I was able, as a non-wamble, I think people looking back on it might call it Prog Rock, but I never called it that. Prog Rock was happening at the time, but I was kind of more, I just happened to use an orchestra

because I was in love with writing for the orchestra, and it just happened to be that way. That makes sense. So by doing that, did that allow you to use the orchestra in your music moving forward? Yeah, well, I mean, I use a lot of orchestral, I put a lot of orchestra on the Wombles Records. There were four albums, so about 50 songs.

I had Fred Astaire one. We had Minueto Aligretto, which was a piece of Mozart that I converted into a song. So I used the orchestra, it was my passion. Yeah, when I became a free agent, as it were, and I was no longer wearing my furry outfit, I could be Mike Bat, the singer-writer, and I made an album called Schizophrenia, which did really well. I mean, so hundreds of thousands of albums all around, you know, those territories I just mentioned.

Second album called Tarot Suite, about the tarot cards. I'm not into the occult, but I was extremely interested by it. It can be interested by it without being, you know, buying particularly into it. I did learn to sort of read the tarot cards, but just for fun. really. I've never claimed to have any particular psychic powers, you know. I think that's great. It's just another way of evolving and immersing yourself into something that's a little different. And from that, you never know how it's going to change your attitude, how you may look at things, and it can definitely affect the music that you make because of it.

Exactly. I find, I don't know, I mean, I was sucked into classical music about the same time in 1962. by Schubert's Symphony, Shubis' Ninth Symphony, which came in a leaflet, on a leaflet, through the door, one of those cheap record clubs. The age of 12, I couldn't really even afford to adjoin that,

but I did. So I was hit. I was just hit out of the park by that. And just that was happening, the Beatles started putting out singles. Like, hang on the minute. No, this is what I wanted to do. So I constantly had this symphonic side,

and the rock and roll side, and I just always use, might even sound a bit pretentious, but it's like an artist's color palette. There is all those colors, as you just described it. You know, all those different ways you can do something. And I just like to use all of them. So if I'd fancy putting an oboe on the intro of a song, I will. And if I don't, I won't.

It's a bit like that. But you can turn a lot of people off. Let's say I want to do a serious classical piece, which I've done a few, sweets when I've done films, like a symphonic suite to Watshiftown, for example, after the song I wrote for Washington, which was Bright Eyes. And that was number one for Art Garfunkel, which is probably why he agreed to be on my other album,

the later one, which was The Hunting of the Snark. But, you know, we became friends and we trusted each other. I think that's a lot of, that's probably all, well, most of what you need as an artist and producer. And I kind of lost my place now. I can't remember what question I was answering. And it would be really good if you had forgotten as well, sadly. That's okay.

It's just conversation that we're happening, so you covered a lot of good things there. Yeah, yeah, it's out there in an ether somewhere. Now, hopefully all your listeners will have forgotten a question as well. Well, the beauty of it is that you gave a good little story there, and I think they're going to love it. So what are the plans for the future anymore? coming? What do you see coming? Well, it's an unspoken thought about doing more with Justin. Of course, we'd love to. But we'd probably, in this case, need a record company to come along

and say, look, we'll finance it. Because, you know, three songs is sort of doable. But doing the whole album, it's a big undertaking. And record companies really aren't chancing their arms these days, because they're making plenty of money by sitting back and letting the streaming money come flowing in. And that people like me who make records that often do require orchestras. And yeah, I can do a lot at home with samples. And I'm in my little room now. If I just swing the screen, you can see my, that's where I do my sort of basically working stuff out. Yeah, that's great equipment. So are you using it for anything new? I'm right in the middle of a symphonic project at the moment. In fact, I've even got a thing called on YouTube, which I call

Diary of a Symphony and I've done three episodes so far so anyone can dial up mic bat diary of a symphony episodes one two and three and I'm just preparing it really I'm just about 30 bars into the first movement and I say in one of the one of the episodes I spent most of my life trying not to be pretentious but now I decided to throw in the towel and if you can't beat them join them I might as well have a moment of pretentiousness it was all about whether you call it a symphony or not because you know I just called it some name like reflections on a frozen piece of glass or something. No one would have said anything, but I'm actually going to call it Symphony No. 9 because I'm decided not to write the first eight, because everyone's ninth symphony is always the best. So why you waste time with the first eight

is my jig on that? Yeah, I love it. Great thought process. Yeah. You know, maybe I'll do number eight after I do number nine. Yeah, why not? Which might guarantee me a long life because it means I've got to get to number one. Yeah, I like that. Job security. So it sounds like you have a lot of good things planned, a lot of good things to do, and things seem to be going very well.

Well, they're certainly busy, that's for sure. And to complete your question, which I think I now remember, which was, were we going to do more with Justin and me, the answer is that I would think it would be very strange probably if we didn't. But not my how well this one does. I mean, it's been brilliantly received. But it's not what people are getting into the charts at the moment. You know, it's a very unique record.

So let's hope there are lots of imaginative people out there who think, well, we don't care about that. We're just going to go and get it, you know. Yeah, I get that. However, the difference between today and in the past with the labels is you don't need them as much because you get so many different platforms. you can sell it off from. And even though the deep pockets aren't there to promote it,

it's a completely different world socially. So with the Spotify's and Apple and all those platforms, people don't need to hear that song six times a day at radio to like it. They can find it, like it, download it. That's right. It's exactly right. I think there are things about the modern world

where so much choice is happening that people can get through. And yet the main enemy is all the white noise. or the background radiation of the thousands and millions of other people and tracks are being put up. And now let's not even get all that I'll touch on, but let's not get into a deep one about AI, because that's just going to blow us out of the water if we're not careful. Yeah, I agree, although I don't believe people are going to fall in love with AI performances.

But to touch on it lightly, I had a friend of mine that's a publisher here in Nashville. A song was pitched to him. He listened to it. Then he told a songwriter, I kind of like the song I do like the singer better and the singer was AI. Really? Yeah. He should just give him in my name

and said, oh, Fred Vince or something. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I think we're all a bit nervous about it. I'd like to think, I did it early on, about a year ago. I asked AI to write, didn't tell them who I was because they don't know when he dial up, do they? And I said, can you write a song lyric

in the style of Mike Bat about, and then I I gave him a couple of subjects. And they came back with utter piffle, as we were saying in English. It kind of rhymed, and it was kind of a bit like me, but it wasn't me. And so I'm hoping that that's about as near as they'll ever get. Yeah, me too. You know. The way I look at it is when you take the creativity out of it, you've lost the heart and the soul of the music.

Yeah. And I think there's going to have to be some sort of label that we can put on our work that says, I did this on my own, you know, I didn't have, this is not aided piece of music, you know. While I'm on, by the way, I don't know, I hope you won't mind if I mentioned, I've got a book out. I know that usually when one goes on a TV chat show or a radio interview like this, one has something to promote. And of course, we're here to talk about the Justin record, Justin and my record, life in a northern town. but I've just released my memoir for people who know me, as I'm not that known particularly in the States, for example.

Oh, book, that's great to hear. You'd be surprised who knows you, you're known worldwide. Plus, I have a lot of listeners in the UK that will hear this too. It's a whole life story, and it's about how I took my family around the world in a yacht. We went through the Panama Canal up to Los Angeles, over to Sydney, so it's circumnavigated the globe. Anyway, the book, it's all about my music adventures and so on, people I've worked with, and Paul McCartney, can make dinner and all that kind of stuff.

Anyway, it's called The Closed Thing to Crazy. Nice title. It's the title of a song I wrote for a lady called Katie Melua, who had a lot of hits over here on my label. Okay. Can you tell us where we can find it? And so the closest thing to crazy is, I don't know whether you'd get it on Amazon over there. probably it'd have to be Amazon.co.com.

If anybody was curious. I'm sure a lot of them will be. Also, do you have a website where people can find you and get more information? Yeah, that's nice of you to ask. Well, my website is micbatt.com, and the bat is with two T's. So, M-I-K-E-B-A-D-T-com.

And it's quite comprehensive. It's got a project section that you click on, and it gives you loads of stuff about the things I've done. That's great to know. I'm sure a lot of people will check it out. Now, about your book, will they be able to buy the book from your website as well? Well, actually, we are offering signed copies from the website, yes. Hard copy. And it's actually about to come out in paperback. So if they can't, well, anyone can get it from micbac.com.

I'm sure, I know that Amazon.comco.uk have got it, but whether they would have it in the state, or, I mean, I've got quite a big following in, say, Germany, Austria, Switzerland. I don't even know whether it's on that Amazon. I never quite know how the Amazon are linked around the world, but hopefully anybody who's that interested might be able to find it. But as you say, yeah, ultimately, they'll just go on my website. We'll send them a copy. That's great to hear.

So this has been great, great conversation, great information. I really enjoyed this conversation, and thanks for joining us today. you too, Tony. It's been really, really great. Yes, I've enjoyed it. Thanks again. Thanks for joining us today. We hope you enjoyed the show. This has been a Tony Mantor production. For more information, contact media at plateaumusic.com.