It′s getting dark again
And I'm feeling good again
The night it comforts me like wine
And it takes me out again
To look for you my friend
There were the bright big city lights shine
And I wander through the sky
I hold my head up high
And I meet you ′round the bend
And that old feeling is back
Breaks my heart and it breaks my neck
Don't wanna get it to an end
These lines, yes the whole song “It´s getting dark again“ by THE BATES is the soundtrack of countless evenings and nights. Yesterday, today, and hopefully for a few more years in the future.
I don’t even remember exactly how I came to know THE BATES. It must have been before “Billie Jean,” as I saw the band not only at several concerts in Potsdam's Lindenpark but also in Berlin. Definitely at the “Loft,” I think also at “Trash.” I also believe they played at the “Knaack Club.” Didn’t they also perform at the legendary “Eimer” (now a hostel/hotel by Easyjet, what an irony of fate)? It was a long time ago.
I also remember meeting Zimbl, The Bates, and their entourage at the Milchbar in Kreuzberg. We were all far from sober. Unfortunately, the charismatic Zimbl turned too much to alcohol, and that’s how it ended for THE BATES. Attempts to get back on his feet solo were difficult, and Zimbl unfortunately remained too loyal to alcohol. It went as it had to...
What remains is the music that the band released and performed for 14 years. What remains are also the feelings that the music evoked and still evokes in me. After all these years. I nostalgically think back to the time when I saw the band live. I also recognize (once again) what great music the band wrote and especially the voice and charisma that Zimbl had. There hasn’t been a band since that made music even remotely similar and had a similar effect on me. This also explains why there are still many people like me who saw the band live and love the music, but also people who are now listening to the music and find it great.
After a 3-CD set titled “A tribute to Zimbl - Rocking on Heaven´s Door” was released in 2006, today the LP (as well as the digital version) with the grand title “What you leave behind - A Tribute to The Bates” is being released. If Zimbl were still alive, he would have turned 60 today.
”What you leave behind - A Tribute to the Bates” is not just a tribute album (exclusively with original compositions by THE BATES), it is more a testament to the influence the band had and still has across a variety of genres. There are Bloodsucking Zombies from outer Space, who originally came from Psychobilly, or Wilde Zeiten, a Deutschpunk band, or The Prozacs, a punk band from the USA.
Alongside this diversity, former band members are also musically represented, such as Klube with Sperm8 (background vocals), Armin with Trashkids (guitar), or Reb.
Accordingly, the album is varied.
THE BATES were a formative band and still shape the scene.
A person like Zimbl lived rock’n’roll with every fiber of his body and soul. He is surely sitting on a cloud now, watching the mess we make from above. Zimbl, when we look up to the clouds, we think of you and what you left us. Thank you!
(Of course, I don’t want to overlook the other band members, as without them, THE BATES would never have existed in this unique form).
