B.N.I. (Batteries not Included)

B.N.I. Batteries not included are a ska - punk Maltese band, also influenced by rock and reggae Their debut album Ilsien Pajjiżi (Native Tongue) features the first ever punk tracks in Maltese: "L-Imġissem" and "Qrunha f’Butha".[1]

Components

  • Malcolm 'Mammal' Dalli - bass + vocalist
  • Miguel 'Kinnie' Debattista - guitar + vocalist
  • Steve 'Lombardo' Attard - drums

Biography

Batteries Not Included have been around since 1993 or so. The band started off after Miguel and Malcolm came across a live version of Sham 69's "If the Kids are United", and decided to cover it, being impressed by the rawness and energy of the song's style.

From then on, driven solely by a strong drive for creating fun, fast and loud music that could be said to be closer to a crossbreed between old and recent Punk than anything else, the band has been going steady.

B.N.I.'s music reflects a certain angst that is peculiarly Maltese, and has a musical and lyrical content that is not too serious or politically oriented. On the other hand, the band has tried to tackle (in its own way) the reality of everyday situations.

The well organised but wild gigs at Dempsey’s Bar, and the opening of The Edge rock bar in Buġibba helped them (and a number of other bands) gain further energy, which they let loose in the recording of their first album entitled Native Tongue / Ilsien Pajjizi (1999). Apart from the release of this album, and the release of a demo cassette entitled Unsolved (1994), the band’s main achievement was one small innovation which is still gaining ground in the musical interests of today’s Maltese punk bands: punk rock with Maltese-language lyrics. Apart from the re-release of the Native Tongue / Ilsien Pajjizi album by Malta-based Reciprocal Records, B.N.I. have released a second album by the title of Force Majeur, in which they still put a strong emphasis on their crossover style punk while fusing it with various ska and reggae elements. Recorded during April 2004 at Temple Studios and released four months later, this album gives off something of a more centred and honed style of punk, thanks also to the arrival of John Doe' as the band's new drummer.

The latest product of B.N.I.'s tireless efforts in the scene is their third album aptly named On and On…, which sports the rawness and energy of their first album mixed with the more polished song-writing style of Force Majeur. Recorded during June 2006 at Temple Studios, On and on… is as loud as it gets, with reggae and ska still plainly leaving their influence on the band. This third album was released on 1 December 2006. Since its release, Steve ‘Lombardo’ Attard is the band's new, hard-hitting drummer.

Influences

Rancid, Nofx, Misfits, Johnny Cash, The Police, Ramones, Offspring, Green Day.

Discography

Ilsien Pajjiżi (Native Tongue)
  1. What Can I Do?
  2. Conflicts
  3. Gone Away (Zony)
  4. L-Imġissem
  5. Belief
  6. Red & Blue
  7. Decide
  8. Party People
  9. Qrunha F'Butha
  10. Feuz
  11. Beer
  12. O.D.
  13. Punk
Force Majeur
  1. Byproduct of Today
  2. Civilization
  3. My Tomorrow
  4. A Day Out
  5. Silence
  6. Hermit
  7. Black Gold
  8. Inertia
  9. Promises
  10. Looking Up
On And On...
  1. Before The Flame Dies
  2. Shadows
  3. Second Thoughts
  4. Sine Qua Non
  5. Play Dead
  6. You Ought to Know
  7. Cure
  8. The Portrait
  9. Free Agent
  10. Stop / Start
  11. Loud & Clear

Quotes

Joseph J Formosa (December 2006). "Loud and clear!". Tune In. p. 62. Batteries Not Included are definitely to be classified amongst one of the finest local rock bands of the past decade.

Mario Vella (5 November 2006). "the sound and the fury (interview with B.N.I.)". Manic (38). "We always played music for music's sake" (said by Miguel Debattista)

Wayne Falsk (14 July 1999). "Wayne Flask interviews Maltese punk band Batteries Not Included on their album, ideas and the future". The Malta Independent. “we also choose "Ilsien Pajjiżi/Native Tongue" because we have recorded songs in Maltese, and, up to now, we are the only ones to have done so.”

"Batteries Not Included". Gwida mużika lokali (in Maltese). 20 March. p. 11. Check date values in: |date= (help)

Matt (July 2007). "On and on... Batteries not included". Batteries Not Included. Inspired by hearing a live version of Sham 69's "If The Kids Are United" away back in 1993, BNI have battled on despite the obvious obstacle on living on a group of islands with a population a fraction of that of New Zealand..

Notes

  1. ↑ Falsk, Wayne (14 July 1999). "interview with Batteries Not Included". The Malta Independent. 
Interview to Miguel Debattista, Malta Today, 2017 
https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/arts/music/75049/never_mind_the_digital_spittle_heres_bni__miguel_debattista#.W7psF-k680M (newspaper's article)
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