Pigeon Spins Featuring an Interview with The Bateleurs

The Bateleurs - A Light In The Darkness

The Bateleurs return with the new album “A Light In The Darkness”. After the success of the debut record “The Sun In The Tenth House” the band is paving the way to secure their place as one of the most promising acts on the Blues Rock scene.

The band underwent a major lineup change, with the departure of guitarist Marco Reis and the recruitment of Ricardo Galrão to fill in the position. His distinctive style brought a new dimension to their sound, and it’s well showcased on the new recordings.

The album was recorded in January/February 2025, with sessions divided into three different studios, always looking for the best features in each one to fulfill the band’s vision. Produced by the band and mixed by bassist Ricardo Dikk, top notch engineers were brought to precisely capture the full potential of the songs, and every track was recorded without the use of modern correction technology; no digital quantization, no Autotune, no extensive editing, just raw and high energy performances by the band members.

Special guests were added to further develop the arrangements: Tiago Maia played slide guitar, Nuno Louro on Hammond Organ, João Colaço on the drums for two songs, and Ruben Monteiro (Irish Whistle) and Niklos Pavliidis (Violin) on a special bonus track available on CD only.

The Bateleurs played recently the opening slot for the Lisbon show of the Californians Dirty Honey, with extremely favorable press coverage of the event. The set mainly composed of the new material totally swept the audience off their feet, and thoroughly impressed the present media.

Dive deep into this pool of sonic exploration, swamp mud filled riffs, high soaring laments of human experience, thunderous drums from the bottom of the soul, and celebrate the ever changing, but everlasting ritual of the Blues and Rock’n’Roll…

Interview with The Bateleurs

(•)> What inspired the title A Light In The Darkness and how does it reflect the themes of the new album?

The whole concept of this record revolves around the idea that when things seem grim, we can always find something to guide us to a better place. We were very keen on the image of the lighthouse, which is the name of the central track of the record, and the title is simply a variation of that concept. All songs are in some way related to that thought, that no matter how bad things look, there’s always a way to fix them and be in peace.

(•)> How did the lineup change, with Ricardo Galrão joining the band, influence the evolution of your sound?

Ricardo is a completely different type of guitarist than our former Marco Reis. Marco was more Blues-inclined; he was the one that introduced slide guitar elements in our sound, and his sonic approach was more in line with those influences. Galrão is more into Classic Rock’n’Roll sound, his aesthetics are grittier, and it was really surprising to see how he blended his ideas with our sound. In addition, he’s a wonderful guy to work with. Everything went extremely smoothly, and the results couldn’t be better. We are all extremely satisfied.

(•)> Can you share more about the recording process across the three studios and how that contributed to the album’s raw energy?

We started with a two-day session at Canoa Studios, which is the studio we always use for our recordings. The main room is huge and has an amazing sound. There’s no digital reverb on the drums, that’s all the room. We always work with Nelson Canoa, the owner, chief engineer and one of the best pair of ears on the county because he really knows how to get that old school sound that we love and are always trying to achieve. He also was the mastering engineer of the record.

Next, we went to Dynamix Studios, home of Malware Productions of our dear friend David Jeronimo. There we have an amazing collection of vintage amps and cabs, paired with high end preamps and mics. Guitar overdubs and acoustic guitars were done there. Afterwards we went to Estudio Vale de Lobos, where we can find one of the best-preserved Hammond B3 organ with matching Leslie rotary speaker. This is an amazing instrument from the 70s with all the mojo you can get, and masterfully recorded by Nuno Simões, the resident engineer who can capture all the nuances of the instrument with extreme detail. In sum, each studio gave us exactly what we needed for each phase of the production.

(•)> Why was it important for you to record without digital correction tools like quantization or Autotune?

Technology kills the feeling, and that’s easy to prove: all the records that are the utmost influences for us were done without any digital tech, and those works stand the test of time and are still the main blueprints everyone in this genre uses as guidelines. Since day one we believe that we should do music like they did back then; we just grab the gear and hit with all we have.

This doesn’t mean we settle for the first or second takes, we work hard and give lots of attention to details and arrangements. We take chances and improvise, and we don’t mind with throwing takes in the thrash, we just focus hard and play it again until everything is right. We’re not looking for perfection in technical terms, but we’re always aiming to get the most intense and felt performance on every song.

(•)> What was the creative vision behind producing the album yourselves and having bassist Ricardo Dikk handle the mix?

On this record from the beginning we were aiming to grow our sound, in terms of new arrangement elements. On our other works we tried to keep things rawer, maintaining the basic elements we have when we play live; we’ve tried to have the maximum power with minimum, sometimes no overdubs at all. This time we wanted to keep that path in some songs, and expand in others, always keeping in mind that the main elements of the arrangement were of our basic format.

We’ve done more guitar overdubs, a lot of additional vocals, percussion, and especially the Hammond organ. It was paramount to achieve our sonic goals on this record. I (Ricardo Dikk) have already mixed our EP and assisted on the first album. This time, leveraging the knowledge I gathered in recent years and the upgrades I’ve done on my studio, I felt confident I could get the songs sounding as I envisioned them. Everything went extremely well, and we’ve been receiving great compliments on the record’s sound, so I couldn’t be prouder.

(•)> How did your collaborations with special guests such as Tiago Maia, Nuno Louro, and Ruben Monteiro shape the final sound?

Tiago is a long-time friend of ours that has already been playing with us in other projects, and even played with The Bateleurs in some concerts; he’s a kind of “honorary Bateleur”. We wanted to have him on record for some time, and this time we had the perfect song for him to showcase his amazing slide guitar skills, and it turned out absolutely perfect.

Nuno Louro is another old friend, we’ve played together dozens of gigs with him on other contexts, and when we decided that we would be recording real Hammond organ on this record, he was our first choice. He has a lot of experience playing the organ, which is a difficult “animal” to tame, and he understands how it should fit in our genre. He played beautifully in four songs and really elevated them to new grounds. Ruben Monteiro is a very good friend of ours and a specialist in ethnic instruments. He plays an enormous multitude of them with great proficiency. We already worked together on a record of his band Albaluna, and he was the obvious choice when we needed some celtic elements on the last track.

Overall, each one of them contributed with their specialist skills exactly where we needed them, and they brought the arrangements to their very best. We are extremely lucky to have such talented friends.

(•)> What can fans expect from the special bonus track available exclusively on the CD edition?

Before the Morning is done is a song written in a moment of grief, and it was meant to be an aid in coping with the loss of someone very dear. It’s completely distanced from the overall sound of the record on purpose, because we wanted to invoke the feeling of times long past, when life was simpler and time seemed eternal.

We did a similar exercise on our first record, ending the album with an acoustic folk piece, but that time the subject was a lot lighter, although also nostalgic. Hopefully listeners will find solace in this song if they are experiencing a similar moment in their lives.

(•)> How did it feel to open for Dirty Honey in Lisbon, and how did the audience respond to your new material?

Doing the opening for the Dirty Honey show in Lisbon was an amazing opportunity. The audience was very receptive to our sound, and all the stars aligned to make that night absolutely perfect. Despite being the opening act, we had all the tech conditions to present our material with maximum force, with amazing sound and light. We hit them hard and we hit them good.

People’s jaws were on the floor, press quotes went sky high, and the merchandising was flying off the shelves. We couldn’t ask for a better turnout. Folks reacted extremely well to the whole set, but it was evident that the new songs made them instant fans. We have to give a huge thank you to the promoters (House of Fun), all the LAV staff and to all with Dirty Honey for letting us and the crowd have a night to remember.

(•)> What makes the release concert at the Coliseu Club a special milestone for The Bateleurs?

We wanted to set up a very special event, so we went to one of the most iconic venues in Lisbon, Coliseu Do Recreios, which has a new room with the capacity we desired for this purpose. The goal was to do something we haven’t done before, which was to have an extended band on stage. This way we could translate some of the more complex arrangements of the record to the live situation, and it was marvelous to see how the songs evolved to their maximum artistic expression.

We had a lot of friends helping us with this, João Colaço and Nuno Louro, who already worked on the sessions at the studio, followed by Gulherme Marinho on guitar, and Patricia Silveira and Patricia Antunes on backing vocals. We were nine musicians on stage, and we felt like on cloud nine the whole night. The audience present there can testify that it was an absolutely banger of a show, the room was almost sold out, and we brought home some memories that will be with us forever. Now, the goal next time, is to do even better, just wait for it.

(•)> How do you see A Light In The Darkness building on the foundation you set with The Sun In The Tenth House?

TSOTTH was a difficult record to give birth to; the work was interrupted when we were with full momentum during the Covid pandemic in 2020, and we went through times of great uncertainty. Somehow that setback made us write new songs that probably wouldn’t exist if that situation hadn’t happened, and in the end, we feel the record is better and stronger because of it. Anyway, everything was postponed and the record didn’t see the light of day until May 2022.

ALITD was a completely different experience; the whole record was done in under two months, and it is way more focused on pure instinct. We didn’t have the time to chew on song for months, and everything still feels fresh for us. We think that fans that listened to the first record can notice a leap forward in this new direction.

The Bateleurs definitely are not a mind-driven band; instead, we are all bone and sinew, no fireworks or gimmicks, just truth straight from the heart.

(•)> What drives The Bateleurs to continue exploring and reinventing the traditions of Blues and Rock’n’Roll?

Fortunately, this genre is fertile for new approaches, and its evolution is always happening in different directions. We like to steer away from some cliches, be it in arrangements or song structure, and keep defying stereotypes. We like to include elements from other styles, especially from Soul and R&B music, but also some ethnic elements too, exploring a lot of the Arabic legacy of our home country.

Ultimately, we know that we’ll never sound like an American band born and raised in Mississippi, so we don’t even try. We borrow that aesthetics we love and combine them with our own seasonings and spices, always trying to find our unique voice without copying anyone.

(•)> With a new album, label support, and tours planned for 2026, what’s next for the band’s journey?

The main goal is to expand and bring The Bateleurs to play out of the Iberian Peninsula. We’re pretty much consolidated in Spain and Portugal, so we need to get more folks in other countries to hear us play live. Contacts are being made as we speak for this to happen, and hopefully we’ll have very good news soon. Also, we’re already working on the successor of ALITD, and we plan to release it later in 2026.

(•)> That's all, Folks! Check out The Bateleurs on the Pigeon Spins Playlist