The Exbats

The Exbats, featuring drummer and singer Inez McLain alongside her father Ken on guitar, deliver tracks built around straightforward pop hooks, lean arrangements drawn from early punk, and a playful wit that touches on media obsessions, romantic setbacks, and household dynamics. After sharing several tracks digitally, their opening full-length release, the 2016 album A Guide to the Health Issues Affecting Rescue Hens, drew considerable notice. Favorable coverage met the raw urgency of 2019’s E Is for Exbats, while Now Where Were We in 2021, shaped by 1960s pop influences, and Song Machine in 2023, nodding to early-to-mid-1970s radio fare, brought a refined gloss that left their drive and levity intact.

The group’s origins trace to 2009 in Portland, Oregon, where the McLain household resided. Longtime rock enthusiasts Ken and his spouse raised Inez, whose name derives from a Monkees nickname for Mike Nesmith, “Papa Nez,” reflecting her parents’ fondness for the Prefab Four. Citing the Ramones and Blondie among his touchstones, Ken started composing material as Inez pounded away on drums; soon satisfied with the outcome, they took the songs public. Initially called the Numbats, the project issued four digital singles between April 2012 and March 2013. Relocating from Portland to Pinon, Arizona, in 2014, the McLains rebranded as the Exbats and resumed occasional online single drops.

After building a local audience around Tucson, the pair entered the studio in 2017 for their debut long-form effort, the cassette A Guide to the Health Issues Affecting Rescue Hens (“exbats” denotes mistreated chickens; Inez’s search for the term surfaced the book that became the title). The tape garnered strong notices and expanded their following. Recording engineer and musician Matt Rendon, who captured and mixed the sessions, contributed bass parts and eventually joined as the official bassist.

January 2018 brought the second cassette I Got the Hots for Charlie Watts, followed in February 2019 by the vinyl compilation E Is for Exbats, which gathered highlights from the earlier tapes plus a fresh take on “Are We Dead Yet.” Their 2020 album Kicks, Hits and Fits reflected greater polish through cleaner production and expanded arrangements, while introducing bassist Bobby Carlson, Jr., who replaced Matt Rendon; Rendon nonetheless handled engineering and added guitar and keyboards. The Exbats debuted on Goner Records with 2021’s Now Where Were We, which leaned into their affection for 1960s pop and especially the Mamas & the Papas. Continuing that backward glance, 2023’s Song Machine drew from radio-friendly early-to-mid-1970s pop and featured the singles “Riding with Paul” and “Like It Like I Do.”