Batt Lion assembles a musical menagerie

March 8, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

Bands often wear their influences on their sleeves; however, local act Batt Lion — Eric Tharp (bass), Kenny Halbert (vocals, guitar), Brandon “The Breeze” Dodds (drums) and Thomas Sabatini (guitar) — has taken the notion to a new level. In fact, metaphorically speaking, this foursome’s sleeve actually would be a patchwork quilt of influences ranging from ’70s metal to ’90s grunge and ’00s hard core.

Think Mars Volta and you’re sort of in the ballpark.

“We’ve taken everything that’s ever influenced us and tried to mix it into one song,” said Youngstown resident Tharp, a 2003 Boardman High School graduate. “We’ve taken metal and pop-punk and psychedelic music and noise music and just made it into one genre that we call just rock ’n’ roll. It’s our style, and it doesn’t really fall into any one cat- egory. Every song has multiple different parts, and it’ll start with a metal riff, bleed into a pop-punk part, and then it’ll go into psychedelic and back into the metal riff. And that’s one song.”

How the members of Batt Lion know they’re doing something right is the fact Tharp said so far the quartet hasn’t been compared to anyone. At least that was the sentiment with the band’s debut EP, “Casual War,” which came out in December. Even though the group was formed more than a year ago, it took the musicians that long to create its complicated material, which includes the epic “That Was Not My Voice” and “Crisis Under.”

Up next is a 7-inch recording in May and more local shows, including one tonight at Cedars. Considering its eclectic nature, how exactly does Batt Lion fit into the Northeast Ohio music scene?

“There isn’t much of a music scene,” Tharp said, laughing. “The only thing that makes us fit in is that we’re heavy, which fits into the heavy vibe that’s popular around here, I guess. I mean, there’s not a whole bunch of local Youngstown bands anymore. The scene has dwindled a lot in the past few years.”

To back up his point, Tharp said he speaks from experience. Back in December, the quartet was booking a show at Cedars; however, pegging an opener or two proved difficult. The list of possibilities from the venue included a dozen bands, and that was it. Tharp said the diminishing scene is quite different from what he experienced a few years ago when he was a member of popular local bands such as Minkus, The Devotees and The Resistance.

This leads us back to Batt Lion, with this Youngstown music veteran just happy to play out. What about any dreams of stardom?

“Every band is the next step further to being more talented and learning my instrument better, crafting songs that aren’t like anything else,” Tharp said. “Why is there any reason to give up? Music is an entertaining thing to do. I like to think that whatever we’re writing is something important — otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it. The songs we write are something I’ve never done before, and I like the challenge.”