The Exbats

The Exbats started in 2009, when Inez McLain got her first drum kit at ten and her father Kenny, who had only picked up the guitar in his forties, decided the living room needed a band. The name refers to hens retired from battery farms, which suits a group that treats old rock and roll as something worth rescuing. The family moved from Portland to a remote corner of the Navajo Nation and finally to Bisbee, Arizona, and along the way they built a sound from 60s girl-group melody, first-wave punk economy and an unapologetic devotion to the three-minute single, releasing records on Burger and Goner. Their 2026 album My Dinner With Crumar was recorded in Lawrence, Kansas with Caufield Schnug of Sweeping Promises. It takes its name from a mid-70s Italian string synth the band found in the studio's drum room and liked enough to buy one for home. The lineup has since grown to six, but the father-daughter core still sets the terms: songs that are funny, sharp and meant to be played too loud.