2020 just got Better... by Bitter Defeat!

Locals Bitter Defeat released their third single, ‘Better’, on Tuesday, along with the band’s second video. Better – a follow up to the song ‘Long Lash’, released in October – was one of several tracks recorded over a two-day session at Hamilton’s The Porch Studio by long-time The Datsuns sound engineer Scott Newth. Better is a re-recording of a song first released by Bitter Defeat on Bandcamp in January 2017, when still a solo lo-fi recording project of Rob Shirlow. This version, however, gets the full band treatment, who have been together since early-2018.

Rob Shirlow, the band’s main songwriter, says “Better is a happy song about crappy things ending. More specifically, relationships and things in your life that are totally toxic, but for some reason you don’t see it or don’t want to see it, or just can’t imagine that this thing which you think you really love or is important to you is actually really bad for you and messing you up and then it ends. The joy that comes from being released from such awful situations can be quite immense, and that’s what this song is about, really. It’s not about one specific relationship, more a theme of past experiences, some work situations of the past, social groups or ‘friends’ you realise were just truly awful things in your life... when they end, the big breath out and ‘Oh my god what was I thinking!?’ moments.”

The video, made by Kat Waswo of WAZKAT Productions, was filmed at three locations around Hamilton, including a couple of playgrounds and Hamilton Lake. “It’s basically us having a big old mess around outdoors, being very happy and doing mildly odd things for middle aged people”. Keen viewers will also notice a cameo appearance from Phil Grey, manager of Free FM and The HUM.

The song is available though Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple, and lots of other places besides!
Bandcamp: https://bitterdefeat.bandcamp.com/track/better
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/0Shs9YUJI7cp8zq8gvIrkT
Apple: https://music.apple.com/nz/album/better-single/1545715823