No, “The Sand Bats of Manark IV” (3:27) is not a long lost ST:TOS episode but the next installment of my ongoing “CAE – Curiosities from the Attic” recording project.
The songs for the project are not being released in any specific running order, just as they are completed. Once I feel I have enough tracks to form an “album,” I’ll work on a running order to help them form a cohesive collection. Time will tell.
The Sand Bats of Manark IV
“Sand Bats,” made up of multiple bass and guitar tracks, is another instrumental piece. I lean towards instrumentals (if you heard my singing voice, you’d lean real hard that way, too) as they are less restrictive than lyrical works in the images and feelings they can evoke.
the not-so elusive Hamhose
The song started out as a fragment entitled “Elusive Hamhose,” as I was hunting Freakies premiums around the time that it was first conceived. I changed the name to “The Sand Bats of Manark IV” halfway through recording the song.
The title comes from “The Empath;” the twelfth episode from the third season of the original Star Trek television series, which aired December 6, 1968:
Captain James T. Kirk: “Be careful.”
Dr. McCoy: “Why, she seems harmless enough.”
Mr. Spock: “The sand bats of Manark IV appear to be inanimate rock crystal, Doctor, until they attack.”
I liked the creature name so much I saved it in my list of future song titles, just waiting for the appropriate piece to appear. This song seemed a decent fit, despite the music’s lack of starry or trek-y content. I even worked a tweaked sample of the line into the intro. You may have to squint your ears to hear it.
