beetBITE (fleaBITE and Levity Beet) spook us with their Halloween song ‘Rattle My Bones’
Halloween has arrived early in the world of beetBITE (Levity Beet and fleaBITE). Are they playing the spoons…or are those bones?
Rattle My Bones is a quirky, syncopated skeleton dance. Kids can learn skeletal anatomy while having a hilarious Halloween dance party with this super fun song that gets every bone in your body moving with its catchy rhythms and quirky vocals. We expect to see lots of new TikTok dances to this come Halloween; kids who have heard it live love the catchy rhythms, surprising rhymes and bony jokes. The maniacal cackling and low manly vocals are courtesy of Jeff Henderson.
And in other news…
As well as a spooky new song, beetBITE are also thrilled to share some news. They’ve been treating us to a brand-new single every fortnight since April, and you can now find them – plus some unreleased songs – packaged into a neat double EP bundle: beetBITE EP 3 and beetBITE EP 4.
Levity Beet and Robin Nathan (fleaBITE) have a lot in common. Between them, they’ve taken the top spot at the Aotearoa New Zealand Children’s Music Awards nine times, for Best Children’s Album, Artist, Song and Video. They also share the same quirky sense of humour, and enjoy creating innovative and fun new kids’ songs.
In 2023, the EPs beetBITE 1 and beetBITE 2 landed: ten original songs for adventurous young listeners, which saw beetBITE nominated as Best NZ Children’s Artist in that year’s Aotearoa Children’s Music Awards | Ngā Manu Tīrairaka.
This year they were lucky enough to receive NZ On Air funding for another beetBITE project and are excited to present two more EPs in the beetBITE series.
Distance is no barrier
Levity Beet lives at the top of NZ’s South Island in the remote Takaka Valley, while Robin Nathan resides in the sprawling metropolis of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Over a few months they traded ideas back and forth, challenging and complementing each other’s musical and lyrical ideas, and often going in completely unexpected directions: something that began as a lullaby ended up as a rollicking Halloween track (Rattle My Bones).
So many styles
beetBITE say, “We had a lot of fun covering a wide gamut of musical styles. There’s a twanging banjo in Centipede Counting Song; mariachi trumpet in Electricity; tabla drums and a one-stringed Punjabi instrument in Cat Fight in the Night; and thrash electric guitar in the epic Black Hole in the Galaxy.
We want the songs to stimulate and excite young minds and ears, expose them to new sounds, and novel ideas (how to generate electricity when the power goes out), take positive action (Plant A Tree) and generally encourage kids to experiment, enjoy the natural world and take musical risks.
The collection does have its softer, gentler moments. Little Monkey Ukulele is a light-hearted song for beginner ukulele players; Dream Queen Dance is hypnotic and ethereal, and Pepe Tuna is a lullaby in te reo Māori about the life-cycle of the native Puriri moth.
We are really happy with all the new tracks, and we hope you enjoy them and use them as springboards for activities with kids.”
The beetBITE project is supported by NZ On Air in their first ever ‘New Music Kids’ Project’, which encourages experienced children’s artists to produce ambitious projects.
You can find songs and lyric videos here: Home | Beetbite
