Download: BASTARD “Deflecting Bullets (With The Power of Rock ‘n’ Roll)”

BASTARD is from East L.A.—born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley. They are a force to be reckoned with—deflecting bullets with the power of rock. The sound is a mix of influences from kids who stayed true to their punk and metal roots, reminiscent of early Motorhead with a little bit of the Stooges mixed in. This interview by Taeil Kim.

Do you guys consider Echo Park and Silver Lake the Eastside anymore?
Dana (vocals/bass): East Side of what? East L.A. you mean?
Well, yeah—wait, is this the first interview for you guys?
Daniel (drums): Pretty much.
Dana: We did an interview with Flash Rock. We played a show at the Dragon Fly and they were interviewing all the punk rock bands there.
You guys aren’t necessarily a punk rock band, though.
Dana: We have the influence, you know. The rawness of punk rock. The rawness of the Stooges.
So would you consider Echo Park the Eastside?
Fernando (guitar): Oh, as in ‘East L.A.’? Yeah, I guess. Kind of sort of. There’s that hipster scene out there now but if you go further east there’s that scene of punk and hardcore coming out of there.
Dana: I don’t think we even tried much to get shows out there. We should. We played a show at Highland Park but I don’t know if it’s considered that part of the area.
Fernando: We play a lot at Mr. T’s Bowl but we don’t play at all in that area. You kind of have to know somebody to get in those type of clubs [in Echo Park].
Daniel: We have a lot of great bands out here but it’s all kind of spread out you know. The rock ‘n’ roll scene is always spread out [in the Southland]. I notice the gloomy rock stuff is coming back though—real slow stuff. But we play fast.
First there was this huge trend of ridiculously fast bands. All these grindcore bands like the Locust were out. Then now there’s this scene of thrash revival bands but you guys stand out because you don’t have that retro thrash sound. What got you guys going with this?
Dana: I was in a band called Rocky Dennis. It was a grindcore band and when that fell apart we had this band called Jesus the Conqueror. It was Dan on drums and Fernando on guitar and I was doing vocals strictly. I got on bass and just crushed that band to get Bastard started.
Fernando: Me and Big D were playing in a full on metal band with double bass drums and we wanted someone with ‘Aaaahhhhh’ vocals. [Starts to scream like Rob Halford.] So when Dana got in the band he didn’t want to rock the mic. He kinda was like, ‘Fuck it’ and started playing bass. So it kind of went from being metal to more rock ‘n’ roll.
Dana: I’m from Rosemead, Daniel’s from South Rosemead, and Fernando’s from San Gabriel.
Fernando: We all met up through skateboarding and smoking weed. I guess we all hung out because we liked smoking weed and drink beer together pretty much. [laughs]
You know that entire Spazz-Charles Bronson-thrashcore scene seemed to have a following for a little bit, but they never had any real press. But I noticed kids all over the East side were into it. Was it all built up through word of mouth?
Fernando: When we first started we were all part of the same scene so a lot of what we got into was through word of mouth, or you know—we saw a sick-ass random band playing the show.
Did you guys read any zines? Do you guys even have a place in Rosemead to pick up a copy of L.A. RECORD?
Dana: Uh, no. We don’t have any real record stores out here in Rosemead so alot of music and zines weren’t available to us. We got the Montebello Mall here with a music store but it sells shit.
Fernando: They got Mercyful Fate. I mean, they got some good old stuff. But you just can’t find good new shit.
Do you have a network of guys you play with outside of L.A. County?
Fernando: Oh hell yeah. We’re down with the guys in Nihilist. They’re thrashers just like us out of Carlsbad. They’ve hooked us up with shows playing out there in San Diego.
You guys grew up with the hyperfast thrashcore scene, but you guys have more of the old school speed-metal sound like Motörhead.
Dan: We fucking love Motörhead. We’re waiting for our Lemmy figurines—we got them through mail order along with our Russian brides.
Who designed the band logos?
Daniel: I do most of ‘em. I go to ELAC. [laughs] It’s a UC for poor kids who live in East L.A. [entire band is now laughing] I do my shit with Photoshop and these guys don’t do shit.
Dana: I don’t do shit but write the music.
Fernando: I’m computer illiterate.
Where do you guys like eat around here?
Dana: Oh, I know what this guy likes to eat at. [points at Daniel] It tastes like shit. Daniel likes to eat at this restaurant only drunk people would go to. It’s called J & S and it tastes horrible. It’s his favorite restaurant.
Daniel: My rebuttal to that is Dana lives off half microwaveable-half cooked hot pockets and poorly crafted corn-dog bites.
Dana: Fuck you, that was only today.
Are Buds your favorite beer? I noticed that’s all you guys are drinking.
Dana: No. Economy-wise, it is our favorite beer. But we have an array of beers we would like to drink over this.
Such as?
Daniel: Beck’s. Germany’s fourth best.
Fernando: Fuck you guys. We don’t drink that green bottle shit. I’m down with Keystone.
Dana: Pabst.
What’s the shittiest of all beers?
Daniel: Non-alcoholic.

BASTARD WITH TYRANIS ON SAT., SEPT. 19, AT FERN’S COCKTAILS, 1253 E. 4TH ST., LONG BEACH. 9 PM / FREE / 21+. MYSPACE.COM/FERNSCOCKTAILS. VISIT BASTARD AT MYSPACE.COM/BASTARDROCKSYOURLAMEASS.