Bastard Squad-Interview with Jason and "Hate City" album review by Mark Jenkins
I was proudly chuffed to interview Jason and also reviewed their current album. I honestly believe Bastard Squad are as pivotal to the Australian punk scene (as well as Vicious Circle, Tutti Parze and Warp Spasm) as Mindsnare is to Aussie Hardcore. Great to see Bastard Squad still kicking and not resting on their laurels, but rather challenging the sociopolitical impact of the modern-day landscape.
A truly fantastic interview.
1-Could
give me a brief history of the band, it’s name and what releases you have?
(why did you form the band? what was topical around the time the
band started-politically and socially)
The band started rehearsing in early 1987 and
our first ever gig was at The Duke of Edinburgh Hotel in St Kilda in October of
that same year. The line-up was
I joined the band a few weeks after it formed
when Matt wanted to just focus on guitar and not sing. The name “Bastard Squad” was already chosen
by that stage (conceived in a driveway at a party when the cops “Bastard Squad”
showed up).
I was a bit fanatical about ‘UK82’ bands back
then and Matt’s favorite band was Discharge at the time, so I guess we were
the main influence on how the band’s sound evolved for our debut album
“Hardcore Revolution” and the next release “Show’s Over.”
Around that time in Melbourne, the punk scene
was still thriving, but the numbers had started to diminish from late 85/early
86, so it was nothing compared to the peak of the second wave for Melbourne -
83/84. I guess to a large extent Bastard
Squad revived the UK82 sound in 1987 as no one else was still playing that type
of music. And yeah, I think the return of studs, leather, and mohawks was part
of it as well.
Yet, I’d prefer not to focus too narrowly
on the UK82 music/scene because all the band members contributed to the sound
and there were many other influences, such as early US hardcore and thrash. The
sub-categories that exist today (such as d-beat) didn’t exist back then and if
they did, we certainly wouldn’t have wanted a part of it. Despite the obvious influences, Bastard Squad
was always about variety and we had no interest in being a UK82 clone band.
As for the lyrical content of the band back
then, it was more direct, obvious and in your face and less about subtlety,
ambiguity or metaphorical references. Nothing wrong with that.
The topics we focused on were similar to today:
abuse of power, corruption, power politics, religion, warfare, exploitation,
angst, identity issues, conformity etc.
We were obviously anti-authoritarian – as
in challenging the legitimacy of authority and power, and had a more aggressive
stance compared to most other bands at the time. Even though we would mostly focus on the same
topics as the more passive punks or ‘peace punks’ (the majority of the scene
85-87) our approach was a bit more aggressive and direct. And of course, everyone wanted to fight you
back then just for looking different, so that influenced things as well.
Bastard Squad has had a few line-up changes
over the years (too numerous to mention here), but the current members have
been in the band for many years now and have been involved in the majority of
tours and recordings: Alex (guitar), Ben (drums), Selena (bass), Stu (guitar)
and myself (vocals).
Discography
1/ Hardcore Revolution (1989)
2/ Show’s Over (1991)
3/ Realpolitik (2005)
4/ Fight Goes On (2007)
5/ The Dog Bastard CD - English
Dogs/Bastard Squad Split (2013)
6/ Wars of Recognition (2014)
7/ Hate City (2018)
2-
What drew you to hardcore/punk/metal and what is it such a rewarding and
sustaining genre of music to you?
(what
does the community mean to you as such, what’s the difference between this and
normal music scenes)
Just having no interest in what was
mediocre, superficial or tame. And at the same time I believed that the punk
movement was also about questioning everything, challenging illegitimate power
structures and most importantly being self-critical/reflective and exposing
blind adherence. The punk bands were brutally honest and were (mostly) just
being themselves and writing songs about their real and everyday experiences
rather than commodifying themselves by simply creating a band for a market. Of course there are many great bands who don’t
fit this first description and have written great music/lyrics. I think the
biggest thing for me with the hardcore/punk/metal movements was the anti-hero
standpoint. No heroes. And anyone acting
like a rock star would be called out and labelled a wanker. Keeping it real! The best example of a band
member who “keeps it real” would have to be Charlie Harper from the Uk Subs.
3-
Devil’s Horns zine firmly believes that music and art is the best crossover in
the universe, how does that work for you as a band? Because you have
consistently had some fucking amazing art for each album; as evidenced by the
sheer amount of punters with painted jackets with various BS album art.
Yeah, that’s a good point. The legacy of the Bastard Squad jester and
Clifford’s artwork in general has been massive in my opinion. For me its hard to ignore or let go. That’s why I wanted to find someone who could
capture the theme of the Wars of Recognition album in their artwork. I think
Tyson did a great job with this as his work is very detailed and includes a
modern version of the jester.
I should mention that the amount of
influence regarding band members and the artwork has varied with each
album. Wars of Recognition was very
specific and there was regular correspondence with Tyson with each stage of the
cover design. Whereas, with Show’s Over
the band had no idea what Clifford would come up with. We just gave him a list
of the song titles and said “Go for it. Whatever you think.” Clifford even came
up with the name of the album “Show’s Over”. And not to forget, both Hardcore
Revolution and Show’s Over vinyl albums had full artwork on the front and back
of the cover, so the effort was huge.
4-
Live how does your music translate?, do you have a message or what rewards you
about the band/music?
As much as I’m keen to record and contribute
to making studio albums, for me Bastard Squad has always been more about the
live performances. It’s the intimacy of the gigs, especially in small venues.
The crowd participation is a massive thing and I’ve always been really keen to
share vocal duties with the crowd. We’ve
toured interstate and overseas a few times now and I’ve loved every minute of
it – especially our experience touring with English Dogs. But nothing beats
playing in your own city to people who are friends and part of your own scene.
5- Tell
us about the killer new album you dropped this year?
Yep, the album is called Hate City and it
has six studio tracks and six live tracks. It was recorded over a few months in
2018 at Singing Bird Studio in Frankston. The live tracks were recorded at The
Bendigo Hotel a couple of years ago. Its currently available digitally
(Spotify, iTunes, Google Play etc.)
I was actually quite surprised about how
well it’s been received, but that’s just me and I’ve always been a bit over
critical about my own music. Not such a bad thing I guess.
But, I love the songs and I think they are
a great reflection of how the band has progressed over the years – especially
from Realpolitik onwards. I was mostly concerned about the recording itself,
but after hearing it so many times, I couldn’t trust my own ears in the
end. But more recently I started
comparing the album to other releases of bands that I like, for example,
Discharge – New World Order. And not so
much the music, but the sound of the recording itself is very similar. So yeah,
now I’m happy.
6- What are the highlights for you as a band
so far? (I am being totally nostalgic, but tell me your thoughts on the Sydney tour with Warp
Spasm, me and my mates drove up and I put it down as one of the greatest tours I
have been to, that gig with Tutti Parze etc was incredible, best mixed crowds
ever and the vibe…fuck!!!)
Jesus, that was one hell of a tour – May
16-19, 1991 NSW tour with Warp spasm. Hired a bus and left on Wednesday morning
and arrived home Monday morning. Doesn’t happen like that anymore. I must admit, my memory of this tour is a bit
hazy, so I had to cheat and read the review from a punk zine, which is
basically a diary of the tour anyway. I also found some old photos from the
tour, so that was a bonus. So yeah, we played Thurs, Sat, Sun. My best memories
from this tour is the final gig we played on the Sun afternoon at The Lewisham
Hotel. It’s like everyone saved it for
this day. It was absolutely packed and about 10 bands played all up.
All the shows at The Duke of Edinburgh and
The Arthouse (and there were many) in the early days are definitely highlights.
We played Adelaide with Sick Things in 1988. That was a great tour – well
before we released Hardcore Revolution. Can’t forget the brawl at The Albion
Charles Hotel. Haha. Everyone stuck together, it was brilliant.
As for the past 10 -15 years, our tour with
the English Dogs both here and in the UK was incredible. I became good friends with Wakey (the
vocalist) and we’ve stayed in touch ever since. Interstate gigs with UK Subs,
Test Tubes, GBH, Defects and Uproar were great experiences. And of course, all the local gigs with ANWL
and the main highlight would have to be playing with The Exploited in Melbourne
on the day of my 40th birthday. Pure coincidence.
7-
On the flipside, the struggles and challenges?
A few, but I don’t dwell on negative
experiences. The main thing though would
have to be trying to organise the overseas tours. It’s always difficult to find
a time of the year that suits all band members. And as for organising shows,
the UK was never a problem, but mainland Europe proved to be difficult.
8-
Any favourite current artists or particular albums you have on rotation?
I should listen to a lot more. Not much in
the way of new bands. I keep going back to Neurosis, especially The Word as Law
and Souls at Zero. Cursed – One, Killing Joke, Disorder, Chaos UK, Doom,
English Dogs, Uproar, Discharge (new), Warwound, New Model Army, Raw Power.
9-
What are the future plans for your band and you personally?
We haven’t really got any plans at this
point, apart from releasing our new album on vinyl. After that, I’d say we’ll
just focus on a few local and interstate gigs. I never anticipated recording
the new album – Hate City. I was
virtually prepared to call it a day (for recording at least) after Wars of
Recognition. But…some new ideas came
through and they proved to be worthwhile. And the idea of another recording? I
doubt it. But never say never.
10-Your
lyrics have always been about free thinking and questioning the system, why is
this essential, talk to me about this?
I don’t think songs about “free thinking
and questioning the system” should be essential for punk bands, as there are
many great apolitical punk bands, but it’s important for me. Having said that, I wouldn’t want all songs to
have a serious message – but I think the majority do.
Even Half Baked has a serious message –
don’t put your head in a microwave when its turned on (assuming you’ve rigged
the oven so it works with the door open).
But anyway, these days I try to avoid
rhetoric, sloganeering and cliché punk topics when writing lyrics. Anyone can
use slogans. I’d much prefer lyrics that attempt to challenge lazy assumptions
and provoke deeper thinking. Especially being self-critical and questioning
accepted standpoints or a common narrative adopted by people in a particular scene. This latter point was what the album title “Wars
of Recognition” was all about. There can
be too much emphasis on image in my opinion – a type of ‘packaged deal’ where
we have clearly identifiable crowds that belong to a certain sub-genre of a
sub-genre. No need for such a rigid adherence to what is expected by others
close by. “Keep trading the resistance / For
glory we are bound / The shifting of an axis / Distorting what is found / Another war of
recognition.”
The album Realpolitik has a few songs about the issues surrounding the invasion
of Iraq (2003) and US foreign policy in general. I guess I felt it was a duty to write such an
album at that time. The album Fight Goes On is deliberately a bit more varied
and has lyrics about apathy and the expansion of state power (Crisis Law);
young Earth theory (6000 years); military defection (Defender); existential
angst (Nothing and Nowhere); and…yeah…more positive inspirational songs (No
Victim & Fight Goes On).
The new album Hate City is very dystopian and attacks neoliberalism and
the global corporate system. The title
track ‘Hate City’ is about the escalation of police shootings – especially in
the US. The song Fall Again is about
Empires and States crumbling, only to just rise again in some different form.
It’s also about maintaining power by shifting alliances despite hypocrisy and
double standards. Section 24B is a
favourite of mine. It’s about the sedition laws that the Howard government
wanted to re-introduce as part of the war on terror narrative. And it’s also
about the apathy of the public surrounding such issues: “The hostage beside you,
throws old skills away”.
For me, writing lyrics is of equal importance as performing the songs.
If I didn’t write the lyrics I wouldn’t bother. It has something to do with the
energy, expression and passion. I couldn’t imagine punk music without rebellion
of some form. If the lyrics were mediocre or simply meaningless, I wouldn’t
consider it a punk band. Even the apolitical punk bands are still challenging
in some particular way.
11-
Any final words or messages?
I would never have believed that one day
Bastard Squad would support and tour with bands such as The Exploited, GBH,
English Dogs, UK Subs, ANWL, Test Tubes etc, let alone play festivals in
England such as Rebellion. Back in our heyday (87-92) none of this was
happening at all. So it finally happens when we're all middle-aged. Can’t
complain. Punks still not Dead. Cheers, Mark.
Bastard Squad-Hate City review
I must disclose, I am a huge long term fan of the band and I think the first six tracks of this album are the best songs this band has released. The production is very solid and is crisp, but not clean. It literally punches you in the face with every track. And that's where on some early albums, the translation of live to the studio was pretty flat and muddled. Not on this release at all. And whilst Bastard Squad has always improved from each album, this vocally and guitar-wise is much heavier in an almost a crust/d-beat manner. There is not a massive style or genre change, but this added heaviness is next level punk/hardcore bliss. At it's essence, the band is still very UK82 fueled, but with much more bite and caustic effect.
Complimenting the amazing first side of the album is six classic live tracks recorded at the Bendigo Hotel, Melbourne. If you have ever seen or got into this band, you will know every single classic track here; all delivered with the pure punk venom we know and love. All quality, all catchy as fuck.
Fave tracks: Section 24B (gripping and unrelenting punk with a crust influence), Fall Again (catchy and structured to mosh hard), Treachery and Hate City (both mix the best stylings of the UK Subs with prime GBH and you're 3/4 there!!).
FFO: old school punk, crust and quality hardcore. It's absolutely essential.
It's out now here:
https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Bastard_Squad_Hate_City?id=B6vnizuozbdszu22zdpfpqiujz4
and hopefully this will be released on vinyl.
It's on Spotify but here's a taste of the marvelous album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6COaao9eROM
and also check this old track because the clip shows photos from their whole career it's classic!!!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXnLxZlFh6s
AND PLEASE GO SEE THIS BAND LIVE AND SUPPORT LOCAL PUNK ROCK!!
https://www.facebook.com/Bastard-Squad-179415981321/
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