Born of a Bastard King Interview with Scott Masson


Born of a Bastard King Interview with…….(Scott Masson)

DHZ-

Give me the brief of how your brilliant band came about, what is the purpose of the band and feel free to give us any prior bands-relevant or not?

Scott
It's hard to describe what Born Of A Bastard King is in a few short sentences, so I'll try to keep this story as brief and as entertaining as possible. 'Bastard King' originally started off as one thing but then evolved into something else. The band was started by me (Scott Masson) in 2023 but it wasn't called Born Of A Bastard King it was a metalcore/deathcore project called '28 Bulls' and was never intended to become anything more than just a recording project. After years of being a musician and years of releasing over 20+ records with different bands and projects I was officially burnt out. I decided to leave my band 'Outer Worlds' after the release of our second album and I was honestly planning on retiring. Before I walked off into the sunset though I wanted to release a final album of my own material, under the name 28 Bulls. The album called 'Grief' was to be my final send off, and served as a tribute to my friend and work colleague Paulie who was killed. At the time I was so tired of the music scene, burnt out and utterly over the idea of doing any vocals, but I did it to just get it done.




After the release of 'Grief' I was messaged by friends and randoms telling me how much they loved the record and that I needed to make it into a band. I had all the spots in the band filled quickly and it seemed like 28 Bulls was going to become a gigging band. However, systematically over the course of 3 months every member of that band either didn't learn the material, couldn't play their instrument or simply gave up. However during those three months instead of singing I brought my guitar and bass into practice (because guitarists and or the bassist wouldn't show up) so the jams could continue. Eventually after pretty much every member of the band had been swapped out I bought 2 of my best friends in to have a jam for fun, Kye (Kye Bradbury - Flint) the guitarist from my other band He Who Seeks Vengeance and Nick (Nick Apthorpe) the guitarist and singer from a band called Boneseed. Every member of the band though was burnt out in one way or another. I was absolutely over being a vocalist and I had fallen in love with playing guitar (Even though i'm not very good). Kye, who is an amazing guitarist, was burnt out and wanted to play drums, and Nick was tired and burnt out after a recent bad band experience and was keen to play bass and sing. We had this amazing Jam, finally everything just seemed to flow and knew we had something. We kept jamming and after a few weeks we decided that the name 28 Bulls no longer fit and that this band was turning into a different beast, the feeling was heavier and we also didn't really want to play the metalcore/deathcore style that 28 Bulls was. The band wanted to play something dark and filthy and groovy, That's How Bastard King was... well.. Born!


We really set out to be unashamedly ourselves!! No Scene garbage, no chasing fame, or chasing views or anything, No paying for production or any other form of gatekeeping nonsense. We all kind of took on this attitude of [A dirty punk band that just happened to play heavy music]. we just tried to make everything easy and fun, if there was something that wasn’t easy or fun, then it didn’t get done!! We wanted to wear our influences on our sleeves. For me, I love Six Feet Under (yeah yeah, I know get your laughs out now) I’ve always loved SFU and I wanted those influences in the music. Nick loves Bloodbath, so we wanted those influences in there. Kye loves Devildriver, so we wanted all of those influences in the music too. It was just so free to have the 3 of us on the same page, embracing whatever happened. Writing and making this record was one of the most positive and enjoyable experiences of our lives (Except for Nick, he had to mix it).



The thing I am most proud of Bastard King for is our communication and how we all support each other. We are a real pro mental health band, there's no bravado or power dynamic hassles that we have all experienced through previous bands, it's just easy!. We worked to write and record a 6 track record and we wanted to combine Old School Death Metal with 2000's Groove Metal with 90's / 2000's Hardcore. We wanted to create a record that was super easy to play, fun to play live, and have that raw Old School 90's production (which I think we captured). Every member of the band was so burnt out at one stage and ready to hang it up, it's awesome that we were able to create a safe space where we all switched instruments and created something fun. Everything about this band is unique and interesting, from the logo to the record artwork to the music to the way we take nice long breaks to recharge after shows. I have worked for 20 years to be in a band like BOABK. It's nice to not have to chase after anything and just have fun. Im so proud that we were all able to turn Burn Out into a really fun record. We Hope you enjoy!!



DHZ
-The band has a striking name elaborate on this, it seems like the title of a Vikings or Lord of the Rings sequel?

SCOTT
HAHA!! No!! When the band was deciding a new name I believe Nick came up with ‘Born Of A Bastard’ and Kye came up with ‘ Born Of A King” so we decided to blend the two names. Mostly, because it sounded weird. No real LOTR reference there however, now you come to think of it we do talk about LOTR a lot in the band.


DHZ
How do see the intersection between art and music, personally or for this band?

SCOTT
I feel now the overall artistic concept of a record is lost. Lots of artists stick with just singles, or quick relevant memes being used as artwork. Unfortunately, I’ve never been cool enough to be up to date with such things. I like my art to be obvious. When we made the record, we had a specific (tunnel) vision. The music, the live performance and the album artwork where going to be presented as a cohesive piece of work. We wanted to undoubtedly represent ourselves a metal band.

Simple… Dirty….. Heavy!!



DHZ- What do you think you can achieve creatively in live spaces that you can’t in your recordings and vice versa? This band tends to focus on positive mental health, where’s this PMA stem from and why is it important for you and also everyone? Do you find these is much negativity in the heavy music scene?

SCOTT:

I feel music (musicians, artists, entertainment etc.. etc...) is supposed to be a performance art. I Understand not all things are relocatable live, however in this project we wanted to be able to present on stage exactly what you hear in the record. Part of our positive mental attitude comes from reducing the cognitive load and making the music as simple and as catchy as possible. Reducing all of the outside stressors and pressure from the scene from current trends whatever it may be really allows us to keep the band pure and as fun as possible.

I’m not going to say the music scene is negative. It’s not fair to paint the whole scene with the one brush, I will say the scene is too busy being competitive when it probably should be more collaborative.

DHZ
The new EP that you have dropped is incredible. I love the mixed textures and influences on this-it is old school metalcore at time straight up aggressive and abrasive tones and also some more balanced moments. Thoughts?

SCOTT:
We really wanted to just wear our influences on our sleeves. Given the fact we are all getting on in years and time changes things, we wanted to just play what we enjoy.

Not what’s popular!

Not what’s current!

Not what we think people will like!

If this is our last opportunity to make a record or be in a band, we want to just do what we like. I have been in bands that chase fame and recognition, and it totally burnt me out. BOABK is a great opportunity to take all the lessons we have learnt in other bands and to things the right way (in our opinion)


DHZ-You have been in bands before, What do you feel like you embody as a performers when you’re on stage?

SCOTT:
I / We have all been in bands before, over the course of 20+ years. I am more reserved as a guitarist as this is the first band ive ever played guitar on-stage with so I tend to step back and just play, which is nice. However, before I switched gears from vocalist to guitarist is was in

· Conscious Control

· Behold The Defiant

· Klendathu

· Apocalyptian

· Mechanized

· He Who Seeks Vengeance (current)

· Outer Worlds ect.. ect…

I always embodied the ‘entertainer’. Anyone who saw any band I was in live could never say I phoned it in. I always made sure to project my voice and never talk to the crowd, but shout at the crowd. Engage, engage and engage some more. A lot of front men forget that they are entertainers. Its their job to please the crowd, to make the crowd feel something… anything!!

I hated it when front men talked too quietly into the mic and didn’t engage the crowd, drove me bonkers. Nobody in the crowd cares how deep and emotional you are, they want a show a performance. I would like to hope anytime anyone saw us they felt like we wanted to be there and we were there ‘for them’.



DHZ-Walk us thru the album tracks and what ones really standout for you at this point in time?

What would you say is the most vulnerable or personal song on the release, and what does it mean to you?or why?


SCOTT:
This record is interesting for me because I didn’t write the lyrics, Nick wrote all of them, he’s the singer its his concept and I love what he writes. In saying that the record is;

1. Erosion

2. Starve The Sun

3. Blood Poisoning

4. Juarez

5. Skin Walker

6. Trespasser

Starve The Sun has a special place in my heart because I really felt like I had been working towards and waiting my whole life to write it. I t was on of the first new songs specifically for BOABK and everyone in the band worked on it and collaborated on it to make it into what I feel is a great song. All my shortcomings as a crappy guitarist do not matter on that song because the collaborative writing makes it so strong.



DHZ-The production on this release is very front forward and dynamic-was this the focus? what were the key creative approaches for the band on this? Any main musical influences on this one?

SCOTT:


Nick mixed and mastered the record so I don’t want to speak out of turn on the technical aspect of the record. However, on a conceptual level the band wanted very simple things for this record;

1. Clarity to be able to hear every instrument

2. Rawness and Heavyness

That’s it!!.. we focused on a ‘thumbs up or thumbs down’ approach to mixing. We asked Nick to make it sound good, to whatever standard he feels something is good. And I feel nick did a fantastic job the tracks have their own feel with just enough nostalgia for 90’s metal + hardcore. In this day and age I think its hard to craft your own sound but Nick did a great job.

DHZ-Walk us through your amazing Erosion music video, it’s one that gives the live feel and grabs you instantly-very old school death metal, like the song?

SCOTT:
HAHAH!! The video was made for us by a guy named Callum from (NZ). He had just moved to Melbourne and offered a free music video on Facebook. I just happened to comment first and locked him in. The music video is very much so an extension of our band philosophy. Keep it simple, don’t overthink it, embrace whatever happens. In the end after an incredibly long delay and some gentle harassment we got the video its raw and a bit strange and it was …well… perfect. We all watched it and immediately thought ‘yep that’s us’.

Shout out to Finn Sonny for editing it after the fact and putting the right band name in the intro. You’re a legend Finn!!


DHZ- How would you define your voice as an artist? What do you consider to be the most valuable resource for the work you do?

SCOTT:
It's not my job as an artist to steer things in a direction. My job is to see and experience the world around me and use it as inspiration. It's my job to let creativity flow through me and to allow the art to be what it will be. Anytime I’ve sat down with a plan to create something specific it never works out, N.E.V.E.R!!

As an artist, I never say ' I'm going to write a song like this’. I just sit down with the intention of writing a song. Stay open and curious and embrace whatever comes out. As long as the art is making you feel something (even if its disgust or repugnance) embrace it and explore it



DHZ- How do you feel that economic structure impacts creativity?

SCOTT:
I see economics used as an excuse as to why an artist/band cannot do the things they want to do. I prefer to take an old-school punk D.I.Y attitude and do everything myself, even if it sucks. I’d rather have songs and artwork that is not as polished as my peers in the scene, rather than pay thousands of dollars to some gatekeeper. I cannot play guitar well, I cannot draw well, I cannot sing well and that has never stopped me from enjoying 20+ years of singing, drawing and playing guitar. Money is just used as another control or hurdle to jump over, the worst part of the music business, is the business side of it.

Whether positive or negative, if economics is at the forefront of your mind in regard to your artwork, then you are in for some painful life lessons.


DHZ -That all makes me wonder, how does your creativity help you connect to and navigate the world?
 
SCOTT:
Being an artist is a mindset. I am an artist all the time, whether at work, at home or out in the world. The way I navigate the world and interact within it is always through the filter of artistic expression. I've spent most of my life creating art and biggest influence is from God and the world around me. Everywhere I go I am experiencing the world with that mindset, being acutely hyper-aware of my surroundings. …. Now!... connectivity with the world is a different story. I tend to stay quite private, and I choose to not engage with others in the world. As time has gone on, I have formed a habit of becoming quite insular, with a small group of people around me. I have found this approach best for my mental health.



DHZ-Describe your band for someone who has never heard you before? What’s coming up for the band in the next six months?That Bulletbelt gig sounds sick?

SCOTT:

Born Of A Bastard King is an OSDM/Groove Metal band from South East Melbourne, Australia. Inspired by the older sounds of the 90's, 2000's and today the band utilizes Old School Death Metal, 2000's Groove Metal and Hardcore to create a unique sonic experience. B.O.A.B.K creates brutal heavy music that is both dynamic and catchy, that is sure to grab and hold your attention. Bastard King is inspired By but not limited to; Six Feet Under, Obituary, Bolt Thrower, Sinister, Torture Killer, Bloodbath, Lamb of God, Slipknot, Alluvial, Decapitated, Cannibal Corpse, I Killed The Prom Queen, DevilDriver, Trivium, Sepultura and Soulfy.

Bastard King is;

Nick - Vocals and Bass

Kye - Drums

Scott - Guitar

We were heartbroken that we were unable to play the Bulletbelt show, We had been looking forward to it for a long time. However, due to a health issue with one of the members of the band we had to pull out. As a band we were waiting until the last moment as we were trying to make sure we were 100%. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out or us.

As people we put our friendship and our connection at the forefront of who we are, I wasn’t prepared to potentially make a medical issue worse for a show. In BK we take care of our own!

DHZ-Any bands far or wide that are floating your boat atm?

SCOTT:
At the moment I am listening to a good mix of

· Sepultura

· Obituary

· 200 stab wounds

· Blanke Banshee

· Seth sentry

· Token

· Aaron Lewis

· Charlie Daniels &

· Small town Murder podcast with James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman



DHZ-Final words and message for the readers?

SCOTT:
God bless you all!



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