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Band: Bastro

one of the most important bands of our lifetime. almost everything i've listened to from age 16 on was somehow an extrapolation of their sound.

incredible band.

Yep. I don't remember much about the earlier records but Sing the Troubled Beast is great and for what it was (..dissonant prog punk?) never really topped.

Not crap, ever. I’ll never forget the first time I heard them. I stayed the night at my friend Michael’s house one night, not long after I’d dropped out of high school in Phoenix. I woke up on the living room couch with “Decent Skin” blaring from his bedroom. It sounded loping and circular, like a giant windmill. They quickly became my favorite band. Sing The Troubled Beast came out a few months later and I listened to it constantly. Eventually found the first EP.

We were big Squirrel Bait fans, and we used to write to the Brownsboro Rd address on the back of the albums. Grubbs replied, and he told us he was in a new band called Bastro. That’s how Michael got hipped to them. We wrote back, asking him to point us to other awesome music, and he told us about Slint, the Jesus Lizard, and probably some other T&G related stuff. It changed my musical trajectory.

I’m a fan of all things Grubbs, but man...Bastro was one hell of a rock band. Been listening to Antlers recently, that transition between Bastro and Gastr del Sol. Such a weird, wonderful collection of live recordings.

I regret never getting to see them live, but as Grubbs said in response to one of my letters, playing Arizona was about as likely as them playing Antarctica, given their own situations.

Dave N. wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 1:43 pm Been listening to Antlers recently, that transition between Bastro and Gastr del Sol. Such a weird, wonderful collection of live recordings.

yep. do not sleep on Antlers. absolutely ferocious live recordings and very fun to hear very loud and noisy versions of songs that eventually turned into pretty acoustic parts.

Total fucking "music for dorks."

Great band, got a lot of time for anything Grubbs does.

I love bastro. That seems like a great first sentence on returning to this forum. Sing the troubled beast and diablo guapo are just so good. Remember seeing them play with my brother (who will certainly be here somewhere) at the borderline in London. For me a really key band, right up there with bitch magnet.

Remember vividly the evening when John Peel started raving over Diable Guapo, and went on to play (or so it seemed) most of the album throughout the remainder of that week's shows. It totally knocked me out. Never got to see them play live, but man, that record still destroys. I love STTB, but DG was the one that got me from the get go.

NC

NOT CRAP, obviously

Drum machine stuff, so so. When McEntire joins it all jumps into very high gear - what a monster he is on the kit - and the next 2 albums are excellent.

I always group them w/ Rapeman and Bitch Magnet - bands who took the sonic lessons of Big Black but then added phenomenal drummers. Industrial-ish tones but with amazingly strong rhythms that make it so dynamic and pulverising. Bastro had the best chops and better songs, IMO - but then Ben Hur really has more vision and Rey plays like nobody else... ah music geekery...

Always a pity that outside of a few bands (Don Cab and Dazzling Killmen) that these bands had so little influence - I think these bands were making really advanced music. I guess the psychological issues w/ delivering pure, blood boiling fury ('Shoot Me a Deer' = napalm) must get draining - somebody get that young man a shot of free-folk kraut-jazz, stat!

Anyway, strong NC.