Hellbastard

"If the kids refuse to brush their teeth, I threaten to invite Hellbastard to come and have tea" John Peel Hellbastard formed in 1985 in Newcastle, UK under the impulse of Malcolm "Scruff" Lewty, former member of The Apostles, playing guitar and singing, Scotty on bass and Phil on drums, all dragging their gaiters into the punk nebula and anarcho-punk from the early 80s. The idea is to mix punk with thrash with a very strong political commitment stemming from their pro-anarchist and anti-fascist convictions, taking the legendary Crass as an ideological model. During the summer of 1986 they produced a demo 9 tracks called Ripper Crust, whose cover indications say that it was made in six hours for only 25 pounds! This demo has since entered the legend as the record that gave the Crust its name. The way of life of the group, which lives in squats, half on the street and in considerable poverty, has helped shape the gender and imagination that is attributed to it. Musically Ripper Crust, with his rather innovative mix of punk and metal, is closer to their contemporaries Amebix and Antisect. Another demo was produced the following year: Hate Militia, also considered a classic where a few female voices appeared. They then released a Heading For Infernal Darkness album, which will be the last with Phil to be replaced by Bri on the next EP, They Brought Death. From the beginning of the 1990s, the band moved towards a much more thrashed sound, abandoning its raw oripeaux which he helped to forge but which he has always conspired in the name of his artistic freedom and out of contempt of musical cataloguing. They sign on Earache Records, which their leader Scruff had described as "sold to the system" and released Natural Order with a second guitarist, Ali Lee, a 100% thrash album that is now recognized as being of medium quality and which the band regrets today. But the galleys of the band on tour (which was itself self-proclaimed "the poorest group in the world") ended up causing its separation in 1992. Far from standing away from the scene, Ali will form Hellkrusher, Scruff and Bri will form a Thrash/Stoner band called Nero Circus. Scruff in particular will be very active by forming many other groups: The Dischargers, Heavy Water, Moodhoover, King Fuel ... After 15 years of separation, Scruff decided to reform Hellbastard , explaining that he "still has something to say" with this group. He surrounds Gian Luca and Stephen Lea to release Need To Kill , a still very thrashing album that didn't have a big impact. However, since Hellbastard's reputation was greatly increased during their separation, this allowed the band to organize two major tours leading the bill, one in Europe, with a lot of work and problems, and another in the USA, which is doing much better. The line-up takes time to stabilize, an EP, Eco-War, released in 2009, then a split with the Americans of Dresden in 2012 with a brand new line-up composed of Paul O的Shea on bass, Tom McCombe on guitar and Paul Harris on drums. After a few festivals in Canada and a change of drummer, Hellbastard released a new EP in 2012, Sons Of Bitches.
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