Little Bastard are 7 piece punk-string band incorporating guitars, bass, fiddle, banjo, harmonica, mandolin, beats, and a load of voices. The band has just released their debut, self titled album and are about to tour around Australia to show it off! Tomatrax caught up with Ed Rowe from the band to ask a few questions.
Where did the name little bastard come from?
Comes from the car that James Dean died in. His Porche was called ‘Little Bastard’ and not only did it kill him, but it also killed a mechanic that tried to fix it after the crash when it fell from supports and squished him.
What’s it like to have your debut album out?
Pretty epic. Super proud to hold a physical copy of our music and not have to convince people that you’re music ain’t half bad based purely on a live show they have never seen.
What made you decide to make the album self titled?
First full length record any of us have ever been heavily involved with, seemed appropriate.
Was it hard to pick what went onto the album?
Yeah, after playing live shows for nearly two years before the album and having four solid song-writers in the band it was tough, but I guess that has just made us prouder of the tunes on the record.
What made you pick Be My Kind as the album’s 2nd single?
It was a real dark horse. We thought it turned out really well and presented a really different side to the band. We wanted to release something that sounded like more authentic LB in High For You first, but then shock a few with Be My Kind.
You’re about to go on a national tour, what can fans expect from your show?
A lot of guys having a laugh on stage, a bunch of shit banter and good times. We’ll be playing a lot of tunes off the record obviously, but with some old favourites of ours.
7 members is quite a lot for a band, is it hard for everyone to work together effectively?
Na it’s been pretty easy really. We all know each other pretty well musically and have learnt to work together well. Sometimes it gets pretty chaotic, but I think that’s part of our sound and it’s definitely somewhat organised chaos.
There’s also a wide variety of instruments going into your sound, is it hard to get the various elements to work together?
Yeah that took a bit of time. The band came from just jamming acoustically, so it was tricky to get the balance right on stage. In the studio even more so, it was really hard to get the energy that we have in our live performances whilst maintaining some sort of structure and clarity.
What music do you listen to?
Everyone’s got a pretty broad taste in music. Anything really. We regularly will pump bands like War on Drugs or Wilco, but then Dan will get his turn in shotgun and will pump a Melvins track or some shit. Not that anyone else is really into that… I got asked a similar question recently and told the story about how Trev even digs deep-south filthy hip-hop like Yelawolf and that shit. There’s a reason we call him Heavy-Trevy.
What do plan on doing after your national tour?
Getting our lives in order. Quit the beers and all that shit. I say that mid-tour knowing too well it’ll last a day. Guess we better start jamming some new tunes.., who knows
Little Bastard debut self-titled album out now through FOUR | FOUR
Little Bastard Album Tour 2014
Presented by The Music, Young Henry’s, Batlow, Rhythms, We Manage,
Harbour, Four | Four & Strand Hatters.
Thursday July 3 - Karova Lounge, Ballarat VIC
Friday July 4 - Northcote Social Club, Melbourne VIC
Saturday July 5 - Baha’s, Rye VIC
Thursday July 10 - Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane QLD
Friday July 11 - Sol Bar, Maroochydore QLD
Saturday July 12 - Railway Friendly Bar, Byron Bay NSW
Sunday July 13 - No. 5 Church St, Bellingen NSW
Sunday July 20 - Newtown Social Club, Sydney NSW
Tickets - https://newtownsc.ticketscout.com.au/gigs/2653-little-bastard-sun
All other info: www.facebook.com/LittleBastardos
