Bastro was an American

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...

band which was active in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's main line-up consisted of

David Grubbs David Grubbs (born September 21, 1967) is an American composer, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist. He was a founding member of Squirrel Bait, Bastro, and Gastr del Sol. He has also played in Codeine, The Red Krayola, Bitch Magnet and The Wingdale ...

on guitar, Clark Johnson on bass guitar, and

John McEntire John McEntire (born April 9, 1970 in Portland, Oregon) is an American recording engineer, producer, drummer and multi-instrumentalist, based in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of both Tortoise and the Sea and Cake. McEntire started playing dr ...

on drums. The band also experimented with use of

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

and ''

musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic, ...

'' compositions, foreshadowing McEntire's and Grubbs' subsequent musical projects.

History

Bastro was formed by

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

guitarist

after his former band

Squirrel Bait Squirrel Bait was an American punk rock band from Louisville, Kentucky active from 1983 to 1987. Squirrel Bait's dense, moody, melodic hardcore sound, featuring pronounced tempo shifts, foreshadowed the grunge sound of the late 1980s as well as ...

folded in 1987. Grubbs had moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

to attend

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

where he started an early version of Bastro with bassist Dan Treado, who soon left. Grubbs' hometown friend Clark Johnson, who'd played bass in Squirrel Bait, joined Grubbs, and the duo recorded the six-song EP ''Rode Hard & Put Up Wet'', backed by a drum machine and engineered by

Steve Albini Steve Albini (pronounced ; born July 22, 1962) is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman and Flour, and is a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal en ...

for

Homestead Records Homestead Records was a Long Island, New York-based sublabel of music distributor Dutch East India Trading that operated from 1983 to 1996. The label was known for not paying its artists and not spending any money on promotion. History The l ...

in 1988. After their first release, Bastro toured with the band

My Dad Is Dead My Dad Is Dead was a recording project of musician Mark Edwards. The project began in Cleveland, Ohio in 1984. My Dad Is Dead has released twelve full-length albums before it officially ended in 2011. A new group called Secular Joy was formed ...

, whose drummer at the time was

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

percussion major

. McEntire soon joined Bastro, replacing the drum machine, and the trio recorded a full-length album with former Squirrel Bait engineer Howie Gano. Two songs from this session were released as a single in 1989 and a test pressing of the album was made, but then scrapped when the band came back from their first European tour and decided they could do better. Returning to the studio with engineer

Brian Paulson Brian Paulson is an American musician, record producer and audio engineer from Minnesota, best known for recording albums by Slint, Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Superchunk and Wilco. Paulson grew up in Bemidji, Minnesota, but moved about 200 miles so ...

, they recorded faster versions of their songs and these—along with "Shoot Me a Deer" and "Wurlitzer" from the first session—comprised the band's first LP ''Diablo Guapo'' (Spanish for "Handsome Devil"). The album's 12 tracks clock in at 28 minutes, and include a cover of

Phil Ochs Philip David Ochs (; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American songwriter and protest singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer). Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, political activism, often alliterative lyrics, and ...

' "Pretty Smart On My Part" as a follow-up to Squirrel Bait's own Ochs tribute on their album, ''

Skag Heaven ''Skag Heaven'' is the only full length Studio Album by the American punk rock band Squirrel Bait, released in 1987 through Homestead Records. Squirrel Bait disbanded after the album's release and the band's members went on to form Slint, Bastro ...

''. In addition to presenting Bastro as a

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...

power trio A power trio is a rock and roll band format having a lineup of electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit (drums and cymbals), leaving out a second rhythm guitar or keyboard instrument that are often used in other rock music bands that are quartet ...

playing in constantly shifting time signatures, Grubbs also plays piano on one track, mixed in with guitar feedback, tape music and spoken word, and the album's title track "Guapo" features a discordant horn section. During this period Johnson was enrolled at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

in the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

suburb of

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

, and Grubbs also played in the band

Bitch Magnet Bitch Magnet was an American post-hardcore band who formed in 1986 at Oberlin College in Ohio and later moved to North Carolina, United States. They released their first record in 1988. All of the band's albums were released on Communion Records ...

, resulting in a two year break before Bastro's second album, ''Sing the Troubled Beast''. The band's instrumentation became more diverse, including more piano, organ, and an excursion into

on the song "The Sifter". Grubbs' lyrics also grew more obtuse. Johnson subsequently left the group to attend law school and was replaced on bass by Bundy K. Brown. Bastro toured and recorded a single with the group

Codeine Codeine is an opiate and prodrug of morphine mainly used to treat pain, coughing, and diarrhea. It is also commonly used as a recreational drug. It is found naturally in the sap of the opium poppy, ''Papaver somniferum''. It is typically use ...

and began writing new, mostly

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

material, some of which would later be released as a live album. Grubbs relocated to attend graduate school at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

and the group known as Bastro evolved into Grubbs' next project,

Gastr del Sol Gastr del Sol (derived from a combination of the name of a race horse (Gato del Sol) and David Grubbs' previous band Bastro) was an American, Chicago-based band, consisting for most of their career, of David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke. Between 19 ...

, with Brown and McEntire joining him for that project's debut album, ''

The Serpentine Similar ''The Serpentine Similar'' is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Gastr del Sol, released on June 1, 1993 by TeenBeat Records. The album was re-released by Drag City on June 16, 1997. Background Guitarist David Grubbs and drum ...

''.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Rode Hard and Put Up Wet'' (LP, MiniAlbum,

, 1988) * ''Diablo Guapo'' (LP/CD, Homestead Records, 1989) * ''Sing the Troubled Beast'' (LP/CD, Homestead Records, 1990)

Singles

* "Shoot Me A Deer"/"Goiter Blazes" (7" single, Homestead Records, 1989) * "A L'Ombre De Nous (In Our Shadow)"/"Produkt" (7" and 12" with the band

(1991,

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...

, Glitterhouse)

Live and compilation albums

* ''Antlers: Live 1991'' (CD, Blue Chopsticks Records, 2005) * '' Sing the Troubled Beast/Diablo Guapo'' (CD combining both LPs, minus one track, Drag City, 2005)

References

External links

Bastro's entry at I Heart Noise

Bastro's entry at Trouser Press
* Bastro's entry at AMG
Full Discography
{{Authority control American post-hardcore musical groups Rock music groups from Washington, D.C. Homestead Records artists Drag City (record label) artists