Backstage Pass - Valiant Bastards - Interview

ATP

For the record, who's answering the interview?

VALIANT BASTARDS

My name is Lucas Salazar.

ATP

What is your band's name? How did you come up with that name?

VALIANT BASTARDS

We are Valiant Bastards. What we did is basically write down a list of names that we came up with and pretty much did a process of elimination. It came down to 2 names and then literally to a coin toss for which one we went with, I’m glad that the coin landed the way it did. The other name that was on there was “Harbinger” which we actually ended up using for a song title. Valiant Bastards fits our image. Eric (our bassist) described the name very well. Imagine a picture of a man holding back a woman’s hair while she is spewing chunks in the toilet, very chivalrous and heroic, at the same time the guy is rifling through her purse pulling out some cash (probably for booze) we thought that was a good way to describe the name.

ATP

So who's in the band and what instruments do you each play?

VALIANT BASTARDS

Scott DeRosia who is our drummer, Eric Veith who is our bassist, Rusty Graham is our lead guitar player, and I play guitar and do lead vocals. All of the other guys do backing vocals as well.

ATP

How would you describe your sound. What makes you unique?

VALIANT BASTARDS

All of us come from somewhat different backgrounds of music. We try incorporating a lot of different styles while still staying true to what brought us all together, which is our love for heavy metal. We try to stay away from constantly just doing straight speed picking on power chords like a lot of the bands out now are doing. There is nothing wrong with doing that (we actually have a couple songs that are like that) but as I mentioned before, we are kind of a melting pot of various genres. Rusty is a fantastic lead guitar player and does a lot of jazzy and blues type stuff, and I find that it is really easy to incorporate that into metal. Scott’s drumming fits our style perfectly; he has good groove and rhythm and really pulls the songs together. Eric adds a really heavy dynamic with his bass sound, I notice that a lot of bass players for metal bands will kinda just stick to what the guitar player is doing, and there isn’t anything wrong with that, but Eric is really good at making bass very prominent in our songs and is always working out different riffs that will go well with what the guitar is doing, it’s fantastic. So I guess what makes us unique is that we really try to dissect a song while writing or playing it. We try to make the best possible music that we can.

ATP

What bands have influenced each of you?

VALIANT BASTARDS

As a whole there are quite a few bands that influence us. We are all pretty big Megadeth fans, the way that they write their music is brilliant, and you never really know what you are going to get with that band which makes them very exciting. Another band that shares similar qualities is Annihilator; Jeff Waters is one of the most fantastic songwriters/guitarist in metal today. When we do our song writing I feel it’s rather similar to these bands, in that we will usually start with a riff and kind of just start building off of that, it’s a group effort. For me personally, I use to play a lot of death metal. Dying Fetus, Aborted, and Abominable Putridity were big influences for me and I carried that over to this band and as far as vocal influences I would have to say guys like James Hetfield, Chuck Billy, Matt Drake. Rusty is influenced by bands like Gwar, Black Sabbath, King Diamond, and Judas Priest. You can really tell, a lot of the riffs that Rusty comes up with have the heaviness and groove of Black Sabbath and the that evil feel of Mercyful Fate or King Diamond. Eric is a big Pantera fan, and I can see a lot of similarities in his style and Rex Browns style. As I mentioned before he adds a really heavy dynamic to the music. Scott is influenced by bands like Dream Theatre, Machine Head, Metallica and Fear Factory. Scott has a good mix of progressive style drumming while still keeping it thrashy and heavy.

ATP

How experienced are you on the stage, a virgin or whore?

VALIANT BASTARDS

For me I use to play in a band called Spear Induced Carnage (death metal) and we played quite a few shows including just a short weeklong west coast tour, and also I played bass for a band called Hammered Grunts, they played shows quite often and that’s the band I got my first taste of doing some live vocals. So I wouldn’t quite say I’m a whore but I do have quite a bit of stage experience. Our drummer Scott was in a few bands previous to this as well. Relent For No One, Tanagra, and Spellcaster, some really fantastic local bands. Scott is the senior show player in the band, he always has good ideas for what we should do during live shows, and just good ideas for the direction of the band. We all have started doing the same. There is good synergy in this band. Although this is the first band where Eric and Rusty have been doing consistent live shows, you can’t even tell. There is no shyness from either of them and they control the stage as if they have been doing for years. That’s what I love about these guys.

ATP

How would you describe your shows?

VALIANT BASTARDS

We have fun. If you go to a local show and it’s just some guys up there playing their songs then hopping off stage, I don’t think you really get a full experience. A bands music can kick ass, but if their live performance is coming up short, then it doesn’t always matter. So we basically try to do the opposite, interacting with the crowd is always important and just keeping it fun. Often times while Rusty is off doing his solo, Eric and I will face each other or Scott and just bust out some heavy rhythms, or Eric will be off on the side of the stage getting the crowd into it. You kinda have to do that stuff on stage, interacting with your band as well as the crowd is key for a good live show in my opinion. If you keep it fun and interesting you will get a better response and that’s what we strive to do.

ATP

Tell us about your favorite show and why?

VALIANT BASTARDS

We haven’t done too many shows at this point, but I would probably have to say when we played at the Hawthorne Theatre in Portland, OR. We were the first band to play on a 6 band roster. There was a pretty decent amount of people there. We basically just did our thing; everything was feeling really tight and on point. We got good responses from the crowd, which was a really awesome feeling. After we got done playing, we were all super excited, we all love playing shows and after you get done with a good show it just leaves you on a different level, Its almost euphoric. So when we got done we grabbed some drinks to celebrate and checked out the other bands. It was a great night.

ATP

Tell us about your worst show and why?

VALIANT BASTARDS

I’m not really sure we have had a show like that at this point. Sure there have been a couple shows where there were a couple minor little mistakes we made, but regardless we try and keep the energy up. I’ve seen big bands screw up live and they just laugh it off and keep rocking. You can’t make a big deal out of it if something goes wrong. I don’t think I could ever have a bad show with these guys, they are too much fun and they make me a better person and musician.

ATP

Tell Us About Your Dream Show, who you'd like to play with and where?

VALIANT BASTARDS

This is something that we always bring up at practices, or really anywhere. We made it a personal goal to open for GWAR someday. GWAR is just one of those bands that you can’t get sick of. Even if you aren’t a fan of their music (we all love GWAR) if you see this band live, it’s going to blow your mind. I have never seen a better stage show. So yeah, hopefully someday we can make that dream come true, doesn’t really matter where as long as we got the chance to do it.

ATP

Do you have a street team and how can you join?

VALIANT BASTARDS

Nobody for a street team yet, they must first take the Oath of the Bastard Legion. It’s pretty top secret.

ATP

Do you have a record label and if not are you looking for one?

VALIANT BASTARDS

We have our own little independent label that Eric came up with called Brown Cloud Records, which is at our practice spot. There is a lot of good equipment that we have for doing recordings and we just recently put out a 4 song demo. But we are very interested in finding a good label once we lay down some more high quality recordings.

ATP

What are your plans for the future, in a year, 5 years?

VALIANT BASTARDS

Our plan is to write and play our asses off, who knows where this band will go. We are getting to a point now where we are talking about touring. That seems like that is the only way to truly promote your band. Out of the bands that I have been in, this one is the hungriest. We aren’t going to stop until we have achieved all that we can and even then we will still keep going. We get along well enough to where I can see this band pulling a Rolling Stones, I don’t care if I’m 70 years old in a wheelchair, strap a guitar on me and wheel my ass out on stage. And I think that is the general attitude of the band, I have never worked with more dedicated people, they are family to me.

ATP

Finally, do have any words on what Arm The Pit means to you?

VALIANT BASTARDS

To me, just by looking at the site I can tell it’s a really good place to promote local music, on the homepage I noticed that it said there are a lot of good local bands who don’t necessarily get the recognition that they deserve, and I completely agree. Arm The Pit looks like something that can change that. We need more stuff more like that for our local scene to really grow; I really appreciate what the site is doing for Valiant Bastards, and we look forward to working more with it.