Los Bastardos Magnificos hail from the ancient land of My-am-uh, a hotter-than-hell, chigger-infested sawgrass river crawling with snakes on a godforsaken mound of salty earth.
Their music reflects a brawling pioneer's intensity and the healthy wherewithal to get blind drunk and look for trouble every night of the week.
Bastardos cofounder David Miller talks about country, fights, and hardcore roots.
New Times: Wassup, dude? So how did the band start?
David Miller: Well, it was me and the fiddle player; we really started outside of Churchill's at a hardcore show. We both played in hardcore bands and uh, we were just talkin' about country music and, um, it went from there. He told me he played fiddle, and I said, "Oh, man, let's do some shit." And that's pretty much how it got together./p>
Who all is and how many people are in the band?
I've done shows by myself, and we've had as many as nine people onstage with us before, but there's a core lineup with George Geanoracas on fiddle; my wife, Michelle, plays autoharp; we've got Bear Crist on upright bass, Alex Nunez on lead guitar, David Bader on slide, Dent plays snare drum, and we've got Joshea Mark on acoustic guitar.
But pretty much all of us switch instruments too. We play banjo sometimes, mandolin, spoons. We all just sort of hand the instrument over to the next guy.
What can you say about the scene in Broward and Palm Beach counties for this kind of music?
When we started, we didn't know there was a Lake Worth. We played with punk bands in Miami. Then a friend was like, "There's a whole bunch of bands like you in Lake Worth," and I was like, that makes things easier. Lake Worth has a real good scene; Fort Lauderdale's got a nice rockabilly scene.
You have a lot of roots in punk and hardcore, right?
With the exception of my wife, everybody either plays or has played in a hardcore band. I used to play in Mekhago NT, Hibernis Mortis which is a death metal band. Me and Joshea used to play in Tyranny of Shaw with the drummer from Torche when we were younger. Hardcore and stuff is where we, when were younger, musically, that's where we came from.
How do you describe your music?
To me, we're a country band, but to the standard country fan of today, they don't know what we do, they're like, "What the hell is this?"
Name an influence...
Our biggest inspiration is the Band. You can't pinpoint what they do. It's not just country or rock 'n' roll; it's just sort of whatever they write at the moment.
What are your songs about?
Most of our lyrics are basically about drinking and fighting and rowdy shit, gettin' yourself into trouble.
Is there a real-life story you can tell about where a song came from?
The majority of us don't drink. Our songs are written in the first person but from a third-person point of view, from witnessing friends' alcoholism and battling demons through that sort of kept me away from drinking. Helping friends through their struggles, I put their stories to music.
What about fights?
Fighting, at Mekhago NT shows there was always fights. I can't, we couldn't play a show at Churchill's without a brawl; there's any handful of that to choose from.
What do you wanna say to the people out there?
We like to have a good time and get rowdy live. Come out and experience it, y'know, and have fun with us.
Los Bastardos Magnificos with the Sweet Chariots, Pretty Girls, and the Darling Sweets presented by Aces High Tattoo and Wayward Parade. 8 p.m., August 3, at Propaganda, 6 S. J St., Lake Worth. Entrance is $5. Visit facebook.com/propagandalakeworth.
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