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Bastro.

MEMBERS

David Grubbs,

Dan Treado, (1987)

Clark Johnson, (1988-90)

John McEntire, (1989-)

Bundy K. Brown, (1991-)

HOMETOWNS

Washington, D.C.

Chicago, Illinois

ALSO

BASTRO on Wikipedia

DESCRIPTION

Bastro was the more prominent of guitarist David Grubbs' two immediate post-Squirrel Bait projects (the concurrently running Bitch Magnet being the other). Grubbs originally joined the Louisville, KY-based Squirrel Bait while still in high school, and was actually one of the oldest members of the group; when he and bassist Clark Johnson left for college, it effectively spelled the end of the band after two important releases. Grubbs went to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and formed Bastro in 1987 with bassist Dan Treado.

RELATED ARTISTS

GASTR DEL SOL (David/Bundy/John)

THE SEA AND CAKE (John)

SQUIRREL BAIT (David/Clark)

TORTOISE (John/Bundy)

David Grubbs, 1987
at CBGB and OMFUG, New York
Photo by [unknown]

Bastro
Photo by [unknown]

FILM

Performing live at the Rose Club, Köln, Deutschland, October 6, 1991.

Performing live at Vera, Gronigen, Holland, October 3, 1991.

BIOGRAPHY

Bastro was the more prominent of guitarist David Grubbs' two immediate post-Squirrel Bait projects (the concurrently running Bitch Magnet being the other). Grubbs originally joined the Louisville, KY-based Squirrel Bait while still in high school, and was actually one of the oldest members of the group; when he and bassist Clark Johnson left for college, it effectively spelled the end of the band after two important releases. Grubbs went to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and formed an early version of Bastro in 1987 with bassist Dan Treado, who soon left. Even though Clark Johnson had gone to Chicago, he and Grubbs reteamed as the new core of Bastro, and pursued a more twisted and abrasive style of post-hardcore punk than their former band. Backed by a drum machine, they issued a six-song EP, Rode Hard & Put Up Wet, on the Homestead label in 1988. They subsequently played some tour dates with My Dad Is Dead, whose drummer at the time was Oberlin College percussion major John McEntire. McEntire wound up joining Bastro full-time for their LP debut, 1989's Bastro Diablo Guapo, which drew comparisons to the blistering extremity of Steve Albini and the precision and shifting dynamics of another Squirrel Bait offshoot, Slint. Their second full-length, 1990's Sing the Troubled Beast, found the group straining against their established blueprint to follow a relatively subtle and melodic path. Bassist Johnson subsequently left the group and was replaced by Bundy K. Brown; meanwhile, Grubbs relocated to Chicago to attend graduate school. Feeling limited by the extremity of their power-trio format and afraid of stagnating, Bastro tried to push into more atmospheric territory, and wound up deciding to retire the name altogether and continue as a completely different project, dubbed Gastr del Sol. Brown and McEntire appeared on Gastr del Sol's 1993 debut, The Serpentine Similar, after which the group became a vehicle for Grubbs' collaboration with Jim O'Rourke, as well as a touchstone of the post-rock movement. Brown and McEntire subsequently became charter members of the even more seminal post-rock outfit Tortoise.

- Steve Huey, All Music

DISCOGRAPHY

SINGLES

Shoot Me a Deer
Split single with My Dad is Dead
A L'Ombre De Nous [with Codeine]

ALBUMS

Rode Hard and Put Up Wet
Diablo Guapo
Sing the Troubled Beast
Antlers [Live]

COMPILATIONS

Human Music
Teen-Beat Fifty
Flat: The Art of Truncation
Zehn

SONGS

(I've) Ben Brown
A L'Ombre De Nous
Antlers
Beatlenacht
Can Of Whoopass
Counterrev: Bhutan
Decent Skin
Demons Begone
Educated Fool
Engaging the Reverend
Extract
Filthy Five Filthy Ten
Flesh-Colored House
Floating Home
Glistery
Goiter Blazes
Gold Fillings
Guapo
Hirscheneck
Hoosier Logic
I Come From a Long Line of Shipbuilders
It's Mercury I've Got in My Hips
Jefferson-in-Drag
Krakow, Illinois
Loam
Metal Legs
Noise / Star
Nothing Special
Pretty Smart On My Part
Produkt
Recidivist
Shoot Me a Deer
Short-Haired Robot
Sketch for Sleepy
Sleepy Taste
Tallow Waters
The Sifter
Three Eggs in a Sock
Tobacco in the Sink
Wurlitzer