Drunken Bastards
| Started in: | 1995 | |
| Started By: | Darrell Clark - Guitar, and Jeff Polk - Drums | |
| Based In: | Louisville | |
| First show: | Llamapalooza in July of 1998 at the New Albany Ampitheater | |
| Band Members: | Darrell Clark-Guitar (1995-2001, 2009), Jeff Polk-Drums (1995-2001, 2009), Graeme Springer-Bass (1999-2001, 2009), Chris Layton-Guitar (2009), Justin Fitzgerald-Vocals (1999-2001), Matt Jurkiewicz-Bass (1996-1999), Fargon-Vocals (1998-1999), Leroy Spectre-Vocals (1996-1997) |
Drunken Bastards were a catchy old-school punk rock band with vicious, in-your-face, and sometimes offensive lyrics in the vein of, (both musically and lyrically), GG Allin & The Murder Junkies and The Dwarves.
Since the beginning in 1995 until the end in 2001, the Drunken Bastards had pretty much a revolving door of bassists, vocalists, and even a couple second guitarists over their 6 year existence. With an almost perfect record of getting kicked out of every practice space we played in due to loud music and general drunkeness. And always ended up going into a forced hiatus every few months after losing a practice place, and usually having to replace the vocalist and bassist after every hiatus. And there was a rule that they would always practice drunk, (or at least drinking).
The lineup history, as best I can remember it: 1995: The original lineup (which lasted only a few months) was Jeff on drums, Darrell on guitar, Drew Watkins on bass, and Eric Walker on vocals. We practiced a few times in a rental storage space alongside local punk band Charisma Society (which Darrell and Drew were also members of). This would be the beginning of the Drunken Bastards' long history of sharing band members with Charisma Society. We lost storage shed rehearsal space because of the loud music, and lost Eric and Drew as well.
1996 - 1997: Reformed with Matt Jurkiewicz on bass and Leroy Spectre on vocals, (both also with Charisma Society. And let it be noted that Spectre had the distinction of being the only sober member of the band ever). We started practicing again for a few months in an old school that had been converted into band reheasal studios. Then get kicked out of there because of a party we had where a friend of the band got drunk and destroyed some shit in the building. We pactice every now and then at various people's houses, but lost Spectre somewhere duing this time.
1998 - 1999: Fargon joined on vocals. We practiced at a few different people's houses, but ended up getting kicked out of all of them for loud music and drunken behavior. During this time we played our one and only show ever: July 1998 at Llamapalooza, (which was a local Punk band festival put on in New Albany, Indiana). We weren't even on the bill for the show, we all just happened to be there that day and played on borrowed equipment. Sometime in 1999, we lost both Matt and Fargon.
1999 - 2001: Fitz and Graeme Springer's band Perilous Derelicts split up and both join Darrell and Jeff in what would be the last version of Drunken Bastards. We started practicing at Graeme's apartment until he lost his lease. We went on hiatus for a few months and reformed in late 2000 with the same lineup and started practing at Mom's Music in Jeffersonville, IN. Several rehearsal recordings were made and things were going very well for once. A set of 13 songs was ready, plans were made to start playing out and get some studio recordings done, and eventually tour. We even had King from Hellstomper lined up to do guest vocals on a cover of the David Allan Coe tune "Three Biggest Lies" that we were planning on recording, and we had a good shot of getting on the bill at the 2001 Confederacy of Scum Supershow in South Carolina. Then everything pretty much fell apart really quickly around April of 2001. A couple of band members were struggling with drug and drinking problems (hard to imaging that happening in a band called Drunken Bastards), which lead to one member eventually going to prison, while another ended up in AA, (although he's off the wagon now). Another had a new family to support. After the last lineup fell apart, there was some talk of reforming the band with different members, but nothing ever materalized, (until 2008, that is). There was also an attempt to put out a fake live cd in late 2001 on Drew Watkins' label Capitalism Records Incorporated using rehearsal recordings from 2000. Vocal overdubs were done and crowd noise was edited in, but the project fell apart before any mixing could be started and the songs were never released until their MySpace page.
Then began the 8 year hiatus of the band. During that hiatus:
Darrell got married, had a couple kids, became a chef, and in late 2004, he moved to New Orleans only to be hit by Hurricane Katrina a few months later. He and his family lost all of their possessions and spent a week in the Superdome after the hurricane, (you'll have to ask him, he's got some great stories). He then moved to Ft. Worth, TX for a short time where he became a truck driver, and then moved to Seattle for a few years. He has since divorced and in late 2008 moved back to Louisville, setting the stage for the long talked about Drunken Bastards reunion. He has not played in a band since the band split in 2001.
Graeme got married, had a kid, and has played in several other local bands, including drums in The Guttersluts and was part of the short-lived Concrete reunion until the project fell apart.
Jeff got married, had a kid, and has played in several other local bands, including Damn Ramblers, Rocket To Des Moines, Edges of October, and several others who never quite made it out of the basement.
As of January 2009, the Drunken Bastards have reunited and ARE back together with the new addition of Chris Layton on guitar and several people lined up to try out for vocalist. We are committed to seeing it through this time, no fucking around anymore! Look for recordings to be done, shows to be played, tours to take place all within the next few years.