Meet Butch Bastard | Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Butch Bastard and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Butch, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
Success is a broad word and depending on your perspective I’ve either had a good amount or very little, but any “success” I have had has a lot to do with perseverance. I’m serious about my art and I continue to get after it with the same tenacity regardless of how much success I’m having at the time. It’s taken a long while, but sure enough, some great things have come my way partly as a result of sticking around.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I think what sets me apart from most artists is my songwriting and more specifically my lyrics. I’m not a virtuoso at any instrument, but I write well and I sing well. I think of my music as perspective music, and people who respond to it are probably appreciative of or relate to my point of view.

A lot of my lyrical approach comes from a lifetime of listening to rap music. Rap was by far the most beloved music for my peer group growing up. While my music doesn’t bear many obvious traces of rap or hip-hop, the influence is there in how I approach writing lyrics. Rather than have the words carry the song along, I strive to have every line stop the listener in their tracks. I hold myself to that standard as a result of my appreciation for the rap greats and how formative their music was on my young mind. I suspect that this influence has a lot to do with what distinguishes me from other white guys who stand on stage with an acoustic guitar.

I love producing up a record with all kinds of instrumentation, but I almost always perform solo for practical and financial reasons. I’ve gone on some amazing tours that would have been very difficult, if not impossible, and cost prohibitive had I tried to pull them off with a band. These solo performances tend to connect well with audiences who are unfamiliar with me and my work, and I think that’s because the lyrics and the vocal come through clearly in such a stripped-down format.

Nothing has come easy and I’m proud of the fact that I have done everything independently. Because of that I’ve learned a ton about how to function out here. For example, if anyone needs information on what to do in preparation for a European tour when you have no label, booking, international distribution, management, international merch relationships, international businesses established that allow you to take payments for merch, work permit sponsors, accountants, knowledge of international tax forms, etc., I’m definitely someone who can break that down for you. What I’d like people to take from my story is that you can’t wait around for someone to take an interest in what you are doing. No one is going to do it for you. No one is going to care about your work the way you do. Remain vulnerable, never stop working to improve, and keep putting it out there. Having said all of that, I’d be happy to work with a label and a booking agent. So feel free to reach out.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well first off, unless you’re my mother, I’m not picking you up at LAX. That might sound harsh, but I think most seasoned NELA residents will feel me on this. Fly into Burbank and I’ll pick you up there. Or take the FlyAway bus to Union Station, and I’ll snag you, with a stop at Philippe’s on the way to my place in Mount Washington.

If I do end up picking you up at LAX, I’ll take you to Coni’Seafood in Inglewood. But again, I’m not doing that.

What I love most about LA is that it’s haunted. I like the old spots where it seems like everyone working there is a ghost. I’m taking people to Dan Tana’s (my favorite restaurant on Earth), Musso & Frank, Chez Jay, the Dresden, The Prince—places like that. I tend to prioritize vibe over food when I go out to eat.

One day we will get a sandwich at Larchmont Wine & Cheese and have dinner at Da Sung Sa in K-Town. Maybe we’ll hit Shatto Lanes first.

In between all that, I like driving through the Valley or down Sunset at night, listening to music. Sometimes I take Sunset from Echo Park all the way to the ocean, playing whatever mixes I’m working on, and end up at Chez Jay for a nightcap. Sadly, the Pacific Palisades fire took the heart out of that—for the time being.

If the Dodgers are in town, we can’t miss Dodger Stadium. Start the night at El Compadre (see “vibes over food” comment above), go to the game, and bar-crawl down Sunset after. There’s a pupusa cart in front of the gas station between The Short Stop and Little Joy that I love as much as any place in the city. So much of the best food in LA is on the street.

But to be fully honest, at this point in my LA tenure, we’ll probably just hang at my house and order Zankou.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to the people who helped me make my latest record Death Valley for far less money than they are worth. Mix engineers Ryan Nasci and Dave Cerminara, string arranger Peter Murray, and musicians Richard Gowen, Laena Myers, Casey Wescott, Bill Patton, and Tony Barba.

Website: https://www.butchbastard.com

Instagram: @butch.bastard

Twitter: @TheButchBastard

Youtube: https://youtu.be/WA4HH0ryimg?si=tkbePVrYztNhhQzT

Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6fNr7JVtJm6UJEbb0YX8Wm?si=JVKmUFbiTkmPYufmqw-J-w

Image Credits
Maria Jose Govea, Diana Lungu, Kyle Johnson