Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons - We're the Bastards
On November 13, 2020 "Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons" released their second studio album "We're the Bastards", through the Nuclear Blast label.
Remember how much fun it was when Dad took you to work?
So the children of guitarist Phil Campbell must have felt that way when they released the second studio album of their joint family project - "We're the Bastards", which sounds really good.
For those who don't know (and if you follow our page and website you surely know), Phil Campbell was the guitarist of "Motörhead" from 1984 to 2015.
After the death of Lemmy Kilmister and the disbandment of "Motörhead", Phil found himself out of work. In 2016 he entered the studio with the percussionist Chris Fehn, who is known as number 3 in "Slipknot" to concoct a solo album. That album, "Old Lions Still Roar", was only released in 2019 and included collaborations with Alice Cooper, Rob Halford, Dee Snider, and more. The more interesting thing happened precisely while working on that solo album. It started as Phil spending quality time with his three children and quickly turned into a serious project that led to the band "Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons".
Phil recruited his sons: Todd on guitar, Dane on drums, and Tyla on bass. They added Neil Starr, the singer and rhythm guitarist of the Welsh band "Attack! Attack!" and started working on original material.
(Photo: Ultimate Classic Rock)
In 2016, the band released their first EP named "Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons", and started warming up bands like "Guns N' Roses", "Hawkwind", "Saxon", and "Airbourne". The group gained momentum and what started as a side project designed to pass the time turned into something serious and permanent, when the band released its debut album "The Age Of Absurdity" in January 2018.
With the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, and since the band could not perform, the band gathered at guitarist Todd Campbell's private studio in Wales. The songs were written as early as January-February 2020, and the album itself was recorded in April 2020, under lockdown conditions: at any given moment only two band members were in the studio, each in a separate room. The album was produced, recorded and engineered by Todd Campbell himself, and mixed and mastered by Søren Andersen (Glenn Hughes, The Dead Daisies). This time, the songwriting was more evenly shared between the band members, developing a mix of fresh contemporary influences brought by the sons, with the classic hard rock brought by the adult in charge. Phil, for his part, promised in an interview with Apple Music: "13 tracks and no filler, guaranteed".
The theme song "We're the Bastards" opens the album powerfully and sets the tone for what comes next. "Son Of A Gun" led by the ferocious bass of Phil's son Tyla even ups the ante and shows that this band has a lot to give. And there are some "Zeppelin" influences in "Desert Song", southern rock with "Born To Roam", short dirty punk in "Destroyed" featuring Harley Flanagan of "Cro-Mags" on backing vocals and even a nice ballad "Waves" that ends the album. The album reached number 40 on the UK Albums Chart, number 37 in Germany and number 34 in Switzerland.
One of the album's highlights is "Destroyed", with Harley Flanagan of "Cro-Mags" on backing vocals - a track that could easily have fit on a classic "Motörhead" album like "1916". Alongside the direct heaviness of "Animals" and "Keep Your Jacket On", the album also knows how to slow down: it closes with "Waves", a moving and unexpected ballad that shows another side of the band.
It would have been easy to expect a former "Motörhead" guitarist to recreate the familiar sound, but "We're the Bastards" is much more than a rerun of past glory. The 13 tracks here are honest, direct hard rock that sounds written especially for the stage - "Motörhead" fans will find a home here, but the album stands on its own.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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