Hellbastard

ByLets Go Punk
English crust-thrash band Hellbastard built a long

Hellbastard is a long-running band from Newcastle upon Tyne that mixes metal riffing with crusty punk grit and a heavy dose of political edge. Across decades, hiatuses, reformations, and a mountain of releases, the group has stayed focused on writing harsh, fast music that pushes back against apathy and polite, safe rock.

How The Band Got Started

The roots of Hellbastard go back to the mid-1980s in the North East of England. Guitarist and vocalist Malcolm “Scruff” Lewty teamed up with Phil Laidlaw and Ian “Scotty” Scott with a simple idea in mind. They wanted a band that carried the politics of bands in the anarcho world and the heavy attack of more extreme metal. The result was a raw early lineup that aimed for material that was too metal for punks and too punk for strict metal purists, which suited them perfectly.

They first worked under the name Sons of Vengeance before locking in the Hellbastard banner and diving into rehearsal tapes and demos. Early on, the band cycled through members as they tried to hold together a group that could actually keep up with the material. That trial-and-error period set the groundwork for a band that would always feel a little unstable, but consistently intense on record.

Ripper Crust, Early Demos, And The First Albums

Hellbastard’s earliest recordings circulated as rough cassettes. Massacre arrived in 1985 as a rehearsal tape, followed by the 1986 demo Ripper Crust and the 1987 demo Hate Militia. Those tapes captured a noisy, low-fi mix of punk tempos and metal riffing that quickly spread through tape-trading networks. The band soon became closely associated with the darker, heavier side of punk that would later be tagged as crust.

Their first full-length, Heading for Internal Darkness, landed in 1988. It pushed the band into album territory while keeping the harsh tone of the demos. EPs and compilation appearances followed, including the 7-inch They Brought Death and the inclusion of “Justly Executed” on the Combat/Earache compilation Grindcrusher, which gave them important exposure outside their immediate underground circle.

In 1990, Hellbastard released Natural Order, a record that leaned deeper into thrash metal structures without losing the grim attitude that defined their early work. Around the same period, they appeared on releases such as A Vile Peace and handled frequent line-up changes, with Scotty eventually leaving to form Hellkrusher. Scruff and other members also did stints in allied bands like Energetic Krusher, strengthening the ties between the punk and metal corners of their world.

Hiatus, Side Projects, And The 2000s Return

After a busy stretch of EPs, splits, and full-lengths, Hellbastard wound down in the early 1990s. Scruff did not slow down; instead he poured energy into a series of other projects, including Nero Circus, Sidewinder, King Fuel, Heavy Water, The Dischargers, and Moodhoover. Many of these groups toured and released material of their own, keeping his songwriting moving even when Hellbastard was dormant.

In the 2000s, interest in their older material stayed strong. Reissues like Heading for More Darkness and the compilation In Grind We Crust helped keep their name in circulation. Scruff eventually decided to restart the band, pulling Hellbastard out of retirement and putting together a new lineup to play both classic material and new songs.

The reformed version of the band went on to tour in the United States and Europe, taking their mix of crusty hardcore and metal to new generations. Releases such as The Need to Kill, the Eco-war EP, Engineering Human Consciousness, and Feral added modern grit to their long discography while staying firmly rooted in their original approach to politics and heaviness.

Members

Current Members:

  • Malcolm “Scruff” Lewty – guitar, vocals, founding member and constant driving force behind the band.
  • Danny Guy – guitar.
  • Josh Davies – bass.
  • Nick Read – drums.

Over the years, Hellbastard has included a shifting cast of players around Scruff, with early participants like Phil Laidlaw and Ian “Scotty” Scott helping set the original direction before moving on to related projects.

Selected Discography

  • Massacre (1985, rehearsal cassette)
  • Ripper Crust (1986, demo cassette)
  • Hate Militia (1987, demo cassette)
  • Heading for Internal Darkness (1988, LP; later reissued on CD and vinyl with bonus material)
  • They Brought Death (1989, 7-inch EP)
  • Natural Order (1990, full-length album, also tied to their appearance on the Grindcrusher compilation)
  • In Grind We Crust (1998, compilation)
  • The Good Go First (2002, album)
  • The Need to Kill (2009, album)
  • Eco-war (2009, EP)
  • Engineering Human Consciousness (2013, EP and related singles)
  • Feral (2015, album, later issued on vinyl)

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