Man is the Bastard 'The Lost M.I.T.B. Sessions'

The Lost M.I.T.B. Sessions resurrects the final studio recordings of Man Is The Bastard, the hugely influential Southern California band that helped define the sound and philosophy of powerviolence in the 1990s.

Before Man Is The Bastard dissolved in 1997, the band had begun recording material intended for two unrealized split releases, one with Despise You and another with Spazz. Nearly sixteen years later, elements of those original analog recordings were recovered and the unfinished sessions were finally completed.

The resulting four tracks push far beyond conventional hardcore. Eric Wood’s layered bass, Joel Connell’s drumming, Andrew Beattie’s vocals, and the band’s electronics collide with contributions from Bastard Noise vocalist Artz and Kris Force of Amber Asylum, moving between crushing powerviolence, sludge, noise, and power electronics.

Man Is The Bastard emerged from Claremont, California in the early ’90s with an immediately recognizable approach built around dual bass guitars, extreme dynamics, electronics, and experimental noise, standing apart even within the increasingly violent West Coast hardcore underground. Their influence can be heard throughout generations of powerviolence, grind, sludge, and experimental heavy music.

Originally released in 2015 by Deep Six Records, The Lost M.I.T.B. Sessions is less a collection of leftovers than the final chapter of one of hardcore’s strangest and most uncompromising bands.