The Bastard Bearded Irishmen - Feile Artist Introduction

Kevin sits down with Jimmy Bastard of the Bastard Bearded Irishmen, to spend a few minutes getting to know more about the band and what audiences can expect at this year's Féile. We'll also share a couple of their songs to give you a taste of what's in store. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Tides of the Die, a podcast about all things there and more in Beaver Island. I'm Ron Drag. Over the next few weeks, as we're counting down the days to the Emerald Isle, Irish Vela, and Beaver Island, we'd like to introduce you to some of the incredible artists who will be taking the stage this September. It's a chance to hear a little bit about their music, their stories, and what inspires them before they arrive on the island. Today, Kevin sits down with Jimmy Bastards of the Bastard Bearded Irishman to spend a few minutes getting to know more about the band and what audiences can expect at this year's Vela. We'll also share a couple of their songs to give you a taste of what's in store. You can find more information about the Vela and purchase tickets at the Beaver Island Irish Heritage Group website, www.bih.com. Thanks for listening and enjoy the conversation. Hi, my name is uh Jimmy Smorecki, aka Jimmy Bastard.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

Uh been playing music since I was thirteen, Alton Barrers with the baby black accent for the next seven years, and then Bastard Irishman was formed in 2008. Actually 2007, but um the original uh the original lineup was a bunch of high school friends that got together. Um basically was born out of tragedy. Um a good friend who I grew up in high school, middle school playing. Uh my guitarist, he moved to LA and he got in a car accident, and he was killed. So he was a big Irish guy. I lived with him, you know, we moved out after high school together, and uh he um always played rock kick murphus and vlogging ball, he always wearing a leather jacket. And uh so when he died, um we started a memorial show every year for him. And about three years into it, I just grabbed a bunch of high his you know, his friends, my friends from high school, and said, um, you know, do you want to do like a can I song at the uh at the memorial show? So we did it, and it was so much fun. Uh we did it again and then did it again and and then wrote a song and then started writing more songs, and it just rolled on getting bigger and bigger. And it's it's been a blast ever since. And um and yeah, so that's that's where the the origin story comes from.

unknown 2:31

Let's go!

SPEAKER_03 2:41

But then what say this man would say go live? What you throw inside me, I can't let you go. It's a trick, stop and no, no, no, no. One more size, it's a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

So, how do you describe your music? Um energetic drinking Celtic music. I try not to compare it to other bands because I mean I'm never gonna say word uh unique band. Um we're not really like drunk murpys, we're not really like Loggy Molly, we're not really like the talkers or or any anybody. We all grew up from different backgrounds, uh, mine with all penny wise buttermouth, no effect, you know, and and I always had this irony to the music and that spring, you know, you you have the bass that is a punk rock band, and then you add different mandolins and violins and and that's what you get. You know, that's what we are.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Tell me what the typical audience uh reaction to your music is when you're getting that.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Well, we play everything um we have play everything from nursing homes in your hospital to you know rock menus to festival. Um and you know, you get you get my robots, which I just found out about two weekends ago. Uh two elderly people looking at you with some sort of like, you know, you know, just a strange look on their face, and then by the end of the song, they're dancing and clapping along. So it seems to be very well taken in. It always has been. Because we're on stage smiling and we're laughing at each other and having a good time. So when the audience sees that, I think they can connect with that a lot.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

So when you were forming as a band, who were your influences then?

SPEAKER_02 8:32

Um, like I said, I always grew up with, you know, um the punk rock side of things, rancid, uh we got our mouth, and things like that. Um I had older parents, so uh, you know, Ruth Franklin and the 40s, 50s, 60s era. Um like I said, they were older, so the rest of them they come in and you know, they think of letters theater and then I missed that part. I missed that the rock era of the 70s, um 50s, 70s. I was never really I mean I I got the radio songs, but I never really went down that path. So for me it was uh you know what my parents listened to, and then uh MC Hammer Vanilla Eyes to Metallica. And then once I heard my first Ponk Rock C, which was penny wise unknown, that was it. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

So I looked at your schedule. You are on a huge circuit this summer. Is that uh typical for you to play that many uh venues in your circuit?

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Yeah, yeah, that's this is a pretty pretty typical summer for us. Uh the last few years for like for everyone has have been um kind of rebuilding years after COVID. You had tons of venues across the country shut down. And so there's there's a rebuilding part of that. And I lost um I lost two band members. Uh they they stepped out. One had kids and and one just He did it for 18 years, so I give him all the credit in the world, but he he stepped down. So um you know, when you when you lose a member and then you gotta just, hey, hit the brakes for a second, teach all the songs, and then ah, you lose another member, uh do it again. So this last guy, um his name's Steve LaRucie, he's the new drummer. Hey, we we said the train's not flowing down, dude. You gotta you gotta do the work at home and and jump on. So and he did. He did amazing. And how many other band members do you have that tell me about um we have uh Ryan Wembrote, he is uh our guitarist. Um we have uh Steve LaRucy is the drummer, uh Paul Weiss is our bassist, Paul Deportak is our uh mandolin player, and we have Luke Zachro and Stephen Weiss on the fiddle. A bunch of good guys. Um in the last few years we've had like I said we had some fan changes, and I don't know, something maybe we all you know most of most of us hit our 40s, uh I'm in 46 now. Um something changed and it has been a family more than it ever has been. And we've just been having a blast, no matter what we do.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

So do you have a particular song that you signature?

SPEAKER_02 14:48

Uh we have we have a few that you know get played every every show. Um I think our highest listened to song is uh a song called Pirates of Three Rivers. It's um in particular. Yeah, yeah. That's that's our most listened uh listened to song. But um as far as us goes, we love drunk and drinkin' and drink em drink em drunk em and the fun of having a drink with your friends. Nothing wrong with that.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

What else should we know or expect when you guys show up and be around?

SPEAKER_02 15:28

Uh just get ready to dance. Get ready to dance, get ready to drink with us. Uh if there's something I can climb, I will do so. Um and it's just a lot of energy, a lot of a lot of jokes. We don't take ourselves seriously at all. We take the music seriously, but I have always loved integrating humor with music. And and that's what you get.

SPEAKER_03 15:55

Now that it's come about, we'll be the ones to shout steady on the way. We did it for a friend, now we're back at it again for the ones lost to yesterday. It's in a makeup part of the humanity. We all wonder why. A badge of prize, as we got out of the lives of the ones who stay good. We got all the lives of the ones we play, step, as we got all the lives of the ones instead of the bigger.