“There was only one Motorhead and one Discharge, so why bother trying to be a clone of our heroes?” wonders Panzerbastard bassist and frontman Keith Panzer aloud when confronted with the question of his Bostonian band’s goals and identity. “We honestly just do what we want, and don't worry about anything else. I think what might make us unique is the honesty of those combined influences. We have incredibly obvious influences, and we try to take them and make our own sound…if it ain't broke don't fix it. The minute we start over analyzing what we do is the beginning of the end.”
What Panzerbastard does exactly is create one of the most raucous, raging amalgamations of hardcore, heavy metal and filthy rock around today. Now, thanks to 2006-2009—Panzerbastard’s recently released retrospective disc on Patac Records—the band is no longer a Beantown secret, but rather a steamrolling force of nature; moving out and making its presence known with brutal, blunt fury.
“We’ve had outstanding support since day one from people all over the world,” proclaims Keith, comparing the hometown reactions for his un-merry miscreants to those from abroad. “I wouldn't be doing this interview if it weren't for Miklos and Lazslo from Fighting Boys Records finding me on Myspace, and putting out our demo out as the Boston seven inch. We have a strong group of people here at home who stand with us as well, and it's growing every day. The reactions are the same from every country or city-you either love this band or despise us…there is no middle ground when you deal with Panzerbastard.”
Keith continues, recalling the tale of PB’s initial formation, “I’ve been waiting twenty years to find guys just like me. I met our guitarist [Hollywood] Bobby one day when he got on the same subway as I, and we just clicked. I met Andrew [Bastard, guitars/vocals] through a Black Metal night I used to book at a club in Boston. I was a big fan of his BM band Horn of Valere, and he would come up from Rhode Island. He ended up moving to Boston and was hanging out with Bobby. We all reconnected, and decided to start jamming. Marcus [drums] was the last piece of the puzzle; I had never met him before. After a month of jamming at Andrew’s apartment, they told me 'We found a drummer,' and I've been stuck with [him] ever since!”
“For the most part, Marcus and I write the music, and I write the lyrics…but we all make it work. Andrew has written lyrics for 'No Gods' and we all wrote 'D.E.B.T.' sitting on the floor of Andrew’s old apartment. There is no set pattern for how a song develops. There have been songs like 'Fatherless Son Of A War Machine' that literally just wrote itself as we jammed, and there have been others where Marcus or I have come in with a fully formed song. We all meet at the same point musically—a love for Motorhead, Discharge, Venom and Hellhammer—but we all have our own differences which make up our sound. I tend to bring the simpler rock n roll or hardcore riffs, whereas Marcus comes from the more Scandinavian crust and grind school of riffing. Andrew has a great ear for arrangement, and Bobby is just a straight up violent and ignorant lead player. I mean that in the best way possible! No matter what, we really do all get involved with the arranging. Trends come and go, and one of the only good things about getting older is that I’ve seen firsthand that sticking to your guns is the only way to approach music.”
2006-2009 is a massive statement of intent for the Boston band; a declaration that this killing quartet—like Sheer Terror put so succinctly—are “here to stay”, with plans of world domination clear in their sights. “We’re in the process of writing and recording as we speak. The next planned releases are a split EP with Psycho—featuring two new songs, two Celtic Frost covers and a Psycho cover—and our first full length due out in June. I'm just very happy that this CD is out there, and people can get to hear ALL of our recorded material. The Boston single and the Bastards Die Hard EP were released in very small pressings, and that stuff deserved a second chance. Fighting Boys and Get Up and Kill did the best they could to get them out there, but you can only do so much at that level of D.I.Y. The journey up till now has been everything you could imagine-highs and lows-but it's no different than any other band, I'd imagine. There are no crybabies here in this band. You don't play rock n roll to be a 'star'.”
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