In 2016 Ghost Basterds‘ singer Erik and their guitarist Sascha wanted to start a band. At that time their goal was to cover known mainstream songs and interpret them as metal. We had an opportunity to do an interview with the German band by e-mail  – however, we don’t know exactly who answered our questions, but it seems that same spirited (Ghost – editor’s note) bands have their own tricks to cover up their identity.

“Their (Erik’s and Sascha’s) buddy Andi, with whom they used to play in other bands together, joined the band as a bassist. Martin on drums and Justin on second guitar came to us through tenders. After the first concerts it soon became clear that the future of Ghost Basterds would not be in cover music and so we started writing our own songs together” – told the story about the beginning by one of the Basterds. Then he added: most of the inspiration comes from their live concerts.

“We experience that we reach people with our songs and that they have the same fun in front of the stage, as we have on stage.
If we look at the statistics of our streaming platforms, it spurs us to write new music even more. Through those modern possibilities, we are able to enrich the whole world with our music virtually with simple means.

Each of us is listening to different genres of music, but metal gives us the power we need. That’s why we are into our musical style.

For this year we decided to release four singles digitally, each of them with a video: ‘Sell Yourself’ and ‘Wahrheit oder Pflicht’ are already available. In September the cover song ‘Dschinghis Khan’ will follow and at the end of the year our half-ballade ‘Who Is Next?’ will be released.

Meanwhile, we are working diligently on the songs for our debut album, which is scheduled for 2020. 

Our song ideas usually emerge spontaneously from being together during our rehearsals. We notice directly when the ‘flow’ is there and when a riff rocks. You can see it in our faces how a song develops. If the smile of a bastard appears, then it rocks.

As soon as an idea feels good, we record a guide track and listen to it self-critically to continue working on it. In addition, Erik gets a better base for writing suitable lyrics.

Besides songwriting, each band member has their responsibilities, so we all work together on the future of the band. So far that’s going pretty well.

Erik does the booking and social media. Martin develops the stage outfits, make-up, stage decoration and, together with Justin, also takes care of the recordings.

Justin as our youngest also contributes to the band’s impact on social media. Andi works out the choreography and creates the visual design of the band. In the process, he gets Sascha’s support, who is also in charge of the finances and adds his experience into all other areas.”

The One of the Basterds shared some behind the scenes gravestones stories with us. “Funny stuff mostly happens during our rehearsals or on the road, as you can see on our Facebook page. We regularly post about the band’s antics. Mostly we squabble but outsiders may sometimes not be able to understand. For example:

Band: “Let’s have a drink together.”
Sascha: “I only drink together with my friends.”

Through such spontaneous humor often really funny situations occur, but as we said before it surprises the outsiders, hehe.

Another funny scene from the early days of the band was Justin’s first make-up attempts when he ended up looking like a panda on extasy with lipstick on his teeth. We can show you the associated image unofficially on our cell phone when we are playing in Hungary. (OH HELL, YES!!! – editor’s note)

We are just very sarcastic and especially as a band member you have to bear this special humor and grow a thick skin.”

And where could you catch the guys? “In 2018 and early 2019 we will concentrate on shows in Germany, where we are already booked for many concerts. After that, we plan to play at festivals and perform on stages outside Germany.”