1) Could you tell our readers about your band Bastard Cross ? – What kind of music do you perform, when was it established, etc.?
We are a Philadelphia based blackened metal punk band emerging from the cold winter of 2021. The four of us all came together after leaving separate bands of our own to write aggressive black metal with a thrash/punk attitude and had much time to focus on writing since we couldn’t play shows due to Covid. We released our debut self-titled E.P in October 2021 and played our first show shortly after. Soon after, we dropped a 2 song split with our friends in Black Knife and in 2023 we released another E.P “Beasts of the Night” with a tour to promote it. Since then we’ve been preparing to release our debut full-length, “Crossripper”, set to release this Halloween!
(2) Which bands or artists inspired you to play music? Considering the four of us all come from different musical backgrounds, it’s very clear what our roots are, from the metallic atmosphere of Slayer and Dissection to the punk attitude of Anti Cimex and Misfits. In jest, for this project we could compare ourselves to the Danish black metal band Samhain as well as the pre-Danzig pink band Samhain!
(3) Who came up with the cover art for the Single Behead The Priest?. We had commissioned an original piece by Sandy Rezalmi for our full-length’s art and found they had more available pieces and this particular art matched the same atmosphere as the song, so we requested it as well!
(4) Who wrote the lyrics for your new single, how did they come to be? One half of our duo-guitar & twin vocal attack, Blasphemous Axe wrote not only the lyrics but also the music for Behead the Priest. He was directly inspired by “Raid the Covenant” by Nunslaughter and envisioned it as a closing track to our album.
(5) Who created the logo for the band, and who takes care of the graphics and the website? Angel Robles has done both our logos; we’ve let many folk handle graphics, whether it be our artist Sandy, our members Heathen Chevalier & Beheader of Priests, Rick Rhody and of course the teams at Morbid & Miserable and Diabolic Might Records.
(6) How many Shows have you played? Which type of gigs do you prefer, whether (Venues or festivals) and which of your performances would you consider as the best? Since 2021 we’ve played around 70-80 shows! We tend to prefer the more intimate gigs like divebars but have noticed some of our best performances have been for fests such as Hell in the Harbor and Dungeon Death fest
(7) What is your songwriting process? Usually, our guitarists come together to share riffs and see what works together. After a few riffs seem to mix, our drummer, Infernal Bastard lays the percussion which helps the string section piece together the rest of the song and make any changes or additions to riffs and melodies.
(8) How would you describe your band’s sound? We could describe ourselves as fast & loud, filthy & mean sprinkled with sin & blasphemy; hellraising melodies over unrelenting blackened thrash to create a chaotic sort of atmosphere
(9) What are the main themes or messages in your lyrics? Listeners will notice the elephant in the room being anti-religion while tackling it through metaphors throughout the album, sort of how each song is its own “monster of the week” like old horror themed shows. Each song is presented with its own premise, whether it be mummies, werewolves, diseases but with a general theme of satanism, anti-religion, etc.
(10)Do you have endorsements that you want to talk about or share? None of us are endorsed.
(11) Would you like to share any shows or festivals coming up? We are celebrating the release of our debut by playing a release show with Krieg in Philadelphia on November 8th, which is also their 30th Anniversary show. We’ll also be playing a handful of shows in Virginia and Pennsylvania throughout the remainder of the year.
(12) How and where can your fans contact you? What about you and social networks? You can contact us at
bastardcrossphl@gmail.com and follow us on Facebook and Instagram
