Lil' Bastad: A band whose performance holds no boundaries
Thursday, February 24, 2005
By MARYANNE CHRISTIANO
of The Montclair Time
Diverse musicians who come from diverse backgrounds, that's the gist of Lil' Bastad, a five-piece Montclair-based band that runs the gamut of blues, soul, jazz, funk and maybe even a Frank Sinatra song if they are feeling it. They can be heard live when they return on Saturday, Feb. 26, to Tierney's Tavern on Valley Road.

Lil' Bastad is made up of Mark Bowers, lead guitar, vocals; Dave Moore, drums, vocals; Ronald "Boz" Bostick, bass, scat; John Pahmer, keyboards, vocals; and Luke Michura, guitar, vocals. They formed six years ago when
Bowers met Michura at Tierney's.

Bowers was performing an open mic night at Tierney's and Michura was in the audience. The musicians struck up a conversation and ended up starting a band together. Each band member had played with major acts and Bowers thought it would be best for the musicians to be the captain of their own ship.

"You spend time with major artists, you can miss your call," he said. "That's how the band came in to play. We got the right musicians and started booking gigs."

Growing up in a musical household, Bowers picked up the guitar by the age of 5. "My mother used to play all these blues records. I automatically gravitated to that. B.B. King inspired me to become a guitar player. We had a family band. My father was our manager. We played local gigs at the Peppermint Lounge in Orange."

When Bowers got older, he wanted to see how far he could take his dream and ended up touring gigs with The Manhattans, Kool and The Gang, and Wilson Pickett, to name a few.

"On my latest excursion I went to England with J.T. Taylor. We did a wedding reception for British royalty. Elton John was friends with the groom. After the reception, we all went back to his mansion. He had pianos in every room, even the bathroom," Bowers said.

Bowers rubbed elbows with some big names, but according to the number of hits on Lil' Bastad's Web site, it looks as though they may be becoming a name themselves. Michura said, "We average 15,000 hits on our Web site a month."

"We're gaining steam," Bowers added. "We have a very loyal fan base."

Lil' Bastad has released two CDs, "Hoot'n an a Holler'n" and "N' Then Sum," and has another one in the works called "Sumpthin' ta Say." Bowers said, "Common words for common folk."

But the real excitement comes from their live shows, where Bowers will go crazy, playing the guitar with his teeth and tongue. He said, "Little tricks I picked up from my uncle who's a blues guitarist, Bo Diddley Jr., and
watching guys like Hendrix. You gotta give people something to hear and something to see."

According to Bowers, their band's live performance reflects their CDs, which he said hold no boundaries. He said, "You'll hear blues, soul, jazz and funk. On a good night you'll even hear me sing, 'Fly Me To The Moon.'"

The band is exactly where they want to be in their career. Michura said, "If you want to make a point, we got our line-up basically where we want it to be. We got our Web site and our CD ready to come out of the gate, and the merchandise."

The only thing missing is management to complete the winning team, according to Bowers, but in the meantime Montclair resident Stephen Trushell is acting as temporary manager. "He's the glue, more or less," Michura said.

Bowers added, "He's the guy that stays up late drinking lots of coffee, making sure everything is all right for us now."

Lil' Bastad will be playing on Saturday, Feb. 26, at 9:30 p.m., at Tierney's Tavern, 136-138 Valley Road. For more information, call Tierney's at (973) 744-9785, or go to www.lilbastad.com.

Contact Mary Anne Christiano at christiano@montclairtimes.com

 

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