Locals Only: :sweet ‘honey’ in the rock scene

“Sorry about the porn and shit, hopefully you got enough info for an article,” read drummer Greg Slone’s e-mail the day after our interview.

Admittedly, their creative methods of expediting rapport were successful, but no amount of girl-on-girl action can establish the brotherly bonds that the core members of Bastion share.

Ten years ago, Slone decided to assemble his ideal band. The impressive Fusion drummer had recently met singer/guitarist Brad Wilkins through a mutual acquaintance, and they soon started writing music together.

“We hit it off because we’ve both always thought it important that Rock music have attitude in addition to musicianship,” says Slone.

Guitarist Don Gauck was on top of Slone’s list; the pair had spent their teenage years playing together. But then, as now, the CCM grad maintained a busy schedule teaching and playing in countless outfits, performing everything from Jazz to Rock to acoustic shows. And, truthfully, he was not particularly impressed with Slone and Wilkins’ first effort, Havoc 9.

“We tried to get Don, but back then I couldn’t sing my way out of a fucking sack,” admits Wilkins. “It was like bad Perry Farrell, so he wasn’t into it.”

The uneasy feeling turned out to be mutual. “We went to see him playing some cover gig,” continues Wilkins. “I still had the pretentious, elitist, punk attitude, so I was like, ‘No fucking way am I playing with this guy!”

“Here we are 10 years later, so it finally all worked out,” chuckles Slone.

That’s a gross understatement. Aside from a gap where Slone played with MOTH and Wilkins was distracted by a relationship, the pair have been playing together almost continuously. Once they had a chance to polish their style, Gauck was willing to get on board.

There are many elements to their creative success, and one is that they have stayed true to their vision rather than resorting to trend-chasing. Bastion’s sound hints at some stand-outs of the Metal-to-Grunge transition axis, namely Queensryche and Stone Temple Pilots. Their songs are imbued with depth and complexity, but not at the expense of listenability.

Another key is that all are avid songwriters with equal input into production. This is where the fraternal chemistry is crucial. Many bands claim the “no egos” ethos, but the proof is in the pudding. Or, in this case, the Honey.

The Honey Sacrifice is Bastion’s debut LP, and it’s one of the crispest self-produced albums I’ve ever heard. Their secret was simply to spend adequate time on pre-production and re-recording as necessary to get exactly the sound they wanted. They also took a page from the Led Zeppelin recording book, gratuitously experimenting with layering.

“We filled out all the songs with little riffs, effects and ornaments to keep the songs building so you’re not bored by the time the chorus comes around the third time,” says Gauck.

A natural frontman, Wilkins’ commanding voice is also a primary ingredient. But he was initially opposed to the role. “I just wanted to play bass,” he quips, “but we realized it was going to be impossible to find a lead singer since we write all the melodies and lyrics and want to stay in control of that.” The same situation complicated their bass player search. Joe Johnson is currently filling the position admirably, after a series of overly busy players.

Bastion’s promotion plan includes weekend tours and possibly a week on each coast. They are also using online outlets to build a following. A show last month attracted a half dozen fans from Dayton, who found them through

“Sorry about the porn and shit, hopefully you got enough info for an article,” read drummer Greg Slone’s e-mail the day after our interview.

Admittedly, their creative methods of expediting rapport were successful, but no amount of girl-on-girl action can establish the brotherly bonds that the core members of Bastion share.

Ten years ago, Slone decided to assemble his ideal band. The impressive Fusion drummer had recently met singer/guitarist Brad Wilkins through a mutual acquaintance, and they soon started writing music together.

“We hit it off because we’ve both always thought it important that Rock music have attitude in addition to musicianship,” says Slone.

Guitarist Don Gauck was on top of Slone’s list; the pair had spent their teenage years playing together. But then, as now, the CCM grad maintained a busy schedule teaching and playing in countless outfits, performing everything from Jazz to Rock to acoustic shows. And, truthfully, he was not particularly impressed with Slone and Wilkins’ first effort, Havoc 9.

“We tried to get Don, but back then I couldn’t sing my way out of a fucking sack,” admits Wilkins. “It was like bad Perry Farrell, so he wasn’t into it.”

The uneasy feeling turned out to be mutual. “We went to see him playing some cover gig,” continues Wilkins. “I still had the pretentious, elitist, punk attitude, so I was like, ‘No fucking way am I playing with this guy!”

“Here we are 10 years later, so it finally all worked out,” chuckles Slone.

That’s a gross understatement. Aside from a gap where Slone played with MOTH and Wilkins was distracted by a relationship, the pair have been playing together almost continuously. Once they had a chance to polish their style, Gauck was willing to get on board.

There are many elements to their creative success, and one is that they have stayed true to their vision rather than resorting to trend-chasing. Bastion’s sound hints at some stand-outs of the Metal-to-Grunge transition axis, namely Queensryche and Stone Temple Pilots. Their songs are imbued with depth and complexity, but not at the expense of listenability.

Another key is that all are avid songwriters with equal input into production. This is where the fraternal chemistry is crucial. Many bands claim the “no egos” ethos, but the proof is in the pudding. Or, in this case, the Honey.

The Honey Sacrifice is Bastion’s debut LP, and it’s one of the crispest self-produced albums I’ve ever heard. Their secret was simply to spend adequate time on pre-production and re-recording as necessary to get exactly the sound they wanted. They also took a page from the Led Zeppelin recording book, gratuitously experimenting with layering.

“We filled out all the songs with little riffs, effects and ornaments to keep the songs building so you’re not bored by the time the chorus comes around the third time,” says Gauck.

A natural frontman, Wilkins’ commanding voice is also a primary ingredient. But he was initially opposed to the role. “I just wanted to play bass,” he quips, “but we realized it was going to be impossible to find a lead singer since we write all the melodies and lyrics and want to stay in control of that.” The same situation complicated their bass player search. Joe Johnson is currently filling the position admirably, after a series of overly busy players.

Bastion’s promotion plan includes weekend tours and possibly a week on each coast. They are also using online outlets to build a following. A show last month attracted a half dozen fans from Dayton, who found them through myspace.com. Building a sizable cult following should be no problem, but you could just as easily see a band of this caliber opening for Velvet Revolver.

“We don’t have specific expectations of success,” says Gauck. “As long I can keep making great music with these guys, even if we have to keep our day jobs, that’s success.”

This article appears in May 25-31, 2005.