BASTARD - "DR. GONG / COMFORT" SINGLE
(WSW-030) BASTARD - "DR. GONG / COMFORT"
7" VINYL SINGLE
Release date: June 20, 2026
Some records arrive fashionably late. This one has taken 52 years.
For the first time ever, recordings by Bastard, the short-lived 1974 band featuring future The Damned guitarist and songwriter Brian James and future Elton Motello frontman Alan Ward, are being released to the public by Amsterdam-based punk and rock ‘n roll record label Wap Shoo Wap Records.
The band formed in Crawley in the U.K. and quickly gained a reputation as a wild bunch, playing Hell’s Angels clubhouses, biker parties and dive bars around the U.K. and Belgium.
The songs of this single were recorded in 1974 and unheard ever since, these tracks capture a moment when British rock was still tangled up in flares, prog excess and fading glam, while Bastard were already kicking against the walls. Raw, loud, urgent and undeniably ahead of their time, the recordings offer a fascinating glimpse of the musical DNA that would soon help shape the punk explosion.
High-energy stomper “Dr. Gong” starts with an ominous intro riff that’s very reminiscent of the theme song to John Carpenter’s “Halloween” movie. A bit crazy, since that movie wouldn’t come out until a few years later. The lead guitar work by Brian James on this track sounds clearly influenced by MC5 axe-slinger Wayne Kramer, while there’s also hints of Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper that can be heard. On 'Comfort', the flipside, you can feel and hear The Stooges' street-level danger colliding head-on with the Flamin' Groovies' razor-sharp rock'n'roll instincts."
Within a few years, Brian James would go on to write and record with The Damned, including the landmark single "New Rose" — widely recognised as the first UK punk single — and become one of the key architects of British punk rock. Alan Ward would later find international notoriety with Elton Motello, whose "Jet Boy, Jet Girl" remains one of punk's most notorious and enduring anthems.
For decades, the recordings existed only as rumour, memory and ageing tape. Now they have finally been unearthed from the shadows, preserved and presented for a new generation of listeners, collectors and punk obsessives
The release will be available as a limited edition 7-inch vinyl pressing of just 300 copies worldwide.