The Bug Nasties

Welcome to the My Space page for Brother James & the Soul-Vation. The Bug Nasties are no more. I've been running this site for many years under that name. Now I'm playing 60's R&B and garage songs with my buddy Ron Nine and a few other cats. Ron is in Subpop's Love Battery and new outfit Vaporland. On bass is Joe Foucault from Zack Static Sect and Chuck Cyclone (Autolight Strike) is on the skins. We have expanded to include Astra Yaver and Katie Scarbery on backing vocals.
In 2010, The Bug Nasties have also reformed with Vic "The Stick" Hart on Drums and Jamie Jaspers on Bass. These two make a thunderous combo and I'm lucky to have them both in the band. We will play occasional gigs in the NW, so if your garage band needs a show, looks us up and I'll hook ya up.
I started gigging in Seattle way back in 1984 at the ripe old age of nineteen. Some folks said I was a late bloomer. It was with my first punk band was 64 Spiders. We were a hodge podge of garage, psychadelic, post-punk and that heavy dirge sound some dorks called grunge. The band was made up of myself on guitar/vocals, original lead singer David Lee, bassist Joe Ross and Eric Walker on drums. Then I moved to lead vocals in 1986 and we got Scott McCullum on drums. We split in 1987 and released a 7" and two songs on CZ Records compilation Another Phyrric Victory.
In January of 1987, I was recruited by David Duet and Tom Price to join Catbutt. Originally conceived as a side project for Duet, Texas rocker Michael Hutchins and two members of The U-Men, we played around Seattle for 6 months and quickly built a strong following playing 60's garage punk ala The Chocolate Watchband, The Yardbirds and early Rolling Stones. Then Tom and Charlie Ryan left to concentrate on The U-Men, so I found Dean Gunderson to play bass and Erik 'Erok' Peterson to fill in on drums. We played around the NW for 3 years and eventually replaced Michael with Phoenix axman Danny Bland. A 7" single was released on Penultimate Records, followed by a cut on SubPop compilation SubPop 200. Danny worked for Subpop as a booking agent and got us on the label in 1989. We toured the US twice and released an EP that year - Journey to the Center of Catbutt. The fall tour was with soon-to-be famous girl rockers L7. That tour was the last hurrah for me and I left the band shortly thereafter.
Erok and I then started a 3-piece post-punk band called Yummy (originally Yummy Fur, but I changed it to not cop another artist's name). We had Tracy Simmons of Blood Circus on bass. After a year, Erok left and Tracy and I continued with another Erik - Erik Hildahl. After several singles, we split on late 1991.
I wanted to get out of the grungy post-punk movement and do more garage punk stuff, so I hooked up with singer Doug White to form The Sinister Six. Hildahl joined us on drums along with bassist Mark Ferkingstad. We released an LP for Empty in 1993 and toured the US. In 1994, we had a chance to tour Europe with fill-in bass player Rod Moody. Hildahl left the band after the tour and we got Erok Peterson to take his place. Another Erik - Erik Stockinger - took over on bass. We released a CD on Bag Of Hammers in 1995 and did another US tour that year. We also recorded another LP in Austin and Seattle, but Erok left the band and that eventually broke us up. The LP was released on Get Hip in 1997. We reformed late that year with original drummer Hildahl, but had to replace him with Ward Reeder after a couple of shows (Erik was moving back to Spokane). Reeder played on our last 7" for Get Hip and we finally called it quits in 1999.
I started another 3-piece called The Harpys with Marc Cardillo (drums) and Erik Hebenstreit (bass). Seattle has a huge Nordic population and therefore many Erik's. That lasted for a year and a half. Then I began writing reviews and articles for Backfire and Tablet. No plans to start another band at the time.
In 2003, I decided to play again and formed garage/soul band The Bug Nasties with Scott LaRose (bass) and Donnie Hilstad (drums) with occasional help from ex-U-Men Tom Price on organ. This outfit went through a myriad of line-up changes that made it really difficult to build a strong local following. Before Donnie left the group, he recorded a CD with me and bassist Rich Creamer. It was eventually released on Flotation Records called 'Which Way Ya Wanna Go?'. Ex-Bug Nasties include Jamie Jaspers and Chris Von Curse on bass; Brian Voss and Victor Hart on drums. Despite all of the defections, I managed to take the band on 5 trips down the West Coast and a mini-tour of Texas in 2008. LaRose was now back on bass and we had a new drummer - Matt Jones. We also had the pleasure of having 3 back-up singers, dubbed The Nastettes (Annabella, Astra & Rachel), on our last single She's So Right. During our last tour in May 2009, the band disbanded after 4 shows. This event took a lot of energy out of me and I decided not to reform the group.
I'm stoked to be working with my old friends and glad to finally move on. I will use this page to create music and share it with all you who supported The Bug Nasties. - Brother James
Disclaimer: Oh and about those obnoxious band friend requests. I won't spam anyone who adds me as a friend! I don't have time to bug people all around the world about shows. If I sent you a friend add, it's because I love your band or hope you'll dig the music and spent time checking out your profile personally. If you said 'not accepting band adds' and I know you, I may say 'Where is the love?' Dat's a fact, Jack. The last Bug Nasties 7-inch "She's So Right" is Out Now! You Can Order The Single or The Bug Nasties CD "Which Way Ya Wanna Go?" at the Flotation Records Website.