Rising from the ashes of the defunct Gibson Bros. in 1992, The Bassholes emerged to kick up an extremely stripped-down, raw, blues-infected racket. Their debut single, "98 Degrees In The Shade", and their debut album, "Blue Roots", (both released on ITR in ’92) set a new standard for rank sounding recordings.
Recorded in their basement and mastered from crappy cassette tapes, these guys single handedly started the whole lo-fi-two-man-blues-band genre. Basically a solo vehicle for the twisted vision of Don Howland, the Bassholes output has been unpredictable.
Don's influences run the gambit: Skip James, The Germs, 70's Disco, Hip-Hop - it's all in there.
Albums such as "Deaf Mix" and "Long Way Blues" (released on the Matador label) are avante-blues-folk records where as 1998’s "When My Blue Moon Turns Red Again" is blistering garage-punk.Country blues has always been at the heart of the Bassholes music and sexual and social frustration has always been at the heart of Don's songwriting. Their output is consistently engaging and never disappointing.
Don Howland – vocals, guitar Bim Thomas – drums (currently)
