The Bastardz

The Bastardz are a funk band from Zagreb, founded in 1990 and still based in the city. They are on Muzika-Balkan as the Zagreb band that brought a new funk and acid jazz sound to Croatian pop in the 1990s, and their 1995 song "Tvoja ljubav" went to the top of every Croatian chart.

The first line-up was guitarist Zoran Jaeger Jex, bassist Zvonimir Bučević, drummer Goran Markić, keyboard player Alan Bjelinski and tenor saxophonist Miha Hawlina. They played Zagreb clubs, every Thursday at the Saloon, and were the house band of the television show Top-Cup, mixing their own songs with funk versions of foreign hits. The band stopped in 1991 and came back in the summer of 1995 with singer Helena Bastić, Bučević, Jex, drummer Kruno Levačić and keyboard player Gojko Tomljanović. That year they released the mini album Your Love with "Tvoja ljubav", a big radio and TV hit, and in 1996 they won the Porin for newcomer of the year.

From then on the heart of the band was Lady Miss Helena and Jex, the guitarist and songwriter, with some of the best Croatian and foreign musicians around them. Albums such as C'est Universal (1996), The Groove Resistance (1998) and Muzika ljubavi (2000) followed, then the compilation Chronological and the live album The Bastardz Go Jazzy Live (2003). They won three Porins in all, for newcomer, best instrumental performance and best urban club album. Their debut also helped bring about the specialised label Aquarius Records and the festival Lagano, lagano. Outside the band Jex has played with Dutch jazz and acid jazz groups, at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2006 and 2007 with the Saskia Laroo Band, and in the official tribute band to Dino Dvornik, with whom he often worked.

Helena Bastić left in 2006, and after a time with Danijela Pintarić the singer Tasha (Natasha Petrić) joined in 2008. With her and many guests they made The Bastardz 6 (2010), and from 2009 they worked with trombonist Joseph Bowie, founder of the New York band Defunkt, recording "Knock, knock" with him.

Later singles brought in guests from across the scene: "Anđeli" with Daria Hodnik Marinković (2016), "Pola meni, pola tebi" with Songkillers (2017), "Što je svijet bez ljubavi" with Mario Huljev (2020), released ahead of the 30th-anniversary compilation The Bastardz 30, "Sve je lako kad si gad" sung by Davor Gobac of Psihomodo pop (2022) and "Mama Funky" with Zdenka Kovačiček (2023). In 2025 Eni Jurišić recorded a new version of "Tvoja ljubav" with them.