Bjelland was approached by Courtney's management with a list of rules stating how she should conduct herself if she became a "Bastard". These rules were outlined even before she'd heard any of the new music.
Prospective members of Bastard were also told they would be under contract to Courtney, rather than to the label. The bands sound has been described as a “female Megadeath”, which is slightly worrying considering Hole are an over rated angst rock band and that Bastard also contains a former member of Veruca Salt.
Bjelland had this to say about the situation :-
"It was crazy stuff like 'no talking about the past. It was really restricting. I thought it was just kind of hilarious, 'cos aren't you meant to just ask someone if they're interested before you start doing that?'