The
Vandals are somewhat of a national underdog institution in the States and even
though this is almost a completely different band than the one whose roots go
back to 1982, at this point in time they're probably at their strongest. The
past year has seen the band operating on a broader scale with European support
slots to the Offspring & No Doubt (the later who recently covered the
Vandals yuletide anthem "Oi to the world")... and some crazed kid
embodying mental derangement on the X FILES by wearing a Vandals T-Shirt. This
interview was conducted with guitarist Warren Fitzgerald (WF) and bassist and
sole original member Joe Escalante (JE) on 8/8/98 on the quays across from the
Funnel...
NB - Do
you guys remember anything about the first time you were here...
WF - Not
the one ten years ago, no, he would remember.
JE -
Yeah, it was this small place and everybody was really drunk and it was a lot
of fun ... we stayed at someone's house and I kept asking everyone had they
heard of that movie "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" but nobody
had ever heard of it...
NB - what
are you talking about... everybody knows that film...
JE - Well
then they were pretending they'd never heard of it!
NB - it's
a cult classic to some people...
JE - Is
it? Good...
NB - I
was looking at the cover of the new CD and the pictures of the Helicopters have
me baffled because they look like stills out of a 1970s cop show or
something...
JE - but
if you look closely, there's a 1988 Corvette in one of them... and that's what
baffled us about them... we were like, we thought they were from the 70s and
then there's this late model Corvette in there and they're from our singers
private collection...
WF - His
office at his beer company...
JE - His
private collection of helicopter photos...
WF - Yes,
it's huge...
JE - We
would rehearse there and then we were going "What the fuck are we going to
put on the record?" and there were these photos and we kept asking him
what they were and he had no idea so we just took them off the wall and put
them on the record.
NB - Has
anyone else asked you about them?
JE - No,
you're the first one...
NB - I
was just looking at them going “What the fuck???” you know...
JE -
They're scenes from our video...
WF - From
our high budget video that we haven't shot yet...
BOZ - At
this point things must be a lot easier for American punk bands touring Europe
than it was 10 years ago...
JE - Yeah,
it's a lot easier... when we came 10 years ago, it was still pretty good
because no bands had been there... we hadn't been there and people made sure
they went to the show... now there's a lot more shows so some kids just won't
go because they know that the American band will be back next month, but it's
definitely a lot bigger now.
NB - And
did the support slot with NO DOUBT have any visible effect?
WF -
Yes... and we toured over here with the Offspring also so there are a lot more
braids and No Doubt fans with the Gwen dot on their forehead...
NB - Does
that happen in the States as well?
JE - No.
NB - One
thing that's pretty noticeable is that a lot of touring punk bands do festival
dates in Europe... are you doing any?
JE - The
only festivals we do are like... the Warped Tour and we haven't been invited to
any other festivals except for some in Italy... and it's only Italy so we've
got to fly out just for that... so we're just not at that point yet and I don't
know whether we want to do it or not... I wouldn't mind trying it...
NB - Are
you planning on playing over here more regularly now... like trying to build it
up again??
JE - Well
we've been to Europe... this is our 4th time to Europe in the last year and a
half so we consider that pretty regular...
NB - and
does that make a noticeable difference to sales figures of records... are they
selling more each time...
JE -
Yeah, it's the only thing that sells punk records is touring... there's no
radio or TV or anything else so... yeah, you definitely notice it.
NB -
Seeing as you have 3 guys who weren't in the band at the beginning, how far do
you delve into the back catalogue for playing live?
JE -
Hardly at all... most nights we'll play almost nothing from our back
catalogue... maybe one or two songs...
WF - Yeah,
we've put out 6 records with this line-up so we have lots of songs to choose
from and it's younger kids mostly and they tend to know the new stuff better...
JE -
Yeah, when we play an old song... there's always one drunk yelling for it and
then when we play it, nobody else has ever heard it before...
NB - Like
"Urban struggle"...
JE -
Yeah... good example... exactly...
NB
- That's kind of like the Vandals greatest hit because it's been in films and on compilations... are you at the stage where it's haunting you and you just don't
want to play it any more...
JE - No,
it's just like... it depends... we play it sometimes now and sometimes we
don't... I think with this drummer we didn't even rehearse it because people
don't really ask for it, but I noticed when we got here, there's a lot more
people asking for it than usual... so maybe we should have learned it but...
usually the people that are asking for it are really loud drunks...
WF - And
it seems like there's more people asking for it than there is because they're
so vocal...
JE -
...and you play it and everyone else is going "What? I don't know this
song"...
NB - So
at this point there's more product put out by this line-up than the rest of the
history of the band so you've established it...
JE -
Right... yeah...
WF - That
was all part of the master plan...
NB - The
new album sounds really, really good... do you reckon it's the best thing
you've done?
JE - Oh,
thank you... we agree... we worked hard on it.
BOZ -
Whose idea was the Sound of Music track?
WF - That
was my idea...
JE - He
likes show tunes...
WF -
Well, aside from being a show tune lover, I noticed when we were on the Warped
tour... I had that soundtrack and girls get really gushy when they hear it so I
figured if we played it, maybe they would get gushy over us...
NB -
...that's something I never would have thought of... Has it ever crossed your
mind that at this point in time, the Vandals are suited to the big commercial
swoop up that has happened to the Bosstones, Offspring etc, Do you think that
maybe even unknown to yourself there's a chart hit in there waiting to happen?
JE -
That's like a big game to play and since we do other things it's hard and
everyone thinks that will happen... we get that question a lot... but it's just
we're doing so many other things...it's a real concentrated game... you get a
hit, you make this video, you have to do a bunch of tours that you don't want
to do because they're just for the purpose of playing radio shows and stuff
like that and we, for some reason or other, are not on that path and so, to me,
it's very hard to imagine without some huge accident...
NB - Well
it could happen, I mean, the music is there...
WF - It's
possible, but it's like winning the lottery, you know... all the bands - Green
Day, Offspring... all that stuff... it's just like the planets just aligned in
a certain way that it happened... and there was accessible punk music coming
out for 15 years before that happened so there's no real formula to it... we
just kind of do what we do and... who knows... we certainly don't expect that
though.
NB - So
Nitro... do they even do singles at all...
JE -
Yeah, well... just promotional... they don't like release them commercially...
WF - Not
in a way that a major label does, no.
NB - I've
read a couple of interviews already which discuss the mullet song on the album
(“I've got an Ape Drape") and you've got the Achy Breaky reference in there... ls Billy Ray
Cyrus really that much of a fucking bastard... like responsible for crimes against
humanity in the states?
JE - I think
so... almost...
WF -
Musically speaking, yes...
NB - How
about in terms of the way people look?
WF -
Yeah...
JE - Oh
yeah...he's perpetuating some scary stuff...
WF - Well
he didn't invent that haircut but he certainly glorified it...
JE - He
put it on television.
WF -
Exactly... he brought it to peoples homes to where there's these poor bastards
sitting at home going, "You know, that might look good on me, I'll give it
a shot".
JE - He's
the first guy to, I think, make money and have that haircut... it's like
"Look: I'm this rich glamorous star and I have this haircut".
NB - and then there's Michael Bolton...
WF - Well, Michael Bolton, his is a mystery to me... I don't think that's hair, I think
it's kelp...
NB - So
we're not far off reopening the Nuremberg trials for bad hair?
JE - I'll
be there...
WF -
Well, you know... there's so many to blame, you know, and some of them were
just following orders...
NB - What
was the motivation behind doing the Christmas album?
WF - We
talked about it for years and we'd sit bored in the van driving around for
hours and hours and making up silly Christmas songs and, you know, the Yobs
(The Boys alter-ego) had done it before... and we thought, hey, there hasn't
been a punk Christmas record for a long time... and actually, that's probably,
besides the new record, that's my favourite record that we've done, just from
the fact that it was liberating... we could do whatever we wanted... we could
bring a string quartet on and nobody's going to say... oh we're sellouts ...
we're not punk... We're just doing it to dramatise the effect of how many
problems we have with Christmas... or how much we enjoy it or whatever...
NB - I
don't think that's really the case anymore because so many bands are broadening
... bringing other instruments in, I mean... the new Swingin’ Utters album has
cello and accordion and other stuff like that...
WF - The
thing is, I don't have a major problem with it... I like music in general... I
just like the notes and I like sounds... I like simple punk rock and I like
elaborate things, you know... classical music, whatever... but as long as the
lyrics are not clichéd garbage you hear on the radio then I don't have a
problem with it.
NB -
Yeah, the Christmas album has a real vibe about it... it's like you weren't
under any commitment to throw something that was going to be your best album
together, yet, for that reason, it sounds great... I mean... how quickly was it
put together?
WF - Oh,
that was done in April, it was done very quickly...
JE -
Slapped together for $2000.
WF - We
recorded THE QUICKENING right before that... and then the Christmas record was
mastered which is the final process of it where it's readied for manufacturing
before THE QUICKENING was even out so it was about 2 months or less from
recording to finish...
JE -
...and that cost about $3000... it was about 5% of the cost of recording the
next record...
WF -
Exactly... it was done so cheaply and so quickly... but for some reason I think
that's part of the charm of it...
NB - how
strange is it locking yourself in a studio in April and recording a Christmas
album?
WF - I
can't describe how much fucking therapy I needed just from doing that record...
Christmas is over for a couple of months... then you're right into Christmas
and then by the time the record is out it's Christmas again... yeah... I had
one too many Christmas's that year... it seemed like two too many
Christmas's...
NB - How
did Rat Scabies end up playing on it?
WF - He's
an old friend of mine and he was in town and we were having all sorts of guest
musicians and drummers and so... I'd written this song and I thought it was
perfect for his style... his little shuffle that he's good at...
BOZ -
Yeah... I reckon that's my favourite song on the album...
WF - Oh,
thank you...
NB - I
don't know whether you feel the same way but for a lot of people over here that
I talk to... the pop punk thing that's been manifesting in the states... it's
getting to the stage where a label releases a sampler and the sampler sounds
like one bands album...
WF -
Right, well, you know there are a lot of bands that sound very similar in the
pop punk genre and a lot of them that are very influenced by some of the
earlier ones... so they all kind of have a similar sound but... I don't know...
I look at it in the way that if they're all being derivative then at least they
are all copying a good song to start with so it doesn't really bother me that
much... you know what I mean... at least it's not a flood of...
JE - It
used to be a lot of bad songs that sounded the same...
WF -
Exactly, so, you know, the state of music... punk rock has improved a lot...
especially over the last couple of years.
NB - Do
you think that has a lot to do with the fact that people have a lot more money
at their disposal to do things???
WF -
Well, I think that... and I think that there's now a lot of bands who've been a
real key in it... like NOFX has...I'd say they're definitely in that genre...
JE - Yeah,
they make it fun to be a NOFX fan... you know... put out so many records and
have really good shows and they attract more people into it...
WF - And
really on their own terms they've managed to bypass radio and MTV and things
like that... and be successful at it and put out good records.
NB - But
that was the thing... NOFX came over to Europe and played everywhere...
basically really, really small places ...
WF -
Yeah, they worked it over here... they paid their dues over here, that's for
sure.
JE - But
they also backed it up by putting out good records.
WF - And
you know, starting like that, Mike starting the label... and a lot of bands are
somewhat similar sounding to a certain degree but the quality of their music
was definitely above what was going on in the early '90s...
NB - With
all the stuff you have going on outside the band, how often do you get to go
out on the road???
WF - Well
in the last few years we toured a lot... and then... only since we were working
on finishing this record we decided to slow down a bit... but in the past few
years we were touring like 5 months out of the year so we were out quite a
bit... now, it's kinda... see how
the record does and see what the reception and we squeeze it in when we can.
NB - And
there's KUNG FU records on top of that... who's responsible for that?
WF -
...right... that's me and Joe.
NB - How
big an operation is that? The only things I know that have been on it are the
GLORY DAZE soundtrack, the Vandals Christmas album and Assorted Jellybeans...
JE - And
we're about to release BLINK l82's very first record... like a kind of 15 song
demo thing of the very first recordings that they released... we're putting
that out pretty soon...
NB - I'm
only familiar with their name...
WF -
They're very big in America but they really haven't hit Europe that much at
all...
JE - They
have a Gold record in America and they're doing ok in London but they haven't
really done much else... it's a good band... you know, NOFX-y style...
NB - How
did you get involved with the GLORY DAZE soundtrack?
JE - They
wanted Fat Mike to score that movie...
WF - Yeah... that's how it actually started, they wanted him to do the score and
then I did some work like that, you know, doing the underscore for movies and I
ended up working with the director and doing that and from there they decided
they needed a musical director... so Joe took over the music directing...
picking out songs for it... and then it just kind of made sense to put it out
on our label.
JE -
Yeah, we just asked them the whole time... "We wanna put it out" even
though movies like that get made all the time and they don't come out... we
knew we could put together a good compilation.
WF -
Basically what it is... yeah.
JE - And
also it's fun to work with a director and say, you know... "I think the
Bouncing Souls should go here... "... and we tried to make it a little
better than it was... and then we made what we think is a pretty good
compilation out of it and even though the movie wasn't really ever released in
the United States, it still sold 8000 units just as a cool compilation album...
and now it's just come out on video cassette...
WF - Ben
Affleck won a fucking Oscar...
JE -
Yeah, Ben Affleck, the star won an Oscar and stuff so it's doing a lot better
now... it turned out to be a good deal for us.
NB -
That's what I was wondering... the film obviously didn't go anywhere...
WF - Well
it's going to be on all the major cable stations... the movie stations in
America, which is going to help...
JE -
Yeah, it's starting to do that and we think it'll be around for a long time...
and now these guys who made Ben Affleck's next movie CHASING AMY and the movie
CLERKS... they're putting 3 of the songs on our new album on their next film.
WF - We
like movies...
NB -
That's Kevin Smith isn’t it?
JE - Yeah
... he just sent us a fax the other day and said I want these 3 songs...
NB - I
was reading over the Vandals interview that came with the Rodney On The ROQ
compilation in 1982... it seems strange that the bands that are still going
from that era have had their greatest success, like Social Distortion... would
you have ever thought that for a minute at any point?
JE -
No... well, Social Distortion, those guys... I always liked them... but they're
like fuck ups, you know... they're a miracle, the fact that they've lasted this
long...
WF - What
with drugs and everything like that... they managed to pull it together.
JE - They
have a really good manager... he's a friend of mine... he had a lot of faith in
them and took care of them and even though they don't sell a huge amount and
get played on the radio a lot in the States, they are all basically, in my
opinion, taken care of for the rest of their lives the way their manager has
worked their career... and it's VERY bizarre that that happened...
NB -It
seems really strange that they were on Sony...
JE -
Yeah, they just finished a seven-year deal with Sony...
WF - yeah,
they put out a few records on Sony...
JE - They
were on Sony for 7 years and now they're free and they're gonna make a huge
amount off money on their next deal, believe it or not... it's going to be a
huge payday... they will never have to work again after this next one...
NB - Has
anyone been sniffing around the Vandals like that?
JE -
Yeah, we get a lot of that sniffing... a lot of it... so we think about it and
then we just kind of try to last as long as we can being on Nitro... until the
very, very last second... we'd much rather have success on Nitro than try to
have success on a major label...
NB - Is
Nitro suited to what you're doing in that you're not pressured into doing
anything?
JE -
Yeah... definitely suited to us...
NB - I
noticed your name on a few other bands records as legal representation... are
you involved in that in a big way?
JE - A
little bit... I worked at a TV network for a long time and when I left to start
this label and tour more, to make money I would represent bands and record
labels so I'm a lawyer outside... I'm the Swingin’ Utters lawyer, A couple of
other bands... some record labels like Skunk and Fearless... that sort of
stuff...
NB - It's strange that not only are there all these people in punk bands
... the stereotype is that you're meant to be fuck ups and outcasts or
whatever... and then there's people like yourselves and say, Bad Religion...
who have members in respectable professional careers outside... and then you
have people who were maybe 200 times bigger might ever be... Twisted Sister,
The Bay City Rollers... someone like that who are now sitting in bedsits going
"Damnit, I used to be something"...
JE -
Yeah, and seriously... WHAT DO THEY DO?... At that point, what do they do? That
scares me more than anything... That's why I always have like gone to school
and made sure I had something else to do because what do you do when it's all
over and you still have 40 years left of your life?
WF -
Yeah... where do you go from there?
JE -
You've just got to have things... like a career...
NB - Dee
Snider is probably sitting at home in front of the mirror looking at his filed
front teeth...
JE -
Yeah...
WF -
Exactly ... it's like ... "What now???"...
JE -
Yeah... that to me is just worse than anything... it's worse than failing at
music for 100 years...
BOZ -
With that in mind, can see at this point how long the Vandals will go on for?
JE - I
don't know... I don't see any end in sight... As we get older we tour less, but
you know, when I got into my 30s, I toured more than ever in my life... so, I
don't know... we'll keep making records... that's for sure...
WF -
Yeah... that's easy and it’s fun...
JE - And
we let everyone in the band do whatever they want, you know... someone goes off
and does whatever they're gonna do... that is why it lasts a long time... it's
not like you're in this band and it's exclusive... and if you do anything else,
you're kicked out... it doesn't work that way...
WF -
Yeah... it doesn't work that way... we're free thinkers
NB - So
maybe we'll see the Vandals doing not just film scores but... maybe a full
soundtrack... a South Pacific type thing???
JE -
Sure... absolutely...
WF - We
do all sorts of different stuff and I produce a lot of records... that's what I
do at home... I'm in the studio with other bands... bands on our label... bands
on other labels and that's my other job... it's music related but it's also...
lf people stop coming to see us, it's not going to affect that career.
VANDALS -
Hitler Bad, Vandals Good CD ******
Until
recently, the Vandals have been a grossly under-recognised stalwart of US punk
... sure they've had their line-up shuffles and whatnot, but as they exist
today, they're at their strongest. In terms of broadening their sound, the
experience the Xmas album bought them is very visible here... It's hard to
destructively criticise songs like "The people that are going to
hell" or "My Girlfriend's dead". It's a kind of acute angle on
life that says these things have real overtones, but you've got to laugh
anyway. "I've got an ape drape" is their de-celebration of the mullet
cut and there's even a Rodgers & Hammerstein track, which sits well amongst
all this. Another obvious characteristic that colours this album is the bands
capacity to blend competent Beach Boys harmonies with loud guitars... something
much strived for amongst current punk bands but rarely achieved... and what's
most important is that, the music comes across in such a way that suggests the
band themselves are enjoying this more than they ever have!! (NITRO Records)
- BOZ
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