Simple Punk Rock Music Information Blog

The Vandals are punk rock band formed in 1980 in California and currently are under Kung Fu Records. They have released ten full-length studio albums and two live albums and have toured the world extensively, including performances on the Vans Warped Tour. They are well-known for their use of humor, preferring to use their music as a vehicle for entertainment and sarcasm rather than as a platform for more "serious" issues that is punk bands always do.

The band's lineup fluctuated significantly over their first nine years, though founding members Steven Ronald "Stevo" Jensen, guitarist Jan Nils Ackermann, and first consistent drummer Joe Escalante remained regular fixtures. Of the original members only Escalante has remained through all incarnations of the band. The current lineup of Escalante, Dave Quackenbush, Warren Fitzgerald, and Josh Freese has remained intact since 1990 and is considered by most fans to be far removed from the band's early 1980s incarnation. Since 2002 Escalante has released all of the band's albums through his Kung Fu Records label, with Fitzgerald generally producing. Joe Escalante is the one who produce Goldfinger's video.

The band quickly built a reputation in the Los Angeles and Orange County punk rock community which also included bands such as Bad Religion, Black Flag, TSOL, X, The Germs, Suicidal Tendencies and Social Distortion. The Vandals distinguished themselves in their scene by sticking to humorous subject matter rather than the typical social and political topics addressed by most punk bands of the time.

In 1982 the group became the first band (other than Bad Religion) signed to Epitaph Records, the Los Angeles label run by Bad Religion's Brett Gurewitz, who released their first EP, Peace Thru Vandalism. The record contained several songs that would become fan favorites and remain in the band's live set well into the 1990s, including "Urban Struggle," which became a local hit after receiving airplay like Rodney on the ROQ program. Most of the record's subject material was drawn directly from the band's own experiences in their local punk rock scene. The aforementioned "Urban Struggle" dealt with the constant fights that would occur between the punk rock fans who congregated at a Costa Mesa club called the Cuckoo's Nest and the country music fans who gathered at nearby Zubie's. "Anarchy Burger (Hold the Government)" approached the philosophy of anarchism, advocated by many early punk bands, from a humorous perspective and became one of the band's most popular songs throughout their career.

In 1984 the band appeared in the film Suburbia by invitation of director Penelope Spheeris, who had also directed the influential The Decline of Western Civilization. In a humorously ironic move they also played a benefit concert for the Cypress College Young Republicans, an action which prompted derision from the traditionally liberal and anarchic punk community. It would not be the last time the band's actions would draw criticism, although their music generally maintains a neutral political position.

They've played a song from Ramones called Sheena Is A Punk Rocker. I like the song covered by The Vandals than originally do by The Ramones.

The Vandals - My Girlfriend's Dead