Craft Records – 14 Aug 2020
The Vandals offer a brown-splattered spin on a classic
The beloved Live Fast, Diarrea from The Vandals is being repressed on an explosive brown poo splatter vinyl. To celebrate the 25 year anniversary of the masterpiece we will be taking a deep dive back into a legendary punk band at the top of their game.
It is the three album openers, “Let the Bad Times Roll,” “Take it Back,” and “And Now We Dance,” that cement, to this day, the moment the final line up of the Vandals truly found their stride. From the nuance of tempos between the three songs, jostling the listener like Mutant Boy on stage, to the invention of the Vandals standard: Precise guitar rhythms from guitarist Warren “Mutant Boy” Fitzgerald that tether to Josh Freese’s razor-sharp drumming, accompanying snot-faced lyrical content any punk fan can identify with, and the <i>quite</i> sporadic full-band contributions: (Track 1-Freese/2-Singer Dave Quackenbush/3-Fitzgerald/Not to remove bassist Joe Escalante from his incredible writing throughout the discography.)
Give or take the occasional absence of busy drummer-for-hire Freese, and the substitution of the equally talented drummer Brooks Wackerman, the formula continues to work, six LPs, and 25 years later. The classic record continues on with a cover of the Simpletones’ “I Have a Date,” and Disney hit “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” before firing on the epic and pitted “Power Mustache,” and Escalante home-run “N.I.M.B.Y.” There is something to be said about a track listing in the Suffers or Punk In Drublics of every legendary punk band’s catalogue that just appear to be a greatest hits collection, and Live Fast… is the Vandals’ best.
“Ape Shall Never Kill Ape” and the epic title track, up the aggression, showcasing the Vandals expert wit with a smearing of Warren’s unique-by-the-release guitar fuzz, before blessing a handful of three fun-as-fuck Mutant Boy bangers in “Happy Birthday to Me,” “Change My Pants (I Don’t Wanna),” and “Get in Line.” Brilliant “Johnny Twobags” and thrasher “Kick Me” rip top notch writing from Quackenbush and then Escalante, before clocking the album out at under 32 minutes to the short chanting of “Soup of the Day.” Killer record.
Pros: See above
Cons: You know when you’ve sang along to something with your friends and family for so long that you get that cheesy feeling when “Frosty the Snowman” comes on at a department store? If you’re a fan of this band and this record, there are plenty of places in which that will come with age and repetition, and the fact that a fucking Disney cover is in the grouping? It is bound to happen eventually, but who cares. <3
Host of “Who’s Zoomin’ Who?,” punk rock dad, OILER from the future, oh and my biggest fears are cold poo on my face when I’m sleeping, and spiders that walk on water. Jacket enthusiast, astrological sign.
