THE VANDALS - "PEACE THRU' VANDALISM" (1982) US Import 12" EP

The legendary track "Urban Struggle" first assaulted my earholes in the pub I've mentioned before where I first met Mr Maim...that's the one which played music at gig-like volume. This song was always very well received especially as it usually reared its ugly head later on of a Saturday evening when countless tins of Colt45 lager/beer had been consumed by all and sundry !!

This is a band who take neither themselves or the world at large particularly seriously and just appear to want to have an enormous amount of fun. This EP is their debut release from 1982 and could best be described as full throttle US garage punk. You are no doubt already aware of my affinity with vinyl and boy did this take some finding. 

Having spent several hours visiting all the likely outlets in central London, I travelled west to Portabello Road  where I spied a copy hanging on the wall of a fairly new independent record shop.....Excellent !!

 I was pleased to find the other 5 tracks, besides "Urban Struggle", were as equally good fun to listen to at great volume....my other personal favourite is "H.B. Hotel" which is a very loose interpretation of Elvis's "Heartbreak Hotel" and includes the immortal chorus of "I get so lonely, so fucking lonely, I get so lonely I could shit !!".....

Here's a handy link to listen to the whole EP....just 13:27 mins.....enjoy !

The Vandals are still a going concern although bassist Joe Escalante is now the only original band member. Interestingly, Joe spent the first 8 years in the band (1980-88) playing drums !!

Their debut album, "When In Rome Do As The Vandals", released in 1984 is well worth checking out although it is rather more produced than the EP, whose rather rough and ready approach I find to be part of its appeal.

words by DOUG E DOGG