The Vandals

with Strung Out at The Rat
by Scott Hefflon
photo by Rich Rodichok

The Vandals hit the stage like a tornado of punk rock. Anyone who doubts that this band has maintained their edge or their importance since the Suburbia days (watch it, learn it, live it) need only see ’em or listen to Live Fast Diahrea (Nitro).

They opened with “Power Mustache,” the rebel anthem against tyrant facial hair. And from there, they cranked out songs so fast I couldn’t write ’em down. Their newer stuff, their old, classic stuff – all played fast as fuck and with humor enough to sway even the most PC punks. The odd Slayer riff was tossed in, gratuitous obscenities were lobbed into the audience, and oh!, a light show! (Well, on-off, on-off really fast.) Their cover of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” was an obvious bonus, as was the constant ragging on the stinky shithead in the front row. Grunge is dead (thank God!) and anti-shower punk ethic is pretty all right, but that’s a world away from rolling in dogshit before coming to a show! Gag! The intros to the songs themselves were priceless. “This is a song about the original Atari game Pong. It’s called…”Pong.” That and “This is a song off our new album…” said in the same lilting fuck-me voice as that Robin what’shisname, the vocalist/blond tart from Cheap Trick. The Vandals have definitely consumed their junk culture over the years (hey, was that a Lemmy line in “Change My Pants”?) and they spit it back rapid-fire. They’re fast, they’re funny; they’re the Vandals.

In closing, I was, um, touched, to see at least two boy-boy couples enjoying the show, openly and without taking shit for their lifestyle. Rock on.