According to The Vandals’ guitarist Warren Fitzgerald, the premise of his band is to awaken fellow Americans who are stupefied by their own importance. “That’s the whole point,” he says. “And it’s not just Americans, but also punk rock bands. Why take things so seriously? You’re in a punk band. Come on guys, lighten up.
“I love Gang Of Four because they were interesting musically, there’s a subtle wit to that band,” Fitzgerald says. “They were taking themselves seriously in making music, but doing it with their own voice as opposed to, ‘We got to sell to be a popular band right now, it’s really important that people like us otherwise no one will ever have sex with me’.”
It’s The Vandals’ commitment to punk ideals that allowed the band to withstand a rocky first eight years in existence, from 1980 to 1988, enduring multiple lineup changes. This was also due to the strength of the punk scene around Huntington Beach, Orange County, California. As well as being the birthplace to a kickarse music scene, OrangeCounty is also one of the most bourgeoisie parts of California.
Fitzgerald has amusingly comes to terms with how gentrified his home county is. “I didn’t realise how conservative OrangeCounty was until Facebook came around and all these arseholes I went to high school with are Born Again Christians who are super conservative and I’m like, ‘What? You were a heroin addict when I knew you.’ I was oblivious to it when I grew up because I felt like weirdo, but I thought I’d feel like a weirdo anywhere.”
Fitzgerald is supremely busy outside of the band, taking on the role of head of The Vandals’ Kung-Fu Records and Kung-Fu films. This record label released what many regard as The Vandals’ breakthrough record – Fear Of A Punk Planet – and the label was partly responsible for launching the career of pop punk act The Ataris. As Fitzgerald explains, the fact The Vandals have pursuits outside of the band is what’s allowed them to last so long. “Part of the way we manage to stay together and do what we do is that if you’re taking it too seriously, trying to be professional, then what fuck are you doing in a punk rock band? We always treat it like our joke – the day we have a band meeting is the day we’re breaking up, because we’re having band meetings.”
BY DAN WATT
