VANDAL

It must have been hard to be a burgeoning hessian in 1991. I mean, grunge and NIRVANA obviously fucked things up for an entire micro-generation of spandex clad metal warriors, but I still feel for the legions of dudes who had put in the hard work required to set themselves up to be the next SKID ROW and/or EXTREME. Because...I mean, PEARL JAM. Fuck, if only it had been MOTHER LOVE BONE (like it was supposed to have been before the damned universe intervened - that was the transition that was meant to happen, but I digress...). If it had been MOTHER LOVE BONE then the whole transition would have been so much easier. But as painful as it must have been as a five-years-too-late Sunset Strip rocker, imagine if you were from England. Sure, in 1981 England was on the forefront of everything - and there was still the lingering legacy of that "Invasion" we still talk about today, but in 1991? The States had gifted GUNS 'N ROSES a few years earlier, "Someone Like You" in '89 (and with no apologies I state, for the record, that this still rules - and "Attack Of Life" is worth the time of any social anthropologist), and then there was all of this new grunge stuff...but England? What...HAPPY MONDAYS? That was late '80s. JESUS JONES? Even when he was on the top of the charts we all knew that shit wouldn't hold up. Enter VANDAL. I mean....they were trying, and every track on this demo has something to offer. But offer to whom...that is the question. In 1986 Los Angeles, this shit might have flown, and I can easily see VANDAL in the second support slot on a four band package tour with TELSA headlining, but does anyone really care? I dunno, I feel like my pal Ellie in Milwaukee might dig this, and John would get down on an initial listen if only for historical appreciation and/or context. But man, I'm glad there are only four songs here. Each of those four songs are bangers (in their own, special way/s), but I genuinely cannot imagine an entire album of VANDAL, and I cannot imagine any of you actually taking the time to decide for yourselves. 

GO WILD