The Vandals

Matt did this interview with Joe Escalante, a man of many talents and escapades. Joe is not only the bass player for The Vandals, but he is also the head honcho at Kung Fu Records, he is a lawyer, and he makes lots of movies!

So Joe, you're an original member of the band. Who else is an original member of the band?
Nobody! Nobody is an original member of this band, it's like the Globetrotters. At one point, there's been completely different people in it. This band basically started in 1989, and I mean some people were in the band before that, but that's when Josh joined, and that's when we started doing this.

So how did you meet the other guys in the band?
Well...Dave was in a band in Long Beach, CA. Oh no! I have a better story than that. He's the brother of my old girlfriend's best friend. So, my old girlfriend...her sister is Kathy Quackenbush. I went over to Quackenbush's house, went over to her house, and her brother was singing for a band. And he had Nair, ya know Nair, that you put on your legs? He had that in his head. He put it on his head, and I was like "freak." So I met him there. Then I met Warren, we went to see his band called Double Freak? No, it was Doggystyle. They changed their name at one point. He was playing guitar for them and wearing a dinosaur suit. So, we thought he was cool. And Josh, we saw him playing at Disneyland, so...then we got him in our band.

Cool. If your house was burning down, and you were running out and you could only grab three CDs, or three records, and three other things, what would they be?
I'd grab my Alkaline Trio record that's called "Maybe I'll Catch Fire." I would get my "Punk In Drublic" record. And then I would get...'cause there's a fire going, so I gotta think really fast. I'll grab the Selena record, the first one that she did. Why not? 'Cause I have to masturbate from now on, because my wife is inside burning alive.

Awesome. So, here's a weird question for you...What would you do with $1 million?
Two girls at the same time! (laughter) I'm sorry...a million dollars? I'd pay off part of my house. True story.

Part of your house?
(laughter) Yeah, part of my house! I'd actually do some payments on my house.

Geez, it must be an expensive house!
It's pretty expensive I guess, yeah. But ya know, real estate is real expensive where I live.

Yeah. I was told that you're a lawyer, and that you also do a lot of film and stuff like that. I wasn't aware of that, but what kind of stuff have you been involved in?
Well we make a lot of music videos at Kung Fu, and we've made two features. One I produced, one I directed. One I acted in, and the new one, Warren is the star of that one, and that one we're finishing up right now.

What's the name of it?
It's called Selwyn's Nuts. It's about a guy, Selwyn, and his nuts.

Awesome! So you must have a pretty busy schedule, between the band and all that stuff huh?
Yeah, I do mostly editing and DVD authoring like during the day, when I'm at home.

Do you have your own studio?
Yeah, I've got all kinds of stuff. Everything you need to make a movie, we have at Kung Fu. So, I'm doing that. And the record label kind of runs itself. Because like, it's running right now, and I'm on the road! So, when I'm there, I don't really have to do that much record label stuff, so then I do the film stuff. And when I leave...no film shit's happening, except for whatever I do on the bus.

So, did you start Kung Fu Records?
Yes.

Did you do that alone, or did you go in with someone?
Warren...with Warren, our guitar player.

Does he do a lot of the recording stuff as well?
Uh...a little bit, not much. I don't even think he knows where the office is. (laughter)

Have you been involved with the recording process for your bands?
No, not really. I don't do that, I leave that to Warren. I've been there for the recording of some of our albums.

If you could get rid of one band, what band would it be?
Hmm...that's a good question, there's so many! Uh...U2.

Really?
Yeah, because that band has millions and millions of fans, and they should all get into something else. There's only one cool Bono, and it's Sonny Bono.

I don't really have a lot of other questions. But I was just going to ask...the new album, when did you release it?
Uh...September 4th? Yeah.

How has it been since you released that album?
Ya know, all our records do about the same in the U.S. The crowds get bigger, but the record sales stay about the same. But they are really growing in Europe and Japan, that's where there's growth. Here...it's just like, there's growth in the ticket sales, but there's so many albums here, that...

Are the other ones just not as available as much in Europe?
Yeah, in Europe, our records are just starting to become available, so it's like everything is getting bigger...same in Japan.

Cool. Out of all your records, which one is your favorite to play songs from?
Well, the new one for sure. Because it's just...all the songs...you're actually learning something when you're playing the new songs, you're stretching your musical abilities. Especially if it's a song that Warren wrote, he writes very difficult bass lines, and you've got to learn 'em, and you get better.

Cool, very cool. That's about all the questions I have, is there anything else you want to add?
Uh...well, there's a website (www.vandals.com), and we have a lot of DVDs out, and if you like DVDs, we have a lot of DVDs, we have about five of them out so far on Kung Fu. And make sure that you go Audio Karate and Tsunami Bomb. They're on this tour because they're good, not because they're cute!

Alright cool, thank you!
Right on.

BW