Live at the House of Blues (Vandals album)

Infobox Album |
Name = Live at the House of Blues
Type = Live album
Longtype = (with DVD)
Artist = The Vandals


Released = January 27, 2004
Recorded = July 5, 2003
Genre = Punk rock
Length = 56:53
Label = Kung Fu
Producer =
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:svdyyl74xppb link]
Last album = "Internet Dating Superstuds"
(2002)
This album = "Live at the House of Blues"
(2004)
Next album = "Hollywood Potato Chip"
(2005)

"Live at the House of Blues" is a live album and video by the southern California punk rock band The Vandals, released in 2004 by Kung Fu Records and Kung Fu Films. It was the band's second official live album and video, the first being 1991's "". It was released in 2 packages, one a DVD with a bonus concert CD, the other a CD with a bonus DVD. Both packages contain the same discs and material, merely packaged differently so that it could be stacked on both CD and DVD shelves. It was presented as episode 9 of Kung Fu Films' "The Show Must Go Off!" live concert DVD series (episode 1 had also been a live Vandals concert, from their 2001 Christmas Formal). Kung Fu Films is an offshoot of Kung Fu Records, the record label started in 1996 by Vandals members Joe Escalante and Warren Fitzgerald. Having previously worked in the television and film industries, Joe Escalante acts as director and producer for nearly all of these live DVD releases.

The performance relies heavily on material from the band's albums since 1990, when the current lineup solidified, and excludes songs from their first three releases of the 1980s. As the current lineup of the Vandals grew in popularity and recognition throughout the 1990s they began to distance themselves from the material performed by earlier incarnations of the band, of which only Escalante remains. These earlier songs tended to attract an older, more violent audience which the current lineup of the band eschewed in favor of newer, younger fans attracted to their more recent output. These early songs had already been released in live format on "Sweatin' to the Oldies" 13 years earlier, so the band also felt that it would be redundant to rehash that part of their past.

The DVD contains numerous bonus features including band member commentaries (Escalante, Fiztgerald and singer Dave Quackenbush), a photo gallery, hidden bonus footage, English subtitles, links to additional online content, and a "Josh Freese Cam" option that allows the viewer to switch the camera angle at any time during the concert to one focusing directly on drummer Josh Freese, with a picture-in-picture display of his foot pedal.

Track listing

#"43210-1" (Fitzgerald)
#"Appreciate My Honesty" (Fitzgerald)
#"It's a Fact" (Fitzgerald)
#"An Idea for a Movie" (Escalante)
#"Pizza Tran" (Escalante/Fitzgerald/Quackenbush/Freese)
#"Café 405" (Freese)
#"Soccer Mom" (Freese)
#"The New You" (Fitzgerald/Quackenbush)
#"Marry Me" (Freese/Quackenbush)
#"Oi to the World" (Escalante)
#"N.I.M.B.Y." (Escalante/Fitzgerald)
#"My Brain Tells My Body" (Fitzgerald)
#"People That Are Going to Hell" (Fitzgerald)
#"Too Much Drama" (Dexter Holland/Escalante/Freese/Fitzgerald)
#"Disproportioned Head" (Fitzgerald)
#"Take it Back" (Quackenbush)
#"The Unseen Tears of the Albacore" (Escalante/Fitzgerald)
#"And Now We Dance" (Fitzgerald)
#"I've Got an Ape Drape" (Escalante)
#"Behind the Music" (Fitzgerald)
#"My Girlfriend's Dead" (Fitzgerald)
#"I Have a Date" (Jay Lansford; originally performed by The Simpletones)

Performers

*Dave Quackenbush - vocals
*Warren Fitzgerald - guitar, backing vocals
*Joe Escalante - bass, backing vocals
*Josh Freese - drums

Album information

*Record label: Kung Fu Records, Kung Fu Films
*Recorded live at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California on July 5, 2003
*Tracks 1-3, 12, 13, 15, 18, 20 & 21 written by Warren Fitzgerald. Tracks 4, 10 & 19 written by Joe Escalante. Track 5 written by Joe Escalante, Warren Fitzgerald, Dave Quackenbush, and Josh Freese. Tracks 6 & 7 written by Josh Freese. Track 8 written by Warren Fitzgerald and Dave Quackenbush. Track 9 written by Josh Freese and Dave Quackenbush. Tracks 11 & 17 written by Joe Escalante and Warren Fitzgerald. Track 14 written by Dexter Holland, Joe Escalante, Josh Freese and Warren Fitzgerald. Track 16 written by Dave Quackenbush. Track 22 written by Jay Lansford.

ong information

All information listed here is derived from song lyrics, album liner notes, and band member interviews and commentary (particularly those in the "Live at the House of Blues" DVD commentary).

*"43210-1" (Warren Fitzgerald)A humorous anthem that encourages several minor and seemingly meaningless acts of rebellion.

*"Appreciate My Honesty" (Warren Fitzgerald)In this song the singer, after putting on pretensions in order to win the affections of a girl, is ready to stop acting polite and reveal his true nature to her, which is more selfish and rude.

*"It's a Fact" (Warren Fitzgerald)A nihilistic song that claims that if something can possibly go wrong, it will, therefore it is better to simply not try to accomplish anything.

*"An Idea for a Movie" (Joe Escalante)The song tells of several ideas the singer has for movie concepts, all of which seem rather silly.

*"Pizza Tran" (Joe Escalante, Warren Fitzgerald, Dave Quackenbush, Josh Freese)This song is the story of a Vietnamese girl named Tran who delivers pizza in Orange County. The narrator in the song has a crush on her.

*"Café 405" (Josh Freese)The song is about a girl who works at a fast food franchise in the Westminster Mall in Orange County, California, whom the singer has a crush on. Although not mentioned by name, the description of the restaurant in the song's lyrics closely resembles the Hot Dog on a Stick franchise. The number 405 is in reference to the name of the food court at the Westminster Mall, called Café 405.

*"Soccer Mom" (Josh Freese)A love song in which the singer is infatuated with a middle-class divorcé mother.

*"The New You" (Warren Fitzgerald & Dave Quackenbush)A man's lament about a girlfriend who suddenly changes her attitude towards him. She goes from loving and spending time with him to shunning him and wanting to be "just friends."

*"Marry Me" (Josh Freese & Dave Quackenbush)The song rails against the institution of marriage and warns listeners not to get married.

*"Oi to the World" (Joe Escalante)This song tells the story of an Indian Sikh punk fan named Hadji who gets in a fight with a skinhead named Trevor on Christmas Eve. In the end both characters reconcile and the song turns into a tale of peace and holiday unity.

*"N.I.M.B.Y." (Joe Escalante & Warren Fitzgerald)"N.I.M.B.Y." is an abbreviation for the phrase "Not in My Back Yard," which was commonly used in the 1960s and 1970s in reference to the construction of nuclear power plants. Many Americans wished to reap the benefits of nuclear power, but because of their fears of radiation and other hazards they did not want them built anywhere near their cities and towns. Hence the phrase "not in my back yard." In this song the same phrase is used by townsfolk in protest of G.E. Smith, the guitarist of Hall & Oates and musical director of "Saturday Night Live" who wishes to move into their town.

*"My Brain Tells My Body" (Warren Fitzgerald)The song deals with a man who wants to forget about a girl, but can't erase her image from his sight or mind. He feels like staring at the sun until his retinas are damaged to the point where he won't be able to see her or anything that reminds him of her.

*"People That Are Going to Hell" (Warren Fitzgerald)This song tells of the many people in the world who are mean and commit wrongdoings, but says that they will suffer the repercussions of their actions in the afterlife.

*"Too Much Drama" (Dexter Holland, Joe Escalante, Josh Freese, Warren Fitzgerald)This song deals with divorce, as a child in a broken family escapes into the fantasy world of television. He wishes his family could be like those he sees in the idyllic sitcoms he watches.

*"Disproportioned Head" (Warren Fitzgerald)In this song a man who suffers from a birth defect causing him to have an unusually large cranium, and is fed up with people pointing it out and trying to cover it up.

*"Take it Back" (Dave Quackenbush)This song deals with the frustration of eating in restaurants that constantly get your order wrong.

*"The Unseen Tears of the Albacore" (Joe Escalante and Warren Fitzgerald)This song addresses environmentalists and vegetarians, suggesting that it is wrong to value one type of animal's life over another. The song refers specifically to the publicity generated over dolphins being caught in tuna nets, while no one seems to care about fates of the tuna themselves. It suggests that it is wrong not to show equal concern for the fish, just because they are less anthropomorphic and cannot be trained to perform amusing behaviors.

*"And Now We Dance" (Warren Fitzgerald)A slightly nihilistic and anarchistic song.

*"I've Got an Ape Drape" (Joe Escalante)This song is about the hairstyle most commonly known as the mullet, in which the hair is worn short in the front and long in the back. The song offers several different names for this hairstyle as it is referred to in different locales.

*"Behind the Music" (Warren Fitzgerald)A sarcastic look at the music industry from an insider's perspective. It depicts the fate of a band trying to find success in the mainstream entertainment industry. Its title is copied from the VH1 television show of the same name.

*"My Girlfriend's Dead" (Warren Fitzgerald)In this song a man is depressed because his girlfriend broke up with him, and instead of talking to people about it he chooses to tell them that she died.

*"I Have a Date" (Jay Lansford)A cover of a song by the relatively obscure Orange County punk band The Simpletones. The singer is excited because he has a date with a young girl with whom he is infatuated.