Know Your Enemy

Is Joe Escalante an asshole?



The Vandals Scandal

Many people know The Vandals. Their poppy fun and funny punk rock is extremely easy to get into and is very kid friendly. That is why nearly every kid I knew growing up had at least one Vandals album in their collection. For a long time I thought that The Vandals had either formed in the 90's or were at least in their original line up, but I was wrong on both accounts. The Vandals were actually started in 1980 by two Huntington Beach teenagers, vocalist Stevo and guitarist Jan Nils Ackerman. After a couple of weeks of discussion of how cool their band would be they picked up bassist Steve Pfauter and an unnamed drummer and began practicing. A few months passed and the band had a new drummer Joe Escalante. With Escalante the band hit the vibrant west coast punk scene like a bomb. They played with the likes of Black Flag, The Germs, Descendents, X, Social D and TSOL. They released their debut EP, Peace Thru Vandalism, in 1982. In 1984 the band was the first band signed to LA indie Epitaph Records. While on Epitaph they released their debut full length "When In Rome Does As The Vandals". A short time after the album was released Stevo either quit the band or was fired depending on who you ask.

Now here is where the story gets interesting. Escalante decided to keep the band going and hired ex-Fallen Idols vocalist Dave Quackenbush to replace Stevo. This version of The Vandals gigged around for several years until they hit a speed bump around 1987. Epitaph released the copyright and music that was included on the band's first two albums to Escalante. This is believed to have happened in more of a literal sense as Brett Gurewitz says he physically gave Escalante the master recordings. Escalante without the consent of his bandmates past and present approached Time Bomb Records to re-release the albums. Time Bomb agreed and when the album came out Escalante was given credit for all of the words and music. When Stevo found out about this he was furious. He argued that the name of the band and songs had been thought up before Escalante joined the band and as such should not be given the credit for them. Once Jan Nils Ackerman found this out he promptly left The Vandals. Ackerman and Stevo were debating reforming The Vandals without Escalante, which they did. The show was a success. Escalante, who at this point was a practicing high-priced entertainment lawyer, stepped in filing an injunction against his former bandmates from performing as The Vandals or performing any of their songs till the matter was resolved. Escalante argues that the other members of The Vandals signed away their rights in return for his performance at a first album Vandals reunion show. The rest of the band denies this ever happened. Regardless, the rights stayed in Escalante's hands and he continued to perform as The Vandals throughout the world. Worst of all Escalante sold the use of several Vandals songs to un-punk causes and companies like Sony and Adidas.

The rest of the band would sue Escalante periodically over the next twenty years. The band would always lose or settling the case. in 2003 his former bandmates sued him again for mismanaging the band's back catlog and not issuing royalites that were owed. The suit was settled out of court. Stevo died in 2005 of an overdose of prescription pills which was rumored to have been caused by his trouble with Escalante. When asked about the authorship of the songs in question Escalante often contradicts himself both in court and in interviews. Escalante still owns the rights to the Vandals name and music past, present and future.

Also working against him

1. Escalante's association with "un-punk" bands like Blink 182 and The Ataris.

2. His conservative views and attitudes
--Joe is a practicing catholic who votes republican and is anti-gay marriage.

3. The fact that he bullfights
---What sort of guy goes down to Mexico to stab, torture and taunt a bull that has already been severally injured? That's right Joe Esaclante. What would make someone do that in the name of sport? This shows what kind of dick Escalante really is, the kind that hurts animals for fun. There are some good Christian morals in that, way to go Joe, the big guy is probably real proud of you. He has been practicing and competing in the sport since the early 90's.


So the answer is Yes!