VILE

As I’ve said in numerous posts, I do so enjoy the submissions of other people to this blog. A different perspective is always appreciated. However, thanks to busy schedules it can be a while before anyone has a chance to contribute. Such is life. Surprisingly, Jeff Vaders popped up again the other day and sent in some very, very old gems from his very first band, Vile. Starring folks who would go on to be in Up In Arms, then Fracture and Public Descent and beyond, this is a very worthy contribution. Thanks Jeff!

Vile was born into existence when Jeb Bell and I became friends in middle school. Through the combination of Thrasher Magazine, skate videos and watching our friends AK-47 / The Tazmanians play, Jeb & I mustered up the courage to create our own band. After several terrible name nominations, one being Auto Erotica, we democratically decided upon Vile. And that is how our first band came to be; create the band name first, then get the instruments and people.

Jeb had recently purchased an Ibanez electric guitar and Peavy amplifier and was learning tunes from our favorite bands. Rob Bell was already a formidable drum master and had an extensive setup in his parents basement. We recruited our friend Dan Goldberg to play guitar as his chops in 8th grade wowed all of us. Finally, I purchased a microphone and yes, Peavy amplifier as our solution to a PA system and the band was officially formed.

We practiced in The Bell’s basement and my parents garage nonstop. We dedicated hours upon hours on both weekdays and weekends to practicing our favorite punk rock songs. Dan Goldberg was lucky enough to have a reel-to-reel recorder that we used at many of our practices to re-listen and perfect our sound. Like all bands, after a couple weeks we began writing our own songs. Below is a sampling of these prolific tunes that sadly up till now did not get further than a few people’s ears. Sadly, I do not have photo evidence of Vile and its 4 month existence. The original songs below were recorded in the summer of 1989 in my parents garage. Only a few tunes recorded on reel to reel in my parents garage in the summer of 1989. I don’t know which is funnier, the teenage suburban angst etched into each tune or our unique egalitarian approach to counting down the songs. Enjoy.

3RD WORLD WAR – In the midst of the Cold War, would a punk rock band from suburban Philadelphia would not be complete without a Cold War protest song.

There a lot of website that work for order levitra online sales. What I thought of as a comfortable sitting position could have led me to get more of the unwanted tadalafil prescription varicose veins. buy cialis from canada This medicine is made from natural herbs with no side effects. Medical representative also take a lot of amount http://hartbuildersinc.com/levitra-7969 order levitra online for the medicine. DOWN TO THE GROUND – One of the first Bell/Vaders creations. The lyrics speak for themselves. It’s about burning a house.

EVEN THEM OUT – Written right after Down To The Ground, another Bell/Vaders collaboration. Possibly the greatest lyrical writing ever, “a shot in the knee, a shot in the heel, even them out, give them something to feel”. This song is a gem and I am surprised it was never covered by anyone else.

PMRC – Penned by Dan Goldberg, this song was to change Vile’s direction from songs about burning and killing to something more intelligent.

SUBURBAN POLICE – If memory serves me correctly, this may have been the first real group collaboration. Music by Bell/Vaders, lyrics by Dan Goldberg. Our protest song against the local cops.

Sick.

6 thoughts on “VILE

  1. Vile is not a lot of things but it definitely is the most energy efficient band I was ever in. The original lineup had two guitar players, vocals and 1 (ONE) Peavey Rage amplifier (50 watts). This was accomplished through the ingenious use of the maligned “splitter” which we ran my guitar and vocals mic through – sounded amazing – and Jeff was super on top of it cause we didn’t even need to plug his guitar into the rage Cause it was from Sears and had it’s OWN speaker installed inside the body of the guitar. Apple is totally overrated cause the dudes at Sears were implementing some serious shit that just never really clicked – a fucking amp INSIDE THE GUITAR? nigga please.

    1. Also for the record – I dint need no Tazmanians rehearsal to inspire me, or as Jeff says “muster”, the courage to start no band. It was fucking boredom. . I didn’t see any other band until we had been a band for a while. As a testament to our boredom I offer the recollection that the “Down to the ground” number was inspired by our – likely – 2nd rehearsal when we took a short break to go out back and start a fire in the cornfield. It started with smoking some cigarettes and then lighting corn cobs on fire and tossing them at eachother then I just flat out lighted a bunch of playboys on fire and walked away. We then proceeded to go back upstairs to my room to resume our practice and look out the window and cooperatively share “oh shit”s until I convinced myself we needed to go back out and extinguish the growing flames. I ran out back and into the cornfield and started stamping out the fire when a straight up farmer in overalls comes through the corn isles shaking a Playboy (MAN DOWN!) and grabs my arm and I’m like – “they ran that way!” pointing towards carson valley – the “troubled” kids’ school and he lets go and tells me to go to the road and direct the fire trucks. I run back up to the back road and flag the firetrucks that come down with their siren’s blasting and then I sneak back upstairs to finish our set. We were in 8th grade I think. My mom was probably still spanking me

      1. I would love to know how you recall we existed for 4 months. I would also like to know why we broke up or changed our name cause I don’t recollect much of a line up change between Vile and Up IN Arms

      2. Isn’t the best part of the story that you guys earned an award from the fire dept. for this behavior?

        BTW – Jeb, your comments are a national treasure.

  2. ahh yes, the now one and only infamous game of “Flying Flaming Corn Husks” — see how creative we were in our boredom? For the record I did not receive a junior fireman award. After the fires got out of control we ran upstairs, while Jeb courageously ran to stamp out the fire, i stayed in his room cowardly hiding under the desk, peeping out at the action in the cornfield.
    “Even Them Out” was written shortly after this incident since we found it more safe to stay in Jeb’s room and fire the BB gun out the window towards pedestrians and cars on Bethlehem Pike.

    For the timeline I am working off of fuzzy adolescent memories. I have 2 cassette tapes … (1) has Vile “Garage Days” written on it with no date… the other tape has a sleeve with dates of Sept 1989 and Oct 1989 and “Vile”…then in Oct 1989 it has “Fernando Drumming, Up In Arms”… I believe that the transition of Vile > Up In Arms was strictly the addition of Jeb getting a bass, and Fernando playing drums…
    By the way, that Sears bought Casio guitar with the built in amp fucking shredded…

  3. I can still see the flames billowing from the field….and I still feel the disappointed that followed when the farmer extended his arm to shake Jeb’s hand. Flourtown’s hero….fuck you Jeb! (Thanks for burning the playboys)

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