Joe Of All Trades

The Vandals could very well be the most hard working punk band of the day. They have been straight So. Cal punk rock since 1982 and they're back in the studio and working and on a new album. Since their first EP, Peace Through Vandalism, which was on a very early incarnation of Epitaph records, through their last effort, Hitler Bad Vandals Good, The Vandals have been bringing humorous lyrics and groovy punk rhythms to the scene like few others.

In tackling this interview, I did some research on the Vandals official webpage, www.vandals.com, and it said that Joe Escalante, the bassist with whom I was slated to converse, had graduated from UCLA, gone to law school, received numerous awards, including a triple platinum record for being a representative of Sublime for their huge self-titled debut album, and had generally been a force in the scene for many years. It seemed too outlandish to be true. I was thinking 'ha-ha, punk band makes funny lyrics, makes up a bunch of bio stuff that's not true…"

But boy was my face red when I got to talking to the man. He's huge. As it is said in the business, "He knows people, heavy people." Escalante is in fact quite polite and in a personable, and amicable way enlightened me on a bit about how it is being "the-guy-behind-the-guy," so to speak.

Did I mention he also plays bass? Because in addition to his side job in The Vandals, he also runs his own label (Kung Fu Records), does legal representation for a myriad of bands, labels and other creative forces, writes screenplays for a punk rock e-show on the Web-based DEN Entertainment Network (www.den.net), and helps publish a fashionable, punk-y golf magazine. How do you feel now, slacker?

The Synthesis recently caught up with Escalante in the studio to discuss the particulars of his busy schedule.

How's the recording coming?

The recording's going really well. We spent a lot more time preparing for this record than any of the others and we're expecting those kinds of results — a better record.

How's the process work?

The way we used to work is we all would record separately in our home studios and then we would just track the stuff in the studio, using a bunch of different stuff we hadn't even really heard because we had all prepared stuff on our own. Now we first rehearse as a band and fix up all the material then we get it to a point where we want to start recording and then record it all at once like normal bands do.

Is that a novel idea for you?

It's novel for us, but normal for everyone else in the history of music.

Is recording fun for you guys or is it an arduous task?

It's both. It's arduous and [aside] it's what? Deciduous? [to me] that's a good one though, [laughing] arduous and deciduous.

They're close.

Yeah, that was our singer. We like to call him just The Singer.

That's just his name?

He has no name.

Okay. So you guys are playing a free show up here?

Wait, what city is this in?

Chico.

Better not be free, that's all I'm saying. I'm standing at the gate and collecting money from everyone that goes in there. [laughs] Oh, it's, like, the college thing? Yeah, that's free. The less money people pay to see you the lower their expectations are, so we should have a pretty good show.

I heard you were involved with the golf magazine Schwing!

I started the magazine with the drummer from No Doubt and it's published by the same people who do Thrasher.

Do you still help put it out?

Oh yeah, I'm on the phone with them everyday.

Do you contribute?

I contribute in the sense that I can tell them it's shitty.

It seems like a great idea, now that golf has become a bit more mainstream.

Kind of like Fat Mike of NOFX made it the thing to do in the punk rock scene, that's for sure. And then all the other people are coming out of the woodwork.

I read on your Web site that you did some work in the television industry but it didn't provide any detail. What did you do exactly?

I had just graduated from law school and then did four years working for CBS television in business affairs, negotiating deals for writers, actors and directors, stuff like that.

It also said something about how you represented Skunk Records and Sublime?

Yeah, and then I left there to start Kung Fu Records and had a little private legal practice where I represented, like, Bradley Nowell's estate after he died and Skunk Records… just like a lot of labels and bands like Pennywise and stuff like that.

And you still represent them?

Yeah. That and Kung Fu Records are my day jobs.

What's it like running a label?

Pretty good. It's like my old day job was TV and it didn't have anything to do with punk rock, so it was different. I didn't do as good a job on the TV side as I could have, and at the same time I couldn't do as good a job in The Vandals and in punk rock as I could have either. Now 90 percent of my work is punk rock-oriented, stuff that has some connection with The Vandals and so it's better for The Vandals and it's better for the core business where I make my living.

Does it feel like you're giving back a little bit more now?

Oh yeah, you're talking about taking bands from nowhere and making them into something. It's like you used to see a band that you thought was really good and you couldn't do anything to help them, couldn't do anything to get all the people you know — who would really like them — into them. But now that I've got a record label I can take that band and introduce them to an audience and just watch what happens.

I saw you have a split CD on Kung Fu with Useless ID and The Ataris. Are you going to put out a full length for Useless ID?

I'm thinking about it. What do you think?

I'd like to see one.

You like the CD?

Definitely.

We're kind of like, we like it, we're putting it out and then we'll see what people think, but actually that record's done such a good job exposing people to Useless ID. Now it makes sense to maybe put out a full length of Useless ID.

What involvement do you have with the DEN Network? Did you write some of those Fear of a Punk Planet episodes?

Yeah, I was writing most of those and then that network, it went out of business so we're moving it to a new network. Now we're talking to another couple networks about moving the show to somewhere else.

I wasn't aware the DEN was gone. It didn't do that well?

Well, you can't tell because the site's still up there and you can still watch the show but the actual truth is, the shows are up there, sure, but we have about three more that no one has ever seen and are not going to be aired on there because that network essentially went out of business.

I thought they had some kind of huge money behind them.

No. They keep making announcements about money that is, like, old money that's already been spent. That's my understanding. I don't know the whole thing, but yeah, it's kind of a mess. I would say it's a mess. They just spent too much and then now they're trying to figure out what to do with less money and less options. And since they don't want to spend the amount of money that it costs to make my show on punk rock we still think there's plenty of other people that do. We're just moving it to somewhere else because there's a whole bunch more of these networks.

Are you pleased with the way that medium reaches audiences?

I think it's a perfect place for a show like ours, which is something that doesn't belong on TV but technologically the average consumer is not really ready for it because it takes a powerful computer to watch it correctly. Because of that we're going to start releasing episodes on video cassette so that they'll be distributed on the Internet and they'll be available on VHS or DVD soon after that. So you can watch it both ways.

So, finishing up here, is there a working title for the new album?

Polished Turds, [aside to other band members] How's that grab you? Yes, "The smell remains the same," parenthetically.

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