Joe Escalante | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Joseph Patrick Escalante |
Born | Long Beach, California | January 30, 1963
Origin | Rossmoor, California |
Genres | Punk rock, comedy rock |
Occupation(s) |
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Instrument(s) |
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Years active | 1980–present |
Labels | Epitaph, National Trust, Restless, Triple X, Nitro, Kung Fu |
Member of | The Vandals |
Formerly of | Sweet and Tender Hooligans |
Website | www.joeescalante.com |
Joseph Patrick Escalante (born January 30, 1963) is an American [1] musician, television writer, film and television director, radio host, and former television executive. He is known professionally as the bassist and songwriter for the punk rock band The Vandals, and creator and episodic director of the paranormal travel series Monsters Across America on Fox Nation. [2]
Escalante was born the youngest of 7 children in Long Beach, California to a Mexican father and Irish mother and grew up in Rossmoor, California, an unincorporated area of Orange County. His father was a pioneer in the electric sign industry, founding Superior Signs, Intl. and designing several iconic atomic age flashing signs that have dotted prominent American city skylines. His mother worked as a bowling alley clerk in Seal Beach, California.
Escalante received his Bachelor degree from UCLA studying Viking civilization under Professor Jesse Byock[ citation needed ] and his Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School. [3] He graduated from Los Alamitos High School in the class of 1981 and was elected to the Los Alamitos High Hall of Fame in 2014. [4] Escalante studied at University of Iceland at Reykjavik Graduate Program in 1985.[ citation needed ]
In 1980, at age 18, Escalante joined the punk rock band The Vandals, becoming their first permanent drummer, and would remain the sole constant member throughout the rest of their career. The Vandals released their debut EP Peace thru Vandalism in 1982 through Epitaph Records. [5] In 1984 Escalante and the other band members appeared in the Roger Corman film Suburbia, directed by Penelope Spheeris [6] and released their first album When in Rome Do as the Vandals . The band went through a great deal of upheaval shortly afterward, with Escalante essentially stealing the intellectual property of his bandmates, and carrying on with a new version of the Vandals with other people filling the roles of Stevo Jensen and Jan Ackerman, who founded the band. [7] In 1987 they appeared in another Spheeris film, Dudes. [8] By 1989 Escalante had moved from the drums into the bass guitar position. Fluctuations in the lineup continued until 1989, when the current iteration of singer Dave Quackenbush, guitarist Warren Fitzgerald, and drummer Josh Freese released the album Fear of a Punk Planet , establishing themselves amongst an emerging new crop of southern California punk rock bands. This lineup would remain consistent throughout the rest of the band's career and would release numerous albums, tour extensively, and form their own record label. [9]
After graduating law school in 1992, Escalante worked as an executive in the department of business affairs for CBS. During his time with the network, he negotiated actor, writer, and director deals on programs like Everybody Loves Raymond , Rescue 911 , and Walker, Texas Ranger , for which he co-produced the theme song “Eyes of a Ranger” after convincing Chuck Norris to sing the theme song to his own series. [10] [11]
After four years, he left CBS to consult with the United Paramount Network, tour with The Vandals, and operate his record label Kung Fu Records where he also produced concert films and low-budget features. In 1999, one of the first streaming TV series, Fear of A Punk Planet, was ordered by the Digital Entertainment Network (DEN),[ citation needed ] and was later released as a comic book in 2017. [12]
In 2015, Escalante was hired by the Discovery I.D./Discovery Channel to produce scripted true crime TV series True Nightmares where he wrote scripts and served as the production re-writer for the 1st and 2nd seasons. In 2017 he began working as a writer for History Channel's sci-fi documentary series Ancient Aliens. As a freelance writer, Escalante has penned scripts for such shows as Oxygen Channel's Buried in the Back Yard, Travel Channel's In Search of Monsters, and History's Curse of Oak Island. [13]
In 2018, Escalante wrote the pilot script for the reboot of the 1960s hit TV series Hogan's Heroes for original creator and 2 time best picture winner Albert S. Ruddy, which as of 2022 is still in development with Albert S. Ruddy Productions. This time, the series is set in Guantanamo Bay. [14]
Escalante sold the paranormal show Monsters Across America starring Kacie McDonnell to Fox Nation in 2020. [15]
In 1995 the Vandals signed a record deal with Nitro Records owned by The Offspring's Dexter Holland and released the album Live Fast, Diarrhea . The album brought increased attention to the band and Escalante toured with them internationally. He directed their music video for "I Have a Date," and would continue to direct the band's videos throughout the rest of their career. The band released 3 more albums on Nitro over the next 5 years, with Escalante participating on all of them.
In 1996 Escalante and Warren Fitzgerald started the record label Kung Fu Records, initially to release a debut album by the Assorted Jelly Beans. Escalante named the label after his study of Kung Fu San Soo. Eventually, Escalante left CBS Television and took over operations of the label, signing acts such as The Ataris, Ozma, Tsunami Bomb, Kenneth Keith Kallenbach, Longmont Potion Castle, and The Vandals. [16] Kung Fu's most successful release was Buddha, the debut album by the band Blink-182. Escalante ran the U.S. and European operations for 20 years, then sold the label to Cleopatra Records, who continue to maintain it as a separate imprint. [17]
Using his experience in the television industry, Escalante formed Kung Fu Films in 2000 as an offshoot of the record label, and produced and starred in the independent film That Darn Punk and the early streaming series Fear of a Punk Planet. He also continued to produce and direct music videos for The Vandals and for other acts on the Kung Fu label. In 2002 he launched the DVD live concert series The Show Must Go Off! for which produced and/or directed over 20 long form concert films. In 2005, he directed the independent film, shot on film, Cake Boy featuring Scott Aukerman, Warren Fitzgerald, Bob Odenkirk, Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, and Cherry 2000's Pamela Gidley. [18]
In 2004 Escalante joined the Sweet and Tender Hooligans, a Smiths/Morrissey tribute band composed primarily of Latino members. In 2006 he traveled with them to the United Kingdom to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Smiths album The Queen Is Dead .
In 2005, Escalante was hired to host a weekly radio program originally "Barely Legal Radio" on the Los Angeles/Orange County radio station Indie 103.1 FM, where he dispensed entertainment and legal advice to aspiring musicians. [19] In May 2006, he became the host of the station's morning drive-time program The Last of the Famous International Morning Shows, replacing Mighty Mighty Bosstones singer Dicky Barrett. [20]
Escalante's morning show included daily appearances by film director David Lynch, who served as weatherman, and actor Timothy Olyphant, who served as a sports commentator. The show also featured a weekly wine tasting and education hour called "Wino Wednesday", and hosted a number of celebrity guests including Crispin Glover, Christina Ricci, Pat Buchanan, Will Ferrell, Maynard James Keenan, Werner Herzog, Phil Donahue, Kristen Stewart, Harry Shearer, Dennis Hopper, and Andy Dick. The show was endorsed by companies and products such as iPod, iTunes, and AT&T. Indie pulled the plug on the show in November 2008. Two months later, the entire station went off the air and switched to Spanish ranchero music. [21]
Joe's call-in entertainment law show stayed on the web version on Indie 1031 until it finally landed on Clear Channel/Iheart Media's KEIB AM 1150 in 2009, where it can still be heard today live on Sundays at 5pm to 7pm, PST. In April 2019, the name was changed to "Joe Escalante, Live from Hollywood." [22]
Escalante married in 1996. His wife, Sandra Escalante, appeared briefly in the 2005 film Cake Boy which he directed (as a member of the counseling group). The two now live together in Seal Beach, California.[ citation needed ]
Escalante's brother Greg Escalante founded Juxtapoz magazine and the Gregorio Escalante Gallery. [23] Escalante's step brother Mike Fries is CEO and Vice Chairman of Liberty Global. Escalante's brother in law is actor/composer Paul Williams.
Escalante teaches Catechism at St. Peter Chanel Catholic Church in Hawaiian Gardens where he is a daily communicant. [24] He has no stated political party affiliation. [25]
From 2008 to 2012, Escalante worked as a volunteer temporary judge for the Los Angeles superior court, and later placed himself on the ballot for a paid position in a non-partisan race. [26] Street artist Shepard Fairey created a campaign poster for Escalante, [27] his first candidate poster since his iconic representation of President Barack Obama. Escalante raised $15,000 for his campaign [28] with the posters and received 18.41% of the vote. [29] His opponent spent a record $450,000 to defeat him. [30] [31]
Year | Title | Role |
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1984 | Suburbia | himself (with The Vandals) |
1987 | Dudes | |
2000 | That Darn Punk | Dirk Castigo |
2004 | Punk Rock Holocaust | Warped Documentary Boss [I] |
2005 | Cake Boy | Pierre Kaniche |
2007 | Punk's Not Dead | himself |
2008 | Lil' Bush (episode 204: "Katrina") | Michael "Brownie" Brown (voice) |
2009 | One Nine Nine Four | himself |
2014 | Comedy Bang! Bang! | |
2016 | Bar Rescue | himself; Recon spy |
^ I Escalante's scenes in Punk Rock Holocaust were deleted from the final version of the film.
Year | Title | Role |
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1996 | Glory Daze | Music supervisor |
2000 | That Darn Punk | Producer, music editor, music supervisor |
2003 | Neil Hamburger: Live at the Phoenix Greyhound Park ( The Show Must Go Off! episode 5) | Director, producer |
2004 | Goldfinger: Live at the House of Blues (The Show Must Go Off! episode 11) | Director |
Zebrahead: Live at the House of Blues (The Show Must Go Off! episode 12) | Director | |
The Matches: Live at the House of Blues (The Show Must Go Off! episode 14) | Director, producer | |
Throw Rag: Live at the House of Blues (The Show Must Go Off! episode 15) | Director | |
Warped Tour '03 | Director, producer | |
2005 | Tsunami Bomb: Live at the Glasshouse (The Show Must Go Off! episode 17) | Producer |
Cake Boy | Director, producer | |
The Vandals are an American punk rock band, established in 1980 in Orange County, California. They have released ten full-length studio albums, three live albums, 3 live DVDs and have toured the world extensively, including performances on the Vans Warped Tour. They are well known for their use of humor, preferring to use their music as a vehicle for comedy and sarcasm rather than as a platform for more serious issues. Kung Fu Records, founded in 1996 by Escalante and Fitzgerald has signed and launched many punk rock bands.
Slippery When Ill is the second album by the Huntington Beach punk rock band The Vandals, released jointly in 1989 by Restless Records and Sticky Fingers Records. It was their first album to include Dave Quackenbush on vocals, who would remain the band's singer for the rest of their career. The album was something of a departure from the punk rock formula of their previous releases, fusing a country and western style with their humorous brand of punk. The result was a sound the band called "cow punk" which somewhat mocked the resurgence in popularity of country music in their native Huntington Beach. Two exceptions were the songs "Shi'ite Punk" and "(Illa Zilla) Lady Killa," which relied heavily on scratch boxes. The latter song was a re-recording of the song "Ladykiller" from the band's previous album When in Rome Do as the Vandals with slightly altered lyrics.
Fear of a Punk Planet is the third album by the southern California punk rock band The Vandals, originally released in 1990 by Triple X Records. It was their first album to include the lineup of Dave Quackenbush, Warren Fitzgerald, Joe Escalante and Josh Freese, solidifying the band's roster after several years of fluctuation. This lineup would remain intact for the rest of the band's career, and for this reason Fear of a Punk Planet is considered by many fans to be the first proper album by the "new" Vandals. The album returned the band to their punk rock sound, after having played mostly in a country style on their previous album Slippery When Ill. The band would stick to a punk rock formula throughout the rest of their career. The album's title called to mind the rap album Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy, released that same year. It featured guest appearances by Dweezil and Moon Unit Zappa, Scott Thunes and Kelsey Grammer. An independent music video was filmed for the album's first track, "Pizza Tran."
Oi to the World! is a Christmas album by the southern California punk rock band the Vandals. It was released in 1996 by their label Kung Fu Records, who also re-released it in 2000 with altered artwork and a bonus track. It was the band's sixth full-length studio album and presented holiday-themed songs written and performed with the tongue-in-cheek humor for which the band is known.
Live Fast, Diarrhea is the fourth studio album by the southern California punk rock band The Vandals, released in 1995 by Nitro Records. It was the band's first album for Nitro, a label started and co-owned by Dexter Holland and Greg Kriesel of The Offspring. It was also the first to be produced by Vandals guitarist Warren Fitzgerald, who would continue to produce most of their albums throughout their career, and the first to include Brooks Wackerman, who often substituted for regular drummer Josh Freese. It was a breakthrough release for the band, who would release three more albums on Nitro before moving to their own label Kung Fu Records in 2002.
Sweatin' to the Oldies is a live album and video by the southern California punk rock band The Vandals, originally released in 1994 by Triple X Records. It consists of a live concert recorded at the Ice House in Fullerton, California, as well as interviews with the band members and an overview of their history. The original version was released both on CD and VHS. With most of their back catalogue out of print, the album and video were seen as a retrospective of the band's past, as performed by its most recent stable lineup.
The Quickening is the fifth studio album by the southern California punk rock band The Vandals, released in 1996 by Nitro Records. Much of the album is characterized by themes of nihilism and teen angst, but presented with the tongue-in-cheek humor for which the band is known.
The Show Must Go Off! is a live concert DVD series produced by Kung Fu Films, an offshoot of the Kung Fu Records label, which began in 2002. The producer was Vandals bassist Joe Escalante. As of 2005, the series featured at least 19 "episodes". The series features punk rock and pop punk bands from various eras – from older groups that were popular in the 1980s and 1990s, to more recent acts.
Buddha is a demo album by the American rock band Blink-182. Recorded and released in January 1994 under the name Blink, it was the band's first recording to be sold and distributed. The band had recorded two previous demos in drummer Scott Raynor's bedroom—Flyswatter and Demo No.2—using a four track recorder. Most of the tracks from Buddha were re-recorded for the band's subsequent releases; seven were re-recorded for their debut album Cheshire Cat and one was re-recorded for their second album Dude Ranch.
Guttermouth is an American punk rock band formed in 1989 in Huntington Beach, California. They have released nine full-length studio albums and two live albums and have toured extensively, including performances on the Vans Warped Tour. They are infamous for their outrageous lyrics and behavior which are deliberately explicit, offensive and intended to shock, though usually in a humorous and sarcastic manner. This behavior has sometimes resulted in high-profile problems for the band, such as being banned from performing in Canada for eighteen months and leaving the 2004 Warped Tour amidst controversy over their political views and attitudes towards other performers.
Kung Fu Records is an American independent record label founded in 1996 by Joe Escalante and Warren Fitzgerald of the punk rock band The Vandals. Founded in order to release a record by the Riverside, California band Assorted Jelly Beans, the label soon grew to include a roster of notable artists such as The Ataris, Ozma, Tsunami Bomb, and The Vandals themselves. In 2000 Escalante started Kung Fu Films as a subsidiary of the music label in order to release DVDs of live concerts, music videos, band documentaries, and independent films. In 2005 Kung Fu also spawned the spinoff label Broken Sounds Records, focusing on hardcore releases.
The Vandals Play Really Bad Original Country Tunes is an album by the southern California punk rock band The Vandals, released in 1999 by Kung Fu Records. Essentially a re-release of their 1989 album Slippery When Ill, it contains 8 of the 10 songs from that album along with 2 newer, previously unavailable songs. Part of the impetus for its release was that the original Slippery When Ill, long asked for by the band's fans, had become very rare and difficult to obtain due to the small size of the record labels it was originally released on. With their Kung Fu label now firmly established, the band was able to re-release this music from ten years earlier in their career.
Warren Fitzgerald is an American punk rock guitarist, songwriter, and record label owner. He is best known for being the guitarist of The Vandals and Oingo Boingo. He is also co-founder of Kung Fu Records, along with his Vandals band-mate Joe Escalante.
Steven Ronald "Stevo" Jensen was an American musician and an original founding member of The Vandals, alongside Jan Nils Ackermann. The band was based out of Huntington Beach, California, United States. After performing for some time in different bands in Southern California, Ackermann decided to form The Vandals, enlisting Jensen as vocalist.
Internet Dating Superstuds is the ninth studio album by the southern California punk rock band The Vandals. An independent music video was filmed for the song "43210-1."
That Darn Punk Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is a soundtrack album to the 2001 independent film That Darn Punk. The film was released by Kung Fu Films and starred Joe Escalante of the punk rock band The Vandals as the lead character. Escalante is also in charge of Kung Fu Films and Kung Fu Records, which put out the film's soundtrack. The label was co-founded by Escalante and Vandals guitarist Warren Fitzgerald, who also appears in the film. In fact, all the members of the Vandals appear in the film as the fictional band the Big Tippers, alongside several other punk rock personalities. The soundtrack album was released to coincide with the release of the film, which went straight to video on VHS and DVD formats.
The Show Must Go Off! The Vandals 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 Sweatin' to the Oldies. 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. 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.
Shingo Japanese Remix Album is an album of songs by the southern California punk rock band The Vandals remixed and re-interpreted by Japanese DJ Shingo Asari, released in 2005 by Kung Fu Records. Asari had been tinkering with Vandals songs for several years and had sent several of his remixes to Kung Fu, who had posted them on their website for Vandals fans to download. The band was impressed by his takes on their songs and used a remixed medley he had made of many of their most popular songs as an introduction to their live shows. Finally in 2005 Shingo was given license to remix several newer Vandals songs and to release them as an album through Kung Fu.
The discography of The Vandals, a punk rock band formed in Huntington Beach, California, in 1980, consists of ten studio albums, one EP, two live albums, two compilation albums, one remix album, four reissued albums, three videos, four singles, and seven music videos.
Live at the House of Blues is a live album and concert film by the American punk rock band the Adolescents, released in February 2004 on Kung Fu Records as part of the label's The Show Must Go Off! series. It marked a reunion of the band after a twelve-year breakup, and features songs from their original 1980–81 run and from their then-upcoming reunion album OC Confidential (2005).