| When in Rome Do as The Vandals | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1984 | |||
| Recorded | 1984 | |||
| Genre | Hardcore punk, comedy rock | |||
| Length | 30:58 | |||
| Label | National Trust | |||
| Producer | Thom Wilson | |||
| The Vandals chronology | ||||
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When in Rome Do as The Vandals is the first album by the Huntington Beach punk rock band The Vandals, released in 1984 by National Trust Records, Its title is a play on the phrase "When in Rome, do as the Romans do", as the Vandals was also the name of a Germanic tribe which had invaded the Roman Empire and helped lead to its destruction. The album's cover played on this theme by showing the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in a state of destruction. It was the band's last recording with vocalist Stevo, who left the band shortly after due to personality conflicts with some of the other members.
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located 35 miles southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 189,992 during the 2010 census, making it the most populous beach city in Orange County and the seventh most populous city in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its estimated 2014 population was 200,809. It is bordered by Bolsa Chica Basin State Marine Conservation Area on the west, the Pacific Ocean on the southwest, by Seal Beach on the northwest, by Westminster on the north, by Fountain Valley on the northeast, by Costa Mesa on the east, and by Newport Beach on the southeast.
Punk rock is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in 1960s garage rock and other forms of what is now known as "proto-punk" music, punk rock bands rejected perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. They typically produced short, fast-paced songs with hard-edged melodies and singing styles, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produce recordings and distribute them through independent record labels.
The Vandals are a punk rock band from the United States established in 1980 in Orange County, California. They have released ten full-length studio albums, two live albums, 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. As of 2000, they are signed to Kung Fu Records.
Contents
On the original LP release Brent Turner is credited as having performed all of the bass tracks, but by the time of its release Chalmer Lumary had joined the band on the bass position. Chalmer's name and photo are therefore included on the album sleeve along with those of the other members. The album sleeve also lists the seventh track as being "It's Not Unusual," a cover of a song by Burt Bacharach. The label on the LP itself, however, correctly lists this track as being a cover of "Hocus Pocus" by the band Focus. The sleeve also lists the album's sixth track as being spelled "Viking Suite," although the label again corrects this error by spelling it "Viking Suit" (as it is pronounced in the song's lyrics).
The bass guitar is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, except with a longer neck and scale length, and typically four to six strings or courses.
Burt Freeman Bacharach is an American composer, songwriter, record producer, pianist, and singer who has composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Grammy Award winner and three-time Academy Award winner, Bacharach's songs have been recorded by more than 1,000 different artists. As of 2014, he had written 73 US and 52 UK Top 40 hits. He is considered one of the most important composers of 20th-century popular music.
Focus are a Dutch progressive rock band formed in Amsterdam in 1969 by keyboardist, vocalist, and flautist Thijs van Leer. The band has undergone numerous formations in its history. Since December 2016, it has comprised van Leer, drummer Pierre van der Linden, guitarist Menno Gootjes, and bassist Udo Pannekeet. Past members include guitarist Jan Akkerman, drummer Hans Cleuver and bassists Martijn Dresden, Bert Ruiter and Bobby Jacobs. They have sold one million RIAA-certified albums in the United States.
The album was re-released in 1989 in CD format along with the band's debut EP Peace thru Vandalism as Peace Thru Vandalism / When in Rome Do as The Vandals . The CD version was released by Restless Records (later reissued by Time Bomb Recordings) and correctly lists the song titles as described above.
An extended play record, often referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single, but is usually unqualified as an album or LP. Contemporary EPs generally contain a minimum of three tracks and maximum of six tracks, and are considered "less expensive and time-consuming" for an artist to produce than an album. An EP originally referred to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play (SP) and LP, but it is now applied to mid-length CDs and downloads as well.
Peace thru Vandalism is the debut EP by the American punk rock band The Vandals, released in 1982 by Epitaph Records. It was one of the first releases to be put out by the Epitaph label, founded in 1981 by Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion. The EP was later released in 1989 on Restless Records featuring the original authorship of the songs as a Vinyl, 12", EP, 33 ⅓ RPM, Reissue as well as The EP being re-released by Time Bomb Recordings in 1989 as a CD that also included the band's first LP, When in Rome Do as the Vandals. The CD release is titled Peace Thru Vandalism / When in Rome Do as The Vandals.
Peace Thru Vandalism / When in Rome Do as The Vandals is a compilation album by the southern California punk rock band The Vandals. It was originally released in 1989 by Restless Records. It is a CD re-release of the band's first EP, Peace thru Vandalism, and first LP, When in Rome Do as The Vandals, containing all of the tracks from both releases. The Restless version has the tracks from When In Rome Do As The Vandals first while the Time Bomb version has the two records in chronological order.
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| AllMusic |   |
