What to say about the Vandals' gig in Pinarella? Oh well!!! You should stay there to taste the real fun!!! The Vandals' concert has been a concentrate of fun, music, love and chaos!!! During all the gig the people got up the stage huging the Vandals and joining the band during their whole performance. There was just a little step between the stage and the audience so all the people went upstairs to sing and show their love for the Vandals. The crowd was really inflated and for all the gig the great Vandals had to sing and share the stage with their hot fans!!! It has been great! The Vandals are great! They can teach to everyone how to make a show-concert!
We had the opportunity to make an interview with Joe Escalante, the famous Vandals bassist, very friendly and kind as only the greats can do.
Pogopop: Hi Joe! How it was tonight in Pinarella??
Joe (Vandals): It was great, the typical italian concert for us, really really good!
Pogopop:How is going on the tour?
Joe: The tour is pretty good, but in Italy is better, you know, we were looking for it, because the crowd is better, the food is better and sometimes it makes the difference!!!
Pogopop: What about the last album "Vandals Good Hitler Bad", which are the differences between this and "Live fast Diarrhea"?
Joe: The differences between the new album and the other ones are that in this one we spent more time recording and writing the songs and we've  got Jerry Finn to mix the record. He  mixed also the Green Day, Rancid  and  stuff like that. So we  put more effort into it and we think it's better.
Pogopop:We heard the last Offspring album and we think that there is a lot of Vandals into it... because in the last tour, maybe, they learnt something from you...
Joe: OH!!! They learnt a lot from us!!!! (laughing!!).
Pogopop: At this point one question: is it really the only things that matter to have one video on MTV to reach the success?
Joe: In USA that is true. If you want to be huge you must do a  couple things: you must be on a major label and you must get on the radio and on MTV, you can do it without MTV if you have a lot of radio, and if you get any MTV  but you are playing on the radio, anyway if you  have  none of those then you have to be really really good to make money... we do it, we do it without any of that!
Pogopop:You're on the musical scene since the 80's: how do you have still so much strength and joy on the stage?
Joe: The kids that come to the shows are nicer than they used to be before, less violent or angry. Now they're happy kids, they make us feel pretty young! And the others bands are better, we're going on tour with the Assorted Jellybeans, and they're good!! Last time we went in Italy we were playing with the Mind Over Four and they were terrible (Bleah!!). Every night we had to listen to them..... Now there are bands like No use for a name, Lagwagon or... Unwritten Law, yes they're all good bands!!!
Pogopop:Do you remember a particular concert in which you had a lot of fun? Your best gig...
Joe: OH! I'm saying this every night, because someone ask us! You would think I'm lying, but when we played in Rome, at Forte Prenestino (it was in 1989, n.d.a.), the best concert ever!! This was the best!
Pogopop: So why don't you come back to play in Roma?? We're from Roma, and  we're waiting for you since a lot of time!!
Joe: Now we tried, but our agent is in England and he didn't know anyone in Roma...
Pogopop: We'll organize for you the next time!!!
Joe: OK!!
Pogopop:What about a record called " When in Roma do as the Vandals"?? We're very curious!! Why??????
Joe:  In english there is a phrase "When in Roma do as the Romans" did you hear that? OK! It's a day do in I do whatever the Romans do... tried to blend in, when in Rome do as the Vandals do, the Vandals in the first century came in a wreck everything... you know.... it's a joke!!!
Pogopop: Which are three more favorite covers?
Joe: I like playing "So long farewell" from my new record, and we were going to play it tonight but Warren cut his head so...(Yes because at the last song  Warren made a whole streap tease over a speaker and when he jumped down, he hitted his head wounding it (the streap tease on stage and the head wounds are a tradition in S. Francisco, isn't it? see also the Green Day tour review): a river of blood came out from his skull and the most curious thing is that the people didn't mind about all the illness spreaded by blood, from HIV to hepatite, following to hug him!!! totally devoted to the Vandals, n.d.a.)
Pogopop: Who was the original band?
Joe: It's from a Musical... Hammerstean... or  we like to play Sublime, a song called...oh! I don't remember the name....
Pogopop: The last question is about Trevor and Haji: "Oi to the world" is a great song, it talks about a true story or is a fantasy one?
Joe: Oh! I made it up!!! 'cause we were making Christmas songs and Warren wrote songs pretty angry but funny, and I wanted to write an happy one, with a Christmas message, so we got one with a Christmas message. The "No Doubt". do you know them? We have been on tour with them, they recovered it.
Pogopop:Would you like to say hello to the Pogopop listeners?
Joe: Hi Pogopop, this is Joe from the Vandals!

The Vandals were recently involved in a television pilot exclusively for the Internet. If episodes are ordered, you will be able to watch each episode from anywhere in the world at www.den.net for free beginning around April of 1999.