Cho-Yun Li
guitar, vocal
Johnny Holocaust
guitar, vocal
Jesus Maria
bass, vocal
Lawrence "Larry" Pomeroy
drums
Luc Warmbwatter
bass, vocal p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p |
|
Formed 1981.
Joey "Dark Horse" Spampinato: guitar, vocals (April 1981-Winter
1983)
Salvatore Spampinato: bass. (April 1981-Winter 1983)
Kelly Duffy: drums, lead vocals.(April 1981-Winter 1983)
Kaz Kazantzakis: lead guitar.(1983)
Cho-Yun Li : vocals, guitar.(Winter 1983- Mid 1993/May 1994-Present)/see
also: Strawberry
Jesus Maria: vocals, bass. (Winter 1983-Mid 1993/May 1994-May 1995)/see
also: Strawberry
Johnny Holocaust: vocals, lead guitar.(Winter 1983-1993/May 1994-Present)
Lawrence "Larry" Pomeroy: drums.(Winter 1983-1993/May 1994-Present)
Doris Sparks: vocals.(October 1994)
Mickey: vocals.(March 1995)
Luc Warmbwatter: bass, vocals.(July 1994-Present)
Pik Van Kloeks Esq.: rhythm guitar.(September-October 1995)
|
The story of the foremost renegade glam-punk-metal-no wave unit of this millennium is strange and convoluted one. The first incarnation of Vanilla materialized in Long Island, New York. The Spampinato brothers, Joey "Dark Horse" (guitar) and Salvatore (bass), met drummer Kelly Duffy after the dissolution of their respective bands, Tin Can and Victory March (both units were early mainstays of the legendary CBGB hardcore matinees). A 1982 demo revealed the hard rocking trio beginning to expand their sound to include the influences of jazz (in their tour-de-force hour-long versions of Dave Brubeck’s "Take Five"), Tuvan throat singing ("Compompe"), and 12- tone serialist composition techniques ("Don’t Fuck With Me, You Bitch”). In early 1983, ex-Roomclearer member Marty "Kaz" Kazantzakis joined the fold on lead guitar in time for the recording of the tracks that would appear on the last two of their three rare, self-released singles.
The band began to work the East Coast bar circuit, building a small but devoted clique of fans before attracting the attention of influential industry weasel Sam Gaddis at Money Shots Management in New York City in fall 1983. Soon after, the entire band was replaced at the urging of W.P. Noopy, the mentally unstable but brilliant Public Relations head at Money Shots. The revamped line-up included enigmatic martial arts expert Cho-Yun Li, the quixotic/narcotic Jesus Maria, 40-year old skin basher Lawrence "Larry" Pomeroy, and the savage wunderkind known as Johnny Holocaust. The original members of Vanilla disappeared with little explanation. Few people inquired.
The new band immediately began a series of blistering New York area gigs. New York Rocker commented on the Bottom Line July 1984 gig:
"Vanilla is a seething mass of rock and roll rage, all limbs and perspiration... a disorienting display of lowest common denominator intensity and gauche excess...(Jesus Maria) pissed in one fan’s mouth while she attempted to fellate him."
Vanilla recorded two different 7 song demos during that year. The March ‘84 demo was recorded live to two track and featured abrasive, urgent versions of such staples as "New Paved Road". The September ‘84 demo was alternately weirdly sterile (the power ballad "Mistye Mountain Mournynge") and manically chaotic ("Jesus Got Paid") in tone.
At the start of 1985, the band was shipped off to the Bahamas by the management to record the tracks that would become the still unreleased Vanilla album at the terribly expensive Nassau Point studios "C Room" with producer, Caseui Rhys. Back in Manhattan, Sam Gaddis had inexplicably negotiated an unprecedented, sight-unseen 10-album/ 20 million dollar deal for the band with Taigkyo. Apparently, Taigkyo, a division of nipponese americorp (the Japanese conglomerate known for its octopus-like stranglehold grip around many of the world’s resources and industries) was interested in claiming stake in the culture industry.
After the good news arrived at the studio via telegram, the real weirdness began. The sudden, almost unwarranted success of the band caused individual neuroses within the band to surface. Jesus Maria began his decade long battle with styrofoam snorting and autoerotic axphyxiation. The elusive Cho-Yun Li became drawn into the arcane writings of the obscure Dutch cult leader Pik Van Kloecks and withdrew from the group further. Larry Pomeroy became distracted by recurring intestinal problems, in addition to the well-publicized kidnapping of his beloved nephew, Eugene. Johnny Holocaust became overly obsessed with the ridiculous notion that every single sound on the record had to be painstakingly overdubbed note for note in a similar manner to stop motion animation in cartoons. It is undocumented whether or not Holocaust’s theory prevailed over the sessions, but the jerky, cut-and-paste sound of tracks such as "She’s So Wet" certainly makes one wonder.
The feeling I get from listening to my nth-generation bootleg dub of the lost Vanilla album is a feeling of melancholy exhilaration. The music builds slowly to form a soul-destroying arc of power and energy. It begins innocuously with the slightly sour pop of "You’ve Got a Way", a love song devoted to a third-rate Rock and Roll lady that fixates a subtly fetishistic gaze towards her clunky footware. The song eludes to a concept that would bare fruit at a later point in the band’s career: "Popcorn is popping/I go to de window/Bunnies are hopping/ the Strawberry Rock Show is rocking". next |
|
