Joe Escalante on Vandals history, lawsuits, and judge campaign

So let us bear witness to the greatness of this great state of Texas. I know Austin now is smiling and Sam Houston is turning over up in heaven. He's rolling. He said, we're back. We've got the war guard with the war things is happening here. We're all excited. Showtime. Thank you, Stephen Espinosa. We even brought in a Mexican-American to get him a chance to get out and be at the front of the forefront. You know what I mean? No more of the wetbacks and running up and down, picking the fruits and things. Now we're the executives. We're rolling. You know what I mean? This is what it's about, what makes this country so great. You know what I mean? Yesterday's nobody. Tomorrow's somebody. We'll do it live. Broadcasting from downtown Los Angeles. We'll do it live. Fuck it. It's the More Music Radio Pod. Do it live. I'll write it and we'll do it live. On skidrow.la. Fucking thing sucks. In five, four, three. Hey, what's going on, everybody? It's the More Music Radio Pod. On skidrow.la. And tonight's a very special night because Dan is not here tonight. Co-host Dan is not here tonight. He's with his wife. And we have Joe Escalante from the Vandals in. All right. Thank you. It sounds better when Dan's here because then him and I clap at the same time, too. He's boycotting my appearance? Yeah. You know, women, his woman comes first, man. He has some kind of standards. Yeah. Joe Escalante, no. I'm not going. I'm not going. I'm not going. I'm not going. I'm not going. I'm not going. I'm not going. I'm not going. I'm not going. I'm not going. I'm not going. I'm not going. He said he told me to tell you the hello and that he wishes that he could be here. But he has to. I think he's going up to wine country or something. Something gay like that. I don't know. That is pretty gay. Pretty gay. So, hey, man, welcome to the more music radio pod, man. It's it's it's an honor to have you here because you are the bass player from the Vandals. You started out as a drummer in the Vandals. I did. I was a drummer because I was a drummer in. Like the. Intermediate band at school. So I thought I could be the drummer of a punk band. So I started as a drummer and then the we kept cycling through bass players. So I thought I would switch. Right. Right. And and maybe we could cycle through drummers. Was that your first band that you started in? No. The Vandals. I was in a band called the Aristocats was the first band I played at that played at actual clubs or whatever. It was a rockabilly band. Uh huh. And so this is like 1979 in rockabilly. It's not even retro at that point. It's just slightly out of style. Yeah. Just like a little leftover from the 60s. But it was it was a band, you know. So that was like your high school band. That was your first one that you started. It was a there was a pro skater in our neighborhood named Steve Olson. And he asked me to be in his band. And I thought he was going to ask me. He had a punk band called Butchie and the Hoods. And I thought, well, I'm going to be the drummer for Butchie and the Hoods. Man, you know, neighborhood legends. Orange County. You're. You're all excited to be a drummer for Butchie and the Hoods. Yeah. And I went to his house and he goes, no, no. Butchie and the Hoods, man. That's over, dude. Rockabilly is the next thing. And I'm like, oh, crap. They had his pants all cuffed up and stuff and he's all greased out and stuff. Yeah. He looked like Bowser. Just just my luck, you know. And so I end up in a rockabilly band, which I learned a lot. And I'm to this day, I'm a huge rockabilly fan because this guy, you know, showed me what rockabilly was all about. And then I was a drummer in a rockabilly band. I'm glad to be a drummer in every band. Any band. And then the Vandals. I was a roadie for TSOL. Oh, cool. When, you know, the rockabilly thing, you know, in simultaneous, I'm in this TSOL world. Like it's. Right. That was our little world. And then the guy in the TSOL, the drummer, Todd Barnes, was always trying to get me in the Vandals and the Vandals were a band that existed before I was in there. And then he just said, we got to get you in the Vandals. And then I and then it worked. I ended up in the Vandals. But sooner or later. Later, began the bass player. Cool. So, I mean, when you started out playing music, was that what you wanted to do? Was that, does that sound right? Was that what you wanted to do and my, I'm getting a little buzz off of this wine that we're drinking and I was being forced to do it. So, no, it wasn't what I wanted to do. So where did you see yourself here in high school? I mean, because obviously, I mean, jump to today. I mean, you're a very successful musician and businessman and you're a lawyer, you're an amateur bullfighter. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, when you were a kid, I mean, what were you thinking about? Like, what were your aspirations? I, you know, of course, like any kid, I thought, wow, rock star, best job in the world. Yeah. I liked the Partridge family. Yeah. That was like a big thing to me. And I thought, wow, that's pretty cool. You had like a crush on Susan Day or what? Yeah, actually. And I just thought if you could be like David Cassidy, everybody would like you and looks like fun. And I ended up doing it. But along the way, I dropped that. Of course, like every kid, normal kid, I was like, stop that. Knock that off. And then I thought, well, I'll be a lawyer. And then I went to college thinking I'd be a lawyer. But then all of a sudden, like punk rock just kind of took over. Really? And then. So you wanted to be a lawyer at first. Yeah, I wanted to be a lawyer. That's what I wanted to be since elementary school. And I mean, I thought it'd be a good idea. And I was interested in television. I wanted to. I wanted to work in television. And I ended up going to law school and getting a job at CBS television right out of law school. And I was happy. And then punk rock, like in certain waves, it just comes and takes over. And then it took over again. So I was only there for about four years. And then I quit and just started touring full time with the Vandals. And, you know, the Warped Tour is all happening. And bands like No Doubt or No Effects and Offspring and Pearl Jam are taking us all over the world. It was. It was, you know, we're doing our own tours. It was good. It was a good 10 years. The Vandals have been around for a long time since like 1980 or 81 or something, right? Yeah. And how old are you when, how old were you when you, did you, were you one of the founding members of the Vandals? No, I was in the, like I said, I was trying to get in the Vandals. And they had been around, I don't know, probably about six months, you know, playing parties. And I just kind of hung around the sidelines until I, they. Got rid of their drummer. And there I was. Who was the guy you replaced? Actually, his name was Vince Mesa. I think this is the first time his name has ever been mentioned on the radio. Really? So he is the original drummer. I would say Vince, we would call Vince Mesa the original drummer. And there was a couple. He's like the Pete Best of the Vandals. Yeah, I think so. And there was a couple of people that come out of the woodwork sometimes, you know, in a band like this. I used to be the drummer. Did that guy, Vince Mesa, did he do anything afterwards? Like, did he, was he in any bands or anything, any success? He was in the Partridge family, I think. No. No, you know what? I haven't heard anything musically that has come from Vince Mesa. But I have recently the original bass player of the Vandals. So he didn't like blow his brains out after that or anything? No, I've been trying