Saint Vitus
| Saint Vitus | |
|---|---|
 Wino with Saint Vitus live in Kansas (2011) |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Los Angeles , USA |
| Genre (s) | Doom metal |
| founding | 1979 as Tyrant , 2003 |
| resolution | 1995 |
| Founding members | |
| Scott Reagers | |
| Dave Chandler | |
| Mark Adams | |
| Armando Acosta | |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
Scott Reagers (1979–1986, 1994–1996, since 2015) |
guitar |
Dave Chandler |
bass |
Pat Bruders (since 2016) |
Drums |
Henry Vasquez (since 2009) |
| former members | |
singing |
Wino Weinrich (1986–1990, 1997–2015) |
singing |
Christian Lindersson (1991-1994) |
bass |
Mark Adams (until 2016) |
Drums |
Armando Acosta (†, until 2009) |
Saint Vitus is an American Doom Metal band from the 1980s and is considered one of the most important representatives of the first generation of the subgenre. Their music is strongly influenced by the early Black Sabbath . Although they influenced numerous other doom metal bands, Saint Vitus had very limited commercial success.
history
Scott Reagers, Dave Chandler, Mark Adams and Armando Acosta formed a band called Tyrant in Los Angeles ( USA ) in 1979 , but renamed it Saint Vitus after a short time. They referred thus to the Black Sabbath Title Saint Vitus Dance , which from chorea is.
Greg Ginn , Black Flag guitarist and co-operator of the punk label SST Records , saw the band live and hired them to support Black Flag on a tour. In 1984 the self-titled debut album by Saint Vitus was released on SST. There they released the EP Walking Dead and the second album Hallow's Victim as well as some singles and EPs in the following year .
In 1986 the band began recording the album Born Too Late . After completing the vocal track, however, the singer Scott Reagers left the band unexpectedly, he was replaced by Scott Weinrich , singer of the band The Obsessed at the time . With him they then recorded the fourth album Mornful Cries .
Despite the now four albums, the band has so far suffered from a lack of interest from the public and the press. On their first tour through Europe, only around 70 paying spectators were counted. It wasn't until the end of the 80s, after the band switched from SST to Hellhound Records , that this gradually changed. According to Saint Vitus, the reason for the change was the inadequate promotion of the publications by SST. Hellhound released their fifth album V in 1989 , produced by Stefan Groß. In 1990 a live album, recorded in Gammelsdorf in 1989, followed . The gigs in Germany were almost all sold out in those years, even in England there was increasing interest in the band after a tour with Agnostic Front , the band still remained relatively unknown in the US alone.
In 1990 Weinrich left the band to return to The Obsessed and was replaced in 1991 by Count Raven's Christian Lindersson . With him as singer, the album COD , produced by Don Dokken , was created in 1992 , after the SST's best-of album Heavier Than Thou had been released the previous year . After that, however, the band fell asleep, just like after a try in 1994 with the first singer Scott Reagers, who led to the album Die Healing , produced in Berlin , but otherwise remained short-lived.
In 2003 the band teamed up with Scott Weinrich (vocals), Dave Chandler (guitar), Mark Adams (bass) and Armando Acosta (drums) for two concerts, which were in Chicago and at the German With Full Force Festival took place. The Chicago gig was also released on DVD in 2007. In 2009 Saint Vitus reunited with the same line-up for the Dutch Roadburn Festival , followed by a small tour through Europe and an appearance at Hellfest in France.
During the 2009 Tour had Drummer Acosta because of health problems that affected his game, left the band, he was replaced by Henry Vazquez of Blood of the Sun . Acosta died on November 25, 2010.
In 2011 the band found their way back to the studio and recorded their first album in more than fifteen years, for which they signed a contract with the French label Season of Mist . The title chosen was Lillie: F-65 , the name of a strong sedative .
After singer Scott "WINO" Weinrich was arrested for drug possession after the end of the concerts in Scandivation (May 2015) at Norwegian customs while leaving for mainland Europe and was ultimately detained for several weeks, the band was forced to continue their tour on mainland Europe without their singer away, whereby the singing was divided among the rest of the concerts.
Since Scott Weinrich was not available even after the European tour was over, fans of the tour scheduled for June 2015, to the general surprise, were presented with the singer of the founding line-up, Scott Reagers, who is still a member of the band to this day.
No longer in the current line-up since summer 2016 is the founding member and bassist, Mark Adams, who is the sole permanent member and bassist alongside Dave Chandler. Pat Bruders (ex. Crowbar, ex. Down) took his place. The band was introduced to Bruders for the first time at the Würzburg "Hammer of Doom" festival in October 2016.
During the concert on October 17, 2017 at the ZOOM Club in Frankfurt, band founder Dave Chandler announced that they were planning to record a new studio album, in which Scott Reagers will again take over the vocals. Afterwards a previously unreleased song called "Bloodshed" was presented, which is planned for the upcoming release. After the European tour has ended in autumn 2017, the songwriting process for the next, as yet untitled studio album will be completed. Its publication is planned for 2018.
music
Saint Vitus are considered an "extremely influential Doom formation" and pioneers of Doom Metal.
Black Sabbath were musically the central point of reference of the band, Dave Chandler said: “When Tony [Iommi] could no longer with Ozzy [Osbourne] and submitted to a […] commercial sound, Black Sabbath died for me. I wanted to pick up where the real Black Sabbaths left off with ' Sabotage ' . ”Other influences were Jimi Hendrix , MC5 , Blue Cheer , Grand Funk Railroad and Lynyrd Skynyrd . They claim they wrote their pieces while listening to Iron Maiden on headphones .
At the same time there are references to hardcore punk . Not only the long-term presence on the SST label and the tours with Black Flag and Agnostic Front point to this. In the USA their audience consisted mostly of punks , Weinrich also originally came from the hardcore scene, as did their producer Stefan Groß (formerly Pseiko Lüde & the Astros ). Last but not least, they covered a song by Black Flag on Born Too Late with Thirsty and Miserable .
Discography
Albums
- Saint Vitus (Reagers, Chandler, Adams, Acosta) ( SST Records , 1984)
- Hallow's Victim (Reagers, Chandler, Adams, Acosta) (SST Records, 1985)
- Born Too Late (Weinrich, Chandler, Adams, Acosta) (SST Records, 1986)
- Mournful Cries (Weinrich, Chandler, Adams, Acosta) (SST Records, 1988)
- V (Weinrich, Chandler, Adams, Acosta) (Hellhound Records, 1989)
- COD (Lindersson, Chandler, Adams, Acosta) (Hellhound Records, 1992)
- The Healing (Reagers, Chandler, Adams, Acosta) (Hellhound Records, 1995)
- Lillie: F-65 (Weinrich, Chandler, Adams, Vasquez) ( Season of Mist , 2012)
EPs
- The Walking Dead (Reagers, Chandler, Adams, Acosta) (SST Records, 1985)
- Thirsty and Miserable (Weinrich, Chandler, Adams, Acosta) (SST Records, 1987)
Singles
- War is our Destiny (12 "/ Reagers, Chandler, Adams, Acosta) (SST Records, 1985)
- Saint Vitus (7 "/ Weinrich, Chandler, Adams, Vasquez) (Volcom Entertainment, 2011)
- Blessed Night (7 "/ Weinrich, Chandler, Adams, Vasquez) (Season of Mist, 2012)
Live albums
- Live (Weinrich, Chandler, Adams, Acosta) (Hellhound Records, 1990)
Compilations
- Heavier Than Thou (Reagers, Weinrich, Chandler, Adams, Acosta) (SST Records, 1991)
DVD
- Reunion 2003 (Weinrich, Chandler, Adams, Acosta) (in-house production, 2007)
proof
- ↑ a b c d e Garry Sharpe-Young : AZ of Doom, Gothic & Stoner Metal , 2003, ISBN 1-901447-14-6 , pp. 347-348.
- ↑ a b c d e f Uwe Deese: Saint Vitus - Long live slow motion! . In: Rock Hard , No. 43, October 1990, pp. 66-67.
- ↑ a b Armando Acosta's death report on blabbermouth.net ( memento from September 11, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on May 14, 2011.
- ^ A b Ian Christe : Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal , 2004, ISBN 978-0-380-81127-4 , p. 345.