More hardcore punk bands formed, burned out and were forgotten in the ’80s than it’s possible to reliably remember, but every so often a remnant of the age rises to the musical surface again, to remind us of that brief but exciting time. Vampire Lezbos are one such band.
Once stalwarts of Spokane, Washington’s thriving hardcore scene, they flew higher than most of their contemporaries, finding brief acclaim in late ‘80s with opening spots for the likes of L7 and Nirvana. However, they bloomed too late and just as they released their self titled début, the musical world was tilting on its axis, shifting away from straight-up punk in favour of the lumberjack chic and emotional angst that was emerging from Seattle.
Twenty-five years later and their long out of print, self-titled début gets the reissue it deserves. Twenty tracks sit here — three of breakneck punk, 13 from the original LP and and an extra set of demos and alternate takes. The set goes from the fast and dirty (“Cop Magnet”), to the riff heavy (“Reds Use Poison”), to the inexplicably prescient (“What the Fucks”) and all the way to the largely anachronistic (“Stop Killing The Seals”) with ease. Whipping by at bullet pace, Vampire Lezbos is a lost gem of the genre, which serves to remind us that there might still be a few pieces of hardcore history which deserve rediscovery.