It’s all Kate F—-‘s fault.
Lazing on a sunny afternoon in the summer of 2008, Oscar awoke to find his ear trapped in Kate’s fingers as she dragged him from the streets of Lawrence, KS to the dingy mildew-infested basement of the Bandit Teeth house. There, he was thrown onto the couch next to Zach, who was drinking a beer and probably playing video games. Following a slurred demand that they become “the punk rock Zombies” Kate barricaded the door and disappeared forever.
Fortunately, Seth appeared in her place with a 12 pack of Hamm’s (or was it Red Dog? Those days are more a blur than anything). They smashed the window with empties and tried going to a kickball game instead, but they never figured out where it was being held. Defeated, they returned to the Bandit Teeth house with no choice but to start the greatest rock n’ roll band of all time. Obsessed with numerology and Seinfeld reruns, they realized the band needed a fourth member, and not just any fourth member but a smart mouthed, sassy red head with a red Farfisa and a lot of opinions named Hannah. Finally, it was complete! The perfect combo of cute and ferocious.
They recorded “Carrot Atlas” in the winter of 2008, and it came out January 2009 to much critical acclaim. Toured constantly, slept on every couch, floor, dirty mattress there is in the lower 48. This perked the ears of several labels and led to the creation of their second record “Real Pony Glue”.
The Vigilantes were given a major budget and made their way to Baltimore to record with the one & only J Robbins. There for 16 days they put together what they hoped would be their masterpiece, only to find at the end of it all that their label no longer existed. Undaunted, they set out on several cross country tours to find a new home for the record. Receiving positive reviews from the likes of Spin magazine and playing several festivals including the Scion Garage Fest attracted other labels who quickly picked them up, only to drop them just as quickly. With steely determination they self released it on tape in 2011, along with the “Who Stole My Zoo?” EP.
For most bands this type of soaring high to crashing low would have surely killed the band (and in some cases it did). It never stuck though (a 12 pack of Hamm’s was $5). They decided to do things on their own terms this time around, and in a giant creative outburst wrote and self-recorded a split single with Mannequin Men & the “Weird Adventure” EP then began work on their 3rd LP “Let It Be”.
A giant middle finger to all of the empty promises of major label fame, they recorded it mostly in Seth’s basement with a couple of beat up mics and a laptop. They finished it while touring across the country and even had Zach’s high school band professor play trumpet on a track. Some parts were done in NYC, and the majority of it was mixed there. That leads us up to the present, where the band is proud to say they finally found a home at High Dive Records–not just that, but their landlords actually want them as tenants. Let It Be comes out this fall on 500 vinyl plus CD, tape, and digital. Rooftop Vigilantes couldn’t be happier with the present, so here’s to the now, and to the future. Cheers!
Discography:
