The Vandals Respond To Backlash From Gun Production

Legendary party punks The Vandals have been known to push the boundaries at times, but when they advertised they’d have firearms available on their merch table at the start of the year, they received a large amount of backlash from fans.

The fully-functional AR-15 riffle advertised was created by gunmaker Jesse James as a “piece of art” to replicate the band’s logo for exhibition Peace Through Vandalism, and sparked outrage against some of the band’s most dedicated fans.

Posting a picture of the final product and how readily available it would be as a joke to Facebook, bassist Joe Escalante told theMusic.com.au in the lead up to the band’s appearance at Soundwave that things had been blown out of proportion.

“Our logo is a machine gun, and it’s our best selling t-shirt, so if we don’t make a real one, what kind of hypocrites are we?” Escalante said.

“It’s a little weird if you wear [our gun] t-shirt and are a little worried about gun culture…you could be a Vandals fan and you could hate our first EP and you could refuse to wear our gun t-shirts and wear our happier, lighter shirts. The whole thing is kind of silly.

“I am surprised that there are people who would say, ‘I was very disappointed in The Vandals for allowing this gun to be made’. The people I have respect for are the people that say, ‘You should change your logo, because guns are bad and you shouldn’t have them on your t-shirt because it promotes gun culture’. That person I respect. But people who wear a Vandals t-shirt with a machine gun on it but will not allow a real gun to be built - that’s just silly.”

The Jesse James Vandals AR-15 was intended to be a one-off, but Escalante said fans do have the option of getting another made if they can justify the price.

“They are like $7,500, so it’s not really something for us to put on our website and start selling, but if someone does want the Jesse James Vandals AR-15, they contact Jesse James Firearms and order one. And I am not exactly sure how many he is willing to make."

“It would be cool if someone bought one and killed us with it to stop us from playing music anymore,” he joked.

As far as personal views on gun culture go, Escalante says the band don’t feel too strongly either way.

“We are not political, but it would be hypocritical to pretend that guns aren’t something that are real. People are allowed to buy them in the US.”

The Vandals play Soundwave and two sideshows in Australia next month. For all Soundwave breaking news, interviews, reviews and videos, click here.