Saint Vitus - Biography
By Scott Feemster
Saint Vitus are an example of a band that had limited success during their actual career, but went on to be highly influential regardless. Saint Vitus, along with Trouble and The Obsessed, were some of the first bands to mix the heaviness of such bands as Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep with the nihilism and aggression of later bands like Black Flag to construct the genre of music later termed doom metal.
The original quartet of vocalist Scott Reagers, guitarist Dave Chandler, bassist Mark Adams and drummer Armando Acosta came together in 1979 and originally formed a band under the name Tyrant. The name was soon changed to Saint Vitus, either naming themselves after the medieval saint who was beheaded and whose violent death spasms gave rise to the expression “Saint Vitus Dance” or after the Black Sabbath song of the same name off of their Vol. 4 album. From the outset, Saint Vitus were destined to be outsiders. The music scene in the late 70's in Los Angeles was dominated by the beginnings of what would be termed hair metal, that is metal with a heavily androgynous image and pop-music pretensions, with punk, new wave and hip hop still being on the fringes. The members of Saint Vitus knew and were friendly with members of the punk scene, especially the ascendant hardcore punk bands that were coming out of the South Bay section of the city, but were intent on following their own muse and created a band that specialized in songs with slow, doom-laden power chords and lurching rhythms crossed with their visual image that embraced the dirty, leather-clad influence of early 70's biker gangs. The simple truth was that there was virtually no one else doing what they were doing when they were doing it in Los Angeles.
One person who could appreciate what the band was doing was Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn, who was a heavy metal fan from way back, and who also happened to co-own the SST label. SST was already cultivating an image as a label that championed bands that had unique visions, often outside of “straight” punk rock, and so Ginn created an early home and chorus of supporters for Saint Vitus. The band's eponymous debut was released by SST in 1984, and it immediately gave notice that Saint Vitus were bringing an old sound back to life. Much of what defined “classic” 70's era Black Sabbath was present on the album; heavy, slow, cymbal-laden rhythms, pile-driving, power-chorded guitars, and Reager's desperate, hollow-voiced howls singing of themes of the occult, (“Black Magic, White Magic), horror, (“Zombie Hunger”), and death, (“Burial At Sea”). Though the album was met with mainly bemusement from the underground rock community, a small cult of followers hungry for this type of music got what the group were all about and awaited the band's next release. The band didn't wait long and released their second album, Hallow's Victim (SST), in 1985. It was obvious by this release that the group was letting some of the influence of their SST brethren rub off on them, as many of the songs were at a faster tempo, showing the influence of hardcore punk. It was still metal, though, and titles such as “War Is Our Destiny” and “The Sadist” showed that the band were combining their love for the pummeling early heavy metal sound with the desperation and nihilism of the hardcore punk scene. The band followed up the album with an EP, The Walking Dead (SST), the same year before vocalist Reagers decided to leave. Through touring and correspondence, the band had found a few other groups who had a similar sound and outlook as themselves, one of them being based around the Washington D.C. Area called The Obsessed. The Obsessed had only put out one 7” single, and didn't seem to be making much progress. Saint Vitus contacted the band's singer (and sometimes guitarist) Scott “Wino” Weinrich and asked if he would consider moving to California and fronting the group, which he soon did.
The new line-up of Saint Vitus went on to record what many fans consider their best effort, 1986's Born Too Late (SST). The influence of Weinrich meant that the band became even more entrenched in bringing back the sound of early Black Sabbath, as the album was even slower and heavier and more doom-laden than their previous efforts. The title Born Too Late and various lyrics on the album pointed out that the band realized they were out of step with current fashions, but they held on to their musical and visual image just as tenaciously as any punk band did. In fact, flying in the face of then-metal and punk political correctness, many pictures of the band from this period show members of the band wearing not only metal band t-shirts, but also t-shirts by punk bands like The Germs. Saint Vitus were at the beginning of a generation of music fans that didn't care if a band was considered metal or punk or hardcore, just that they were heavy and committed to their music.Though the album was hailed by fans of truly heavy metal, the group was finding it was playing to mostly small crowds, except in Europe where there seemed to be more of an appreciation for what the band was doing. Saint Vitus continued touring and recording, releasing the Thirsty & Miserable EP (SST) in 1987, (the title track being a cover of a Black Flag song), followed by the band's final release on SST, 1988's Mournful Cries.
After so much hard work, Saint Vitus were still not appealing to the metal mainstream, so they decided to try their luck with a more metal-oriented label and released their next album, simply called V (1989), through the Hellhound label, part of a group of labels under the European-based Roadrunner banner. The album continued the hallmark metal themes of the occult and dark rage and of the band being proudly out of step with their times, but it also seemed the band weren't trying to move their niche forward. They seemed to be stuck in a rut of their own making. Weinrich seemed to be sensing this, too, and after Hellhound released an album of older Obsessed material to some considerable interest, Weinrich decided to move back to the East Coast and reform The Obsessed with a newer line-up. Weinrich went on to found and form the bands Spirit Caravan and The Hidden Hand and has become arguably one of the most influential vocalists/guitarists in the doom metal genre. A live document recorded during the end of Weinrich's time with Saint Vitus was released by Hellhound in 1990, titled, appropriately, Live. SST released an overview of the group's tenure with the label in 1991 called Heavier Than Thou. That would have seem to have sewn up the band's career together, but they weren't quite done.
The group decided to soldier on, and recruited former Count Raven vocalist Christian Lindersson to join the band. The new version of Saint Vitus recorded the album C.O.D. (aka Children Of Doom)(Hellhound), which was (surprisingly) produced by Don Dokken and released in 1992. Critics and fans didn't buy Lindersson as the vocalist and the album is considered the low-point of the band's career. Soon after the release of C.O.D., Saint Vitus temporarily broke up. After a period of time, Acosta, Chandler and Adams reconvened and asked original vocalist Reagers if he would be interested in re-starting Saint Vitus, and he agreed. The original foursome released the album Die Healing (Hellhound) in 1995 to generally good reviews, and it would seem that the post-grunge music scene would have been more open to a bunch of hairy black-clad doom merchants, but the band couldn't hold things together and soon broke up for what appears to be the last time. Or was it?
In July of 2003, the “classic” Saint Vitus line-up of Chandler, Adams, Acosta and Weinrich re-united for a one-off performance at the Double Door club in Chicago. The performance was recorded and filmed and has been made available through the website of Chandler's newer band, Debris, Inc., a band he formed with former Trouble bassist Ron Holzner.