Artist: The Vapids, Album: Drink Beer!, Song: Mikey Was A Punk

"He never understood my choice of tunes, that three chord junk.  So I lent him "Leave Home" for the weekend.  Monday, he came back a punk.  Mikey was a punk."  The Vapids are a punk band from Burlington, Ontario originally.  They started jamming out as a four piece in the early nineties and by 1994 were recording their first demo releases.  Mikey was the original fourth member on guitar who left for college and dropped out of the band.  The song, Mikey Was A Punk, is about him.  Drink Beer! was their second full length release in 1996 with Cracked Records out of Winnipeg, Manitoba.  The band doesn't appear to be playing or recording at the moment.  The two main members throughout the years have been Jimmy and Scott Vapid.  The band toured parts of Canada and the U.S. the hard way by booking their own shows and sleeping in vans.  Their sound is Ramones' style punk and this song is a perfect example of that.  Their music has been featured on a number of punk compilations and they've released albums and EP's with various labels.  The most recent is Surfin' Ki Records based in Italy (http://surfinkirecords.bigcartel.com/).  They have covered and released entire album versions from the Ramones and Teenage Head.  Their most recent release was in 2008.  You can follow the band at http://www.myspace.com/thevapids.  At the time of this blog, I couldn't find any copies of Drink Beer! available.  You can find some of their most recent releases at Surfin' Ki's website (above).  The alternative is paying $170 for one at Amazon!  You can hear the song, Mikey Was A Punk, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U40tdCXcRwI).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!