You may not know that assistant editor Mike Vanderbilt played for over a decade in Chicago based, power pop outfit, The Romeros. The band broke up earlier this year, but it seemed appropriate that he and lead guitarist Bob Sylvester share their thoughts on their band’s namesake.
Bob Sylvester-Lead Guitar/Vocals/Songwriter
Having spent the better part of the last decade playing in a band called The Romeros, one could say I owe a great deal to the large-spectacled writer, director, and producer George A. Romero. I learned of Romero’s passing Sunday night while at an Ozzy Osbourne concert. I read the sad news while the prince of darkness was belting out the Black Sabbath anthem “War Pigs.” With the song’s socially and politically charged lyrics, it seemed fitting that I should be reading about the demise of a man who so often used his most famous films as an opportunity to comment on (or ridicule) the current state of society. In this respect, even casual fans of Romero’s DEAD series are quick to point out the underlining tones of commercialism and consumerism present in 1978’s DAWN OF THE DEAD. I however, always preferred some of the subtler motifs and commentary found in the series—most notably the use of fireworks to distract the hungry hordes in 2005’s LAND OF THE DEAD.
NIGHT was innovative and revolutionary, DAWN is arguably his best work (certainly in the opinion of this fan), and DAY has some of the best gore and kills in the series (e.g. “Choke on em!”) Land is a solid film that one assumes will garner more fans over time. It features surprisingly strong performances and some eye candy in the form of Asia Argento, whose father Dario, another hero of mine, collaborated with Romero on both DAWN and the Edgar Allen Poe tribute TWO EVIL EYES. Unfortunately, the last two entries in the Dead series are pretty awful on many accounts and are not required viewing. The best I can say about DIARY OF THE DEAD is that I at least give Romero credit for trying to stay current and monopolize on the reality T.V. and found footage trends at the time. When comparing the quality of the first three films to the last three, one only needs to look at the number of years between each film’s release. There are 17 years between NIGHT and DAY, while only 4 years between the latter three. The once great practical special effects spearheaded by Tom Savini and company were replaced by low-budget CGI that made the films feel like I was back playing Resident Evil 2 on PlayStation (SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD, I’m looking at you…)
As this post reinforces, clearly George Romero will forever be best known for his zombie films, but he was not simply a one trick pony. THE CRAZIES, MONKEY SHINES, MARTIN, CREEPSHOW, Stephen King’s THE DARK HALF—all well-crafted, suspenseful, and most importantly, fun experiences. The universe and mythology he created back in the late 60’s with a small independent movie has pervaded American pop culture and is larger today than ever before. So here’s to you George Romero, for scaring the hell out of me as a young kid and making some damn fine pictures. R.I.P.
Mike Vanderbilt-Vocals/Guitar/Songwriter
It was June 2004. My band—then called The Crazy 88’s—had played their first show a few days before, but we weren’t 100% happy with the name. It was very of the moment, a nod to Quentin Tarantino’s KILL BILL, but it just didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel like a band name. Myself, bass player Pat O’Sullivan, and drummer Tony Di Novo were brainstorming post practice.
What are we going to call ourselves?
More than a few concepts were thrown out, mostly references to movies but the decision was eventually narrowed down to two choices: The Argentos or The Romeros. I argued that The Romeros was a little too on the nose while The Argentos had some hipster cache. I was outvoted and in a matter of weeks, we played our first show (albeit with our second of seven) at Ray’s Pizza in Blue Island, IL. The band went on for fourteen years before finally, officially calling it quits this past April at the closing night of the International Pop Overthrow Festival in Chicago. With the passing of George Romero, our namesake, it seemed appropriate to reflect on this.
It’s funny that I was outvoted on The Argentos name, especially since I spent more time in the band than both Tony and Pat who edged us over in The Romeros. I’ve always been a fan of his work—particularly DAWN OF THE DEAD and CREEPSHOW—and just about any of the members who came and went were into horror films (although, Bob Sylvester, the second longest running Romeros member probably would have voted to pay tribute to Dario). The Argentos name lived on as we played secret shows under the moniker, but in hindsight, we were never meant to be The Argentos. We were The Romeros.
We weren’t the slick, colorful stylings of the Italian maestro. We were rough around the edges, scrappy go-getters, who subscribed to that D.I.Y, indie rock mentality. It’s up to debate whether Pittsburg is the Midwest or the northeast, but that something to prove, gung-ho attitude that Romero took with his films are certainly Midwest enough for me. We were never “horror rock” or “punk,” in an according to Hoyle sense—we wanted to be Cheap Trick or Wilco—but it was George Romeros independent ideals that we lived by, night after night.
It took us forever to get into a studio to record, and those recordings never really carried that energy of the live set. We started out recording on boom boxes and an 8-track Fostex in a shitty apartment above Haas Tavern in Blue Island. We never had a lot of money or somebody bankrolling our art. And while we were early adapters to MySpace, this was light-years before Kickstarter. We were a group of friends, who over 14 years, played shows with each other, getting together when we could, and making noise. We did things the George Romero way. We were at our best when we were independent, and arguably, so was George Romero. It’s been said that KNIGHTRIDERS is actually about Romero and his gang making movies; that’s what The Romeros were: just a group of friends making music and providing our friends a reason to go out and party on the weekend…or the shitty Tuesday night show at The Mutiny.
While The Romeros are over (I do still play guitar with DAILY GRINDHOUSE contributor Jeremy Lowe in Modern Day Rippers), I have taken that tenacious attitude to my tenure at DAILY GRINDHOUSE. We are the independents of film writing, doing it out of love and a need to create. Romero arguably kick started the indie horror boom, and what I have taken from that is that if you do the work, and you keep at it, you will succeed, if not monetarily, at least creatively. When George Romero, along with his cohorts got together to create NIGHT OF THE FLESH EATERS, he inspired us all. Without him, we wouldn’t have had a name.
-MIKE VANDERBILT
@MikeVanderbilt
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Tags: Bob Sylvester, Cheap Trick, george romero, Horror, knightriders, Night Of The Flesh Eaters, night of the living dead, Power Pop, Rock N Roll, The Romeros
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