After supporting Skid Row on a tour that saw Robert Plant grace their Hammersmith Odeon dressing room to issue kind words and having garnered across-the-board praise for a scorching debut entitled No Respect, back in 1989 Vain could have been forgiven for assuming the big time was around the corner.
Regrettably, when Island Records changed hands a followup got shelved and everything turned to shit. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that same outcome awaited Road Crew, a group that frontman Davy Vain formed with Steven Adler, but Vain (the band) reunited in 1993 and the San Franciscans have continued to release new music.
Album number seven, Rolling With The Punches embodies their stubborn sleaziness and is without doubt the best thing they’ve done since the debut. Davy’s sinewy delivery hasn’t aged and its tunes are in your face, hook-laden, libido-charged and filler-free.
No Respect? It’s about time Vain finally had some.
