Saint Vitus is known as one of the first doom metal bands, starting out as early as the late 1970s. The band first used the name Tyrant, with Scott Reagers (vocals), Dave Chandler (guitar), Mark Adams (bass), and Armando Acosta (drums), but soon changed their name to Saint Vitus after the song St. Vitus’ Dance by Black Sabbath. Their main influences were Black Sabbath, Pentagram and Black Flag. Under this line-up Saint Vitus recorded 2 albums (Saint Vitus & Hallow’s Victim) and an EP (The Walking Dead). After The Walking Dead Reagers left the band and was replaced by The Obsessed frontman Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich (at this time, The Obsessed had only released one 7”). Wino recorded three studio albums (Born Too Late, Mournful Cries & V), a live album (Live), and an EP (Thirsty and Miserable, featuring the Black Flag cover of the same name) with Vitus. He left the band in 1991 to reform The Obsessed after Vitus’s label, Hellhound Records, released an album of older Obsessed recordings. Christian Lindersson (of Count Raven) left his band to fill in on vocals. He would record only one album, C.O.D. before being replaced by original Vitus vocalist, Scott Reagers. Reagers recorded vocals for the band’s final album, Die Healing in 1995. Chandler has recently resurfaced in a new band, Debris, Inc., along with Trouble bassist Ron Holzner. On July 1st, 2003, the classic Born Too Late line-up (Weinrich, Chandler, Adams, Acosta) played a gig at Double Door in Chicago. The performance was recorded and released on a DVD that is distributed through Chandler’s current band, Debris, Inc. |
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