Saint Vitus Reunion

Well drop my E string: Saint Vitus is apparently back together again and touring recently. This is the Wino Weinrich-line up, which is probably the most notable era in terms of popularity. Here’s a recent video of the band performing live in New Orleans in preparation for their big show at the Roadburn Festival. It's awesome.

Wino looks pretty worn-hell, they all do-which rather makes them even cooler. They always had this older-brother with the Sabbath-records vibe to them. Now that it’s a quarter-century later, those older brothers are closer to retirement than the high-school shop class where they all met. I don’t know that for a fact, they just look like a bunch of dudes that hooked up in shop class and started a band after school.
I didn’t like the original line-up (with Scott Reagers) all that much. I was just discovering early Black Sabbath at the time and needed to go through them before I could handle all of their imitators. Yes, Saint Vitus were Sabbath imitators right down to their name, but only because there weren’t any bands at that time that took Sab’s molten riffage and maintained the torch. Vitus did, even when it wasn’t commercially viable to pay such a tribute. Hell, even Tony Iommi had taken Sabbath into a blatant bid for mainstream acceptance, so Saint Vitus may have been the only band in the early 80’s that was working that style of doom metal.
In the ensuing years, particularly after admiring Kyuss’ own Sabbath fetish during the 90’s, I began to appreciate that first Saint Vitus album featuring Reagers, but I liked Wino’s tenure even more, particularly Born Too Late. That album title probably reflects the band’s mind-set as they could have easily been lifted straight out of ’72, judging by their band photos around that time.
I thought that I was alone in even knowing who the band was, until I noticed the soundman at Gabe’s Oasis wearing one of their t-shirts. I knew him, but didn’t know he was a fan.
“You like Saint Vitus?” I asked him one night.
“They’re fucking great.” He said, looking down at his black t-shirt that prominently displayed their logo. “I picked this up the last time they came through town.”
I had no idea that the band even came through the Midwest and I was somewhat sorry I missed it. The soundman detailed an enchanting story of sonic mud and walls of fuzz, citing how the evening would qualify as one of his most treasured moments while running sound for the club.
It’s not clear if the band will continue with a new album/tour after the Roadburn Festival. Wino has a solo album to promote after he returns, so the signs point to “prolly not” after this brief encounter with Saint Vitus.
Viddy the whole NOLA show here.