BIOGRAPHY – Vain

One of the many bands to emerge from the hair metal scene in California during the mid-1980s was Vain, hailing from San Francisco and formed by vocalist Davy Vain. The band first came together in 1986 after Vain had cut a demo in a studio where Metallica’s Kirk Hammett often recorded. Eager to perform his songs in front of an audience, Vain recruited guitarists Danny West and Jamie Scott, bassist Ashley Mitchell and drummer Tommy Rickard and formed a group using his name as the moniker. The band performed regularly around San Francisco and soon developed a following, which led them to a wider audience in Los Angeles. After attracting attention from various music publications, Vain were eventually signed by Island Records in 1988 and commenced work on their debut album.

The band’s breakthrough track was Beat the Bullet, which received regular airplay on Headbanger’s Ball in the United States and Power Hour in the UK. The subsequent album, No Respect, would enjoy minor success and would feature several songs that would become favourites amongst fans, such as Secrets and Who’s Watching You. After touring in support of Skid Row, whose eponymous debut album had become a huge success, Vain were one of many promising young acts, but a sudden shift in music taste amongst metal fans caused glam metal to die a quick death and be replaced by the grunge boom. Subsequently, Vain’s second album, All Those Strangers, failed to chart, prompting Rickard and West to walk from the group. Vain continued to struggle through several different line-ups but were unable to recapture their former glory, but the re-release of their debut album in 2005 prompted the group to record together again for the first time in years, resulting in On The Line. In 2008, the original line-up (minus Rickard) performed together at the Rock The Bayou festival in Houston, Texas.