Five Months in the
VATICAN COMMANDOS

by Kitty, aka Lindsey Anderson
I joined the Vatican Commandos when they were "Disorder" in June 1982, when I moved to Connecticut from Orange County, California. My neighbor knew I played guitar and he saw an ad for a guitar player at the supermarket in town where he worked. So I called up Jim and they auditioned me. At the time, the line up was:
Jim Spadaccini - Vocals, Bass
John Farnsworth - Lead guitar, vocals
Chip Moody - drums

I think they said that Moby was in the band before, but they kicked him out and got John. At the time, Moby was the only other kid who liked punk rock and played guitar in their town. It was pretty slim pickins for punk rock kids in Darien. At the time, my family moved to New Canaan from Soouthern California where hardcore punk was flourishing from 1980-1982 and was I was shocked to find out there was any kinds into hardcore around there. I think they were equally shocked that they found a girl guitar player who also liked hardcore.

LINDSEY ANDERSON 1982

I was added on rhythm guitar mainly because Jim at the time thought I was cute. The feeling was mutual. That only lasted a few weeks. It's not like I was that good. It was the first band that played shows. I started hanging around a lot with John and Moby, who were best friends. John and I got together and caused a lot of tension in the band. I also used to wear makeup, high heels and a Girl Scout uniform on stage - not your typical plaid flannel hardcore kid. Jim didn't like that at all, either. He wanted me to look like one of the guys. I think in the picture of me outside Pogo's, I borrowed the shirt from John. It has a straight edge symbol on it, so it SURE wasn't mine. I grew up in New York and was already on the fast track with boys, booze and whatever else.

We added Chuck "Wheat" Weaver on vocals because Jim and John really couldn't sing that well. Chuck was an awesome frontman and really pushed the band over the top. My memory is fuzzy – I think we were Disorder as a four piece and then when we got Chuck, we changed the name to Vatican Commandos. We played as Disorder until we found out there was a UK band of the same name. Those guys were all catholic, so Jim came up with the Vatican Commandos. There was even a VC's offshoot joke band called The Religious Go Karts. I think it was just like a cover band – I barely remember.

Jim also started a fanzine. Jim, John "Sex Bomb" Coletti and Jeff Roberts ran Connecticut Underground Digest, or C.U.D. The pun was based on them making jokes about CT being a cow state or their town being a "cow town". They talked about Cow Tipping, which I had never even heard of, but I never saw them do it. John Coletti got his name because we would cover Flipper's "Sex Bomb" and he would sing it. I still have some copies of the fanzine lying around my house somewhere...

We were regulars at Pogo's and The Anthrax in the fall of 1982. We got to play some great shows with Kraut, The Misfits and a bunch of other cool bands that we liked. We recorded the "Hit Squad for God" EP with Bill Knapp from 76% Uncertain in his basement on a 8 track, I think. John and I were on that original recording, which included a song from the movie "Dumbo".

JOHN AND MOBY

Things started to get pretty intense. I wanted to look cool like "Max's Kansas City" style, but HC became increasingly macho, formulaic and violent. I was also pretty hot and heavy with John after dating Jim. John and I talked about quitting all the time. Moby said, "You guys should quit. Those guys will ask me to play with them, but I wouldn't. No way." Shortly after, they were already rehearsing with Moby without telling us, and had recorded over our tracks. Chip told us the news - Chip was great at telling the truth and breaking bad news. He also told me earlier that summer, as a friend, that, "everyone thought I ate and threw up." He said he told me because he liked me and wanted me to know. He was that kind of friend. I was really skinny and eating disorders had just gained media attention and was an "Afterschool Special" every week. So, to have fun with it, My VC name was "Anna Wrecksia." I had it spelled out in gold letters on my guitar.

They made the right decision to kick us out. Moby was better than John AND me put together. I just sucked having a friend say one thing and do another. Moby didn't last long either. He and Jim were like oil and water. We were at Chuck Wheat's house watching a movie one night and I don't know how it started but Moby and Jim got in to a fistfight outside Chuck's house. After that, I kinda lost track of who was in the band. I think it was Mike Pollack - another kid from New Canaan.

So that is my personal recollection, which may be VERY faulty. I was a kid, and I wasn't straight edge so there are some fuzzy parts. Jim, John and Chip in unrelated moves would up in San Francisco, and when I first started going out there to visit and I talked about the band, I would say, "When I was kicked out of the Vatican Commandos," Jim would correct me and say, "I didn't kick you out - you left!" After this happened a couple of times, I once said, "When I left the Vatican Commandos..", and he said, "You didn't leave - I kicked you out!"

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