Vigilantes of Love - History

History

The band formed in 1990 in Athens, Georgia, where Bill Mallonee attended the University of Georgia. The act developed as a mostly acoustic, side-project of The Cone Ponies, the last in a long series of line-ups beginning in the mid-1980s with Windows and Walls, and Bed of Roses. For their first two recording projects—Jugular, Drivin' the Nails—the band performed as a trio between Mallonee, Mark Hall (accordion), and Jonathan "Dog-Mess Jonny" Evans (harmonica); the Athens, Ga. performance venues in which they were booked regularly included The Flying Buffalo, the 40-Watt Club, Rockfish Palace, Uptown Lounge, and—their musical "home"—The Downstairs Restaurant (now DT's Down Under). For the third and subsequent cd projects, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Billy Holmes played an increasingly important role. Later, when greater local success led increasingly to engagements more widely in the Southeast, and with the departure of Mark Hall and Dog-Mess Jonny, the band then re-formed as a traditional touring four-piece rock band including front man Mallonee, Newton Carter, David LaBruyere, and Travis McNabb (later of Better Than Ezra and Sugarland.).

After many years of successful touring nationally and abroad—England and Holland being particularly fond of Mallonnee's music—the band disbanded in 2001 as Mallonee went solo as a singer-songwriter/guitarist/raconteur playing to the renewed interest in roots-music Americana.

The band reformed in November 2008. The band played its first show back together on November 20 at the 40 Watt Club.