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Vanity First (http://youtube.com/@vanityfirst3854)
Owner: A member of local punk band Vanity First, exact identity unclear
Channel Timeline: Launched on December 7th, 2020; Videos uploaded since that day
Channel Summary: The official YouTube channel for Vanity First, it has seen steady usage since their public launch in 2020, including a dozen live performance videos from jam sessions and public concerts alike, as well as four early live audio recordings, their 2022 "Vanity" demo, and two later studio songs. The guys are also among the more prolific local bands in terms of posting vertical "Shorts" videos (not unlike Facebook's "Reels"), and the nine "Shorts" so far are largely unique from their longer horizontal brethren on this channel, mostly capturing some live performance clips. Note that the band's pre-March 2022 videos were all retroactively renamed to reflect tacking "First" onto their name.
Why You Should Watch: This is definitely worth a watch for Vanity First fans, especially ones who were around for Vanity's original 2020-2022 quartet era, as many of their newer videos have been exclusive to their Facebook page or other social media services, with only the seven newest videos (and most of the "Shorts") focusing on the band as they currently are (though the channel did see a new video four weeks ago). This talented young group get a good display across their channel, and while I would prefer that the "Shorts" be normal videos, they're at least more flexible to use and share, unlike "Reels" (and where else will you hear a local band covering the Caillou theme song?!). Note that their new album "Identity Crisis" is exclusively available on YouTube via the band's automated YouTube Music channel. Also, despite sharing a 2/3rds identical lineup, there are no Hails videos uploaded here.
Killing In The Name: The two most popular videos on Vanity First's channel are pre-name change cover songs from jam sessions, both garnering 1,200+ views, but their "Shorts" cover of Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name" from November 2021 is slightly more popular than their longer & horizontal cover of Green Day's "When I Come Around" from December 2020. The band is represented here by frontman Andrew Beggs (also playing rhythm guitar for this cover), Agnosticism's Mikhal Muto on lead guitar, his Ha!ls bandmate Keeghan McAllister on drums, and original bassist Nick McClelland, who left Vanity in the spring of 2022. I am of the opinion that this is Rage Against The Machine's most overplayed song, and I definitely wouldn't have shot a cover of it vertically, but it's enthusiastically performed in a good locale to capture the guys rocking out! There are longer and more varied covers on the channel though.
Vanity First | Demo EP 2022: In one of their last acts as a quartet named Vanity, the guys independently released a self-titled demo EP in February 2022, and posted it onto their YouTube channel twice over: as individual videos for each song, and as one complete 16+ minute album upload. In both cases, "Vanity" features six songs: "Hard Feelings", "Playboy Magazine", "Empty Home", "Black Flies", "White Ghosts", and "Breathe". With the exception of the last song, all of these tracks were re-recorded for "Identity Crisis", so "Breathe" and Nick's presence would be the main hooks to hear these recordings over the similar but better produced 2024 versions. Still, it is definitely interesting to see where Vanity started off before they made their "First" choice!
Vanity First - Playboy Magazine Live at Toystock: Of their relatively few performance videos on YouTube since becoming Vanity First and since Andrew took over for Nick on bass, the best quality one comes from the band's set at Toystock at The Grand Gardens in November 2022, where the guys were filmed playing "Playboy Magazine", which is one of their songs with Mikhal on lead vocals. Shot at a close (if slightly low) angle with liberal usage of the zoom lens, this is a lively performance of one of Vanity First's best known original songs, and kudos to them for donating their time for this annual Christmas Cheer event!
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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Next month in this series, we will be looking at two channels due to the first randomly selected channel only having two videos period, so a single-video channel was also picked to round things out with. Next month, we'll be looking at the YouTube channels of two inactive local bands, namely alt-hard rock quartet Id Iota and death metal band Kaepora Gaebora (a.k.a. Exploring Detritus), so look for all of that on or around June 26th, and for more news on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
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