I Used To Be Cool stands tall in the canon of Texan proto-punk and their lack of popular acceptance amounts to a badge of honor.

The Vamps story began back in the small town of Steelton,
Pennsylvania on the banks of the Susquehanna River in the
Harrisburg area where brothers Frank and Joe Pugliese were
born. When nearby Olmsted Air Force Base was scheduled to
close the Pugliese family would relocate to San Antonio, Texas
in 1966. The Vamps started as an antidote to the prevailing mainstream
Rock of the early-70’s. Informed by a love of Detroit R&B,
Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, Sixties Garage Rock and
some of the newer artists starting to make waves in New York
and the UK, sometime in 1974.

The Vamps incorporated all those influences into their sound. Joe asserts
‘We wanted to be the band that wasn’t around, the band
we couldn’t see in San Antonio, playing the type of music we love