As some may know, VACANT LOT originated from Toronto. "Stay Mental" unfortunately remained the only long player of the Canadian band around singer Ched, bassist Griffin, guitarist Paul and drummer Wayne. Shortly after the release of this production in 1992, the group split up, with two members going first to BITTER GRIN (including singer Ched) and later to CLASS ASSASSINS. The other two (including bassist Griffin) continued in the RAC band ARYAN and later in STONEHAMMER. Despite these "ideological" distortions, it has to be said that VACANT LOT was not a band whose development into different political camps was already apparent with the "Stay Mental" album, on the contrary, VACANT LOT were a pure Oi! band and "Stay Mental" a genre-typical production of classic, English style. Perhaps comparable to a somewhat darker version of THE CRACK or THE BUSINESS.

Despite this attempt to describe them, their sound sounded quite fresh and not like a dull copy of the English models. The songs always had catchy choruses, but at the same time they were powerful and pure Oi! Ched had a convincing way of singing melodically, but at the same time still making the lyrics sound raw and unpolished, the rhythm was pounding and infectious, while the guitar was immediately catchy. There are a bunch of good tracks on the album, such as "Victory", "Life On The Street", "Living In The Underworld" and "Who Commits The Crime", rounded off by some fun drinking songs, such as "Summer In The City", "The Border" and "Cheers To You". To cut a long story short: Do yourself a favour and just order this great record!