Photos and review by NOTES FROM VIVACE
LOS ANGELES – Vial, the three piece bratpunk band from Minneapolis, Minn., rushed onto the El Cid stage to start their set. That’s right, they didn’t walk casually from the stage entrance like most bands do. They ran onto the stage as their adoring fans, who had lined up early on Sunset Boulevard, and were now pressed up close, screamed their approval.
Teenagers with Xs marked on both their right and left hands were up front. Tweens were off to the side with their parents. The older crowd (maybe parents of some of those teenagers) were politely in the back. Someone yelled out to bassist Taylor Kraemer, “I love your hair.” Kraemer responded, “I love you, whoever said that.”
The band released their second album at the end of March called burnout and has been on a 22-city tour to support the album, starting out with a record release party in their home town, and ending at Punk Rock Bowling. The album is 10 songs and comes in at a uniquely short 20 minutes. A song such as “two-faced” clocks in at 3 minutes 12 seconds while a song called “chronic illness flareups” is just 37 seconds.
At El Cid, the band put on an 18-song clinic that had the crowd in the palm of their hands. The pop-punk song “bottle blonde” got the crowd singing to the quick hit lyrics. There were screams of approval to the fun loving ode to soup, “broth song.” The band most definitely loves good food as Kraemer’s bass had the words “Fish Fear Me” written on it. You knew the audience followed the band closely when it did the Nirvana cover “Territorial Pissings.” The band told the crowd that everyone knew what chant was needed to start the song and the crowd immediately started yelling “Piss! Piss! Piss!”
During the set, an amusing tour tale was told. At their Toronto tour stop, Kraemer had an unfortunate encounter, “We stepped out of our disgusting van, sweating and stinky. And we look up at the venue, which is three flights of stairs. No f*cking elevator. And I immediately feel something on my shoulders and my brand new skirt. I look down, brown and white bird shit . . . f*ck the birds of Toronto.” Laughter and then cheers arose from that story as the band launched into “friendship bracelet” with drummer Katie Fischer starting the music off with pounding drum beats.
Having fun in the mosh pit was expected of the fans. Early in the set, the band had the crowd repeat the following pledge to each other, “Dearest friend, you look good tonight. I hope after tonight, we can still be dearest friends, after I break your nose and steal all your teeth.” Then later in the set, the band had the crowd separate to the sides of the venue, leaving a wide gap down the middle. Why? The two sides rushed each other like the clash of opposing medieval fantasy armies. Did anyone break their nose or have their teeth stolen? Probably not, there was too much fun being had for hospital / dental visits to ruin the night.
The song “Piss Punk” closed out the set. The intense beats had fans rushing the stage for one last mosh pit, “I can do the things that you do, and I can do them better than you. Do the things that you never thought that any fucking woman could do.” But back to the band having the crowd in the palm of their hands . . . guitarist KT Branscom stopped the song and told the crowd, “I need it to be completely and utterly silent.” The mosh pit ended and the venue went completely silent. “You guys are good at that.” A couple nervous laughs occurred, “Shh!!! No laughing. At the count of three, are you guys ready, one two three.” The crowd yelled back the chorus “You’re so boring” as they restarted jumping and dancing with abandon.
An encore was demanded and provided. The band played a song that they said hadn’t been played in three years. Some in the crowd knew exactly what it would be and screamed out “DIY / Or Die.” Afterward, as the crowd was hustled by security to the El Cid patio (this was an early show and a later show was on the schedule), a conversation between two fans was overheard, “I had so much fun” with the reply, “Me, too.” Follow Vial on social media.
Opening up for Vial were San Diego-based band (and west coast tour mates) Rain on Fridays and Los Angeles-based band Suzie True. Vial joined Rain on Fridays for the song “Slumber Party,” which is about not being the cool kids. It can be considered a bookend to the Vial song “friendship bracelet.” Their sound is fuzzy with garage rock influences and perhaps some painful teen memories, “Raise your hands if you’ve cried this week.”
Suzie True wowed the early crowd with their vocal screams and dynamic, as well as aerobic, stage show. Lead singer Lexi McCoy proclaimed her unabashed love for . . . “I love chocolate milk.” And exemplified the DIY attitude of many a Los Angeles band, “I feel like I was looking at a deep fryer and then I looked up and I was here.”
Vial setlist. two-faced, falling short, bottle blonde, broth song, Black Sheep (Metric cover), Ego Death, apathy, friendship bracelet, Roadkill, Territorial Pissings (Nirvana cover), ur dad, chronic illness flareups, Mr Fuck You, Planet Drool, Embryo, Rough, Piss Punk. Encore: DIY/Or Die
Rain on Fridays: evolutionary peak of boredom, Idiotic Defense, Cry It Out, Hey Man, Phono, Keep Yr Chin, Wasa, Slumber Party
