Author: Yasmin Ettobi
All photos by Yasmin Ettobi
There are very few things that would inspire me to leave my dorm during a snowstorm. Besides a sudden and urgent craving for a bistro pizza, Vundabar playing a show at the Vera Project was the only point during Seattle’s ‘snowpocalypse’ where I found myself looking forward to venturing outside. Accompanied by indie rock trios Le Grotto and The Red Pears, Vundabar succeeded in warming up the frosty crowd with their loveable stage presence and impressive musical talent.
Le Grotto took the stage first, and they only had this to say: “We’re Le Grotto, we’re from Olympia, and that’s pretty much it.” With equally hard-hitting and catchy fast paced songs and a Growlers-esque sound, Le Grotto grew on the audience quickly. As far as local bands with bubbly personalities and enjoyable music go, Le Grotto is most definitely one of the best I’ve seen in awhile, so make sure to check them out!
Next up on the lineup was Los Angeles trio, The Red Pears. It’s pretty commonly known that indie rock is a genre ridiculously oversaturated with white men, so it was incredibly refreshing to see three Mexican men absolutely kill it onstage. The Red Pears were pretty similar to Le Grotto as far as their reverb-heavy, slightly gritty sound, but still put on an incredibly solid show.
Vundabar was the last three-piece of the night to take the stage. Though some may be fooled by their goofy personas, Vundabar owned the stage like none other. In between songs such as “$$$” and “Alien Blues,” lead singer Brandon Hagen maintained a continuous conversation with the crowd about the whereabouts of Jimmy Buffett.
At another point, someone in the crowd screamed, “PLAY CHOP!” when they already had, and Hagen retorted, “Look, it’s ‘Chop’ 10 times, or no ‘Chop’ at all!” His sense of humor made sense in the context of Vundabar’s music, which possesses quirky guitar riffs, changing tempos, and an overlying feeling of fun.
I don’t know if they were attempting at making some sort of statement, but Vundabar left the stage with no encore and without playing their hit song “Holy Toledo,” despite the protests of the crowd. I haven’t decided if I think it was a power move or just plain annoying, but the rest of the show was so enjoyable that I’m willing to forgive them.
YASMIN ETTOBI | “Jimmy Buffett lives in my chest cavity…it’s disgusting” – Brandon Hagen | KXSU Music Reporter