I met the Love of my Life at Linger Longer Lounge

Clickbait title! Hello!

I went to a sold-out show at the Linger Longer Lounge today. I kept getting emails from Bandsintown about this band, Practically People, and how they had a performance this week along with Alex Vile and Vial. I hadn’t heard of any of these bands before, but I dug a little deeper and when I saw they were all female fronted punk-ish bands, I had to make an appearence. Coming off the high of my Tucson trip, I’ve been feeling more inspired to get out the house and go to more shows, and I always love going to Linger-Longer-Lounge-say-that-ten-times-fast.

Practically People

Practically People were the first act. They’re local to Phoenix, which is proof that talent does exist here! They were quite young and full of energy. Actually, it was the lead singer’s birthday, and when they announced that she was turning 21 I had a brief moment of oh-fuck-I’m-old-what-am-I-doing-with-my-life-I-need-to-practice-my-bass-more, but that dissapated quickly as they played on. I found their sound to be sort of math rocky? Which is to say the guitar chords sounded complicated/technical to me ears in the way math rock does. The vocalist had a nice voice, she reminded me of the vocalist for Sweet Pill. The standout track for me was Class Pet, the crowd really liked it and it was a dynamic performance with a energized outro. Near the end of their set, one of the guitarist started crowd surfing and almost knocked out at least three people. Kids, amiright?

Alex Vile

Alex Vile was the next band on stage. From what I read on Spotify, a woman named Alex Vile started the band as a solo project, which is why it’s named after her. Does that mean it’s not narcissistic to want my band to be called Erika’s Husband? Anyway, the vibes of this band leaned more punk than the first band, while also having a surprising level of calm. The vocalist had a cutesy but strong voice that fit with this chill/punk vibe. At some point she commanded that the audience needed to “fucking MOVE!!!” which, I get, hype is good, but don’t tell me what to do! I liked the energy though, so I bought a shirt anyway. My favorite track from them is Color Me Cold (above) with Kobayashi as a close second. The vocals sound passionate and the slowdown in tempo at the end is an interesting twist.

Vial

Vial was the main act of the night and there were a lot of fans in the crowd. The mosh pit got a little wild, which I always support (although I do back ten steps away because, like, please don’t touch me lol). There was a guy that got kind of weird in the pit, apparently he called some girl a bitch so she flipped him off and he disappeared. Whatever friend he brought stayed though, and he was really getting down (in a polo shirt and khakhis, nonetheless). Vial was the most punk sounding of the three bands, if you’ve heard Dead Kennedy’s they were kind of like that. The vocals were less “pretty” than the other bands and more passionate and screamy, and I liked how there were two of them singing at times for a layered effect. My favorite track was Vodka Lemonade!

I did end up leaving the show one song early because I was tired and didn’t want to get caught up in the crowd, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time there - Linger Longer Lounge does not miss.