Char Like U Mean It
Article By Olivia Friess, University Union Editorial Board Executive Editor | Photo By Vito Vetere
“There were people literally falling into us. At one point, the lights went out,” says 19-year-old drummer Vito Vetere when reflecting on the debut show of his recently-formed hardcore/noise rock band Char. The four-piece band is composed of Vetere, guitarists and vocalists Vijay Tandon and Brunon Kaminski, and bassist Trevor Fraticelli. They recently played back-to-back shows at Funk ‘N Waffles and The Dollhouse, with the latter show getting so packed that crowds gathered outside the venue hoping to squeeze in for a chance to see the band in their element. The band ripped through stacked setlists including a slew of new originals and covers of tracks by the likes of Deftones, Hum, Sepultura, and At the Drive-In, perfectly hitting the tastes of their audiences.
Photos By Hollis Mehling
Char made their debut at The Dollhouse last semester on October 13, but the band has been in the works since the winter of 2022. Kaminski and Tandon spent hours talking about their shared affinity for music and messing around with their guitars during their first semester at SU, inspiring them to start their own band. The duo often jokes about the fact that they were able to get through their time in Day Hall without any noise complaints. They soon pulled their close friend Vetere on board, as the trio noticed a lack of student bands that played the music they are most passionate about… or at their preferred volume intensity. “Of course we were all interested in punk and rock and shit…We wanted to be more potent and grotesque because when you went to a party, it was a lot of bedroom pop. It’s kind of like a 13-year-old who’s mad at his mom, He just wants to do the opposite,” says Vetere when reflecting on the early ideation days of Char. After cycling through a series of bassists, the band landed on their friend Trevor Fraticelli at the start of their sophomore year, who shared their desire to bring a grittier, louder sound to the Syracuse music scene. Here is what they have to say about their origin, the Syracuse music scene, and their debut show:
So I know that Char, which was originally called Hauses, has been in the making in some way since last year. How did you decide on the name change and when you were officially ready to start playing shows?
Vijay Tandon: The name change happened this year over the summer. Hauses was just lame. If I tell people I’m in a band I didn’t want to tell them the name of it … because it just wasn’t cool to say. Just one day I didn’t like it, so Brunon and I were chopping it up a little bit and he said “What about ‘Char’? It was another idea I had,” and I was like “Oh shit, that actually sounds pretty cool.” That was in August
Brunon Kaminski: Yeah, I remember texting [Tandon] while I was at work. I actually thought the name was okay, but it’s more important that we put out something we’re all proud of. A lot of bands that I really like — like Crystal Castles, Pink Floyd, and Sonic Youth — their name comes from other music that they really like. I think that’s really important.
Trevor Fraticelli: I think it’s definitely a better band name.
Vito Vetere: I just know that I went home, it was summer, I worked at CVS, then I came back to school and I was in a group chat with a different band name and a different bassist’s number, and I said “Okay.” There was no mention of any of it to me, it was just…here we are. And it was good.
Vijay Tandon: I think we knew we were ready to play shows when the school year started, but we didn’t play a show until October because Brunon went to fashion week.
Oh, and did I mention that Kaminski actually got signed to a modeling agency over the summer and ended up getting called to walk New York Fashion Week?
Fraticelli: Yeah, I felt it pretty early.
Tandon: The first practice we had that was real and we played many fucking songs, I felt it. We work really well together.
Kaminski: I look back on last year, and out of all of the songs that came out of room 623, [my former dorm room], only one actually stuck. There was that awkward stage of writing a bunch of stuff that I knew sucked, and I never wanted to play something that I was embarrassed to play… We tried a lot of different bassists, different ways of writing … and I think that was just the basis for this year.
Fraticelli: Also, with how the shows and everything work here, they book really far in advance, so you really have to jump on it early to get a spot.
Tandon: We also didn’t have any recorded music, only, like, one demo.
Photo By Vito Vetere
How has Syracuse and the music community influenced you both as a band and as individual musicians?
Vetere: In a way, I was just hearing stuff I didn’t want to hear, and I just wanted to play what I liked.
Kaminski: It drives us to be weirder. It drove us to make weirder music.
Vetere: Of course we were all interested in punk and rock and shit… We wanted to be more potent and grotesque, because when you went to a party it was a lot of bedroom pop. It’s kind of like a 13-year-old who’s mad at his mom. He just wants to do the opposite.
Kaminski: I think that was one of the big things with last year. A lot of the songs that were being written were very reactionary — a lot more punky, a lot more like bastardized versions of some song off a Black Flag album you’d hear than what we write now. We would go to a show and realize we played louder in our dorm than they would play at a show.
Tandon: Like what Vito said, I would go out and realize I would rather hear what I like to and can play on guitar. That’s not to diss anybody, it's just that the first shows I ever went to were for like Megadeth and Meshuggah… The Syracuse music scene is great, I tell my friends all about the house scene and they all are like, “I wish I had that! I don’t have that at my college.” It’s really unique, but I just wanted to do something different — something I wanted to hear and see.
Fraticelli: Though the music may not always be the music we love and what we want to be hearing, there also is the fact that there’s a scene at all. It’s great to have. Just this presence of all of these musical people wanting to make things happen is great. It’s also like, yeah it’s not necessarily what I want to play, but it’s also getting to play new types of music. So regardless of if it’s what I want to play, I’m still getting new experiences. I’m still getting better and always improving by being around other creative people.
Kaminski: I’ve played in bands… we’ve all played in bands here where it’s not music we write or really listen to but I always have a great time. I think it’s important to highlight the fact that we all like weird music, because when we do get to play our music in a room together I feel more crazy and less weird… I don’t know if that makes sense, but it’s like we’re all the same type of crazy where it just bounces off each other.
Obviously each of you has played in multiple bands at Syracuse, whether it’s one that you’re stabley in like GUNK! [one of Vetere’s bands] or one that you cycle through, helping them out as they need it. You’ve all been doing that since last year. How did Char’s debut and actually getting to play the music you personally really enjoy feel different?
Fraticelli: It almost feels like more pressure. At least for me, every band I’ve played in has been [playing for] a solo artist. It’s much less pressure in terms of caring what people think. [There’s this] kind of mindset [that’s] like, “Oh if I mess up it’s on them,” which isn’t the best mindset to have, but it kind of relieves the pressure of the moment.
Tandon: Yeah, like someone else’s name is slapped on the poster, not yours — not your band’s name, but the name of that solo artist. You’re just a person, sort of.
Fraticelli: But I also have a band back at home that I’m in where I write music and play stuff I love, so I’ve always had that experience, but I didn’t have that basically all of last year, so having [Char] is great. It’s like I’m back! I’m so much more passionate about what I’m doing. I love performing, playing concerts, and live music — whatever it is, but having more of an attachment to what I’m actually playing has been so much fun.
Vetere: Yeah, I gotta say, this has been cathartic for me. We get to represent ourselves and kind of just go full blast and just be ourselves. It just feels good. I’m always playing jazz and funk and R&B, so I’m sitting there playing [in the] pocket for the most part very quietly. To just get up there and have Brunon and Vijay screaming their lungs out and just wailing on shit… It feels good, just to go the other way. Do the opposite, almost.
Kaminski: When I play for other people, I’m much more focused on myself and what I’m doing because it’s all about maximizing yourself in reference to what the solo artist’s image is and how they want that to sound, but for our music, I’m fully listening to everyone else. I don’t know… I’m just locked the fuck in. I would just listen to [Fraticelli] play the bass, or to [Vetere] play the drums, or to [Tandon] play the guitar because I like all of your parts. I think that everybody’s a great musician. I know it’s sort of cringey, but I don’t feel like most people try to give an “experience.” One of our friends, Owen, came up to us after and said that when we played ‘Intro Song,’ we tricked him because the beginning is really quiet so he took his earplugs out. But then we just fucking… *smacks hand for emphasis*
Vetere: “The Wall”
Kaminski: Yeah I don’t even think we thought about it like that until we heard it afterwards. It just makes me happy.
Vetere: I think it was just a long time coming. We were just bottled up and ready to explode.
Tandon: This is just the shit that I’ve wanted to do forever.
Kaminski: I think one of the really important things about playing that first live show is that, at this point, we’re still trying to find a sound that’s really ours.
Tandon: The turnout at the live show was just so cool too. It was so many of our friends, obviously, but holy fucking shit, that was something. I remember when I was fifteen, I saw Slayer, and one thing I noticed was that every single person in the crowd was moving the whole time. At our show, when I looked up, I saw the same thing. That was just all I wanted.
Vetere: Yeah, there were people literally falling into us. At one point, the lights went out. People fell into the drum kit.
Tandon: People spilled drinks on the electronics, everything, but that’s IT! I want that shit!
Kaminski: During one of the songs someone got lifted up.
Fraticelli: With the house show scene, of course there’s plenty of people that go for the music, but there’s a pretty large percentage that just go for the party. And talking to people after The Dollhouse show, people were saying to me, “I just want more of this.” Because when you’re in the basement at some of the shows and you start moving and pushing people around, people just get mad. I feel like there’s newer spaces this year where the music is the thing, which is really great.
Photo By Hollis Mehling
I feel as though The Dollhouse this year has really helped introduce the more punk-influenced bands to Syracuse. How do you think that reception has been going and where do you see it going from here?
Kaminski: They’re doing very cool stuff.
Fraticelli: I was talking to the people who run it and that was their whole goal: to bring these artists and bands who are more weird and not what the typical person who’s just going out on a Friday night is preparing themselves to see unless they go to The Dollhouse.
Kaminski: It’s a very different vibe from Redgate or any of the other houses because I feel like those houses really take advantage of the fact that people just want to go out, and if you want to go out, you might as well see some music, so come here.
Fraticelli: And that’s not a criticism, they just know their audience.
Kaminski: [The] Dollhouse just knows that there’s a certain percentage of people that want this, [the punk/experimental music-focused experience].
Vetere: And of course, that has an effect. The crowd there is kind of diminishing since the first show or our show because they’re competing with these more party-focused venues.
Fraticelli: Honestly though, I think that from The Dollhouse’s perspective, they would rather have a few nights like that than sacrifice the integrity of what they’re doing. They’ve been the most steadfast in doing what they want to do. For a lot of the other venues, of course they also started that way, but of course they eventually had to adapt because that’s all there was. The fact that these parties exist at all at a school [of] this size and it’s not just frats or dorm parties or sports… The fact that there even are these parties every weekend that anyone can go to is really unique.
Photo By Vito Vetere
Photo By Vito Vetere
With three incredibly loud, high energy shows under their belts, the band is only getting started in their push for punk, noise, and experimental representation in the Syracuse scene, so turn your amps to eleven and Char Like U Mean It. Be sure to keep up with Char so that you don’t miss any future shows!
