Cruisr celebrates All Over by packing Boot and Saddle

“This is our best friends show,” Andy States told the Boot and Saddle crowd last night. The Cruisr frontman was referring in part to the openers – shimmering, Duran Duran-esque pop outfit Dream Safari, led by Chris Coulton (who worked closely with Cruisr on much of its early design work), and Suburban Living, the new project featuring old Bucks County buds (and former Night Panther members) Michael Cammarata and Chris Radwanski. But he was also referring to the warm and familial faces packing the house. “I see a lot of my old co-workers in the crowd,” States laughed.

Perhaps its overstatement, and it’s definitely strange to think considering how quickly Cruisr’s trajectory in the Philly scene has flown, but it’s quite likely the band won’t be throwing parties this intimate for much longer. They’re about to head out with UK rock kingpins The 1975 as direct support on their U.S. tour (which hits the Tower Theater on December 3rd), and they’re readying a full-length debut for release on Vagrant Records next year. Considering how infectious and instantly likeable their indie-dance nuggets are, I’m envisioning a Union Transfer date this time next year.

For now, though, and the party at hand, Cruisr had a pretty good handle last night on rocking the crowd without losing their down-to-earth personalities. Mostly. Guitarist Bruno Catrambone looked like he was having the best time rocking out at stage right; bassist Kyle Cook chilled shyly at stage left; drummer Jon Van Dine pounded his kit and laughed it off when a sound loop didn’t trigger the way it was supposed to. States’ banter was often tongue-in-cheek; he introduced “Moving to Neptune” by explaining it was an old-old track that was “in the process of being wiped from existence.” ie. When they signed to Vagrant and dropped the E from their name, Cruisr took down its Bandcamp back-catalogue. (States also joked about the name alteration while introducing “California”: “We hate E’s. This song doesn’t have any E’s in it.”)

A lot of that back-catalog is being revisited, for certain: set-closing viral hit “Kidnap Me” is on the new All Over EP (which this show was a sort of unstated record release party for), as is “Don’t Go Alone”; opener “The Fritz” and “Souvenir,” hopefully, are going to resurface on their album that’s coming out next year. The new cuts in the setlist, including “Wild Babe,” also cut a solid groove and provide ample proof that, even though it was “Kidnap Me” that brought down the house at the end of the night, States and co. have plenty more “Kidnap Me”‘s in them. Check out photos from the show in the gallery below.

Setlist
The Fritz
Home Turf
All Over
California
Moving to Neptune
Wild Babe
Souvenir
Don’t Go Alone
Kidnap Me