Zach Pietrini Band Goes Live from Wire & Vice

Zach Pietrini was rewatching live videos of his band when he realized something: Much of the footage was dubbed over with studio recordings replacing the actual raw live audio from the shows.

“I was like, ‘You know what? I just want to remove any questions of doubt anybody would have (about the quality of our performances) but also give people that follow us something to watch,” Pietrini says.

And so the idea to record three live songs at the Wauwatosa-based Wire & Vice studio was born.

Pietrini contacted local Milwaukee videographer Andrew Feller to capture video, and Wire & Vice engineer Kyle White handled the audio. Filling out Pietrin’s band was Jared Plant on vocals and guitar, Eric Anderson on vocals and piano, Chris Gold on bass and Nick Lang on drums. The band effortlessly knocked out three songs, taking no more than five takes per track. But when it was all said and done, Pietrini was still fired up – the energy in the room was palpable and the band still had two hours of studio time left.

“It was like when a pitcher is pitching a perfect game,” Pietrini says. “You just let him keep going.”

The end result is Live At Wire & Vice, an eight-track album featuring songs from the last four years of Pietrini’s discography. It’s the first release by Pietrini since 2022’s Rock & Roll Is Dead. He’s been relatively quiet in the Milwaukee music scene lately – at least concerning his own projects.

These days, Pietrini can typically be found working on composing for film or television at his home studio, or on stage playing bass with friends’ bands like Milwaukee indie-folk group Wildered. And so, Live At Wire & Vice serves as a reminder that Pietrini is a force on stage – a musician who pours tremendous energy into heartfelt folk tunes.

Fans of Pietrini’s music will be thrilled to learn that these aren’t just carbon copy live renditions of songs they’ve already heard. Pietrini viewed this album partially as a way to revisit songs that have since grown from their original recordings as they’ve been played with a live band.

“For the song ‘Amelia’ – we’ve played that song before but have literally never done it the exact same way twice, so we were like, ‘Let’s just hit record and see what comes out,’” Pietrini says. “We use the recorded albums as a general way to keep the train on its tracks, but we try to really give these songs the same kind of energy and life that they’ve had since leaving the album space.”

That energy and life transcends the screen when watching the video from these sessions. Pietrini is expressive in his delivery – you can see in his face and body language that he is tuned into the words that he’s singing. The rest of the band is stoic, holding down a rhythm section and providing tasteful leads that encompass a tightly wrapped package that would certainly remove any doubt about the band’s ability to perform live.

Vinyl copies of Live At Wire & Vice are currently up for preorder on Pietrini’s website and can be purchased for $25.

“The initial goal was, ‘Let’s do this live and show what we can do,’ but it was amazing that we were able to catch what we did and put it out on vinyl,” Pietrini says. “I think that it’s a skill and an energy and it speaks to the integrity of what I do.”

But don’t just take Pietrini’s word for it – catch the band live at two album release shows: On February 28 at Anodyne Coffee Roasting Co., 224 W. Bruce St., and on March 1 at Hey Nonny in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Both shows will feature opening support from Wildered.