(Editor’s Note: The first part of the Catholics tour diaries will be restored and available here once it’s done this weekend! Our WordPress disagreed with us literally moments before attempting to put it out, and if you follow us on Instagram we made it work even better over there, but we wanted to make it official. Spoiler Alert: They survived. That being said, if you’re on the road again or maybe even for the very first time and want to let us know how it goes, maybe we can work something out – for now let’s get confessional with Catholics and the final leg of their first West Coast tour.)
Day 7 – Spokane/Travel Day
Daphne: Our day began bright and early in Billings, MT. We didn’t have much time to sightsee in town, as is unfortunately the reality of touring. Thankfully, Montana is among the most beautiful states to drive through. You can’t help but be awestruck by the mountainous landscapes that extend far beyond your field of vision.
We stopped in Missoula, Montana, birthplace of beloved American filmmaker David Lynch. I couldn’t leave without getting a photo next to a wildly majestic horse statue outside the Missoula Children’s Theatre. Our short time in town cemented another entry in the long list of “places I’ve been on tour for between 0 to 9 hours, but I’d love to go spend proper time in”
We roll up to the venue, The Big Dipper in Spokane. Morale is low. The weather is quite hot and we’re all exhausted from getting little sleep for the 3rd or 4th day in a row. Our expectations for the show are not very high. Nothing could be further from the truth of how the show turned out.
We shared the bill with 3 other bands that night: Flyborne, Iabsorbyourstatic, and Skin Slicing Horse. Flyborne was quite the treat to hear live, their style would switch from Doomy riffs circa 2016 to shoegaze to post-punk with a saxophone. Iabsorbyourstatic took
the stage next and put on a great screamo set (I snagged a patch from them too, featuring a slaughtered cartoon sheep). Skin Slicing Horse closed out the night and put on a great display of guitar work and riffs that just made you want to destroy the stable.
Due to the fact that Catholics were among maybe only 8 people in the entire venue that were over the age of 20, we all at some point in the night said some variation of “the kids are alright” to each other. These kids have a scene and are supporting it themselves. 50-60 kids came out to see the show on a Monday night. I was not expecting for a show on tour to give me hope for the future of “the scene”™️ , but here we are. Best show of tour, hands down.
-DOG
Ps. Gotta shout out the great people at The Big Dipper. Everyone at the venue and the other bands were super welcoming and great to work with
Day 8 – Seattle
Cristobal: Seattle was special. We imported a mail-order cellist from Mexico, and after briefly getting lost in the subterranean subway system of the mole people at Sea, we were ready to play our set at the dopest record shop on the west coast: Easy Street Records!
Quick rant about this spot: their food was baller, their Yerba Mate selection was crucial, there’s a bar?? And last but not least, the absolutely STACKED selection of Polyvinyl Chloride makes Easy Street Records my new favorite place to be. Seattle, yall are so lucky to have this gem and I hope you know it! Everybody at the shop was so sweet, you almost had to pay the sugar tax after interacting with them.
(Sugar Tax. That’s a thing here. And it’s not funny to joke about, despite what the other cities thought when we told them Seattle has a sugar tax. Seattle does NOT have income tax. Stuff to think about.)
Our set was glorious and with the addition of cello all was right in the universe for that 30 minutes.
Day 9 – Portland:
John: Our first stop in Portland? Hank’s Music Exchange. Why? Because I broke my gotdang volume pedal in Seattle. Fucking awesome music store with awesome people and one awesome pup named Arlo. Best music shop we hit on tour, bar none.
We then grabbed some thai food, stopped at a nearby record shop where I grabbed a used Into It. Over It. record (it was Proper), and hit a bar that had Super Nintendo and a ton of aquariums. That was pretty neat.
Our gig that night was at The High Water Mark Lounge, thanks to our buds at the NW Post Rock Collective. Observer, No Animals Were Harmed, and Wave Mosaic were all sick as hell. Our set went pretty well, too; we nailed “Now That We’re All Here” and my guitar only went out of tune 3 times (average as of this show was around 5). 12TET isn’t real anyways.
Day 10 – Berkeley, CA
Tyler: We booked it from the hotel bright and early to try to make it to the legendary 924 Gilman street after a quick refuel and some coffee. I think at this point we were all dreading Holiday Inn breakfast! This was one of the long hauls but the 5 of us kept ourselves entertained and I introduced Cristobal to Dramamine since he too is a car sick boy when not driving.
We pulled up to Gilman, I parallel parked our 15 passenger like a champion (shoutout to Philly for all the practice), there was a guy with a pack of dogs cooking dinner on the sidewalk next to his RV as we unloaded, vibe check passed. Our friend Waverly greeted us at the side door of the venue and we began to load in. The space was emanating the ghost of punk rock past and I never thought I would stand on the stage where many a Lookout Records’ band had cut their teeth.
The bands we played with were super rad shoutout to Amity St and If You Say So! We loved this spot and the staff running it were very accommodating. See you next time Berkeley!
Day 11 – Los Angeles, CA
Tyler: We hit the road pretty early again just to make the most of our time in Los Angeles.
We dropped Cris off at his new crib (he’s a Pokémon master) and got the tour and went to our airbnb to check in and rest for an hour. We then went out and explored the Burbank area before ordering lunch at eating at the bnb with Cris and his wife Danielle. We then headed to downtown LA to play The Slipper Clutch! Parking was a little nightmarish but we made it. This venue is really cool and it’s in a nesting doll of a building. You enter through the front in your in a sushi restaurant and then you go back one hallway and you’re in a more upscale bar and then you hit a door covered in stickers and it’s a dive and as you ascend the dive’s stairs you see the stage!
The venue was really cool. The owner was working sound and gave us the rundown of how his operation works and we appreciate so much his commitment to giving DIY bands a place to play in LA. Here’s to Now and The Indecisive ripped, this was a top tier bill! We met some friends of friends and made a new friend Antoine who has been listening to us since our early days. We appreciate you Antoine!
Day 12 – Escondido, CA
Josh: Like most days, we arose from slumber after staying up way, way too late. Checked out of our air bnb and headed out in search of food. A delectable breakfast burrito from Coffee Commissary in Glendale hit the spot. After driving around a bit and taking in the views, we began our journey south towards Escondido.
Southern California is beautiful, and it made for a delightful drive. We made a pit stop and for the first time on this tour (and my first time ever), we could see the Pacific Ocean in all its splendor. We carried on to San Diego to enjoy yet another burrito – a California burrito from Lolita’s!
That evening we arrived at the venue – Escondido Music and Art Co which was a neat place that primarily does music and art lessons. They were very welcoming and a joy to work with! My Dearly Beloved performed first with his alluring acoustic pieces. Next up was Fistfights With Wolves, who crushed it with a mathy/proggy/free jazz/zeuhl sound that was incredible to witness live. Our set went swimmingly and we had a blast. Performing last was Peymaar, who had a great sound, self described as “alien funk cosmic punk”. After loading out and saying our thankyous/goodbyes, we headed to our hotel and called it a night.
Day 13 – Las Vegas, NV
Tyler:
We hath risen! After parting ways with Cris the night prior we had some breakfast and booked it! We got to go through Joshua Tree National Park and see some insane desert scape on the way to Vegas for our final show of the tour, though we were tired our spirits were high and we enjoyed the last bit of time all hanging together in a 15 passenger. The stop at Joshua Tree Coffee Company, a favorite of mine, aided us in our need for caffeine with their 4 shot lattes and we crushed the rest of the drive. We Shall Play welcomed us and we loaded in and prepared to play our final set. The store had a really awesome vibe and all the bands were tight, it was collectively our first time in Vegas. Highlight of the night was meeting Austin from the Math Rock Review, he plays in the band Joobilee who are incredible.