Not long after we got back from tour we had a set at Belltown Blast, a festival set up smack dab in the middle of downtown Seattle. Despite an hour delay in our set (the stage monitors started smoking) there was still at least 200 of you that stayed to mosh with us, so thank you! One of our favorite local photographers On Sight Retro got a lot of cool photos of us, including the ones you see above.

Okay but what's this thing about the city threatening us? Well, not long ago, Seattle Parks & Rec got wind that people were playing DIY shows in Cal Anderson park. This had been happening for years, but with the rise of social media they saw a money-making opportunity slipping through their greedy little fingers. They implemented a new policy where in order to play a show there you had to get a permit, which included an lengthy application process and over $500 in fees/insurance. We got asked to play a birthday show there in celebration of our friend. No permit, no problem, we didn't care. What was the city really gonna do?

After promoting the show on our instagram, we and the rest of the bands we were playing with got this threatening message in our IG DMs. Normally we wouldn't care, but for the safety of the showgoers and wanting to avoid any runs in with the REAL pigs, we all scrambled to find somewhere else last minute. The final location shall not be named lest Seattle Parks & Rec come for our throats again, but it ended up being a success. The park's sprinklers didn't even go off until after the show was finished. Hooray!

ACAB includes Seattle Parks & Rec. PIG ORGY comes out Oct 30th on our bandcamp only (though there may or may not be a live version bonus track on all physical copies of Malaise.)

Talk soon, Freaks!

We finished our show in San Francisco. Despite a great set, we were exhausted and ready for some much needed sleep. But the night was long from over and the ensuing chaos was about to begin...

It started with our lodging falling through. They offered us an alternative: crashing at an anarchist commune in the remote mountains outside of Santa Cruz. Made even less tempting thanks to a two hour drive in the dark up winding cliffs and mountain passes. It was either that or ???? so we of course took the offer (thank you again, mystery commune!)

Our host told us "They have dogs! And mice". Autumn asked "oh cool, like pet mice?". The host answered:
"The exterminator is supposed to come tomorrow."
Ah. Word

Then,the latch that closes our van trunk suddenly stopped functioning, forcing us to keep it closed with a copious amount of duct tape. Fingers crossed it wouldn't break open during our travels (it didn't, but for the rest of the tour, that broken latch threatened us with every speed bump and sharp turn.)

And THEN. To top it all off, after a sketchy and terrifying drive, we came across a dead cat in the middle of the road:(. It was heartbreaking, but there was a darkly humorous level of absurdity to it. Watching James pick up the body with an Amoeba music bag, dressed in a Juicy Couture crop top with Slipknot blasting at full volume felt like a written bit. Safe to say the already precarious vibe of the evening was completely and utterly torched.

We arrived at the spot and crashed hard. The next morning we schlepped our way to Palmdale for our show at Transplants Brewing, after which we hauled ass to our next stop: Los Angeles, where we'd have a much needed day off. And a hotel. AND access to laundry. A life of luxury. We hadn't showered since Ashland and probably smelled like a YMCA locker room.

We spent our day off exploring Hollywood boulevard and along the way found these Pig Masks at a costume shop. Perfect for our new song "Pig Orgy." Inspired, we started filming an impromptu music video everywhere we went, disturbing the locals and raising eyebrows (impressive for LA. You'd think they'd be used to weird shenanigans for the gram).

We capped it off with a sunset on the beach and a full night's sleep. The next night, we played a very fun show with Mr. Dinkles at The Smell (and debuted the pig masks for our performance of "Pig Orgy"!), somewhere we'd played before and were excited to return to. If you aren't in the know, the Smell is an aptly named DIY all-ages venue (and one of the most offensive olfactory experiences we've ever had) with beautifully graffiti'd bathrooms and some very sweet dogs!

After our show we treked to the outskirts of Malibu, pulling into the first open campsite we could find. The "rattlesnake season" signs posted everywhere did not bode well for us. It was so dark that we couldn't see our spot was about fifteen feet from some train tracks - which we figured out when we woke in the middle of the night to a terrifying BWAAAAAAAAAAAN of the train's horn. Peter and Yoel were relatively unbothered. James and Autumn got a free dose of adrenaline.

Next was Santa Cruz, James' favorite place on the west coast! Autumn was shocked there wasn't a single monument for the film The Lost Boys(1987) which was shot there. We spent some more time on the beach, saw some sea lions on the waterfront and walked along the pier. It was a welcome repreive from the terror that preceded and followed our trip to the city of angels. We graciously stayed on the floor of our friends in the band Universe.

The next day we headed to Petaluma, CA where we got to play the Phoenix Theatre. The place was HUGE, covered in cool graffiti and apparently the last place Sublime played before the tragic death of Bradley Nowell. The pit even had half-pipes for skating. People were doing all sorts of kick-flips and ollies during our soundcheck.

After staying the night with a friend in Oakland (another shower, hooray!), we made our way back up to San Francisco to play a DIY Punk and Metal festival at a place called "The New Farm." We thought it was a cheeky name. Nope! It was actually a farm with goats and a community space with huge garden teeming with native plants. We discovered a ton of cool bands and overall it went smoothly...aside from James knocking over the entire lighting rig during our set. Thankfully nobody was hurt and it ended up being a hilarious mishap. (We didn't let it interrupt the song...the show must go on! HELL YEAH! PUNK ROCK! WOOO!)

Finally, it was time to head back north to Portland to play our final show of the tour with dear friends Kill Michael and Nonbinary Girlfriend. Yes, we drove from San Francisco to Portland in one day. No, we don't reccomend it. But we made it there (mostly) on time and played one of our favorite shows of the tour. A beautiful send off for the highlight of our Summer.

Until the next tour, Freaks!

Our first date of the tour was technically at home in Seattle, but after leaving at like 6AM the next morning, we drove 9 hours to our next stop in Ashland, OR. Along the way, an energy drink had punctured in the back of the van which Autumn had to shotgun right when we got there.

This night was a little sketch, as we still needed a place to stay. We were planning to camp, until the local Safeway employees told us we would need to throw rocks to scare off the rattlesnakes. Nope! We're good. We shot our shot at our merch table to see if a stranger would host us.

Thankfully a local couple generously offered their home for the night. Thanks again David and Jennifer! Up next was Redding, CA!

We didn't end up getting many pictures in Redding, but that's because it was a busy night... we sold out the show! This was definitely one of our favorite nights on the tour. We got In-n-Out, the kids wore corpse paint and the overall energy in the room was so warm.

After that, this was our first night camping. We pulled up to a Red Bluff camping site at about 1AM, set up our tent and managed to get in a few hours of sleep before packing up and heading down to San Francisco the next day.

We got to San Francisco early enough to explore the city a bit. After dropping off CDs and vinyl at some local record stores, we went to hit up Amoeba Music, some flea markets, and get street tacos. James picked up a vinyl of Moanin' by Art Blakely and the Jazz Messengers. Autumn bought a t-shirt, like a tourist.

Our next stop was Palmdale at Transplants Brewing. And after that...LOS ANGELES!

Catch you in Part 2!