WUT is fun! We asked the Vancouver, BC riot-twee band WUT, which features members of Knife Pleats, Tough Age, Jock Tears, to document their recent West Coast tour, and we think you’ll agree that reading it makes us want to form a band and go on tour! Listen to their latest album, Mingling with the Thorns, here. Photographs courtesy of WUT
WUT are:
Tracey Vath: bass, vocals, and additional guitar
Kaity McWhinney: guitar and vocals
Lauren Smith: drums and vocals
Day 1
Seattle, WA – Vera Project
The Nags, Sleeping Bag
Tracey: Whenever I travel from Canada into the states, I always get the border crossing jitters. Even if I am just going across to get a soda and a hotdog. So I wore my fancy border crossing dress and packed two lucky charms away in my backpack. But, a few short hours later, we were eating ice cream sundaes in front of an American flag the size of 17 football fields. Our show was at the Vera Project, which is a superb all ages venue right below the space needle. They run programs that teach folk how to do stage sound and recording. Before we played, we met a really sweet person named Meredith, who was at the show with their dad and they told us all their favorite songs from our two albums! Seattle locals Sleeping Bag were completely our bag, and we were jazzed to play with The Nags, also from seattle. After the show, we stayed with our friend Freddie Lee Toyoda in their rock n roll hall of fame basement. I fell asleep with visions of Frank Zappa and little Debbie treats dancing around in my head.
Lauren: We made it to America! First stop was feeding my cute band with dumplings dunked in black vinegar in Seattle’s Chinatown near the train station where my Amtrak Bus pulled into. I saw a lady eating a feast of hard boiled eggs while sitting on the exit stairs towards the street and seeing her growing tower of egg shells was getting me really hungry now. There was not a chance we were going to make soundcheck tonight! My google maps promised me that the Dough Zone was dumpling destination numero uno so I made my way there and picked up as many steamy dumplings as I could carry to the Vera Project to surprise Kaity and Tracey with who were already at the venue waiting for me. The show was “lightly attended” but there were sweet folks there. The drummer from the last band said the way I hit the crash cymbal was just like Marky Ramone, filling me with a lot of optimism for what was ahead of us. After the show, we made our way to Lake City where our sweet friend Freddie and their partner, Keegan call their home. Their cute house stood out amongst their neighbors with protest signs taped firmly into their windows. You can’t be neutral on a moving train, right? To not take a stand is to collaborate. Freddie never takes a seat and we love them for it. We left Lake city with three boxes of covid tests, a bass guitar for Tracey, an axe for Kaity, pockets full of twinkies and hearts full!
Day 2
Portland, OR- Mississippi Records
Layperson, Lowland Painter
Lauren: We were warned that traffic going south on the I5 was gonna get nutty between Seattle and Portland and our comrades were right! It was a crawl past Tacoma and we decided to take it easy on ourselves and stop to fill our water bottles up with that fine artesian well water on the streets of Olympia-a-a-a! They say if you drink from the well in Olympia, you’ll come back to the city, and given WUT’s total adoration for Thurston County and specifically Olympia I’d say we’re hooked! More to come on our Oly show later…. We made it to Portland nicely hydrated with about an hour to spare, parked our van outside of Mississippi records and had time for a beer in the park before sound check got underway. The portland local rockers were so quick to jump in and help us untangle wires, and get the knobs turnt out in all the right ways, we were feeling so safe and taken care of! We decided to hit the road after the show and get some miles down as the next days drive was one of the biggest!
Tracey: In Portland, the legendary cowboy rockers, Cruise Control, helped us out with our gig at Mississippi records – even going as far as helping me turn my bass pegs while I painfully tried to tune using an unfamiliar (to me) tuner. Sometimes I need all the help I can get. Since our records were late from the printing press, I drew up a picture of what the album looks like, and we put that on the merch table, along with our stickers and baseball cards. We could still sell the album, but we just had to take people’s names and addresses so our label could mail them (thanks again, HHBTM, we love you!) After popping some beta blockers, a magical pill essential to calming the nervous shaky feelings, we were good to play our set with Layperson and Lowland Painter- all class acts.
Day 3
Boise, ID – Shrine Social Club
Papas, French Tips, Color Green
Tracey: Our friend Amanda from Apollo Ghosts recommended that we check out Pendleton, Oregon, on our way to Boise, Idaho. So we stopped off in the “old west” themed city with strange brass animal sculptures on every corner. The three of us went separate ways to find toilets, stamps, water, solitude, etc, but we all ended up at the same thrift store on the end of the street. Most of the store was on sale for $1, so Lauren and I tried on a bunch of stuff- her in the change room and me just outside of the changeroom. I think being on the road for 3 days had already given me a no shame attitude about things like changing (and peeing) in public. The two of us walked away with pretty much a whole new tour wardrobe. Back on the road, we got an insta message from a random person named Scott asking if we wanted to stay at his house after the show that night. We asked if he was going to the show, and he said no. At first we thought it was a bit strange, but after looking at his IG profile, we got the impression that he housed a lot of bands, so we said yes. We arrived at the Shrine Social Club close to door time, where we met Papas and the French Tips, the two Boise bands that we were playing with. Papas are super silly and down-to-earth people who keep track of time by 4/20’s (“it was a few months before last 4/20”..), and the French Tips are so sweet and generous (not to mention total shredders). Big props to the person who kept asking me to flex and kiss my muscles. I really don’t know why that was happening, it was too loud for me to hear what she was saying, but I was stoked on it regardless. Afterwards, I found that she had bought our album and wrote us a note that said “I ❤️ you – always come back. Keep your chins up xoxoxo”. Scott from IG showed up at the end of the show, and our anxieties eased as everyone seemed to know him. He gave us directions to his house, declining our invitation to join us for Mexican food because he “doesn’t do restaurants”. Scott ended up being a total gem. Not only does he not do restaurants- he also doesn’t buy anything, at all. A true dumpster diver, sunflower sower, and great host. We added our signature to his door full of tags from the hundreds of bands he has housed over the last decade.
Lauren: Without fail we forgot about the time change between Portland and Boise adding one more hour to our already huge travel day. We did a good job of balancing “making good time” and “making good memories,” stopping in Pendleton to do some epic thrifting and to Safeway to pick up some fresh foods. We arrived at the Shrine Club with like 10 minutes to spare before sound check and man oh man was this venue COOL! We played in the basement with the coolest local bands, Papas and French Tips. Loved meeting these guys, we traded merch after our sets from behind the merch table and I left Boise with a Papas stickers and pins on like all of my belongings. There is a super special community of weirdos and rockers in Boise and we left feeling like we gotta get back! I hope we apply for Treefort Fest next spring! We made our way to Caldwell Idaho after the show to stay at Scotts rocker mansion where we met his brilliant goats. I got my picture taken feeding the mama goat a baby marijuana plant which I sent back home to my mom on Vancouver Island, who was quite impressed!
Day 4
Salt Lake City, UT- Old Cuss Café
Gonk, Strog, Chalk
Tracey: In Salt Lake City, Utah, we played at a cute cafe/vintage shop called Old Cuss. All the bands that night had weird one syllable names- WUT, gonk, Chalk, and Strog. As soon as we arrived at the venue, a new friend gave me a copy of a Brendan Fraser zine to read, and I spent the next half hour lost in memories of The Mummy and George of the Jungle until we realized that the show had started and we had missed most of the first band. Apologies to gonk, it’s all Brendan Fraser’s fault! This was our first really hot show, where the temperatures felt a bit unbearable. I saw Lauren using her clip-on drum fan and wished that I had bought one to clip on the head of my bass. It isn’t until I am on stage when I remember all the things I have wanted to rig onto my bass or have on stage- a fan, a reading lamp (to see my fingers at dimly lit venues), a tuner, a stand for soda water, etc etc. At night we stayed at Lauren’s sweet friend Stan’s furniture-less apartment and ate burritos on his floor.
Lauren: Now that we were off the coast we were really feeling the difference in climate and temperature. Our last nights host, Scott, was so kind in making about a dozen recommendations of rivers and lakes to stop in at on the way to Salt Lake City to cool off in. We ended up finding a little lake outside of Falls City to eat some pasta salad at and take a dip. The band that swims together stays together, and this little pit stop had us in good spirits for our next show at the Old Cuss in SLC. This was sort of a twilight zone show for me where the drummer/singer of the local band was also named Lauren Smith, and my old dear friend, Stanislav emerged like a friendly ghost from Summers past. You know that point of tour where you kind of just give in to living the tourin lifestyle and your work inbox just kind of melts away as you forget all your passwords and you stop checking in cause you’ve gone full rocker? Well for me it happened in SLC! After this show we had a couple days off so it felt particularly timely that we turned full road dogs with Nevada and California coming in hot!
Day 5
Las Vegas – Day off- Excalibur Resort
Tracey: The road from SLC to Vegas was so curvy that we called it the squiggles. Turns out I hate driving the squiggles, Lauren loves driving the squiggles, and Kaity is indifferent to the squiggles. I asked Lauren to put on the Pee Wee’s big adventure soundtrack to help me feel my groove and concentrate while navigating the squigs. And speaking of pee wee, I perfected a way to pee somewhat modestly by sitting on the edge of the vans bumper and keeping the front part of my pants up while the back part was down low enough to stay dry and unassuming.
Lauren: That morning as we were leaving Stan’s apartment he warned us of how easy it is to steal one’s catalytic converter, which gave us all a bit of a complex the rest of the tour. Not only were we ultra conscious about carrying out our borrowed instruments into whatever building we were stopped in at, we were also covering our backpacks and belongings with Tracey’s king sized comforter. Having to consider the ease of which we allowed our van to be crawled under was a whole other worry I never really considered, but things are different in America! I was really looking forward to the drive from Utah into Nevada as it was nearly 10 years since I drove it last with my band Tough Age. The skies are expansive and the beams of light that come through the clouds down to the red earth below is beyond dreamy and reminds you about how far you are from home! We rolled into Las Vegas that afternoon around 5:30pm and wanted to catch a swim at our hotel pool before they shut it down at 7pm. After our dip we headed back to our hotel room and Kaity put on a Frank Sinatra filled Las Vegas playlist on spotify and we gleefully counted out our band fund. Kaity is our band treasurer and she is damn good at it! She doled out $10 each in gambling money to Tracey and I, and we ventured out on the strip. We had a mission: make it to Circus Circus for a triumphant celebration of gymnastics and creepy clowns. A few feet from our hotel I noticed a busker-type covering Shania Twain who I wanted to share my gambling money with, but to my dismay my $10 had turned to $2 and somehow lost my pocket full of ones and fives! I decided to hold on tight and keep my last $2 for the right moment as Tracey reminded us all that what you give to Vegas you get back 10 fold. Onwards and upwards! Vegas is such a tricky maze of smoke and mirrors and without a lot of food in our bellies we were losing steam. We found some pizza and landed at the Paris Casino where I put my $2 to the test….. and …. I won! $45! Woot woot! I excitedly dashed over to the atm to cash in on my winnings and swing my backpack atop of the machine to safely tuck in my winnings into my change purse. It wasn’t until the Bellagio fountains that I realized my backpack was missing from its groove on my shoulder. Looking into Kaity and Traceys weary eyes, I realized my backpack had become a casualty and must be left behind to forge ahead if we were ever going to make it to Circus Circus in one piece. I think it was in the fairy tale gardens inside of the Bellagio reception where we realized getting to Circus Circus on foot was going to be a lot tougher than we first expected and swiftly booked an UBER. The next day Tracey and Kaity drove me in the tour van back to Paris and I met their lost and found team who happily pulled out my backpack from their pile of black backpacks with my belongings still safely inside. Thank you Paris!
Day 6
Palm Springs -Day off
Kaity: We woke up in our Excalibur hotel room and I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there. Vegas had dug its claws into us and I was desperate to pry them out. My experience of the night before had felt to me like a series of chaotic, strange and ominous events, all taking place in a night time hellscape temperature of 95 degrees. Confusing gambling machines, lost money, lost backpack, expensive food, closed attractions, endless drunk people, and an uber driver who drove with his knees while he zipped through traffic – Vegas was not for me. Tracey and Lauren really wanted to go to a place called the Omelette House for breakfast. I checked the google maps, and saw there was one just outside of Vegas, and one directly back into the eye of it. I pleaded with them that we should get out as soon as possible, but two against one, we headed back into the center of the inferno. We parked, and turned off the van, and within seconds the air became unbearable. We quickly grabbed our guitars and ran straight into the restaurant seeking shelter, this was another 104 degree day. To our relief the restaurant wasn’t that busy and the food was great. Just as we were finishing our delicious breakfasts, we decided to read our horoscopes for the day. Lauren started with Tracey, it said… that she would have to control her emotions in the face of something difficult… hmm, I didn’t like the sound of that. Then to Lauren.. in the face of difficult times that were ahead, she would need to try not to look at things as good or bad… that didn’t sound good. And finally for me.. things will not go according to plan today. I did not like these horoscopes at all, but we were still in Vegas, so I guess I wasn’t that surprised. I knew we had to get out as soon as possible. We piled into the van, me in the driver’s seat. Ready to leave this place behind, I turned the key, and nothing happened. I looked around to see if I was hallucinating in the stifling sauna-like air. Tracey and Lauren were talking about something, not paying attention. I tried again. Nothing. The heat was rising by the second as I yelled out, “The van’s dead!” We all gave a shriek and ran back into the restaurant to regain a normal temperature while we thought of what to do. I was hopeful it was just a dead battery, but Tracey was pretty sure she didn’t have jumper cables. We asked around and no one seemed to be able to help us. Finally I remembered I had BCAA (thanks Dad!) and so I gave them a call and they said they’d be there, but not for 3 hours. Things were not going as planned. Vegas, I thought, you dirty little devil… you just can’t let us leave. Tracey by this time had harnessed her emotions and worked up the courage to brave out into the heat again to search the van for jumper cables. Moments later, she returned triumphant! Lauren had been making the most of the situation, spending these moments shopping for silk shirts, and it turned out the owner of the shop was parked right beside us. He came out and connected up all the cables. We held our breath and closed our eyes as I turned the key. I can not describe to you the joy I felt when I heard the sweet rumble of that engine, and felt that stale cool air blowing out of those dusty old vents. We were on our way, but I wouldn’t be letting my guard down until we were all the way out of town.
Lauren: Once we got that car battery working again we didn’t turn off the van until we made it to California. Palm Springs to be exact. I knew of a cool hotel some friends of mine have played the roof of in pre-covid times called the Ace Hotel. Kaity was able to book a room for us and we spent the evening eating guacamole by the pole and taking underwater cellphone videos doing acrobatics in the luke warm pool until midnight. It felt good to be back in California and I was looking forward to the promise of the coast tomorrow!
Day 7
San Diego – The Brown Building
Flower Animals, Kan Kan, Neutral Shirt
Lauren: We were able to make great time arriving in San Diego with the afternoon open, so we followed a recommendation from a friend back home to check out Torrey Pines Glider port and Blackbeard beach which was a full on nudie beach! We modestly got in some great swims as well as a little hike and felt so dang happy to be back on the coast! All swims aside, the best part of tour (at least the way we tour) is the connections you make with so many cool and kind and politically progressive folks. The DIY network of like minded sweethearts is as strong as ever and meeting Matty in San Diego really solidified this. We gushed over all our shared friends from back home. He’s been organizing at the Brown Building which was cool as hell throwing shows nearly every day of the week and offering harm reduction classes and supplies. We played with Kan Kan, Neutral Shirt (matty) and Flower Animals. We played with Neutral Shirt (Matty), Kan Kan, and Flower Animals. After the show we met up with the dudes in Kan Kan as we all feasted on late night burritos as big as our calves. We slept in Mattys living room that night amongst his impressive cassette tape collection of touring bands up and down the coast, so many friends from the past and present, it really felt like home there.
Tracey: All the bands we played with in San Diego were not full bands. I mean, they usually are full bands, but for various reasons, each band had a member or two that couldn’t make it. Usually, this means that a band drops out of the show completely- but not in San Diego, heck no. I was so very charmed to see that Neutral Shirt, Flower Animals, and Kan Kan, all decided to still play the show despite the lack of band members. And I am so glad they did, because the tunes were just as sweet and charming as the people making them.
Day 8
Pasadena, CA – the Old Town Pub
Kids on a Crime Spree, Pillow Fight, Sugar World
Lauren: This was a real winning day of tour. We had the best breakfast of the trip, my first plate of chilaquiles and the most tasty cafe de olla. Wish we had more time in San Diego to enjoy the food but that’s tourin life. We were on our way north now from San Diego and making the most of these short drives where we stopped in Rio Del Mar at the dog beach for what I think was the number one swim of tour. The beaches in California really are the most!
Tracey: At night, we arrived at The Old Town Pub in Pasadena, California. I stayed in the van to take a nap while Lauren and Kaity went in for a drink and a looky loo to see if Kids on a Crime Spree had arrived yet. I spent most of my time on our car rides wearing only my undies, so after I awoke, I put on some jeans and a t- shirt, slammed a soda water, and walked through some streets that smelled like hot piss, and went into the pub which also smelled like hot piss. Not a big deal- most of my favourite places at home in Vancouver smell like piss. California is just a hotter smell of piss. Hot piss. Kids on a Crime Spree were there, so we all said our hellos and introductions. I felt immediately comfortable with them and was already asking to borrow various gear from Mario. We hung out under a lime tree with local treasure, Alice from Pillow Fight, who put the show on for us. My dear friend Lance was there, so we took a series of selfies together to send to his mom. If you haven’t heard Sugar World yet, I suggest you get on it, the dream poppers played a sugar sweet set that had us swooning.
Day 9
Oakland, CA- Thee Stork Slub
Kids on a Crime Spree, Artsick, Monster Treasure
Kaity: We left early that morning, with a long drive ahead of us. We stopped for $1 frosty’s and Lauren did her first 1 hour shift of driving, she did great! We made good time, so we were able to grab some groceries in Alameda, and take them down to Crab Cove for a picnic. It was perfect weather, sunny with a slight breeze, and we watched the pelicans dive in the bay as we lay in the grass. Lovely. Finally we made our way to Thee Stork Club. After looking around for parking to no avail, we found a spot a few blocks away. We made our way to Telegraph Ave, where we spotted the big red sign and headed in. We walked into the main showroom and there she was, RILEY! My best friend of over 30 years, setting up on stage with her band. Riley and I met in Grade 3 when I moved to her small town in Ontario. We became best friends and spent a few years together riding bikes, climbing trees, and getting up to all sorts of small town mischief. When my family decided to make the move to BC in Grade 7, we didn’t miss a beat. We’ve visited each other almost every year since then, sometimes more than once. Growing up we listened to a lot of music together and were always messing around on instruments. When we got older, we both formed our own projects, Riley started Burnt Palms, and Tracey and I started Love Cuts. Eventually on those yearly visits, we started to write songs together. They were silly and fun and free, and we called it Drownded, a project that continues to this day and will hopefully never end. When WUT originally started, before Tracey and Lauren had officially joined, I had written a bunch of demos and sent them to Riley to play some drum tracks on, not really knowing what kind of project I wanted it to be. Tracey and I had been playing in Knife Pleats, and when that ended, I was feeling like I wanted to take a break from being in a band, and starting getting into home recording and working on songs solo. Eventually, I decided I was ready for a band with members close to home. So first I asked Tracey, and fortunately Lauren was stoked to join us, and that’s how we got to the WUT you know today. All this to say, Riley and I haven’t lived in the same town since 1997, and aside from the Love Cuts playing one show with Burnt Palms back in the day, we don’t really get many opportunities to play together, let alone shows.
So, I was VERY excited to see Riley and spend the next two days together playing shows and hanging out with her music family. The night was everything I could have hoped for! All of the people in her community are such genuine, down to earth, nice people, who truly have a love for good music! Artsick were up first and they absolutely killed it! Mike from Slumberland joined them in between his top-tier DJing, adding in some fantastic distorted guitar. For our set, we had planned for something extra special. On our new album, Riley recorded an excellent guitar track on the song Feelings, so we asked her to join us to play it, and also if she wanted to learn some of the lead guitar from a few other songs. Of course she said yes! We were able to do 1 quick green room practice before the show, and it was the most breezy, effortless, natural run through, with all 4 of us harmonizing in some kind of perfect angels stars aligned universe. It was truly a dream come true to play together. The night continued, and both Monster Treasure and Kids on a Crime Spree were incredible! I felt so happy to be sharing the stage with these amazing bands. Mike (AKA Kid Frostbite), kept the party going with his DJ set, and everyone was feeling it! So many happy people dancing and enjoying the music, it was a great energy. We danced till late, chatting with lots of people who were stoked on the album, and taking silly photos until it was time to go.
Day 10
Sacramento, CA – Phono Select
Kids on a Crime Spree, Artsick, Monster Treasure
Lauren: Reunited with Monster Treasure and it feels so good! Rachel, Briana and RJ have been so incredibly good to me and all my crazy bands over the last like 10 years! Almost every time one of my projects has toured through Cali these guys have showed up huge for us, connecting my bands to the coolest underground venues and local bands… I am so lucky to call them my friends! The show at the stork club was rad!!!! What a lovely venue and kind folks. Waking up at Rachel’s house after the Stork Club show was a big highlight of tour. Here we sipped coffee next to her backyard wading pool, got some laundry done, and got hooked on this TLC show “Love after Lock-up” while stretched out on her huge couch. You really don’t get many days like this on tour and we were lapping it up!
Kaity: We spent the morning relaxing at Rachel’s lovely home, and when it was finally time to head over to Sacramento, I offered to drive. Riley joined us, sitting shotgun and playing DJ. The drive was beautiful. We took a route that followed the Sacramento River. The trees swayed in the late summer breeze, no doubt a hot breeze, as this was set to be 100 degree day. Thankfully, we remained comfortable in our air conditioned van, enjoying the winding road and quaint landscape. When we finally arrived and stepped outside, the heat immediately overwhelmed us, and we retreated into Phono Select. This is where we finally go to meet the wonderful Ilene, who organized the show. She had prepared a lovely spread of snacks and cold drinks in the back, thinking of every possible thing to make the show comfortable and keep everyone hydrated and fed. It was much appreciated! The show took place outside under cover and thankfully there was a slight breeze, but of course Ilene had fans, and popsicles ready for all! Finally, Riley’s family showed up, and we got to reconnect. Despite the heat, everyone rocked their sets, and it was another incredible show. Riley joined us again for a few songs, and I loved seeing her kids dance and cheer us on with their bubbles and glowsticks. It was again, heart warming and dreamy! We had another big drive ahead of us, so when the show ended, we took one big group photo and said our goodbyes. As we sat quietly in the van entering the hotel into the GPS, Riley ran over to my window, smacking her hands against the glass, for one last surprising farewell! We laughed and hugged one more time and said, “goodbye for now,” as we like to do.
Day 11
Arcata, CA – Outer Space
Blub, Los Perdidos
Tracey: Humboldt county is my new travel vacation destination. The fog, the ocean, the forest, the cherry pie with soft serve from Toni’s, it is all absolutely dreamy. We stayed with our old friend Scotty from the now defunct punk band, B-Lines, and his automobile aficionado partner, Cynthia. It was such joy to see Scotty thriving in a town of artists and fellow weirdos. We drove to our show at Outer Space in Arcata, and I curled up in the back of the van with some crackers and hummus before entering the venue. It’s a fantastic DIY community space that seems to go on forever through back hallways and various rooms. I sat in a rocking chair, my furniture of choice while at any punk show, and drifted into nostalgia listening to locals Blub play their groovy tunes. When we played, I noticed a cuddly couple sitting near the front and felt honoured that we could be the type of music to cuddle to. Los Perididos from Arcata played beloved rock that was raw as it was real. My heart felt rapturous and my mind was racing with ideas as we drove back to Scotty’s.
Day 12
Albany – Day off
Tracey: Unfortunately, our show in Eugene, Oregon was canceled (until next time, Who Brought Opie!) but it ended up being a long day of driving anyways, arriving at our hotel in the evening, and feeling too tired to do much other than go for a swim at the pool and order pizza. Speaking of food, my tour diet pretty much consisted of a bag of sweet kale chopped salad by day, and a veggie burrito at night. Oh, and of course, flats of soda water. Last tour I had eaten cereal every day, but had trouble keeping my almond milk cool on this trip. On our drive through the redwoods and along the foggy coast, we recorded a radio blurb for the breakfast show on KAOS. I had to write down my lines, but I’m not sure how well that helped, as I still ended up saying my words all wrong until the 4th or 5th try.
Day 13
Olympia – San Francisco Bakery
Trust Fall, Yarrow, Generifus
Tracey: Our show in Olympia was outdoors at San Francisco street bakery. Our friend Markly Morrison from Low Pro podcast helped us book the gig, and we presented him with a theoretical trophy. Before the show, we ate at Quality Burrito and I had an exceptional fried tofu sandwich. I made a big scene about how I always finish my meal and never need to ask for a take-out container- but then I couldn’t finish my meal, and had to ask for a take out container. Whomp whomp. A highlight of the show, for me, was when I was laying on the grass, watching Generifus, and a child came up to me, grabbed my leg, and started dancing with it. After watching Yarrow play, I decided that WUT needs a bongo/tambourine player. I lost my mind a little watching Trust Fall because they are so, so splendid. This was our first show on the tour where we had our records for sale in the flesh, so we were thrilled to touch, hold, kiss, and sell them. Our friends Freddie and Kenny from Your Daily Hour with Me (Thurston county, WA, public access tv super show) were there and Freddie filmed our entire set for a very special future episode of YDHWM. Kenny left early so he could film YDHWM in the studio, so we phoned him from the bakery and then decided to Vin Diesel it to the studio to make it onto the final 5 minutes of the tv show. What a rush. We parted ways after Kenny showed us the incredible multi-colored jumpsuit he is crocheting in his crafting group.
Day 14
Tacoma – Cush Hill
Freddie Lee Toyoda, Nester
Tracey: We stayed at a hotel on the outskirts of Olympia, and I cried in front of the staff because I thought I was late to the free breakfast buffet. Turns out the make your own waffle machine was still hot to trot, so my tears, like usual, were in vain. After being told by my friend at Collective Groan that we were going to play a frat house in Tacoma, I was fully prepared to walk into some sort of party straight out of an American Pie movie.To top it off, the house was called Cush hill, and I know I’m a square but I am pretty sure that is a weed reference. However, no beer pong skills were needed, as it was just your regular sweet punk house, but with an ice box full of refreshments- thanks to Freddie Lee Toyoda. We were ecstatic to play a show with Freddie Lee and their full band, fresh haircuts and all. Tacoma locals Nester were a real joy, and we ended the show wanting to come back to Tacoma as soon as possible. But first, we wanted to leave Tacoma- as soon as possible- to get back home into our own beds. We drank Red Bulls and sang along to 90’s alternative for the 3 hour drive back across the border to Vancouver, Canada.
Day 15
Vancouver BC- Red Gate
Kerkland Jerks, Muppet boys, the Drink Tickets
Kaity: After spending the day relaxing back at home, it was time for the final show of tour! Lauren picked me up in her little mini cooper, and when we got to Red Gate, I set up shop behind the merch table assembling more records. I had not seen the Drink Tickets or Muppet Boys before, and they both were amazing, putting on a great show. Kirkland Jerks as always, were incredible. It was so nice to see friends and play one last show on this home run of a tour!
Tracey: We arrived home from Tacoma around 2am, and I was greeted by my very confused dog, who probably had assumed that I was just gone forever and life without Tracey was the new normal. I slept the day away and then got ready to go to Red Gate, one of the only all ages venues in Vancouver. Apparently 15 days is long enough for me to have extreme sushi withdrawal- so I got some rolls to bring with me to the show. We are hashtag-blessed here in Vancouver to have so many top notch bands, and new ones seem to emerge every day. Pop sweethearts the Drink Tickets have totally mastered the art of breaking the 4th wall. Muppet Boys are almost as good as Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, and Kerkland Jerks always reminds me that I am out of trail mix. Eirinn, who recorded and mixed Mingling with the Thorns, was there with his own WUT jersey that says TECH on the back. Right as we were about to start playing, Adrian Teacher showed up and handed Lauren and Kaity a beer, and when he held a can in my direction, I said “sorry I don’t drink!”, to which he replied “I know, that’s why I got you a SODA WATER”. Dang, it’s good to be home.
