Sad Park Live in the Atrium!
By Natalie Gerber Sad Park is an alternative emo punk band from Los Angeles consisting of four members. I was so excited to see that they were playing at the Catalyst since I have been a fan for a few…
Atrium Goes Belico
The Atrium Goes Belico Style On the evening of November 4th, I attended an event at the Santa Cruz Catalyst Club, which was marked by its adherence to traditional Mexican formal attire. The evening commenced with a playlist set of…
Beach Fossils Concert
by Angelina Twist 11.10.23 The Beach Fossils are an indie-rock band from Brooklyn, New York. They’ve been playing together since 2009 and the band currently includes members, Dustin Payseur, Jack Doyle Smith, Tommy Davidson, and Anton Hochheim. On tour…
Movements, Mannequin Pussy, and More: A Sold Out Catalyst Show Review
By Amahli Vivian On October 13, the post-hardcore/emo revival band Movements came to Santa Cruz with their three opening bands to perform their sold-out show at the main stage at the Catalyst. Movements’ new album RUKUS! was released in August…
Dying Wish Show at The Vets Hall
As part of their tour, Dying Wish made a stop here in Santa Cruz to perform at the Vets Hall with bands Omerta, Gates to Hell, Excide, and Forced To Suffer on October 20th 2023! The opening band was Forced…
Real Indie Artists Drive Minivans: Interview with Mom Cars
By Emma Speicher If there is one band that knows how to sell the ultimate indie band mantra, it’s Mom Cars. Mom Cars - vocalist and guitarist Brendon Le, drummer Jacob Thrasher, guitarist Cole Winters, and backup vocalist and bassist,…
High Desert Rock with a Bit O’ Twang: Interview with Charity Kiss
By Emma Speicher If there is one band that would perfectly capture the ethereal experience of living in a neon Nevadan landscape, it would be the one and only Charity Kiss. Fresh off their impressive six state pilgrimage, I had…
What the Funk?!: Interview with GTRI and 7Come11
By Emma Speicher Every Tuesday night from 7pm to late, a crowd of unconventional characters of all ages gather at Woodhouse Brewery in Santa Cruz. A lustrous voice pours through the doors, accompanied by an oscillation of organic synth and…
An Evening with Death Grips – Live at the Warfield
By Brock Hrehor Going into a Death Grips show, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Between the band’s difficult to categorize sound and sparse online presence, it’s scarcely an exaggeration to say I was going in blind. Although words…
Snail Mail at the Rio Theater
By Seanan Maher It's a tough gig, playing a show in Santa Cruz on 4/20. I've seen amazing bands fail to get the energy of a crowd up even on days where the whole audience hadn't been inhaling the Devil's…
Maggie Rogers at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
By Natalie Gerber When Maggie Rogers announced her Feral Joy tour last year, I knew I had to go one way or another. To my luck, her last show took place in San Francisco. Pulling up to the venue was an…
A Night with The UCSC Orchestra
By Angelo Claure Showtime at the Music Center Recital Hall It was a cold and rainy night on Thursday, March 9th at the UC Santa Cruz Recital Hall, but the music could not be delayed nor the crowd discouraged. The…
Decade of Hate Tour- Going to my First Metal Show
By Talk Director Metal is a genre I have always been interested in learning more about, as I have only ever listened to the subgenre Nu-metal, such as bands like System of a Down, Deftones, Korn, Slipknot, and Drowning Pool…
Post-Punk Poetry: Dry Cleaning – Live at August Hall
By Brock Hrehor Few modern bands embody contrast quite like Dry Cleaning. As innovative as they are anachronistic, the London-based post-brexit band seamlessly blends instrumentals reminiscent of Joy Division and Wire with frontwoman Florence Shaw’s spoken word, absurdist vocals. Having…
La Misa Negra at Moe’s Alley – 12/02/2022
Speeding down the 1, past Dominican Hospital, next to the REI and Marshall’s parking lot, sits a tiny hut with string lights outlining its place on Commercial Way. If I wasn’t looking for it, there’s no way I would have…
The Garden at the Catalyst: Reflections on Clown Cosplay
By Isabella Balbi Going to a Garden show is an experience - one that grows increasingly more rare given the state of live music today. On KZSC alone there are already 4 separate blog posts dissecting The Garden’s past performances…
Omar Apollo and Ravyn Lenae at the San Jose Civic
By Alexis Camacho A not-so-exciting Wednesday began with me crapping for my ecology midterm and quickly turned into a night of groovy dancing, singing, and even some crying at the San Jose Civic. With Omar Apollo and Ravyn Lenae taking…
A Conversation with Pretty Sick at Bottom Of The Hill
By Kate Beemer Monday, November 7, 2022 On Thursday, November third, I had the pleasure of seeing Pretty Sick perform at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. This NYC ( lower east side :D) rooted, grunge-rock band was formed by…
Babe Rainbow – Live at Moe’s Alley 10.2.22
By Kate Marsden Since high school, I’ve been listening to the Australian indie-psychedelic-surf rock group Babe Rainbow (comprised of. Angus Dowling, Jack Crowther, Elliot O’Reilly, and Miles Myjavaec) so I was rather stoked to hear that they were performing in…
The John Doe Folk Trio at Moe’s Alley, Oct. 14, 2022
By Polly Gone Throughout my life, I’ve heard the music of X played at my house, but when I started really divulging in their music in high school, and later when we would see X live together, my mom would…