This is Tour Diary, where artists give us a behind-the-scenes look at life on the road. Last year, trauma ray used a break in their crammed touring schedule to record a handful of songs in Texas, pulling their sound into a darker, ominous realm that aligned with their own deepening unease and anxiety — as well as a photo of a deserted amusement park near Brighton, England, shot by drummer Nicholas Bobotas, that became the cover for their Carnival EP. “It really looks like we specifically chose this theme and had this whole preconceived idea, but it truly appeared out of thin air,” guitarist Juan Perez says. The result is dense, rhythmic, and inherently expressive, featuring abundant collaboration beyond their core songwriting duo of vocalist/guitarist Uriel Avila and Perez. “It’s the most collaborative we’ve been, where everyone was both hands-on and hands-off,” Avila adds. “You can really hear each person’s influences in almost every song in a very unique, non-biting way.”
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The Fort Worth-bred shoegazers recently took those songs and others on a co-headlining tour with Glixen — bringing along their friends in Her New Knife, Knifeplay, Money, and Keep on select dates. As always, they’re quick to show love to and shout out their peers, like in the photo above. “Erasmo is our tour manager and has been with us for a long time now,” Perez tells AP. “Some might say trauma ray would fall to pieces and crumble without him, and you would be correct. In fact, Erasmo is my favorite member of trauma ray, and I think everyone in our band would say the same. Erasmo is a badass TM, but most importantly, he is my friend.” Relive the run below.
Me being merch dog in SD. Not only do I play guitar for my band trauma ray, but I also run our merch, and Uri caught me restocking before the show at Soda Bar in San Diego.
Glixen soundcheck at Soda Bar in San Diego.
Uri, shot by Nick Bobotas.
Uri and I signing the wall at KEXP. We’ve dreamed of getting an opportunity to do a KEXP live, and never did we think that would actually happen, so you know we had to sign the wall near some of our favorite artists that have come before us.
“Show me that butthole” — these dudes came out bloody and looked extra insane after the show at The Chapel in SF. I think I looked up while playing and saw the dude in white crowdsurfing covered in blood and thought to myself, “Hell yeah.”
Day off at Sunset Cliffs, San Diego. I live in San Diego now, so it was awesome to have a day off there and take the dudes to see some sights around town near where I live.
Money is band from Oklahoma City, and these dudes know how to roll on tour. They brought a whole grill setup, meat, and shit to BBQ out back of any show. Real shit.
My pedal board at KEXP, shot by Erasmo. Eat your heart out, Reddit nerds.
Glixen TV.
Nick, B (our sound engineer), and Keire from Glixen preshow pool game, Lawrence, Kansas. This venue was awesome, legendary even.
Darren and Nick using the buddy system in Olympia. Olympia Coffee Co. rocks and has this incredible pooper setup. So whenever we leave Seattle, we always make sure to stop in Olympia, grab a coffee, and help a buddy out.
Bloody clown in SF at The Chapel. We love the fans that take it upon themselves to get dressed up in clown paint and get wild in the pit.
Jake Beitel from Prize Horse at Twin Town Guitars. Prize Horse is the best band on Earth, and Twin Town is the sickest guitar shop in the Twin Cities.
Coleman says “A OK” at KEXP.
Eras at Dick’s in Seattle. After we played KEXP, you know we had to get burgers and ice cream before the show… we also went back after the show and did it again.
Green room gamers. Uri, Esteban, and Edgar pregaming, literally before our sold-out show in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
TR clown gang in Orlando. Please keep the clown makeup coming, kids!
Strawberry Shortcake at the ballpark in Minneapolis. Strawberry Shortcake is the superior treat, and I eat one wherever I can, like this day off at the Twins game.
Uri with the gas station cheese stick pull… you couldn’t even get close to this length.
