Fire Walk With Us: From The Crocodile to Twin Peaks
On the road with Leathers and ACTORS—plus a new Founding Member perk
Hi Dreamers,
How are you? Our cherry trees are blooming, little birdies are singing, the neighbours are waving, Mary’s got the zoomies—Spring has definitely arrived. Our Vancouver winters are so grey that when we start to see shadows on the ground from actual sunlight, it’s a glorious occasion.
This spring, I’m introducing a new perk for Founding Member subscriptions. As a thank-you for your support, I’d love to send you something special: a handwritten lyric sheet for any LEATHERS song of your choice.
If you’re not yet a Founding Member and want to be, you can upgrade your subscription today at 20% off the regular price using this magical button below.
p.s. This discount also works for regular annual subscriptions—just note that only the Founding Member option includes the lyric sheet offer 🖤
We’ve put on some miles in 2025. The band has taken us to Europe, Mexico, the USA, home, and back again. Most recently, we were in Seattle and Portland for a pair of ACTORS and Leathers shows. Our families and friends have been curious, and a little unnerved, about the atmosphere down south towards Canadians, and I’m happy to report that in our experience, the feeling towards us wandering minstrels is exactly the same—they’re happy to see us because, unlike the raging dumpster fire of current events, live music actually makes people feel good.
Our experiences at the border have been business as usual; easy breezy with some standard terseness. On our way to Texas in March the gruff customs officer at YVR tells me that our P2 visa is “NOT A VISA, IT’S A STATUS”. Okay, thank you Officer, good to know. I remained polite, albeit a tad confused, and we were allowed through. Once we arrived at our gate, I reviewed our paperwork again, which I can confirm says visa all over it. Hmm.
The land border, which we will cross on this trip, is usually a more time-consuming procedure. I think it depends on the officer, but if they haven’t encountered the musician’s visa before, we get brought into secondary processing which can add hours to the trip. With that possibility in mind we decided to head to Seattle a day early to account for any delays. Well, after a mere 10mins in the vehicle line, I’m happy to report there was no delay at all. Our officer was cheerful, understood the assignment, and we were States-side once again.
At a rest stop just outside of Seattle, a man sees our BC plates and apologizes to us profusely on behalf of his country. He tells us he’s a gay married man, and feels deeply concerned and vulnerable about the future. This kind of conversation is becoming a regular occurrence in each US city we visit. He asks us about the band, our show, (we’ll play The Crocodile the next night) and he tells us he met his husband at a popular new wave night in Belltown, a gay club affectionately named “Tugs”. I love this love story!
Back in the van, we carry on towards the city, check into the hotel, and grab dinner together. I notice it’s almost 7pm so I jet over to the Sub Pop Records store to grab a few things before closing. They have a lovely collection of books and vinyl, but I have my heart set on a particular item. I have been wanting their classic “LOSER” shirt for years, and yesssss, they have it in stock. Fist pumps! The shopkeep tells me his friend is really looking forward to our show tomorrow—what a nice feeling. I pick out a couple of gifties for the band as well, and then scurry back to the hotel room. I have a sparkly daydream, a premonition maybe, that one day we will be signed to the label. I say this out loud to Jay, to inform him and the universe of my plan. I keep dreaming.
Back at the hotel, it’s actually super nice to have an overnight to chill before the show. To my endless delight, Kendall has started watching Twin Peaks for the first time, so we get cozy with some snacks and knock down three episodes of Season 2. Despite having seen Twin Peaks so many times, I am still discovering things in the series. On this viewing, two boys on a bunk bed are spellbound watching a faceless girl dance in the dark with a flashlight. I don’t remember this scene at all, yet it radiates that special Lynchian magic. It feels plucked right from Lynch’s own memory palace. In a few days we’ll be in Twin Peaks country, and we make plans to stop in North Bend to visit some of the locations on the way home from Portland. It’s getting late. Bedtime. We turn off the lights, but like bunk bed boys, we end up talking deep into the night about art, life, and everything in between before drifting into dreams.
Our return to Seattle and The Crocodile is a full circle moment for us. The first time ACTORS played in the USA it was at The Crocodile’s Back Bar in 2018. I clearly remember stepping inside and seeing Charles Peterson’s famous photographs on display, feeling the echo of Seattle music history all around us. It was a modest first appearance, I think I told you before, we played for about 10 people, and were paid in pizza (although, it was very good pizza!). This time around we are booked to play the main room, with about 500 people expected. We’re excited, really excited. We arrive at load-in to find out that our sound engineer Tyler is actually the same engineer from our first show at Back Bar! How cool. It’s an unexpected and welcome reunion. We soundcheck both bands, and wow, it sounds amazing—definitely one of the best sounding stages we’ve ever played on.
The show feels electric and is a career highlight for both bands. I’m so proud of us, we have travelled a long way to get back here. For Leathers, these recent shows feel so powerful. I’m singing stronger than ever before and it’s been such a pleasure to perform these songs live for you. As a reformed shy-girl, being a front-person feels so right, I’m really embracing it.
On the way to Portland, we stop for lunch at the World’s Nicest Subway Restaurant. Seriously, it radiates with sunny pleasantness and top tier sandwich artistry. The owner tells us that Sean Penn and The Chameleons rolled through here recently too. After soundcheck in Portland we visit Powell’s City of Books. Kendall scores a copy of J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise and Houdah surprises me with a pocket book of Kurt Cobain’s lyrics. We return to the venue, it’s almost time to play.
The shows are always good. After the Leathers set, I sit outside for a moment to recharge, and a cat struts out of the shadows and sits on my lap. Her name tag reads: Princess Sarah. I feel like I have been visited by The Queen. 👑
In the morning we fuel up at Stumptown for coffee before our pilgrimage to Twede’s Cafe; Twin Peaks’ diner. As we roll into drizzly North Bend, the Douglas fir trees extend their branches to hug the road closer and closer. We cue up the Twin Peaks theme on Spotify to set the mood. We’ve arrived.
At Twede’s we’re seated in the back booth with a photograph of Norma Jennings (Peggy Lipton RIP). I love diners. My go-to order is a BLT and a Cherry Coke. The food hits the spot and we share several pieces of ‘damn fine’ cherry pie (plus one slice of apple for variety). I excuse myself and I slip out of the booth to snap a few photos around the diner before we drive up to the Falls. At the lookout, the rain pauses just in time for a group photo:
It seems I’ve run out of space for now, I promise to write again soon soon soon. I still have tons of photo to share from our recent tour travels and beyond.
Thanks for being part of this journey. XO
That was a fun read. I love the Twin Peaks fandom, I’ve got to plan a stop to get two pieces of that cherry pie the next I’m traveling in the northwest.
DAMN fine post. And HOT!