Four Shows and Good Times

Photographs By Donovan Ernest

Los Angeles punk band Wax Cult played a 4 show mini-tour around Southern California. The band reflects on the tour and talks about playing in a hidden skate park, sleeping in a movie theater, and how the tour bonded the band.

Southern California, USA

Who is Wax Cult and what is your music all about?

Waxcult is Gabriel Ureno(Guitar/Vocals) Christian “Dank” Miller(Bass Guitar) and “Uncle” Chris McGowan on the drums.

Dank and I were childhood friends who grew up seeing each other at the local Skatepark. We started playing in bands together in high school.

Chris and I found each other on Craigslist, we formed the band shortly after. Our music is pretty much just slice of life stuff, we write about what we know. Being slobs, not being able to skate, and crashing cars. normal stuff like that.

Where did you go on this tour? What kind of planning went into it?

We did a small Southern California tour; it was a series of 4 shows and they were all pretty short notice. The whole thing took about 2 weeks to plan and the shows were pretty damn good considering the little amount of effort that went into it, things kind of just fell into place.

What was each member's favorite stop and why?

For me personally Ventura was lit. The spot was hidden Skatepark off the trail that some locals spent time building. The ambience was great and the crowd was incredibly receptive and we sold hella merch. Uncle Chris liked Santa Ana the best the main reason being that his kit was mic’d up and he was smacking those skins loud and proud.

If I had to take a guess I would say Dank had the most fun in Chatsworth, that night was one big party and there’s a lady he fancies who always turns up at those shows, not gonna name drop because he’s shy and will probably kick my ass when he reads this.

What were the most fun parts of the tour? What were the most difficult parts?

The shows are undoubtedly what makes it worthwhile. The sleeping situations were the most difficult, being tired all the time sucked. Not having a place to go at times and a lot of time to kill. We bought tickets to go see the purge while we were waiting for the Chatsworth show and i put up the arm rests and took up like four seats in the theater, just snored for like 2 hours.

In what ways did you grow closer as a band?

Getting all snuggled up next to each other definitely brought us closer. Uncle took up like the whole fucking bed sleeping sideways when we were bunking together, woke up falling off the damn bed, and these fuckers can snore dude…I mean LOUD. I’m in no position to talk however and they will be the first to tell you that.

What would you do differently next time?

Plan better and figure out our sleeping situations without a doubt.

What's next for Wax Cult?

We just finished our first EP and are in the process of signing our first record contract so we can put it out. Assuming this shitty virus doesn’t come back full force you can expect to see us terrorizing LA and the surrounding areas a whole lot more, we are also aiming to hit Washington and Portland within the next year.

To See More of Wax Cult, Follow @waxcultband