Review: Starling's Experimental Fanbase Packs The Cat's Crawl (with Dreyted, Finnish Postcard and Total Wife)

Back in March, Gravity Bookings sent me an Instagram message with an invite to head out to The Cat's Crawl to catch a showcase he was hosting. I wasn't able to make it as I was shooting a show in DTLA, but I kept the invite in mind. On Mother's Day night (I did take my mother out to lunch, I didn't ignore her), I noticed that he was hosting another showcase at the venue that include three bands I had previously seen before (Dreyted, Finnish Postcard, and Starling) and another band that was new to me (Total Wife). I knew this was going to be a good night of music.

Starling at The Cat's Crawl

Of interest to probably only me, but this represented back to back weekends where I went to a venue that was totally new to me (and I had never heard of either venue -- technically I learned about The Cat's Crawl back in March). The weekend before I went to Milky's to cover an underground show put on by Basement for US Rocker Music. You can read that article here. Then it was off to The Cat's Crawl, which is next to the Los Angeles City College. I used to hang in the area with friends to get ice cream at Scoops. Yet, I suspect the last time I was in that area was well before March 2020, because the first thing I did after parking on Melrose was to walk north on Heliotrope to see if Scoops was still around and was surprised to learn that it had closed (closed around 2019). Oh well, there is still a location in Highland Park, which is the spot I hit up. 

As I walked into the venue, I was immediately impressed. The lobby has a classic movie palace feel to it -- on a miniature scale. The theater area had staged seating on the sides and standing room in front of the stage. The venue quickly started to fill up and from what I could tell there was a line of people at Starling's merch table.    

Opening up the night was Finnish Postcard. The band is fronted by Trey Shilts and Leo Dolan. The two guitarists also share lead vocal duties. The band came up on stage to begin their set, but the DJ kept the music going. After a few awkward moments, Dolan stepped up to the microphone and politely mentioned that they were ready to start their set. The band's comment about themselves on various music platforms says, "Trey and Leo under a tree." A nice summary of relaxation. Yet, for some of their songs they went for a garage rock sound. No matter their music beats, one could still hear the melodic singing of the duo. I've got to mention that if one takes the time to look down at Dolan's shoes, he has some footwork skills. We're in the NBA playoff period. How good is his basketball footwork? 

Finnish Postcard at The Cat's Crawl

Up next was Dreyted (the moniker for DeRon Munroe). Earlier in the year, I wrote up a review of his set over at Zebulon, which you can read here. The band did an extended line check (performing Los Angeles based band 2070's "Transducer") with Munroe mentioning to his drummer, "Give us a kick kick snare snare." He then asked after the line check, "Can I have all the lights turned off? Dark." The individual working the lights must have feared that Dreyted was going to just launch right into the set after that request, because one could hear the response, "Wait, wait, give me a second." (The band brought in their own floor lamps.) Having seen his set previously at Zebulon, I was anticipating a full on explosive experimental sound. It was appropriately delivered like an alien nervous system attack. As his set came to a conclusion, he took his guitar and extended it out into the audience to have them play his instrument. He then took off into the crowd and they parted like the Red Sea for him. The set was a series of utter controlled chaos that left the band exhausted. I could see the bassist shaking his fingers while the drummer was drenched. 

Dreyted at The Cat's Crawl

Total Wife is a Nashville based band that was started by the duo Luna Kupper and Ash Richter. If that immediately has you thinking that they must be a singer-songwriter band, you would be wrong. The band's Spotify bio has this quote about Kupper, "Like Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks, she’d wake with a new perspective on the puzzle she was piecing together." That gives you all you need to know about the surreal drone-like sounds of the band. The band describes their most recent album come back down by saying, "The intention was to create something complex but accessible; experimental, yet precise and without abstraction." Lead singer Richter added to this by dancing like a Blade Runner mannequin as the band performed with two synths. The band will be spending most of May touring with the headliner of the night Starling. 

Total Wife at The Cat's Crawl

Starling closed out the night. If you're interested, I wrote a Song Spotlight article of my favorite Starling song "Bottlebrush Tree," which you can read here. During one part of the set, lead singer-guitarist Kasha Souter Willett kept getting tangled up in the microphone cables. She eventually just had to toss the microphone stand to the side during another song. Hero of the night: Willett accidentally didn't bring her capo onto the stage and a member from one of the other band's rushed to the rescue. The band closed out the night with their mystical "Quiet" that put the crowd into a hypnotic dance. The song is a tour de force that has the band exploring the very notion of quietness by disrupting moments of calm with screaming vocals. (Why might I enjoy this band so much? Those screaming vocals had me thinking of one of my OG favorites Queen Kwong.) I first came across this band in 2024 at Echo Park Rising. To me, this band has approved significantly since that festival and I'm not sure one would recognize the 2026 version of this band as compared to that 2024 version (even though I enjoyed that set and kept the band in high regard). This band has put a lot of effort into their stage performance. To me, it indicates a band that is taking their craft seriously and I hope they find a number of new fans as they tour the country this month.    

Starling at The Cat's Crawl

Starling setlist: Sunbeam, Revolver, I Can Be Convinced, Bottlebrush Tree, Of Today & Canon, Anti-sonata, 571, See the Water, Quiet.

Total Wife setlist: froze over, second spring, sleepless, hollowed out, (dead d), make it last.

Dreyted setlist: Transducer (line check 2070 cover), Ladder, Game, Growth, Warm, Colour, Minute.

Finnish Postcard setlist: Gun Shaped Key, Asking, I Expect So Much of People, Not Even for the Weekend, Nightsick, Miss.