San Jose has a unique culture, but it has nothing to do with art, food, or nature. It’s in the way San Joseans complain about living there. To love San Jose is to hate it: to commiserate with your friends about its cookie-cutter landscape or the way city leaders fail to support its creative class, but to also fiercely defend it when people outside the 408 roll their eyes and claim there’s nothing there but chain restaurants and dying malls.
That last part: kind of true, but not totally. Many locals channel that belligerent pride into a tight-knit, self-sustaining DIY arts community that’s been around for decades and shows no signs of stopping, evidenced by the long-running house show and punk circuit and San Jose Day, as a couple examples.
A recent entrant into the scene is Katie McTigue, who, under the name Pacing, released a record last month that really wowed us: PL*NET F*TNESS is an understated stroll through the trappings of suburban life, refreshing in its dissections of mundane tasks via a biting sense of humor. It’s also unmistakably San Josean: it’s got that distinct self-deprecating wit mixed with self-determination that can happen when you come from one of the country’s biggest “underdog cities.”
We sent Katie a few questions while she was on the road with AJJ to chat San Jose’s indie scene, quarter-life crises, and Carly Rae Jepsen. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
I see you’re from Pittsburgh. How did you end up in San Jose? I ask as an SJ native because it’s not exactly a place artsy types flock to like San Francisco and Oakland.
I’m actually from Florida (Tallahassee) but I lived in Pittsburgh for five years and loved it. I moved here for work! I have been working at NASA Ames Research Center since 2020, and I just quit. So now I’m in a quarter-life crisis and just doing it in San Jose because of momentum. A big thing keeping us here is the DIY scene. Ben and I are both super involved with Heavy Lemon, the local booking collective.
What similarities do you see between the Pittsburgh scene and San Jose?
I actually wasn’t really involved in the Pittsburgh scene! I mean I went to shows at Mr. Roboto and Mr. Smalls, but just as a music enjoyer. Strictly civilian. I had never played a show until I moved to San Jose. At the time I was just like “I write songs. I wish someone else would sing them but that doesn’t seem viable so I guess I’ll do it.”
That being said, they are both sort of cool underdog cities. With a LOT of talent. I like underdog cities. Sometimes SF bands come to play SJ and they’re like “Wow, everyone here is so un-jaded.”
Who is your favorite San Jose artist right now?
Tie between Star 99 and Friendship Games. And Superworld. And Christian Francisco. And Natasha Sandworms.
As a musician, what keeps you in San Jose? How does it influence your work?
I am highly influenced by all the amazing bands around me here. First of all, they showed me that playing live is totally fun and worth it. I probably never would have added a drummer to my band if I hadn’t seen Star 99. I was like “Wow, that looks fun. I want to do that.” And then I joined Asian Man Records and started recording at District and it’s opened up this whole other world. It’d be hard to leave it all behind.
What do you think are the biggest limitations to the San Jose scene’s growth, and what could help that?
One obvious thing is we desperately need a good all ages venue, with Art Boutiki shutting down at the end of this year (RIP). We love throwing DIY shows at Jade Cathay and Chromatic, but we need a bigger space to host bigger touring bands with specific production needs. If we had something like Gilman in San Jose it would be a game changer. Crossthread is a great non-profit that has some schemes in this direction. We all want kids to have places to hang out and be loud and feel accepted and creative and safe.
I saw the Carly Rae Jepsen socks (in more than one press photo!). Talk to me about why you like her and how she influences your work. I know CRJ fans are passionate people.
Who doesn’t love CRJ! I’m a big pophead. I’m not sure if she’s influenced me. Maybe her backing vocals have. She always has these delightful yelling adverbs.
I think a lot of people are just surprised at how good EMOTION is after finding “Call Me Maybe” annoying, and love to tell their friends she’s “actually” really good! Personally, I love “Call Me Maybe.” OK, maybe that did influence me a bit. I remember being like, “Fake strings are sick, actually.”
I think she’s so loveable, her songs are just so earnest and sweet. I remember someone describing her as “sweetness and desperation.” Basically she’s everything we all hated in the 2000s and now it’s OK to like again. I would love to be more earnest.
