Albuquerque rock band Prism B!tch starts nationwide tour at Launchpad

Raucous Albuquerque rock band Prism B!tch is kicking off a 2025 nationwide tour with an all-ages matinee show at the Launchpad on Saturday, March 22, at 12:30 p.m.

While the band promises to deliver the same rowdy, high-octane, stage-diving performances fans expect, they say they’re also looking forward to playing a matinee show.

“We can rock out, then have dinner, then go to bed,” said Lauren Poole (bass, vocals). “It’s great!”

“And when we say ‘all ages,’ it’s not just that we’re letting people under 21 in. We’re also trying to make something available to folks who are older, too,” Poole said.

“We have the power to create spaces where everyone can feel welcome,” said Lilah Rose (keys, guitar, vocals).

“We wanna get away from this idea that music has to be done in the dark and late at night,” said Chris Walsh (guitar). “Or even in a bar. It doesn’t have to be tied to alcohol.”

The band said they often start their shows with a tequila toast, but they drink a lot less than they used to. They have all given up smoking, too.

“The more you tour, the more realize you have to take care of yourself and pace yourself. You wanna have fun, but you also have a job to do,” said Teresa Cruces (drums, vocals). “There’s times after we’ve played six nights in a row where our ‘party’ is just, let’s watch ‘Steel Magnolias.’”

“I am learning in my older age that the more mellow nights we have are really, really special,” Rose said, “because I can remember them.”

Prism B!tch has been together for 9 years. The band evolved out of an experimental theater project Poole and Walsh were working on about women in prison.

“We had the idea to be called Prison B!tch before ‘Orange Is the New Black’ came out,” Poole said. “So, that was just in the zeitgeist.”

“It was misheard by Lauren’s family member as Prism B!tch, and then we all went, oh, that’s better,” Cruces said. “Piss and vinegar and rainbows. That seemed to be more of our aesthetic.”

“Rainbows and rage,” Rose added.

Prism B!tch’s first public performance was at a punk rock open mic night at Winning Coffee. They showed up with two partially written songs and ended up denting the coffee shop’s communal drum set.

“Winning closed down, probably because they couldn’t afford to buy another drum set,” Cruces joked.

Over the years, Prism B!tch has had their share of hairy adventures on the road, from crashing rental vans to booking hotels that turned out not to be hotels.

“One time in Tacoma, we showed up, and the hotel had been taken over and become a squat. There was active sex work and drug deals happening, and we were like, ‘Where’s the lobby?’” Poole said. “It was a learning experience, because now I never book a hotel without reading the reviews.”

Another time, they got into an argument with an overly enthusiastic fog machine operator at an art space they were playing in Denver.

“He just kept the haze going and going and wouldn’t turn it off. He was like, ‘It’s my art,’” Cruces said. “We all got bronchitis.”

Yet the band maintains a positive attitude.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a situation where I would not have wanted to do a show,” Cruces said. “We played a show in Salt Lake where we just played for the opening band and two bartenders, but I remember the pizza being really fun, and then getting a nice, sweet Airbnb.”

The rest of the band agreed.

“Part of the beauty of touring is just, like, ‘What’s gonna happen tonight?’” Cruces said.

The band stressed the importance of community.

“We’re all about love and community and holding space for each other,” Rose said.

“Albuquerque is very much in our DNA, but so is road life,” Cruces said. “So, we just hope to bring some version of home with us wherever we go.”

Albuquerque rock band Prism B!tch starts nationwide tour at Launchpad