Claudeo's goal to eat ice cream across America

Indie electro-pop duo Claudeo recently returned from a U.S. tour that included dates in Stanley, Idaho (pop. 100), New Orleans, and an impromptu festival in San Antonio, Texas.

Half the band, Ivan DeYoung-Dominguez, talked to the Reader about bald eagles, Christian goths, and ice cream across America:

“I’ve never been on tour before.... I’d traveled a little bit through Spain and Argentina to help perfect my command of castellano but nothing as large scale as touring across the United States....

“A couple moments stand out in my mind. We played at a wedding in Stanley, Idaho, which was beautiful. While at the wedding I saw a bald eagle [in the wild] for the first time. I’ve done my fair share of backpacking and camping, but I didn’t realize how large bald eagles were. It’s pretty unmistakable. As the eagle flew off, the girl next to me turned and said, ‘Merica.’...

“In Cincinnati, we met a woman who is affably referred to as Goth Mom Donna. She’s active in the Midwest Christian Goth community. We were kinda blown away because we didn’t know much about goths, and even less about Ghristian goths. She runs a ministry called the Grave Robbers....

“While in Cincy, we ate at Jenny’s Ice Cream. We made it a thing to eat all kinds of ice cream across America (I gained ten pounds on tour) and I can say with some certainty that Jenny’s is, hands down, a cut above all other gourmet ice-cream makers....

“We played in New York the weekend before Hurricane Sandy hit. It was a bit disconcerting when Sandy hit because we had literally just been there. Fortunately, we were in the South, safe and sound....

“When we got to San Antonio, the gig we had had fallen through, but a local band, the Lost Project, helped us book a gig — on the main stage of a festival that weekend....

“Driving between Dallas and Santa Fe, New Mexico, we saw one chemical-plant fire, one car fire, and a commercial semi-truck with its merchandise on fire.

“In Santa Fe, I didn’t realize we were at 7200 feet elevation. I tried doing my usual morning workout and could not do anything. I thought it was the ice cream that finally had caught up with me, but our host cited the elevation. We hadn’t yet acclimated.”