When the indie-rock quartet The Beths wrapped their recent summer run through the U.K. and Europe, vocalist-guitarist Liz Stokes was still processing what she calls a “nightmare.”
About a third of the way through the tour, after crossing from Ireland into France, the New Zealand band woke to discover their instruments had been stolen from the van.
“It was tough,” Stokes recalls, speaking from home in Auckland during a rare week off before the band heads back out for a six-week U.S. trek. “But people were so kind, they lent us gear so we could keep playing. We didn’t have to cancel any shows. Touring’s hard enough as it is, but those performances always fill your cup. They make the hard days feel worth it.”
That sense of persistence —rallying through chaos, finding light in exhaustion —has become The Beths’ superpower.
Across “Straight Line Was a Lie,” their fourth studio album and first with ANTI- Records, Stokes leans into the idea that growth rarely moves in a straight line. Healing comes in loops and setbacks. Yet even through the detours, The Beths keep finding laughter and connection.
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After months of traveling through Europe’s clubs and festival stages, the band is now preparing for its North American leg, which includes a stop at The Studio at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on Nov. 7. For Stokes, returning to Los Angeles feels both familiar and surreal.
“I’ve spent some time there, and we’ve played L.A. many times,” she says. “It feels kind of surreal to be playing a room that big. The first time we played there in the city, I didn’t imagine a future where that was even a possibility. We have a lot of friends there now, so it’ll be nice to play and share that moment with them.”
For The Beths, time moves in seasons. There’s writing and recording, then the stretch of logistics — videos, rehearsals, planning — before the tunnel vision of tour life begins. “Being in a working band, which we’re really lucky to be, the years get divided into these phases,” Stokes says. “Now we’re very much in tour mode. You wake up, get to the show, load in, play it as well as you can, and that’s mission accomplished for the day. Then you do it again 30 times.”
When it came time to write “Straight Line Was a Lie,” Stokes began searching for patterns. Not just in her songs, but in her own life.
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“The idea came from realizing that linear progress was kind of an illusion,” she explains. “I thought I was going to fix everything about my life, and then it turns out that wasn’t the case. But that doesn’t mean you’re not moving forward, even when it feels like you’re going backwards or going in circles, you’re still learning, still growing. That’s just what life is.”
Much of the record took shape during an unexpected stay in Los Angeles in early 2024. After wrapping a West Coast tour, Stokes and guitarist Jonathan Pearce decided to stay behind for a few months rather than fly home. Instead of a quiet cabin retreat, they sublet rooms from fellow New Zealanders and immersed themselves in the city’s creative hum.
“I wrote every day,” Stokes says. “I told myself I’d go home with 50 songs and ended up with about 25, which still felt like a good place to start.”
The city’s constant motion proved energizing. “It was nice to pretend for a while that we lived in a megacity,” she said with a laugh. “There’s just so much going on, you can see music or comedy every night, old movies all the time, and friends from other bands were always coming through. It felt like the perfect place to write.”
That energy seeps through “Straight Line Was a Lie,” balancing its emotional weight with sentimental lyricism and upbeat tunes.
On stage, those songs evolve again. Stokes says performing them live changes their emotional temperature: “No matter how hard the day is, the show always brings you back.”
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That ethos of showing up, even when things bend or break, has carried The Beths from humble beginnings in Auckland’s DIY scene to international stages. Despite the chaos, Stokes says she and her bandmates feel more grounded than ever.
“It’s validating to look around and realize this is our career now,” she says. “I don’t feel like an imposter anymore. I just feel really grateful for my bandmates, for the people who listen, and for every chance we get to keep going.”