SXSW 2010 - A Music Diary
So after an eager year of waiting, the time had finally come for South by South West 2010 music festival in Austin, Texas. How could this fair against the magnificent experience of 2009? The line-up appeared promising. This time round 2000 bands and a similar number of venues.
It all started with a sapping 22 hours of travel door to door, but for sure this was going to be worth it.
DAY ONE - 16/3/2010
Arrived in Austin the late part of the evening and having checked in the perfectly good, functional and clean Extended Stay America Hotel, decided that with 10 minutes to go to the close of registration, registration to the festival was in order, so managed to get a cab to the Austin Conference Center to register and was successful, just! Then managed to get a few bands in ahead of the official start, so where better to start than the magnet that is Latitude 30, the home of the British Music Embassy. Having first met up with the rest of our party who had already been in Austin for a few days, we took in the delights of Stricken City, (http://www.myspace.com/strickencity) a four piece new wave pop band, similarities to Siouxsie and the Banshees, a nice intro to the music fair.
A free bar was taken advantage of before next up, Unicorn Kid (http://www.myspace.com/unicornkid) a solo artist whose sounds seem to raise a few questions, firstly the K-POP sounds emanating from the stage were great, but how were these sounds coming from a single person and what instruments were being played? This was somewhat mysterious given all that could be seen was the occasional turning of a few knobs on a mystery box of tricks in front of him. Good none the less. Musican? Not sure, but great sound. Finally, One Night Only, (http://www.myspace.com/onenightonlyonline) an indie rock pop band from Yorkshire, this being their first gig for a year, not bad, however, the keyboard player was seemingly out of sync with the rest of the band. A good start, now let's get this party started!
DAY TWO (SXSW start and St. Patrick's Day) - 17/3/2010
So as to mingle in with the locals, green attire was in order and a kick start breakfast at the local Katz's deli diner with a pint of Guinness before 10 o'clock! Nothing doing music wise till midday, so straight to the Austin Conference Center (Exhibition) to hob knob with industry types and schmooze with the vendors for some blagware, here was born the TFC (formerly known as the AFC but for very obvious football reasons was changed forthwith. Too much like hard work to get an 'H' into the acronym). The Texas Freeloaders Club had been formed and it's founder members did it proud with it's first day's acquisitions. Such was the enormity of the apparel that a trip back to the hotel was in order before taking in any music. An embarrassing walk up town, was quickly overcome by, yes you guessed it, a trip back to Latitude 30 and the welcome Belfast Party.
First up, the very fine ASIWYFA (And So I Watch You From Afar - http://www.myspace.com/andsoiwatchyoufromafar) a melodious rock guitar band followed by Fighting with Wire (http://www.myspace.com/fightingwithwire) an alternative four piece rock band from Northern Ireland bordering on new age punk. Next up General Fiasco a three piece indie rock band that played last year, but this time round not as good and half way through the set, set off to the next venue.
That would be the unmistakable famous Antones and a five piece raw punk band called The Krum Bums, (http://www.myspace.com/krumbums) very entertaining with the Mohican lead singer diving off stage and crowd surfing, such trust in your fans to be caught! There was something about this lot that I believe needed a second viewing or at least a preview of their studio albums.
For some reason the organisers decided that between two fast paced punk bands, a very unfunny comedian would act as good fare, but never the less Lucas Molandes took the stage for around 15 minutes which allowed for a top up at the pay bar. Finally, the reason for being in Antones, to see the 
Riverboat Gamblers (http://www.myspace.com/theriverboatgamblers) and no disappointment either with the set comprising as usual a fast paced new age punk rock set which draws comparisons with the wonderful Ramones, although more energetic. The lively Mike Wiebe pacing up and down on stage making the occasional sojourn into the crowd and up some scaffold to blurt out some lively numbers from their two excellent albums. A big local following singing along to some catchy numbers. A quick dinner and Margaritas at the Spaghetti Warehouse and then off to the seedy Red 7 venue to initially see a Japanese solo artist, Maruosa (http://www.myspace.com/maruosa10000) . Well, I say, probably worth saying this was the worst performance ever experienced by a long, long way! Maruosa played no instruments, did not sing, just spent 99% of the set headbanging to prearranged metal instrumental music from a box of tricks in a rack on the stage with the very occasional shout into the mike. Now, having seen some hardcore punk & metal bands in my time, some not so talented and not tuneful, this guy took the biscuit. His small entourage tried to sell T-shirt's during the session, one of them gaffer taping the shirts and price on the Red 7 wall near the stage. $10 during the gig, increasing to $15 once he had done, whatever it was that the forgettable Maruosa does on the stage, however no surprise that there were no sales at all. Quite comical watching both play out. However, the reason for the visit to Red 7 was to see the hardcore metal band from Toronto, Bastard Child Death Cult, (http://www.myspace.com/bastardchilddeathcult) a five piece band who played to a very small crowd of around 20 or so (10 more than Maruosa!).
A reasonable set, very loud however the sound was somewhat distorted so difficult to get a fair sense of how good this band were.
What do you know, another visit ensued back to Latitude 30 to take in the widely acclaimed Chew Lips (http://www.myspace.com/chewlips) a three piece electro, experimental indie band with female singer Tigs leading the way. Good sound which drew a large appreciative crowd. Shades of LCD Soundsystem.
Next onto the Galaxy Room Backyard, a large tented outdoor venue to see the remarkable Choir Of Young Believers, (http://www.myspace.com/choirofyoungbelievers) the best band so far, an excellent four piece from Denmark. A series of wonderful clever indie Folk songs raced by which had the feet tapping the graveled floor. The first of many bands with a Cellist, a theme noted throughout this year's SXSW. They were followed by the equally impressive and not dissimilar Fanfarlo (http://www.myspace.com/fanfarlo) a five piece, superb eclectic alternative folk band who played almost all of their tracks on their debut album Reservoir. Another theme to emerge across this year's SXSW was band's incessant desire to show off their musical flexibility by mixing up instruments with every song played, a veritable orchestra feast, if you like that sort of thing! Anyhow, a noteworthy band and an enjoyable set.
Off to The Parish venue to see the lively We Were Promised Jetpacks, (http://www.myspace.com/wewerepromisedjetpacks) a four piece indie rock pop band, superb, only the venue was heaving and extremely hot, so only stayed for three songs but hope to catch up with this outfit at some future stage.
The end of the night and the first day, oh how I had forgot the feeling of wandering from venue to venue, standing all day, the stiff back, legs & knees, truly getting old!