3/15/06 SXSW day 1
My first venture down to that great state they call texas was an amazing one. I headed down to the fest without anything but a list of free shit and a handful of rsvps, i was gonna have a good time, if it killed me and trust me, it almost did. After 30 hours of driving over 2 days with 5 people crammed in a minivan we finally made it deep down into (clap clap clap) the heart of texas, and there was no going back until it was all over.
Probably, and by probably i mean mos definitely, the savior of sxsw was toddp of nyc fame, the man decided to roll on down there and put on the best free shit at a local bar that even made the locals go crazy for. i spent the entirity of my first day on the wonderful Mrs. B's Patio, catching some not so warm weather while viewing a slew of great bands, some new, some old favs:
the people played very first, i didnt get any pix because i rolled in around thier last song. it was cool loose experimental drums(kevin shea of storm and stress fame) and guitar. i liked the drum stylings, they were all over the place, but there was a lot going on.
Hightower is a rock n roll band to the fullest extent of the law, some metal ass shit. it was like noon but i was fucking blown away, duder rocked out on the table we were sitting at and shredded some shit in my buddies face, it was fucking rad. think about the least bullshit rock youve ever heard and then take a way 10x more bullshit and you will be close to this band. SF nows how to grow em. sidenote: the drummer was superrad, he kept fucking shit up at every set by other bands, often doing skate tricks right up on stage, no one had any stops left to pull this week, they dun pulled em all!
Shellshag was a nyc band that i had heard the name of but never really got to see, well im not letting that happen anymore, this dup was excellent, dueling vocals into microphones on one stand that faced each other, awesome. and they kicked it off with the drummer girl trashing a rope with a bunch of cymbals on the end through the air and down hard on the concrete, she also wears tons of jingle bells on her waist and feet for a bit more rythm to her bear bones drum kit. they are the diy-ite stripes. and since no one would let up during sxsw at the end of the set we got not one, not two but three guitar through drums explosions. they just belw the shit outta those heads. rockin.
Walken was another killer metal band from SF, they were no hightower, but they still rocked the early morning right.
alright, so i think the single best surprise of the whole fetival was Ill Ease this one lady rock band was a really awesome idea that is completely her own. and it isnt just a good idea the execution is so perfect. what ms. sharp does, is play really great indie rock drums and guitar tunes without any help whatsoever. shell start you off with some sweet guitar licks and sing a bit then shell loop the fuck out of it and then give you a kick ass drum solo to show you the way. sometimes she works with prerecorded backbeats and those are great as well, she only uses them when its something thats going to be to complicated to pull off live, and there aint nothing wrong with switching up a formula if its gonna kick the content into overdrive, check out some ill ease, because unfortunately for these hometown homies shes gonna be on tour until june, but thats fantastic news for you out-o-towners. go let her know that she rocks, but she doesnt need you to tell her because she already knows.
Panther was my first disappointment of the festival. not because of his musical content, but because there werent that many people there he acted all shitty about it. now this is something i cannot stand. i have seen many bands that i enjoy do this, and it completely turns me off to them, no one wants to see you play songs and then hear you pout during the breaks, no i understand it must not feel good to play to a small crowd, but suck it up, show the kids there whats up and then theyll tell 2 friends and theyll tell 2 friends etc. his musical content also bothered me, he seems like a less talented barr, and you know i love my barr, it was even more noticable because he was wearing a barr shirt, hes got some fucnky fresh moves, ill give him that, but seriously less baby and ill say maybe.
READY MATT? READY KIM?
do i still need to tell people how awesome i think matt and kim are, well i guess not, but i will anyway. they are the coolest kids who ever cooled. seriously i had tons of fun while hanging with these guys down in atx. i got to talk to them and pretty soon they are going to be recording a full length in LA, they are out there right now, its just a matter of time until the world gets 11 new matt and kim tracks unleashed on thier deaf ears. oh man, chills. i have only heard a handful of these joints live, speaking of, i forgot to put a link in my review of thier FL shows, but a pal o mine named maggie took a sweet video of them playing thier new song, "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah" dont know if thats what its called but thats the chorus, now keep in mind maggie is not a lighting technician or videographer, but she does have a sweet camera that takes video and a good sense of what great music is, watch it here, but more just listen to it really. oh and there was a videographer from new york noise catching some great footage of them on stage that day in texas so keep an eye out for it on channel 25 on tues. nights @ 10.
Meneguar is another one of those bands i talk about all the time, but ill continue to talk. they have been playing some new tracks recently, and they are great. this show was a quick one off with no real surprises, but they are on tour with m+k right now and have a bunch of showcases to play and am sure they want thier best feet put forward, so thats what they do, they give the 5 songs they are most proud of and rock them as professionally as possible and i hope that lots of people who never got to see them before were impressed, they shoudlve been.
Die! Die! Die! from NZ were a killer punk trio that have a very early british punk sound to them, the accent doesnt hurt the validity of that label either. they have a handful more shows left in the US before they make thier way back down under, so catch em (that show w/wolfmother @ bowery doesnt look like a bad choice if you ask me)
Measles Mumps Rubella as i have said in the past are awesome sounding super hero rock that bring to mind a psyched out devo taking you on a rocket to jupiter. they got a great response at this set, and they played really well, the lead singer was doing his signature dances and people loved it, he kind of does this low to the ground sweeping thing, its great. listen to some album tracks,you must know that the live show varies greatly, but its still trip-o-riffic. and i also learned at this show, that the singer is new to the band as of about a year ago, i had no idea.
The Psychic Ills played the best show i have seen them play, it may have been the fact that they played so early normally i am tired and these guys kind of lull you that way its good, but it just flows along at some points and you can get lost in the sound. social registry is putting out some great bands these days and the ills are no exception.
The next band was another one of the coolest things about the whole festival, right after the ills finished a van tore into the parking lot and out came 4 dudes who proceeded to rock out for the next 10 mins, gorilla rock shows are the new underground rock shows, impromptu jams you have to be lucky to catch will take over the world silently. The Teenage Harlets rolled around in a van with speakers attached to the top and thier drummer attached to the interior, the roll up jump out rock and then roll, and they were good to, they reminded me a bit of the phenomenauts but a bit more bluesy garagey, it was great.
The Double played a more new york indie type set then had been seen all day, they are like interpol, but good, and out there a bit more. its the singers voice thats commanding enough to let you know, but not be over bearing and after two records the band really has thier shit together, i mean they had to in order to get thier new record on matador.
Night after Night finished off my night right, another one of the metal bands from SF, these dudes dont care about any one else being there, all of those bands are just good friends there to cheer each other on, and it helps a lot, for the crowd at least, great music is made by great people, i think jesus said that. check out the dudes shredding on top of the uhaul.
i took off early that night because the free night shot fell through, but i figured why not just chill, i got three killer days ahead of me, ill stock up on bengay and dayquill and get an early start tommorow. and i did just that.
Probably, and by probably i mean mos definitely, the savior of sxsw was toddp of nyc fame, the man decided to roll on down there and put on the best free shit at a local bar that even made the locals go crazy for. i spent the entirity of my first day on the wonderful Mrs. B's Patio, catching some not so warm weather while viewing a slew of great bands, some new, some old favs:
the people played very first, i didnt get any pix because i rolled in around thier last song. it was cool loose experimental drums(kevin shea of storm and stress fame) and guitar. i liked the drum stylings, they were all over the place, but there was a lot going on.
Hightower is a rock n roll band to the fullest extent of the law, some metal ass shit. it was like noon but i was fucking blown away, duder rocked out on the table we were sitting at and shredded some shit in my buddies face, it was fucking rad. think about the least bullshit rock youve ever heard and then take a way 10x more bullshit and you will be close to this band. SF nows how to grow em. sidenote: the drummer was superrad, he kept fucking shit up at every set by other bands, often doing skate tricks right up on stage, no one had any stops left to pull this week, they dun pulled em all!
Shellshag was a nyc band that i had heard the name of but never really got to see, well im not letting that happen anymore, this dup was excellent, dueling vocals into microphones on one stand that faced each other, awesome. and they kicked it off with the drummer girl trashing a rope with a bunch of cymbals on the end through the air and down hard on the concrete, she also wears tons of jingle bells on her waist and feet for a bit more rythm to her bear bones drum kit. they are the diy-ite stripes. and since no one would let up during sxsw at the end of the set we got not one, not two but three guitar through drums explosions. they just belw the shit outta those heads. rockin.
Walken was another killer metal band from SF, they were no hightower, but they still rocked the early morning right.
alright, so i think the single best surprise of the whole fetival was Ill Ease this one lady rock band was a really awesome idea that is completely her own. and it isnt just a good idea the execution is so perfect. what ms. sharp does, is play really great indie rock drums and guitar tunes without any help whatsoever. shell start you off with some sweet guitar licks and sing a bit then shell loop the fuck out of it and then give you a kick ass drum solo to show you the way. sometimes she works with prerecorded backbeats and those are great as well, she only uses them when its something thats going to be to complicated to pull off live, and there aint nothing wrong with switching up a formula if its gonna kick the content into overdrive, check out some ill ease, because unfortunately for these hometown homies shes gonna be on tour until june, but thats fantastic news for you out-o-towners. go let her know that she rocks, but she doesnt need you to tell her because she already knows.
Panther was my first disappointment of the festival. not because of his musical content, but because there werent that many people there he acted all shitty about it. now this is something i cannot stand. i have seen many bands that i enjoy do this, and it completely turns me off to them, no one wants to see you play songs and then hear you pout during the breaks, no i understand it must not feel good to play to a small crowd, but suck it up, show the kids there whats up and then theyll tell 2 friends and theyll tell 2 friends etc. his musical content also bothered me, he seems like a less talented barr, and you know i love my barr, it was even more noticable because he was wearing a barr shirt, hes got some fucnky fresh moves, ill give him that, but seriously less baby and ill say maybe.
READY MATT? READY KIM?
do i still need to tell people how awesome i think matt and kim are, well i guess not, but i will anyway. they are the coolest kids who ever cooled. seriously i had tons of fun while hanging with these guys down in atx. i got to talk to them and pretty soon they are going to be recording a full length in LA, they are out there right now, its just a matter of time until the world gets 11 new matt and kim tracks unleashed on thier deaf ears. oh man, chills. i have only heard a handful of these joints live, speaking of, i forgot to put a link in my review of thier FL shows, but a pal o mine named maggie took a sweet video of them playing thier new song, "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah" dont know if thats what its called but thats the chorus, now keep in mind maggie is not a lighting technician or videographer, but she does have a sweet camera that takes video and a good sense of what great music is, watch it here, but more just listen to it really. oh and there was a videographer from new york noise catching some great footage of them on stage that day in texas so keep an eye out for it on channel 25 on tues. nights @ 10.
Meneguar is another one of those bands i talk about all the time, but ill continue to talk. they have been playing some new tracks recently, and they are great. this show was a quick one off with no real surprises, but they are on tour with m+k right now and have a bunch of showcases to play and am sure they want thier best feet put forward, so thats what they do, they give the 5 songs they are most proud of and rock them as professionally as possible and i hope that lots of people who never got to see them before were impressed, they shoudlve been.
Die! Die! Die! from NZ were a killer punk trio that have a very early british punk sound to them, the accent doesnt hurt the validity of that label either. they have a handful more shows left in the US before they make thier way back down under, so catch em (that show w/wolfmother @ bowery doesnt look like a bad choice if you ask me)
Measles Mumps Rubella as i have said in the past are awesome sounding super hero rock that bring to mind a psyched out devo taking you on a rocket to jupiter. they got a great response at this set, and they played really well, the lead singer was doing his signature dances and people loved it, he kind of does this low to the ground sweeping thing, its great. listen to some album tracks,you must know that the live show varies greatly, but its still trip-o-riffic. and i also learned at this show, that the singer is new to the band as of about a year ago, i had no idea.
The Psychic Ills played the best show i have seen them play, it may have been the fact that they played so early normally i am tired and these guys kind of lull you that way its good, but it just flows along at some points and you can get lost in the sound. social registry is putting out some great bands these days and the ills are no exception.
The next band was another one of the coolest things about the whole festival, right after the ills finished a van tore into the parking lot and out came 4 dudes who proceeded to rock out for the next 10 mins, gorilla rock shows are the new underground rock shows, impromptu jams you have to be lucky to catch will take over the world silently. The Teenage Harlets rolled around in a van with speakers attached to the top and thier drummer attached to the interior, the roll up jump out rock and then roll, and they were good to, they reminded me a bit of the phenomenauts but a bit more bluesy garagey, it was great.
The Double played a more new york indie type set then had been seen all day, they are like interpol, but good, and out there a bit more. its the singers voice thats commanding enough to let you know, but not be over bearing and after two records the band really has thier shit together, i mean they had to in order to get thier new record on matador.
Night after Night finished off my night right, another one of the metal bands from SF, these dudes dont care about any one else being there, all of those bands are just good friends there to cheer each other on, and it helps a lot, for the crowd at least, great music is made by great people, i think jesus said that. check out the dudes shredding on top of the uhaul.
i took off early that night because the free night shot fell through, but i figured why not just chill, i got three killer days ahead of me, ill stock up on bengay and dayquill and get an early start tommorow. and i did just that.
posted by edan at 1:59 PM
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