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Archive for the ‘SXSW’ Category

Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News, Exclusive

Fresh from their victorious coup at SXSW last week, Titus Andronicus found themselves on the frontline of a different battle Sunday night when they headlined Slim’s in San Francisco. The venue, which is owned by pop artist Boz Scaggs, is currently in the middle of its own fight with a neighbor over noise complaints.

Frontman Patrick Stickles didn’t tell that side of it to the audience. Instead, he genuinely asked if everyone was enjoying the show and having a good time. He tactfully explained that an issue arose with the venue earlier in the evening and then he continued to apologize to the staff, sincerely, for letting his emotions get the better of him during soundcheck.

Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News, Holy Hell, Total Dick Move

Last week, NOFX singer Fat Mike performed a solo show at SXSW as his alter ego, Cokie the Clown, decked out in somewhat frightening clown makeup. According to Pinpoint Music (NSFW), the singer opened the show by pouring out a few dozen shots of tequila from a bottle he brought with him onstage, taking a few for himself and passing the rest out to the audience.

While fans may have expected just a fun acoustic show, they were instead treated to a series of disturbing stories by the usually jovial singer. After talking about his mom’s death, his terrible relationship with his father, some bizarre sexual encounters and other harrowing tales, Mike capped the show with an even more offensive, disgusting moment. He showed a video he had recorded just before the gig, showing him urinating into a bottle of tequila then bringing it out onto the very same stage and serving it to the audience. Some people cheered, but many were left horrified at the fact that they either drank his urine or had just witnessed this shocking event.

Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News

It’s only been a few days since SXSW ended and Austin is already gearing up for its next music festival — Austin Pysch Fest 3.

Announcing its initial lineup today, the Raveonettes, veteran rockers YaHoWha 13 and Los Angeles-based band Warpaint are on the bill. Presented by the Reverberation Appreciation Society and slated performers the Black Angels, the three-year-old experimental and pyschedelic rock fest, which takes place on April 23-25 at the Mohawk, will also feature numerous returning acts including Indian Jewelry, the Vandelles, Daughters of the Sun and Smoke and Feathers.

Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News

Among the elite group of bands who graduated cum laude from SXSW 2010, the Dawes emerged as best in their class… we’re just not sure for which category, exactly. Calling them Americana seems like a copout, while calling them folk rock is just cheap. Regardless, after a virtual assault of shows and showcases down in Austin last week, the Dawes have clearly positioned themselves for a banner year.

“At most festivals you play just once, whereas here I’ve played five times today,” frontman Taylor Goldsmith told Spinner after one of their showcases. “Setting up and tearing down and running around — it’s been pretty nuts. It’s also been really fun.”

Filed under: News

For local residents in Austin, Texas, Monday morning may have felt something like “the day the music died” — the hangover after SXSW. A couple thousand bands that filled every corner of the downtown area with sound last week are gone now, off to tour the nation or the world or return to normal life in one way or the other.

But music fans from coast to coast felt a frosty silence coming from Austin on Tuesday morning when WOXY — the uber-hip web-based indie radio station — announced that all of its live broadcasts have been pulled, effective immediately. “Due to current economic realities and the lack of ongoing funding for WOXY’s operations, we’ve been forced to suspend our live broadcasts,” reads a statement on the WOXY homepage. “We’re continuing to explore options to keep The Future of Rock ‘n’ Roll alive.”

Filed under: Concerts and Tours

Standing nearly naked in the freezing wind, Damian Abraham said, “I’ve been training my whole life for this day. All those extra orders of French fries paid off.” The F—ed Up frontman made reference to another show where he’d poured a cup of ice down his pants. So — logically, of course — he did it again. His effort was cold comfort to a large crowd that braved uncharacteristically chilly weather Saturday at SXSW.

Facing a strong wind, the band played a full set, even though band members kept blowing on their fingers to keep them functioning freely. The freezing crowd rewarded them with a warm reception.

But even hardcore-punk heroes are not immune to the elements. Abraham said, “Here’s our last song. Thank goodness. I’m so cold.”

Dean Carrell is a contributor from Seed.com.

Filed under: Concerts and Tours

Playing a short set during the SXSW fest, ‘The Office‘ star Creed Bratton showed off his quality musical skills, though he probably won’t quit his comedic day job.

During his set, Bratton wasn’t shy about making the connection to his eponymous character on the American version of the TV show, saying, “Here’s a karaoke song I sang in season four. I call it ‘That’s What She Said.’” Then it was all jokes aside, segueing seamlessly to a haunting song about a cattle drover, eating dust and hearing the plaintive voice of his wife, stolen by the Comanches, from his new album ‘Bounce Back.’

Drawing from experience in iconic 1960s folk group the Grass Roots, Bratton and his band displayed his guitar skills, songwriting and vocals to approximately 110 listeners. And yes, he made a “That’s what she said” joke, but he had plenty of his own spontaneous wisecracks, too.

Dean Carrell is a contributor from Seed.com.

Filed under: Concerts and Tours

Andrew W.K. faced tough times during SXSW. At two separate shows, one stage broke, and a crowd almost crunched his equipment. Later, he showed up in short sleeves to perform head-on into a freezing wind.

At least that show had a moat of bouncers. Hours earlier, at a 4AM show, the surging crowd of drunk college students drunks constantly threatened to
overwhelm the thin barrier of nervous students protecting the foot-tall, cramped stage at a run-down housing co-op.

Filed under: Concerts and Tours

Despite windy, near-freezing temperatures, Gwar soaked the screaming crowd with endless gallons of extraterrestrials’ bodily fluids (colored water) at their SXSW show. However, two other bands altered their water-spraying antics. Andrew W.K. repeatedly asked permission before squirting water bottles. Damian Abraham, vocalist for F—– Up, said, “Here’s where I usually crush a soda can on my head and spray the audience. But I’m not doing that (to you) today.”

In fairness, many Gwar fans would have missed being sprayed. At least the soaking was a distraction from the most horrifying parts of Gwar’s costumes, the pale naked butts of the middle-aged band members.

Dean Carrell is a contributor from Seed.com.

Sweden’s Miike Snow are pretty much the definition of eclectic, if their eponymous 2009 album is anything to go by. Members of the band had been in hip-hop groups prior to their forming in 2007, while they have worked with Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Kelis and Britney Spears. Then there is frontman Andrew Wyatt, an American with his own diverse style. Fresh from a memorable performance at SXSW, it seems right to corner the band and get them to write about their many influences. In an act that was probably very difficult for them, the trio have managed to agree on six for us.

Manga

Miike Snow is primarily about creating a world that doesn’t exist. We want it to have an ‘invented’ feel to it, like Manga. For those who don’t know, Manga is the Japanese video publisher responsible for creating anime. I guess it’s like Disney, sort of, only in Manga, ultra-violence, pornography, hallucination, and criminality are all explored alongside compassion and heroism. So it’s a better, less morally restrictive palette for creating art. Many of the templates for heroism or taboo simply don’t apply in Japanese culture. It poses the question — why? Why does one reaction or pairing seem more ‘acceptable’ than another?

Filed under: Concerts and Tours

“We only played our first practice two days ago,” boasted Sweet Apple lead singer John Petkovic, grinning widely at his new bandmates, including alt-rock legend J. Mascis. “And this is our last show ever,” he joked. “We got together for no reason and we’re breaking up for no reason.”

That’s not true, of course. Petkovick and his Cobra Verde bandmate Tim Parnin joined forces with Mascis and his Witch bandmate out of a shared love of riff rock, which they delivered in spades throughout their SXSW debut. (It was actually Mascis’ second supergroup debut, as he also joined with Andrew WK and Thurston Moore for a one-time-only performance as Demolished Thoughts).

Though Sweet Apple played a club showcase Thursday and a Waterloo Records in-store the following day, Saturday’s “garden party” at the sprawling French Legation compound should have been the perfect opportunity to see them outdoors on a beautiful spring afternoon. But a freak cold front had kept most folks away from the outdoor day parties and so Sweet Apple third show ever was played to a sparse but up-for-it crowd (which included Sean Lennon).

Filed under: Concerts and Tours

SXSW has never been known as a particularly hip-hop-friendly festival, despite its every genre line-up. But as the festival wrapped up another successful year on Saturday night, rappers seemed to headline most of the big bills.

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony capped off the Fader Fort’s series of day parties while Mos Def helmed a DJ-heavy roster (Jazzy Jeff, J-Rocc, Cut Chemist) for Red Bull’s Big Thre3 Style parking lot party.

But the night’s biggest name belonged to Snoop Dogg, who was also arguably the biggest draw at Perez Hilton’s now seemingly annual One Night in Austin show (albeit largely because its was Snoop’s only appearance while headliners Hole were marking Courtney Love’s third gig in two days).

Perez and Snoop both seem antithetical to SXSW’s up-and-coming indie ethos, but it’s hard to argue against Snoop’s performance skills. After so many years on the mic, he knows how to hype a crowd like few others here.

Filed under: Concerts and Tours, Exclusive

“Is everyone having loads of fun yet?” asked Rebecca Taylor of the charming British folk rock band Slow Club during their SXSW gig at Barbarella Saturday evening. The bar had an impressive-sized crowd for 5:30 p.m., and there’s a good chance it wasn’t just to hide from the 40-degree weather outside.

Taylor (drums, vocals and guitar) and Charles Watson (vocals and guitar) played a seven-song set taken mostly from their upcoming U.S. debut, ‘Yeah, So,’ a record that’s already been out for a while overseas. In Austin, the duo proved themselves a band to watch on this side of the pond, too.

Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News

The extent of Big Star frontman Alex Chilton’s influence was clear Saturday night at SXSW, where a scheduled Big Star performance at Antone’s turned into a moving tribute to Chilton, who died Mar. 17 of an apparent heart attack at age 59.

An impressive array of musicians inspired by Big Star joined drummer Jody Stephens, guitarist Jon Auer and bassist Ken Stringfellow to honor the music and memory of Chilton, who co-founded the group in 1971.

The 18-song set featured contributions from R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, M. Ward, the Meat Puppets‘ Kurt Kirkwood, the Lemonheads‘ Evan Dando, John Doe, Chuck Prophet, Chris Stamey, Sondre Lerche, Amy Speace, Susan Cowsill and the Watson Twins, along with original Big Star guitarist Andy Hummel, who hadn’t performed live with the band in 35 years.

Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News

SXSW is all about surprises, and for around a hundred fans in East Austin, pop-punk band Rival Schools delivered a burning afternoon set on the patio of renowned Mexican restaurant, Juan in a Million, for Spinner’s final SXSW pop-up show.

But Mother Nature had a surprise in store as well — temperatures were in the low 40s throughout the afternoon, but lead Schooler Walter Schreifels came prepared. “Is this parka too much?” he asked the crowd right before the band opened with ‘Everything Has Its Point’ from 2001’s ‘United By Fate.’ Turns out, it wasn’t. Bassist Cache Tolman wore a scarf and guitarist Ian Love had on a pretty thick coat as well. It’s good to be prepared — even in Texas.

Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News

SXSW is all about surprises, and for around a hundred fans in East Austin, pop-punk band Rival Schools delivered a burning afternoon set on the patio of renowned Mexican restaurant, Juan in a Million, for Spinner’s final SXSW pop-up show.

But Mother Nature had a surprise in store as well — temperatures were in the low 40s throughout the afternoon, but lead Schooler Walter Schreifels came prepared. “Is this parka too much?” he asked the crowed right before the band opened with ‘Everything Has Its Point’ from 2001’s ‘United By Fate.’ Turns out, it wasn’t. Bassist Cache Tolman wore a scarf and guitarist Ian Love had on a pretty thick coat as well. It’s good to be prepared — even in Texas.