Recap of SXSW 2007
posted Mar 25, 11:01 PM by Rick WebbFile under: Festivals , Reunions
Bands: Til We’re Blue or Destroy (three times), Haircut party, Pipettes (twice), Oh No! Oh My!, Pony Up, The Panda Band, Frightened Rabbit, Twilight Sad, Bird featuring Mark Burgess of the Chameleons, The Mountain Goats, Blonde Redhead, Calla, Voxtrot, Har Mar Superstar, Headlights, Lonely Dear, Andrew Bird, Tokyo Police Club, Matt & Kim (twice) Clem Snide, The Ooolas, The Prototypes, Thomas Dolby, Cloud Cult, Sondre Lerche, Jesu, Ladyhawk, Shit Disco, Evangelicals, Okkervil River, RDJ2, Menomena, Deerhunter, Do Make Say Think, Thurston Moore instrumental, Magick Markers, Thurston Moore Songz with Special Guests, Monotract, Black Helicopter, Pagoda, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Robin Hitchcock, Gruff Rhys, The M’s, Christian Scott, Mando Diao, Ponys, Sloan, Walkmen, Apples in Stereo, Til We’re Blue or Destroy
Read the full report here.
Well, I got stalled by uploading this and finishing writing it because of the Jury I’ve been impannelled on, but better late than never.
I started SXSW for Interactive and film, so by the time Music rolled around, I was already pretty crispy around the edges from days of drinking. I was actually looking forward to music becuase it probably meant LESS drinking, which is kinda sad in a way.
SXSW was crazy as always. I think the New York Times summed it up pretty nicely:
At South by Southwest, a music lover is also a target market. We presumed early adopters and tastemakers have been inundated not just with music, but also with whatever — through research or, just as likely, free-association — that marketers happen to think we’ll tout to friends after the convention ends.
The swag in the bag was just the beginning. More CDs are piled up at club doors by companies who, for the rest of the year, fret publicly about people getting music free. For those who prefer their music virtual, there are baskets of plastic cards with codes to redeem for downloaded songs.
At the many day parties, there are ostentatiously branded, generously poured wine, beer and (mostly sweet) hard liquor to stupefy us. Out on the street, people in trucks hand out energy drinks to wake us back up. There are red-eye remedies and breath mints, and whole forests worth of glossy fashion and music magazines. T-shirts touting websites and record companies abound, and one daytime showcase handed out running shoes to early arrivals.
Sure, that’s my wild life. I wake up red-eyed, download some songs, pull on my T-shirt, lace up my running shoes, knock back an energy drink and check the latest fashion trends all day while blasting the CD player, until it’s time to pour something sweet, strong and guaranteed to produce a hangover. Tastemaking can be so grueling sometimes.
It can be pretty out of hand. The parties are apparently a bit of a battleground now – SXSW seems to be against them. They’re worried that the parties aren’t egalitarian, though many of them are free, and open to anyone. Admittedly some of them – most notably Purevolume and the Diesel/Fader Fort are kinda stupidly exclusive. It’s a joke, though. You just have to pick the time of day to go the first time, get your laminate or your badge, and then you can go whenever. The thing is, of course, whenever you want to go, everyone else probably wants to go too. Aubs had a “staff” badge, so she got us in – more on that later – but, let’s just say you don’t want to go.
That’s the thing about the “exclusive” lounges – they’re pretty lame, except when a band you really want to see is playing there, in which case it’s awesome. But all in all, they are to be used as a tool – see the pipettes again at Cedar Street, etc. They’re not especially cool to be hanging out in, they’re totally faux-exclusive. It’s the exclusivity of a marketer – one who wants people to feel elite, but wants as many people as possible to actually feel that way.
I don’t share SXSW’s concern that the ad-sponsored parties are going to “take” all the best bands and leave SXSW with a shell of bands. Honestly, no marketer is smart enough or brave enough to book the bands that really make SXSW – Jandek, Daniel Johnston, Donovan, Thomas Dolby, Booker T and the MGs, Ricky Lee Jones, Thurston Moore, etc.
The bigger issue, though, was SXSW’s apparent collusion this year, with the Fire Department, to shut down the private parties – both after hours and during the evening. Iheartcomix got shut down, Factory People, Vice (though that, as we’ll see, was a different story) and a bunch of others. These are people who had been collaborating with the police on making sure their events were safe and legal, well in advance of SXSW. In the case of Iheartcomix, they even had an official showcase, on top of the after party.
This all seems like a bonehead move for SXSW. I pay for a mothafuckin’ platnium badge, to get into every show, and to me, it’s worth it (I get a discount, as an interactive panelist). But during the day, I have no interest in the official SXSW program. I mean, there are a few concerts on the SESAC day-stage, which is like huge and lame and looks like American Idol, and there is the occasional panel here and there, but why NOT be able to rock all day too? The sponsored events provide that. Coachella starts at 3. All Tomorrow’s Parties starts at 2. And sure, this is more of an “industry” event, but it’s a public one – it’s not like Cannes, where you have to be accredited, it’s like the Toronto film festival, where you don’t. So give the public what they want, or accept that others will fill in the vacuum. Toronto starts at 8AM.
But I digress.
I took it a lot easier this year. Last year at SXSW, Ryan and I were on a mission from god to see as many bands as possible – we saw 47. This year, I made a pact to not try and see all bands I know, and to go where my friends were going. Let Dodgeball be my guide. This year, I saw 51, though much smaller bits of each one of them.
So, on to the recap:
Wednesday, March 14: Slept pretty late, got a slow start because I had some some work before going out. Missed the Austinist day party, which kinda bummed me out, but I needed the rest after Interactive. Finally met up with Ryan at some LAME club called WAVE on 6th to see Miranda’s band, Til We’re Blue or Destroy again. THEY ARE SO GOOD. Forrest met up with us. Then Me, Ryan, Forrest and Miranda all walked to Charlotte’s salon on fourth. We picked up Charlotte and hit Starlight Lounge for an afternoon cordial. Then we parted ways and I headed over to La Zona Rosa and randomly ran into Ali, Aubs, Harry, Alice and Ryan and Sean and a bunch of others to see The Pipettes and we all instantly fell in love. Woooo. Then me, Aubrey, Ali and Willow headed over to the Flamingo Cantina for Oh No! Oh My! who I thought were okay, but a bit derivative. Then I watched a bit Pony Up and thinking they were all right, but not enough to hold my attention, so I headed over to Buffalo Billiards with a plan to see A Northern Chorus, but I ran into Thom from the Bon Savants on 6th, and decided to follow him to Red7 to see a band I hadn’t heard, The Panda Band, who were sorta like heavy shoegaze like early Swervedriver or Smashing Orange and pretty awesome. Then I remembered my friend Donnie was on tour with Rob Crow from Pinback, so I headed over to the Mohawk to meet up with him and we hung and caught a bit of Frightened Rabbit and Twilight Sad who were both really awesome. I stuck with Donnie, who regaled me with weird tales of life on the road until it was time to head to Elysium to see Bird featuring Mark Burgess of the Chameleons. That’s how it was billed. He played exactly 2 Chameleons songs, both of them obscure, but in his defense, he fuckin’ opened the set with Looking Inwardly and I felt 17 and insanely giddy again, so that was totally worth it. At this point i headed over to Emo’s and caught small bits of Calla and The Mountain Goats before running into my friend Clif and we watched Blonde Redhead together who are swirly and awesome now and I love their new album and I am su per into them again, like I was back during “valentine” and “ten feet high”. Then I watched a bit of Voxtrot in the other room, which was good but I’ve seen ‘em a ton so I moved on and tried to see Les Savy Fav at Red River but the line was long, even with a badge, and Aubs dodgeballed in from Flamino where she was watching Har Mar Superstar who was disturbing and weird and naked and hilarious but actually a super good singer, though he’ll probably be dead in six months. Good way to end the night, though. Aubrey and I made an attempt at Purevolume but there were so many people we bailed, and I headed back to my hotel.
Thursday, March 15: Woke up late, as usual, and ate a leisurely breakfast while reading Devil in the White City. On the way back to the hotel I realized how much I ached from one day of rocking in my ridiculously flat and painful shoes, and I popped into that hip sneaker store on Brazos and bought myself a pair of all black Nike Air Max 360’s – they are insanely comfortable. I bought a pair from them before, and they wore out, but i realized that wasn’t entirely fair, because I wore them for like every single day for six months. So I figured I’d give ‘em another chance. I realize the stupid irony of trading in my socially conscious footwear for a pair of shoes by the very company they are against, but fuck, man, man’s gotta have some support in his feet. Is it too much to ask that you make a socially conscious shoe with some PADDING? Or is it just supposed to be a fashion statement? ANYWAY. Went back to the hotel and read a bit more. Finally got ready to rock so I went to the Team Claremont party – the one where the NYT mentioned you could get free shoes if you got there early. I made it in time for the shoes but did not bother (sorry Ryan). Found my friend Mandy and a few of her friends, and we watched this awesome band called Headlights, that were totally great. Swirly and clever, tight and clean. I really liked them and I need to see them again. Next came Lonely Dear who were AWESOME and I should have stayed longer and I need to see them again. Then I left there and headed to the Onion party and met up with Willow, Ali, Misty and Sean (I think?). We watched Andrew Bird who was totally awesome. He had a whole band with him which ruled, and I liked him a lot. He played mainly new material, and it is awesome. Then came Tokyo Police Club who didn’t do it for me. Caught a bit of Matt & Kim, but not enough to realize how awesome they were (that would come later), and a bit of Clem Snide – enough to realize they are no longer the band I loved when they came out with You Were a Diamond. Then we went to Red 7 and we watched The Oolahs, who were pretty solid and she was a great lead singer – looked like Hollywood’s version of a lead singer – but they were a bit too bland in their rockinness for me. Then came The Prototypes who sang in french and I LOVED. They were awesome. Next I met up with Ryan, Charlotte, Forrest, Miranda and Sid at the Starlight for dinner and it was SO GOOD. Mmmmm. Then went to Elysium for Thomas Dolby, who was hilarious and blippy and weirdly calypso with his horn section and I think it was all new stuff except for yes, he played She Blinded Me with Science. It was PACKED too. People love Thomas Dolby. I ran into Justin’s friend Veronica there, and BREE, who I never got to catch up with again cuz I am lame. Oops. Sorry Bree. Headed to Beauty Bar with Bree but as I got there I ran into some people who were going to Emo’s, so following my rule, I went with them and watched a band called Cloud Cult who were like a mix between bad 80’s industrial dance, miranda sex garden and indie rock. And they had two people painting water colors on stage with them, and apparently they auction them off afterward. It was entertaining. I’d go see them again, I think, if only because I couldn’t make up my mind about them yet. BUT, alas, nature called and I needed a, shall we say, private bathroom, so I walked all the way back to the Driskill to use the bathroom in my room. Then, since I was so close, I popped over to Antone’s for Sondre Lerche, but I wasn’t feeling it. Stayed for three songs, and, um, left because it was kinda bad. Ran over to Emo’s Annex so I could be on time for one of the bands I was most excited about during the festival – Jesu. After a weak first song, they delivered, and man, it was so awesome and so huge and so wonderful in every way. Totally lived up to my excitement from the album and I have to remember to never, ever, miss them again. Watched a bit of the next band, Ladyhawk, who win on humor points for me, I suppose. Then I headed over to Beauty Bar and met up with Justin for Matt & Kim who I loved loved loved and then Shitdisco who were pretty fuckin’ awesome. Then over to Mohawk for a bit of the Evangelicals, who I liked, and all of Okkervil River, who were good, but actually just a bunch of kids playing country music instead of some new force that I had been lead to believe. Still, though, Aubs was there, and I ran into Tom Savant.
Afterwards me and Aubs and a few other people headed over to Purevolume. Aubs got us in with her staff pass, past a line of like 50 people. It was pretty awful inside, though they had free beer. I wandered around. Found Ramesh and chided him about having gone and seen Deerhoof on Monday – I had warned him the emperor had no clothes on that one. Waited in line for the outhouses FOREVER, and finally the door opens on one and out comes the Last Night’s Party dude, who had been shooting this photo in the outhouse. I peed in there after them. And as dirty as that photo makes it look, it was worse. Seriously. Why would you do a photo shoot in an outhouse. SXSW does not need LNP. Actually, SXSW doesn’t need that entire Purevolume lounge. At least not during the music fest. It was like the absolute worst of what Rock and Roll is – a bunch of pathetic, big black haired kids thinking they’re important for being in bands that don’t matter, don’t do anything, and won’t ever make a dime. Vapid blonde chicks stumbling around trying to figure out which identical looking black haired strung out scenester is actually a rock star (correct answer = NONE OF THEM) and which is just a wannabe. The rub, of course, is that the rock stars and wannabes are all basically the same. In the same way there will never be another All in the Family, there will never be another Rolling Stones, so please, please get over it. By my reckoning, there were exactly three bands at South By that rocked – and you are not in one of them. Unless you’re in Les Savy Fav. ANYWAY, these thoughts were filling my head as I realized that Rock’s not dead, but rock is no longer made by rockers. Oh, and as much it simultaneously pains me to say it and pleases me, the people ay Purevolume were actually more attractive during the interactive conference. Left around 3:30, because I was trying to stay up until Val arrived from Hamburg, but her plane was late, so eventually I just went to sleep. Val got into the room around 6:30 AM (I had left a key for her at the front desk) and we slept till about 1 on Friday.
Friday, March 16: Val and I slept late – I was trying to avoid a hangover from my descent into soddom and gomorrah the night before, and she was sleeping off a 20-hour travel nightmare from Hamburg to Austin via JFK and Jet Blue and a 6 hour late flight and 2 hours on the runway. At least their passenger’s bill of rights got her a free ticket out of it. Finally, we woke up, and headed to Emo’s to meet up with Ryan and Miranda and Forrest at the Pitchfork party. Saw R2DJ or whatever the hell he’s called. he had a band. It was weird. Ali and Willow and Misty joined us, and Miranda and Val drank bloody marys. Watched Menomena, who I found underwhelming, so I went inside to watch a bit of Do Make Say Think, who i Love, but there were too many friends around so I went back outside. There was a bit of Deerhunter in there, too, though all I remember was thinking “eh.” Then Val and I needed some food, and we needed to meet up with her friend Kevin, so we stopped in some cheesy taqueria off of sixth and ate burritos and finally met up with Kevin, who was awesome. Then we all went to the Whiskey Bar to meet back up with Ryan, Miranda and Forrest for the Voxtrot listening party for the new album. It was good, though I need to listen to it more closely. Very clean, I remember. Ramesh looked nervous. Actually, they all did. Kevin knew another member of the band from a while back, and they chatted about old Texan bands. Then I walked val and kevin over to the Mohawk to meet up with the Ecstatic Peace posse and her old band, Sunburned Hand of the Man. Left her in their care, and headed out to the Victory Grill to meet up with Ryan and get our Vice Party laminates. We got ‘em, but they were leaving, so I made them give me a ride back to the Mohawk, and I stayed there with Val and her posse – it was good to see some of them – sarah and michael and john and Elisa from the magik markers. She is so nice! And EE – she’s always super nice too. And I got to take a blurry picture of my sister talking to Thurston Moore and Mike Watt, which was pretty awesome (though I didn’t post it cuz it was too blurry and I am trying to cut down on blurry photos, but here is a nice photo of sis and thurston studiously watching Sunburned from the side of the stage). I watched the first of two Thurston Moore performances, the instrumental one, and it was amazing. Then Monotract played, and they were really good, then Black Helicopter, who were way better than I remember, I should probably go see them more often. The big open space really helped them. I watched a bit of Pagoda, and I was digging it, but I felt like I had to ROAM, so I left the Mohawk for a while, and hit some bar on Sixth where Robin Hitchcock was just getting started. He was funny and charming and his songs were clever as always. Then I went to some NOLA-themed bar on Sixth and met up with Willo and Ali for Gruff Rhys who has now gotten what I assume is his girlfriend in the solo act. It was fun. It was clever and quirky. I wish the Super Furry Animals would play again. The best part about it is that we all stood right next to the Pipettes the whole time. We chatted with them a bit afterwards and I was shocked to discover that my favorite, Rose, was kinda bitchy! But Aug’s favorite was very charming. In their defense, though we didn’t talk to them again, Rose seemed much more friendly the next day after their Cedar Street show, actively talking to people and laughing. She wasn’t so mean as to not take my cigarette that I offered, though. Afterward I headed back to the Ecstatic Peace thing @ Mohawk and watched the other Thurston performance, where he didn’t have one special guest but at least two – Steve Shelley and Sumara Lubelski, though I think I saw four people total up there? Anyway, that was awesome. Then we closed out the night with Sunburned Hand of the Man, who, having to play drunk instead of on other things ROCKED SO MUCH. It was one of their most rockin’ shows, and I enjoyed it. Val and I got out of there pretty quickly afterwards – Kevin had left, and we were DRUNK. We did the whole end of the night stagger down 6th street so Val could get the full experience, and we passed out pretty quickly.
Saturday, March 17: Last day! I set out to “take it easy” and not go crazy on the last day. Val and I had a slow, late, leisurely breakfast at Manuels with Ali and Willow an then val went off to the Ecstatic Peace in store, but I was ready for some POP, so I went with Ali and Willow (man, what is the usage on the W on the end of your name Willow?) to the Filter party at Cedar Street. Judi and I had a good time there last year, seeing Amusement Parks on Fire, and watching that sexy dude from Ladytron DJ, so I wanted to go back. We met up with Forrest and Ryan there, and watched the last half of the Pipettes set. I love them, Ryan, confusingly for a fashion maven, seems to have some issue with their outfits. Then was Mondo Diaow or whatever, and they were awesome for exactly four measures until they started signing, though later when I realized they were from Sweden I gave them a break – they are making a pastiche of the american rock they love, and so more power to them, I suppose. Anyway from there Willow, Ali and I all headed to Red 7 for the Super Deluxe party – Mess With Texas. Super Deluxe is a client of ours. If you’re an Adult Swim watcher, you’ll recognize our work in the form of the Super Deluxe spots that run there. Anyway, I found our client, Gerard, and seeing him outside of work suddenly it all made a lot more sense why they were booking a party with the Ponys and the Walkmen and whatnot. He is totally tattooed and tough! Who knew? Anyway we watched The Ponys who were good until their last song when they became GREAT and almost reached the echelons of the three bands who Rocked @ SXSW. Then we saw Sloan who were awesome and Sloan-like, and then a sorta boring anemic set by The Walkmen, which disappointed me, because they used to rock so much live. They played one old song and sorta rocked it, but, man, I dunno. I mean, I usually have no problem with bands stopping rocking (such as BRMC) but a) The Walkmen could actually ROCK, and rock well, and b) their non rock stuff isn’t really that good. Hrm. Anyway, then we watched a bit of Apples in Stereo, but it was time to go. I headed back to the hotel to chill a bit and met up with Val, who now had Kevin with her again, and another girl, Tara, who was awesome. We then met up with Justin and Rob, and we all went to Louie’s 106, where Auba had set up a huge dinner with tons of free wine. The food was wonderful, and it was a great crowd – about 15 of us – me, val, justin, rob, kevin, tara, harry, alice, misty, aubrey, willow, ali, and a bunch more. It was awesome. We played credit card roulette at the end and I didn’t lose! Hurrah! Then me and val and kevin and tara took a cab out to Ruta Maya on south congress to meet up with Ryan, Charlotte, Forrest and Miranda. Kevin and Tara were drunk and they left before Till We’re Blue or Destroy, and they are bummed, because it was the best of the three times I saw them. Seriously. They are the next big thing. Oh and here is my awesome photo of them.
Then Me, Val, Ryan, Charlotte, Forrest, and Miranda headed to the Vice Party.
Okay, so, the Vice Party. Originally the vice party was supposed to be at an outdoor location on the east side of town. BUT, that location had been shut down by the cops during the Iheartcomix party the night before. Everyone knew their party would get shut down too, so they moved it to the Elk’s lodge! This was a pretty brilliant move, if you ask me – police never fuck with the Elks. We used to use this tactic in Alaska – when the cops were getting tired of our warehouse raves (um, yes, I was a kingpin in the alaskan illegal warehouse rave scene in the 80’s and 90’s), we’d lay low at the elks and moose lodges for a few months until the heat died down. So props to Vice on that one. Now, prior to this move, I was sorta thinking all through SXSW that SXSW didn’t need Vice. Seriously – what is it with those grimy scenesters of New York that they have to bring their whole scene with them when they come to texas? They have to bring their DJs and their photographers and probably their make up artists and certainly their drug dealers AND their smug magazine? Now, don’t get me wrong, I like Vice. It’s like a ripoff of Might magazine for the less academic and more fashion obsessed. And I realize they run a record label now, so they have some need to promote it, but lord. Do a showcase like the rest of the labels and be done with it.
BUT, now that they took up the mantle of fighting the man and throwing a party with Fucked Up, Against Me! and one of the three bands that can rock at south by Les Savy Fav at a freakin ELK’S lodge, they get a reprieve. Purevolume, Fader and stupid New York photographers can go. Vice can stay. Gavel down. So the party only served Dewar’s, which I got a pint of in a cup with ice. Now, this, apparently, is supposed to make me like Dewar’s, but i tell ya, I’m never drinking Dewar’s again. I asked for a beer when we got there and he said “we can’t serve beer until 1AM.” Um. Okay. At least in Boston there’s a bit of logic to our stupid puritanical laws. But whatever. There was rave dancing, and a fire pit, and a lovely view of the city, and a bar and a rock room and it was a good time. It got more and more crowded, though, and at one point Forrest goes “I think there are too many people on this porch.” and I say “no way, man, it’s an Elk’s lodge. This thing is OLD. They built things to LAST back then.” and we forget about it for a while. About twenty minutes later, though, it was getting so full of those same new york dirty black haired scenesters that the texan fun of the party was being squeezed out. “I make a motion that we leave this party” I say, and immediately everyone agreed, as if we were all thinking the same thing. And off we go.
Ten minutes later the balcony begins to collapse.
Twenty minutes later the party was shut down as cops, firemen, and ambulances arrive.
Les Savy Fav did not rock that night.
And with that, SXSW ended.
I stayed an extra day to catch up with friends and on work emails, and it was then, on sunday, that we learned about the Vice balcony. We seriously just missed it. Miranda had a bartender friend there that said it was just after we left. No one was killed, thankfully, and I get the impression that injuries were minor, if any. I’m not really sure.
Good times.
Whew. That was long.
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