South by Southwest, Day 4

Day:
hungover

Night:
Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players (SXSW link)
Timonium (SXSW link)
+/- (SXSW link)
Say Hi To Your Mom (SXSW link)
Wolfmother (SXSW link)
Cut Copy (SXSW link)

What I probably failed to mention about SXSW Day 3 was that Kat and I had a lot to drink. So Saturday morning (afternoon really) came a little too soon. That combined with the fact that we weren’t terribly interested in the day shows meant we weren’t leaving the house early. That’s alright though. We headed downtown in the early evening for some sushi at Silhouette Sushi (The old Pango without hidden cameras in the women’s restroom!) and then started on our evening.

First stop was the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players (SXSW link). I was disappointed, but I’m still not sure what I was expecting. They are a band that consists of a husband (guitar player/singer), wife (slideshow operator/backup singer), and a pre-teen daughter (drummer/backup singer). They go to estate sales, buy up random photo slides and write songs about them. It’s an awesome idea. But it was a little more Electric Company than I would have hoped. I guess I should have expected it. I mean, if you’re a bunch of hippies in a family band, you’re probably going to sound somewhat like the Brady Bunch singing group. It was even worse because the sound was terrible and we could barely see the slides from where we were standing. Not a good recipe. Two songs in, we headed over to the Ritz to see +/- (SXSW link).

The line wasn’t long to get into the Ritz at this point (it had be ridiculous on previous nights) and we quickly ran into Abdiel and Brian who had already staked out their spots for +/-. Timonium (SXSW link) was on and while I had to say one thing for their live show, their drummer is one of the most interesting drummers I’ve see play live in a long time. Brutal. The anger he directs to his drums is so intense, I think he could fit in just as well with a death metal band as with these guys. Not so good vocally. When I talked to Brian and Abdiel they mentioned that the Real World Austin characters were in the club, which explained the guy sitting next to me with a ton of wireless microphones. They quickly headed out after filiming their “content” and the club was back to normal. The +/- set was good. In fact, I liked it so much I bought their cd, since I figured if I didn’t buy it I was going to pirate it and insist that I’d buy it next time I saw them live. When we were walking out of the club after the show, the line was all the way around the corner. I was thankful that we left the Trachtenburg show early so I could actually get into the show.

We didn’t have any specific plans for the next time slot, so I made the executive decision that we should see Say Hi To Your Mom (SXSW link) first because I liked their song on the SXSW website, but also because I think the name is really funny. And it worked out with Toof, right? This show was even better than the +/- set. I was 5 drinks farther into my drunkness, so that might have played a part in it, but I thought the live show was awesome. So I bought another cd, since they were from NY which made it doubtful that I was going to see them anytime soon. After listening to the cd, I’ve determined that the singer isn’t as good as I thought (or maybe he’s gotten better since the album was recorded), but I have a strange attraction to the album. There are even some weak lyrics, but I’m unfazed. I can’t explain it, but I like it.

After Say Hi To Your Mom, we walked all the way across downtown to Club Deville to see Cut Copy (SXSW link). The wristband line was about 20 people deep, but Kat with the badge, was able to get in almost immediately. She attempted to wait in line with me, but I insisted that she just go in and I’d wait out the line. Not but one minute later, the next guy behind me in line had the same situation and conversation with his badge-bearing friend. Waiting in line for a while, we strike up a conversation. The usual: are you from Austin? Who did you just see? etc. He mentions that he made the (long!) drive out here from Atlanta with some friends who were at another club. I thought it was strange that someone would make that long a drive and only get a wristband and he explained that he played with some bands during day shows, but hadn’t really planned on making it out. Then he mentioned that he was in another band. “Yeah, I’m in another band that isn’t playing here this year. Have you heard of I am the World Trade Center?” Internally I start thinking to myself “holy shit, you’re the guy from I am the World Trade Center. I have all of your albums. I’ve seen you guys every time you’ve been in Austin for the past two years. etc.etc.etc.” But then I decided that might be a little too creepy….right after I said it. He (Dan) was really cool about it though. We talked a bit about the band and other stuff that he had going on. He’s actually working on a PhD in Biological Engineering, which is crazy to me that he could do that and have this whole touring band thing going on. He told me about Amy’s cancer (which explains why I hadn’t heard anything from them in the past year). All in all, he was a really cool guy. I look forward to seeing them when they start touring again. I even joined their mailing list to make sure I don’t miss them when they come to town.

Eventually we got inside the club, just before Wolfmother (SXSW link) finished their set. They were alright. Not spectacular, just alright. I wandered around until I found Kat and we waited for the show. Club Deville is a shitty place to see a popular band (hence the reason I was stuck waiting in line for so long). I think it’s an awesome place to lounge around and listen to music, but if you really want to see someone play it’s a pain in the ass because there is no stage, and the layout of the place means that at full capacity probably 25% of the people in the club would have no visibility to the “stage area”. That was alright though. The place thinned out a bit and Cut Copy (SXSW link) put on a kick ass show. I’d put them in the same category with VHS or Beta, but their singer doesn’t sound like the guy from Oingo Boingo. High energy show. A great finale to the SXSW week. After getting home, I headed on over to the Dan/Brian house once again for after-party drinks and sing-a-longs until 5 or 6am. Good times, good times.

All in all, this was a spectacular SXSW and I learned an important lesson: take vacation from work. In addition to getting all the free shit during the day, you can see the same bands you would see at night for free, with less people around. It’s hard to beat. Plus then you won’t have to suffer being hungover at work for three days in a row. Next year though, I really think I’m going to splurge and buy the badge. It’s about double the cost of a wristband if you get it early enough and the idea of not having to wait in line is EXTREMELY enticing. We’ll see how I feel about it in October.