March is that joyous time of the year when bands travel to SXSW in hopes of being discovered as "the next big sound." Myself (and Model Stranger) have found it to be a much more gratifying business and networking endeavor, as well as, a damn good party.
As this festival continues to grow, bands continue to flood into Austin by the droves and saturation is inevitable. This is why bands must find ways to set themselves apart. For instance, we stumbled upon a band from Indiana called "Gun". This band was a bunch of no-bullshit, raucous-pyros. Were they great? Maybe not, were they entertaining? Absolutely.The culmination of their show resulted in the guitar player dousing his amp in starter fluid and and trying to set the amp ablaze with a lighter. You might ask how one gets away with that at an indoor club, the answer is... the kid used starter fluid and not lighter fluid so the amp did not even ignite; however, he was committed to saying "farewell," to his amp and I will always remember that and appreciate his balls.
I heavily enjoyed them, along with other notables such as, Cory Chisel. I would actually say that Cory was the most entertaining show of the festival, for me personally. He had a rich sense Americana and a sincerity in his voice that is hard to match. A kicker was when he stood alongside Alberta Cross for a collaboration-closing piece, very cool.
I guess it doesn't hurt when you have free booze and food to fuel your madness during the agenda-packed-14-hour-days. But when you break it down, no matter how many bands play, there will still be the odyssey of the Violin-Playing-Werewolf and the other various performing street artists that keep Austin weird and everyone else coming back for more.
As this festival continues to grow, bands continue to flood into Austin by the droves and saturation is inevitable. This is why bands must find ways to set themselves apart. For instance, we stumbled upon a band from Indiana called "Gun". This band was a bunch of no-bullshit, raucous-pyros. Were they great? Maybe not, were they entertaining? Absolutely.The culmination of their show resulted in the guitar player dousing his amp in starter fluid and and trying to set the amp ablaze with a lighter. You might ask how one gets away with that at an indoor club, the answer is... the kid used starter fluid and not lighter fluid so the amp did not even ignite; however, he was committed to saying "farewell," to his amp and I will always remember that and appreciate his balls.
I heavily enjoyed them, along with other notables such as, Cory Chisel. I would actually say that Cory was the most entertaining show of the festival, for me personally. He had a rich sense Americana and a sincerity in his voice that is hard to match. A kicker was when he stood alongside Alberta Cross for a collaboration-closing piece, very cool.
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| Stephen with Cory. |
I guess it doesn't hurt when you have free booze and food to fuel your madness during the agenda-packed-14-hour-days. But when you break it down, no matter how many bands play, there will still be the odyssey of the Violin-Playing-Werewolf and the other various performing street artists that keep Austin weird and everyone else coming back for more.
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