So, I just got back from Austin yesterday. I had a long 5am drive (with Daylight Savings Time.. that means through the dark, through the depths of texas to catch my flight from Houston yesterday.
First of all, downtown Austin was one HUGE crazy streetfair. to be honest, it looked like Williamsburgh, Brooklyn had just vomited all over the street. Hipster Haven is a less honorable way of describing it (or is that more honorable than vomiting?). One of the great highlights from that trip was the 3am hot dog. On 6th street (aka CRAZY street), there was a hot dog vender named Kwikies. Now this guy would take a huge hot dog and throw mashed potatoes, corn, beans, onions, saurkraut, tartar sauce, and ketchup on there. Does that sound gross to you? Well you are MISTAKEN. It was… AWESOME. Especially at 3am.
On Wednesday night, I saw a great new band called White Rabbits from Brooklyn. I had just sort of wandered into a random bar, and I’m happy I did because these guys were totally innovative, and had some detailed guitar solos, which is missing from a lot of indie rock bands today. and i miss guitar solos!!! come on!!! So yeah, if you want to see a seriously stellar review of White Rabbits, though, you gotta check out their website- an 8th grade class reviewed them. Brilliant. Click here…
On Thursday morning, i woke up, grabbed a mushroom pesto and brie panini from a trendied-out coffee shop downtown, and made it just in time to interview the Postmarks- which consists of the two guys from Atlanta that started the band, and one girl that they recruited because of her near perfected voice. Albeit a bit older and less indie-looking than a lot of the bands that were there, these guys knew their stuff. They were articulate, well seasoned in their music knowledge, and completely dedicated to their sound and purpose- which is not to BLOW up, per se. Rather, they just want to write their tracks, play them, and tour around, doing exactly what they love. They’re performance was a relaxing and beautiful break from some of the louder stuff I’d been hearing that day.
Next up, I interviewed Kidz in the Hall. These guys were UPenn grads, so we had the Northeast college thing in common. To be honest, Naledge and Double O could talk about anything- completely articulate and opinionated, I almost felt like they were running the interview- which was great- because the point of an interview is to get to know the artist- and they were great at expressing themselves and talking about their sound, goals, SXSW, and college in general. I’ve always respected the samples that Double O mixes, and now I was further able to respect Naledge’s rapping- having an actual conversation with them drops the performer/audience barrier, and it was great to just talk back and forth with them. It goes without saying that they were a huge hit in performance- they’ve got the beats that people miss about old school rap, but their style lets them fit into teh current scene.
The Black Lips were another AMAZING group of interviewees. You may know that the Black Lips are known for puking on crowds, peeing on people, and using bodily functions as a main part of performance. While the puking thing is WAY blown out of proportion, they are really intense performers who can… let’s just say.. get a little crazy. But hey, that’s a good thing right guys? sure, unless you’re the one with feces in your hair. All jokes aside, they were great guys to talk to, and were completely excited to talk about SXSW and everything going on with them. Definitely check out their interview at mtvu.com. And listen to their album if you haven’t already- it’s got some of the great guitarwork and old school riffs that t-rex has, but adds a harder feel that is somewhat reminiscent of the NIN era that we miss dearly.
Rocco DeLuca, one of my loves from the Freshmen had an outstanding continence, and when he told me i was sweet at the end, i almost melted. The subtlety and softness in his music matches him well as a person, it seems. He’s very peaceful, and impressively articulate. Interviewing Juiceboxxx was a trip- he was a little tired I think- but had the sweetness and nonchalance of a 12 year old boy. is he 12? i dont know. but i liked him. and his music is a lot of fun- if you haven’t listened to it, get the album. Especially if you miss the Beastie Boys. Ha!
Perry Ferrell is a genius. Well, I suppose that goes without saying. As former frontman for Jane’s Addiction and Porno for Pyros, he certainly fell into the idol category for a lot of the other performers at SouthBy. Sure, he’s probably done about 2384093 interviews in his life, but he still seemed engaged and excited to talk about both his old bands and his new project, Satellite Party. His band’s debut album entitled Ultra Payloaded is due to be released on 15th May 2007, with contributions from artists such as John Frusciante and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas, Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons, electronic dance producer of Hybrid Joy Division/New Order bassist Peter Hook. Will it turn out as well as Howard Stern’s late-in-life SIRIUS radio career? Time will only tell. But if speaking to him is any hint, I’m certainly a believer
Saturday held my favorite interview: the hipster frat club (note: the term “frat” is meant in the most amiable of ways here) of Deerhunter. I had expected the guys of Deerhunter to have a sense of humor from the start- it only takes a brief glance at their myspace page to understand that they’re not taking themselves a quarter as seriously as Jared Leto, and they’re making music 10 times as good. While there is certainly some brotherly tension between the guys, they love each other the way CSNY did in the beginning. Bradford, the frontman, has been made fun of endlessly by blogs, vlogs and the like for his extreme skinniness (he has Marfan Syndrome - read: Pres Lincoln). Thinking that he must have be asked questions about it ad nauseam, there was NO way i was going to ask about it. Throughout the interview, to my surprise, Bradford made jokes about it, saying things like, “man.. i’m as hungry as i LOOK!” which evoked the kind of laughter in the room that gives everyone comfort. Sometimes calling out the pink elephant can be quite beneficial. In any case, Deerhunter were funny, smart, excited and talented interviewees in general- I went to see them in concert, and watching Bradford throw himself into the crowd, scream and run around in the dress that he’d chosen for the concert, and mosh with his fans made him even more endearing- but not enough to distract me from how brilliant, smooth and slow, while surprising and tough, their music is. This could, perhaps, have been my favorite SXSW concert… **a close rival would be Marnie Stern, who i can say without hesitation is the most talented guitarist (man or woman) that i’ve seen in my lifetime. Jeeeez, that girl can PLAY. After Deerhunter, I had the pleasure of interviewing and watching Cold War Kids, which was fantastic. They’re hilarous guys, and have a brotherhood much like Deerhunter- their music is not better or worse, but totally different. It’s poppy, while still unique, and possesses the contagious quality that made the Strokes millions (of fans and dollars). Check out more of that interview for sure- as well as their Backstage Pass.
I also got to see and interview Bloc Party, Dustin Kensrue, Brother Ali, and Juiceboxxx. Definitely check out their interviews on mtvu.com- especially Brother Ali. He was a really great guy- it makes me even more excited about his work.
The one band I would have liked to interview but didn’t get a chance to were The Fratellis. They were definitely talk-of-the-town at SXSW this year, and I was working during their performance so I couldn’t even see them. Luckily, just one google search will get me to enough reviews to allow me to pretend that I was actually there.
