South by Southwest – Part 1

South by Southwest, or SXSW as it’s commonly known, is one of the largest festivals in the States and it encompasses all things music, film and interactive. This year the event went for 9 days and saw a few hundred performers. But really, if you want to know more just check out the website.

Nothing is more romantic then seeing a few hundred bands for your honeymoon. At least that’s my idea of a perfect honeymoon. And fortunately I’m not alone. A friend went to Austin to see what SXSW had to offer. Here’s what Herbie had to say about it…

Tuesday 16th March
The unofficial start to SXSW kicked off on Tuesday night as we stubbled arse backwards into good fortune whilst seeking well recommended ribs at Stubbs BBQ. Unbeknown to us the metal legends Motorhead were about to hit the stage in the courtyard.

"I'll have baby back ribs and whatever Lemmy's drinking. Jack Daniels I guess"

A set that spanned the bands 34 years together we got a selection early singles, B-sides and as yet unreleased songs. At the grand age of 65 Lemmy still delivers his trademark 50 a day gravelly vocals while Mikkey Dee provided some of the finest drumming I’ve seen in quite some time. They covered all the hits while mocking the average age of the Stubbs punters for not being able to remember any of the tunes. Lemmy left us with a ‘Don’t forget us, we are Motorhead. We play rock an fuckin’ roll‘. Amazing.

Wednesday 17th March
Austin doesn’t need any help getting a party started with its 76 official venues and countless unofficial bars, add St. Patricks Day and the place is mayhem. Negotiating the streets is somewhat of a challenge in itself littered with buskers, food stalls (big shout out to Death Metal Pizza), hawkers and drunk Irish men.

First stop for Wednesday was to The Vallhalla to see Melbourne’s Paul Dempsey amble akwardly through a selection of solo material. The highlight of the set was a Springsteen cover, hammering out a sterling version of ‘Born To Run‘. As Paul confessed himself, between song banter is not him strength falling somewhere between endering and painful. Dempsey is one of Australia’s great voices either in need of some great songs or a great band without either of these components it just falls short.

Swiftly to Latitude 30 off 6th Street for the British Embassy’s showcase venue to catch South London’s Chew Lips. Their sweet version of electro pop is hard to resist, lead singer Tigs shimmied and hopped through an infectious 35 mins. Singles ‘Slick’ and ‘Solo’ were the pick of the bunch, let’s hope they visit our shores soon.

Chew Lips

The Phoenix and Warp Records showcase is the venue for the first of a number of shows for Toronto’s Born Ruffians. The goal was obviously to play tunes from the new album, only briefly touching on 2008′s Red, Yellow & Blue and steering clear of the big hits from it. If this performance is anything to go by we should looking froward to the release of ‘Say It’ mid way through the year. Unfortunately Born Ruffians will always draw lazy comparisons with Vampire Weekend because of similar vocal and guitar styles, however the new material does steer them from the so called ‘Upper West Side Soweto’.

The Parish hosted the Scottish showcase for the evening and we’d been tipped off that We Were Promised Jetpacks would be worth the visit. They didn’t disappoint the packed room, like a head butt to the face but in a good way. The powered through a 30 min set of up tempo indie goodness. Probably the surprise gig of the night and a band I need to investigate further.

Buskers busking in the street

Hometown heroes Spoon at Stubbs promised to be one on the stand out shows of the opening day, but ultimately failed to deliver. Managing to sound more middle of the road than any of their albums would suggest. A brooding, bass heavy version of The Damned’s Love Song was a surprising and welcome addition to the set list illustrating that they are capable of creating a live sound other than musical wallpaper. Sounds a little harsh I know, but you’d definitely hope for more if you already have tickets for their Sydney shows.