Sun: March 14th –
No rest for the wicked as they say, after recovering from the Flaming Lips blowout just the night before in Denton, I was now on my way to Austin. Now normally I don’t go quite this early as the music part of the conference doesn’t officially begin till this Wednesday and that’s when I normally get here. However their’s always stuff going on throughout and my reason for coming this early was: If you had to ask me out of all the bands I love that have broken up who would I most cherish see getting back together (within reason) who would it be? Well I have been very blessed in the last few years as the impossible happened with the Police reuniting and then the ultimate hell freezing over of Van Halen reuniting with David Lee Roth. So who’s left? Well, if the Pixies can do it, so can anyone right (except probably the Talking Heads). Well one of my all-time faves and perhaps my favorite band of the 1990s, Man or Astroman were reforming and even though they were scheduled to play two more times, I didn’t wanna miss the first (or any) show.
Besides a few warmup shows in their hometown of Birmingham, AL this was their first shows as MOA since the legendary Day of All Human Reckoning event they staged ironically here in Austin almost ten years ago (I attended that shit too)
So I don’t know the reason behind the reunion other than maybe just a desire to play, but didn’t really care as this was a chance to be a fan for once and have a good time.
I finally roll into town and am starving so I park next to the Mohawk where the show is happening and walk to find some food (and I see a line already forming around the building) and go to the burrito truck next to the Red-Eyed Fly. I grab some food and sit at the picnic table and immediately start chatting with the dude sitting next to me. As fate would have it, he was Kurt from Flosstradamus, we knew some of the same people and he was performing at the Mohawk right after MOA. We became fast friends and he walked me in so I wouldn’t have to deal with the line (thanks Kurt).
Austin’s The Octopus Project were opening, and they are pretty interesting. Their singer, who’s babe-ship has clearly come in, her act seemed persnickety and contrived however. I was ready to flame out fucking fanboy style for the Astro as I had already bought a t-shirt before they even came on.
The show starts and I’m clearly not the only one that was anticipating this, this much.
I was freaking out and the crowd was right with it. The brought up the before-mentioned singer for the Octopus Project and Coco joked about being upstaged by her till he did this:
Kurt from earlier was so cool, that though I was tired and had a long week ahead, I was totally gonna check his show out, and I’m glad I did. I have my own little DJ act and so I’m interested regardless and felt like I learned alot by watching. These guys were incredible.
Wed Mar 17th –
So I sleep pretty late when I should have got up earlier to hit registration. After leaving the Convention Center I swung by Emo’s to check out the first of many Brooklyn Vegan parties, this one with Fucked Up and the GZA. As I mentioned in a previous blog about my previous trials with the GZA this was yet another entry as their was a sign on the door saying “GZA has canceled”. Their was still a line out the door but now I was annoyed and a bit hungry. I hook up with Sarah as I had an invite to something that contained to of my deepest passions: crawfish and hip-hop – It was a free crawfish boil that was hosted by J Boogie (DJ-The Jungle Brothers). And I was in a hip-hop vibe in anticipation for the GZA before his bullshit canceled. It was a bit far, we had to drive, so we head on over and the shit was on. In maybe not the most practical locations but the food was fantastic and J was rawking some deep reggae stuff and their was some local micro-brewery getting everbody green beer (it was St. Patrick’s Day). It was a blast, we left with our ears ringing and a good late afternoon beer buzz, but what we didn’t leave with was our stomachs full, as good as the food was their wasn’t enough of it, so we were still hungry and hungry for more of the same.
Luckily we were in Austin as I’ve written before a destination for me that I try to hit on every visit to Austin is the Boiling Pot on 6th St right by I35. The shit is to die for! So I said let’s finish what we started and we went and ate till we could barely walk!
I knew I was missing a little mini 80’s hair metal festival (you know how I love those) up the street with Faster Pussycat, L.A. Guns, and the Lynch Mob – but I had a feeling I would see those bands again (more on this later 🙂 but I wanted to get there in time to see Razr 13. I would have totally overlooked the name and might have even left if I had gone earlier after the Lynch Mob, only to kick myself later as I was reading in the Austin Chronicle that Razr 13 was the new project from Doug Pinnick from King’s X. Doug is one of my all-time inspirations so I was eager to check this out, so we finally finished eating and headed over there.
This was part of a week-long thing called the Texas Rockfest that I had also booked some Trickykid bands to play as well the next day so I also wanted to check out the grounds.
We get there after they had already started and keep in mind I knew nothing about this band other than Doug was in the band. The songs weren’t bad if a bit amateurish as compared to the musicianship one normally equates with Pinnick, but even more striking was the how they looked. I didn’t get the greatest shot but one dude looks like he just got out of the penn after 30 years, covered in scary biker tattoos and one other dude looked like a rocker version of King Kong Bundy.
The sound was more of an updated neu-metal sound that wasn’t bad but seemed like a step back for Doug instead of step forward.
This was also one of those nights were, no matter what you do or who you are, their will be one night during SXSW where you just can’t get into anything.
Sadly this was the first night and it seemed like this was gonna be one of those nights. Their was a killer showcase at Stubb’s with Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and Broken Bells – no dice – then we wandered over to Red 7 to see the comedian Brian Posehn and Voivod – same shit.
Its not like this a dead town or a dead festival, usually you have to choose between awesome stuff, and this was no exception as we headed to the IAMSound Records party for a great show with Salem and Sleigh Bells, as well as Little Boots was DJ’n. This is always one of the better parties and I try not to miss it each year. I have been wanting to see Salem for two years, after I stumbled upon their album in a record store in Canada, it was called Yes, I Smoke Crack – Clearly the band for me. And they did not disappoint, just so fucking weird and dark. It reminded me of this dude Odd Nosdam, that Mike Patton collaborated with recently.
For me, besides business, the real deal is to catch the newer, younger bands. Its cool, going to see your favorites but I would rather gamble on going to see some bands I haven’t seen yet, and this one paid off. Both bands were really great and I wanted to try to catch them again during the festival. Afterwards we swung by the Pure Volume House since we were close to find out who the “Special 3am Guest” was. It looked like a warzone by the door and someone said the guest was Jakob Dylan – all this for that dude? Didn’t something happen? Did he come out or something? Was he gonna do a duet with Lance Bass? I wasn’t sticking around to find out so if my predictions came true, please email me to tell me that I am truly a prophet.Thurs Mar 18th – Day 5
So after another full morning of meetings on no sleep, my usual prioritizing of food over music was taking hold once again. However I wasn’t gonna miss Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings again, so I opted to go to Kabobalicious or whatever its called and actually while standing in line to see them at the Mohawk. How’s that for multi-tasking? – Sharon and the gang were the shit as usual – who cares that it was 3pm and like 1000 degrees outside, she brings it everytime, just the real deal in every sense.
I leave the Fort and walk across the street to the Sweet Leaf Party as the GZA was scheduled to go on at 7pm. I knew this idiot was gonna be late and I don’t even know why I bother with this clown, and frankly since it was across the street was probably what got me there.
I get over there and 7pm becomes 8pm and then we start hearing that he had canceled another show at the Iheartcomix Party earlier that day. Is this loser even in Austin? That’s two cancellations so far, but the guy over the PA is assuring us that he is coming. While I’m waiting I also learn that the surprise guest at the IFC House is the Sword and I’m fucking missing them yet again! It would have taken too long to get over there and since I had already waited an hour for the GZA I was determined to see it through.
Finally after a 90 min. delay, the hypemen come out to start the show. However one of them is plugging some solo LP of his coming out and he was straight up whack, just awful. How dare the GZA after all he just put us through make us sit thru a 3-song set of this trash? I was gonna shit in my hand and sling it at this guy. Finally the GZA walks out and starts with Life of a Drug Dealer and the place goes off. However, again the energy peaked around this first song. I guess since this was a free show, (I’m sure HE was still getting paid) he just didn’t give a fuck. He would rhyme a couple of lines and then go hang by the DJ while the hypemen (who sucked) would lead the show, you could even see him back there checking his Blackberry, during the songs!
One cool thing happened was I was at least fortunate to be standing side-stage and I look over and out to the crowd and realize that Bill Murray has been standing next to me this whole time. I’m not one of those Wes Anderson fags, but Bill Murray is still rad and despite already knowing of their pairing in Coffee and Cigarettes how cool is this that he’s checking this out? Would you expect anything less from him? I wonder if he was thinking that this was the worst performance he’s ever seen as well?
I get over to Club Deville which is right next door to the Mohawk where it sounded like the GZA was taking his next bow of shame followed by the most hyped band of the conference; the XX. Everytime I turned around their they were – they were everywhere! So the line stretched into the line I was in for MOA.
I finally get inside and after several delays – the transmission begins –
So now with the late hour approaching everybody was looking for the party. You could feel it in the air, not so much the need to see a specific band as much as a need just to keep the party going (at all costs). Prime example would be that when I got to the Pure Volume House, you would have thought that the Smiths had reformed and the only thing was inside was freaking Andrew W.K. (who..let’s be fair throws quite the party as I was soon to find out…which is perfect for people…like I said..that were looking to party).
I’m not kidding, I had never seen such chaos, apparently their was some confusion with which passes were good for which night, that the door people didn’t even know so the bouncers were just letting the girls they liked in. Just total clusterfuck. I didn’t care enough so I walked down the alley looking for something else, when I see an old acquaintance who is actually working the show (lucky break) and he’s walking Walter Schrefels from Rival Schools (who are about to go on and my reason for going there) in through the back and waves me over to join. Nice one Hank- Much appreciated.
So I poke my head out from the little make-shift backstage thing and see there’s no one really at the party and that’s when I hear the story that explains why soooo many people were outside: Apparently dude from Gym Class Heroes was DJ’n on stage and invited a bunch of people to come dance and the stage collapsed and so they had to evacuate. I’m a lucky dude for missing all that shit, but like I said earlier, their was something hostile in the air all night everywhere.
So Rival School just said fuck it and played on the floor while the drummer and the amps were still on the broken parts:
We needed some positivity, we needed to get a party started, conveniently, Andrew W.K. came to our rescue.
Fri Mar 19th – Day 6
I had some time to kill and didn’t feel like walking back across and again my beloved Fader Fort was next door, so I went over there where I could get something to drink and better phone reception. I was undertaking the task of securing equipment for my Ween hermano Claude Coleman Jr, in time for his impending arrival with his solo outfit, Trickykid artists – Amandla, in a few days. While there I got to check out a bit of Marina & the Diamonds, who I actually really enjoyed. (and not just because she is like crazy, stupid, oh my gawd hot).
And I see Mischa Barton.
Headed back across the freeway for my third Man or Astroman show of the week. This was the best of the three. I guess they hit a stride from playing all week and/or wanted to go out with a bang as it were, but this was the most inspired of the three. It still didn’t exclude the pudgy drummer from trying to derail things with his silly, confrontational rants. If this tub of shit came at me I would just hurl powdered donuts at him:
Harrington came out to check his microphone and wound up staying on stage to just chat with the audience. At first he told us how his dad suggested a joke to open the set with: “down here you guys have longhorns (makes UT hand sign), but up in NYC we have a unicorn (flips off audience).” Then he poked fun at the industry-nature of SXSW by rattling off a list of fake places they were going to play later in the week and imploring us to come see them again because they felt certain they were “really about to break.” After a few more minutes of poking fun at everything from himself to the long list of sponsors on the SXSW banner (“We’re really thrilled to have Chevy involved in this…”) he launches into the opening parts of In these Woods and then the band kicks in and the place fucking EXPLODES!!
They made it through a few more songs, including new material from the their forthcoming new LP Root for Ruin, as well as a Silver Jews cover. From memory I remember:
In these Woods
Pills
The Equestrian
Patty Lee
Raging in the Plague Age
Yawn Yawn Yawn
And as if shit couldn’t get any crazier (or weirder) it takes the lights off again, this time leaving the place in total darkness to finish with the most fuck-shit-up version of The Sweat Descends. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face and just had to rely on the energy of the movement and the insanity that was happening on stage. One of the wildest and weirdest nights from one of the wildest and weirdest bands.
Ok, so now if you are reading this, are you like “Roy, go the fuck home already” ? I would be too, but alas I was in the mood to take it as far as I could.
As I had mentioned earlier, as this time of the night people are dying to get there hands on anything to keep the party going and they also seek exclusivity. It seems to make them feel special somehow, like everyone else has to follow the 2am curfew but we however are cool enough to be above that. So if you throw something exclusive, after-hours and reputable at them? Holy shit, you will have a riot on your hands, and that’s just what I was walking into.
First of all, I was so hyped from the Les Savy Fav show, I had the bright idea to walk the 15 or so blocks over to the campus where this party was happening at some hippie co-op joint that could only exist in Austin, that was promising an unthinkable 3am set from Andrew W.K.
Fuck it, let’s do it – I wish I had better photos of this because I can’t even begin to illustrate the carnage that besieged this apartment complex. Apparently there was this recreational style room upstairs that could hold about 400 people and that’s where the show was gonna go down. All it did was just illuminate the inner narcissist of everyone there. People were fighting, scraping, even taking huge safety risks in scaling this building to get up there…all not to see the show, but to be able to say they saw the show. It was ridiculous and they only thing I can think of as to why I stuck around was because I had walked so far and was mesmerized by the shallowness. There is alot more to say as people were at serious risk, as there were fights everywhere, and people throwing beer bottles down on to the people below. Those few that lived there that deemed themselves in charge were just as laughable. Just like the cop that’s never had any authority was now gonna abuse it. This coming from these silly hippies that would be the first to tell you how much they hate cops were acting just like one by getting off on telling people who could come up and who couldn’t like some velvet rope for Hare Krishnas.
3am became 4am and finally as I was gonna leave around 430am here comes Andrew W.K. – I can’t even tell you how weird, but yet awesome this was. This was the real deal, off the beaten path and legit as fuck. The sound was about as shitty as if they were playing the toy aisle with equipment they sold there at Toys R Us, and also maybe because I think that this was like Andrew’s freaking fifth show that day – but he didn’t show any signs of fatigue, nor did the crowd as they lost their shit, and their was a vibe of “I’m at the party everyone will be talking about tomorrow feel”. I could give a shit about stuff like that but I was feeding of the crowd and how liberating the whole thing felt. But I was still smart to hang in the back 🙂
The set was only 30 mins but that was more than enough, it was like a firecracker that keep exploding for thirty straight minutes. This time I wised up, grabbed a cab and headed to my hotel.
Sat Mar 20th –
So after the unmatched insanity of last night, I slept as long as I could. I had some more things to do to get ready for Trickykid Day at Cheapodiscs the next day so I kinda ran out of the shower and off I went. Now, when I left I noticed that it felt significantly colder than it did just yesterday or what it would normally be. Usually its already sweltering, and so naturally I didn’t pack anything that would really combat this issue. By the time I got downtown, I was freezing, and I noticed something that I have never seen in Austin, TX before: snow and ice – can you believe it? In Austin, in March? Apparently it had snowed that morning and it was around 4pm and the temperature had dropped to 19 degrees. Now I know I live in NYC, but I HATE cold, despise it with every fiber in my being. And if my hotel wasn’t so far away, I would have just gone back to bed and said fuck it. Sucks that this was happening on the last day of the festival. Even more depressing was that everything I had planned for the day was outside – there was no escape from it.
After my meetings the first thing I did was go over to Rachael Ray‘s party – to accomplish two things: a) to eat that good food – b) to be just another dork there to gawk at Zooey Deschanel and her band She & Him. I DJ’d Rachael’s party a few years back and I know that if you want to eat you gotta get there early, but the cold had a hand in the attendance so there was plenty of food for me when I got there.
Poor Zooey, you could tell that she wasn’t (like me) prepared for this unbearable cold and she would candidly between songs say “My god, its freezing”
Hey at least she looked good:)
…and sadly that’s all she could do, and thank goodness she has her acting and modeling career, and good for her for trying, but music just isn’t gonna be her thing. It was probably exactly what you were expecting – high profile actress using her connections to play a huge venue to sensitive indie-rock guys and girls that quote Rushmore that will claim the music was brilliant. It was not brilliant – it was as about as flaccid and uninteresting as it could be. She sings nice, and it’s a pleasant affair, but its nothing anyone should take seriously. It will get way more attention that it deserves and for all the wrong reasons.
So I leave there and it looks like I’m basically following Andrew W.K. around or vice versa (and not with much luck so its good that I wasn’t) cause I just missed him before She & Him and as I walk back across the freeway I just missed him again. This guy was everywhere.
The main thing I was missing was my jacket and pretty soon my will to live, it was so cold! – I’m not ashamed to admit this but there was nowhere to hide so I went into survival mode and actually took a couple of long spells hiding in the Port-a-Shitters just to stay warm and to block the wind. Yes, I would rather smell copious amounts of other people’s shit than be this cold.
I should have just gone back to the hotel…and what? miss GWAR? Not a chance – Like this week couldn’t have gotten any crazier 🙂 I haven’t seen GWAR since I was a teenager, and its a great show, but for me, it gets old quick. Like the fourth time I’m hit with fake blood, I’ve had my fill, but who can’t get it up for GWAR? I know I can.
I just wish they were passing out blankets and cocoa, instead of fake dismemberments. It really is a site that even if you have seen it before is still pretty staggering to see, not to mention freaking awesome.
It was funny because as they were pummeling the crowd with the music and the blood the wind would sweep through and blow the blood back on to them.
They did the bit about making fun of the music industry (naturally) that ended with the sacrifice of Lady Gaga. It really had to be seen to be believed.
So I think by choosing this over the Perez Hilton party (like there was any doubt) I believe I made the right choice haha. This was confirmed as after this I walked by that party and the line seemed to stretch to Louisiana. I was on my way to something that I had been anticipating all week (and sadly it was outside too, and it was actually getting COLDER). The Red Bull Hip-Hop party with some of my all-time favorite DJ’s and MCs. I get there in time to see the end of the Juan Maclean
and up next is Cut Chemist from the J5 crew. Straight up, I’m a total hip-hop guy, surely not of the baggy pants, sports jersey, pimp swagger foolishness, but I love this shit and primarily the old school guys and the real deal DJs. CC is an amazing performer and his set was mind-boggling. I was so cold, I wanted to dance to warm up, but I could barely move. They had this great projection screen setup with super close camera angles so you could really see what he was doing, and with these kinda DJs that’s what you want really.
Up next was one of the baddest DJs to ever to do it and one of the main reasons why I started, DJ Jazzy Jeff. Cmon..you know this dude, you could sing the theme to Fresh Prince of Bel Air right now, no problem. Jeff is the man, in my mind he, Kool Herc and Jam-Master-Jay started turntablism. So I was super pumped about getting to see him in action. My man was so cold, he kept rubbing his hands together between scratches to stay warm. This was a full-on party. He played all the old school joints you wanted to hear and presented them in an entirely new way. Exactly what a DJ is supposed to do.
I went to the back in hopes that the bodies in front of me would block the deadly wind. It was fucking freezing, but it really was a beautiful night, and Jazzy was so great I actually forgot I was cold for a sec and took in the scene.
From the opening line of the way he spoke-not shouted “How yall feeling this evening?” it was suddenly his show. In recent years he’s becoming as known for his humor as much as his music, and you could tell this was very last minute, off-the-cuff style as it just seemed like he found an hour ago that he was gonna be performing, but instead of looking or seeming unprofessional or unprepared, the spontaneity was the charm of the show. He talked alot, and fucked with the crowd a bunch, and mainly stuck to recent songs, but it felt intimate and was really fun.
It was now after 1am and what you ask, what could you possibly have let to do sir? Well it was technically the last night so would there be a better way to go out with a bang than to head to Vice‘s annual conference closing party, headlined by Les Savy Fav (and did I mention it was indoors, and only two blocks away?).
I get there and the line is already formed and its not moving. You never know at this party who is going on when, so I just wanted to get in and get settled. The cold made me impatient, so I became one of those leeches that just kinda hangs by the front door, thinking this is gonna get you in faster, and I would never endorse this, but my friend from Vice spots me (and she wouldn’t have in my previous location) whispers in my ear that they are at capacity and not letting anyone else in, probably for the rest of the night, and to follow her. Perfect timing cause as soon as I grabbed a drink and went to the bathroom the Fav were setting up.
Now I knew that this was not their show, so it would be an abbreviated version, but we are taking about Les Savy Fav, hell the Dwarves can accomplish in 15 mins what most bands can’t in two hours.
Tim Harrington comes out wearing an evil-grinning rabbit mask, which, he explained, belonged to the US government and had been given to him by a guy from NASA who was interviewing rock bands about the moon, as the band launches into Pills. This show got rowdy in a hurry – the set was almost identical as last night’s except a new song Let’s Get Out of Here – and this time they played their legendary show-closing anthem Who Rocks the Party? and as you can imagine, the place totally lost their shit, as I did right along with them. Harrington losing the mic after the first verse, then dragging a table into the crowd and singing from atop it with the crowd a total dancing shouting mess at this point. And like last night, he led the crowd to the opening rap of One Way Window before they cut his mic. Just freaking incredible.
Between sets this great DJ, Jason Toubin, was spinning all these great obscure soul jams from an impressive collection of 45s he had, that turned the place into a dancing speakeasy right out of Dirty Dancing. I stayed and danced for a bit, but it was now close to 4am so I head for the door. Something funny happened as I was waiting for a cab (they are not easy to catch at 4am like they are in NYC…I was about to co-miserate this fact with some familiar faces) as I’m standing there I can hear voices behind me and realize that Tim and the gang are now competing with me for a cab. I thought I was having trouble, Tim is not only a portly, balding weirdo, but he’s wearing this hideous (on purpose) all-over shaw that even he can barely keep a straight face while wearing. I concede as the next cab pulls up as their are five of them and one of I, but not before we all had some fun, lamenting the lack of public transportation in this town.
