Ledaswan played 3 shows around 6th St during SXSW. We met a lot of people, got very little sleep and had way too much fun. Here are some clips from our trip. Walking through the streets of Austin, playing Spill on Sixth, Treasure Island, and hanging out at the Cedar Door. There is beer involved, warning in case that’s not your things. If it’s not, then SXSW is not for you.
I’d like to think 2009 is off to a good start. We have a new president, new hope, and really weird Texas weather.
Things that I am excited about this year:
Ledaswan is still in the beginning stages of the new album. We have most of the drums done. Bass and guitar is done on only 3 songs. We have started vocals for 1 song so far. We should have at least 2 new songs done by SXSW. We will be bringing those with us to hand out to people. We are looking at June for a release date. Ledaswan will be playing during SXSW at a separate festival called Texas Rock Fest. We will be around the whole time trying to catch some of the great acts. Especially some of the day shows.
We just received the brand spanking new mix of “Where Birds Go”. The original version appeared on Local 782 compilation released last year and we had mixed it ourselves. We recut some of the vocals and sent it off to Matt Brown of Trespassers William who remixed and mastered it for us. It is now a whole new beast. The new mix sounds amazing. You will see this version on our new album as well as on a compilation called Staring at the Sun Vol. 6 put together by Terry Anderson. I believe this comes out in March as well. Be on the lookout for that as from what I understand it will have some great SA bands on it. Terry told me who some of them are, but I was drunk and can’t recall for sure.
Our song Closure will also be on a new compilation by Local 782 upcoming this year. We will have more details on that soon.
Airport Goodbye Studios has also been recording SA girl punk band Heather Go Psycho. We cut 4 songs recently and are about to cut another 4. You should be seeing a full length sometime this year. The song Carousel will also be on the upcoming Local 782 compilation. You can preview the song on the girls myspace
While researching the next day’s shows the night before, I happend to come across the fact that The Breeders ( who I was planning on seeing at a festival on Saturday) were playing at KLRU. The studio on UT campus where they film Austin City Limits. The listing just said corner of Dean Keaton and Guadalupe. My friend Oni explained to me it was right at the college itself and explained to me how to get there. We arrived at 12:40pm and found a meter right in front of the building. Realizing we had no change for the meter, I ducked into a pizza place right on the Drag and asked for quarters. While in line I feel a tap on the shoulder and see Anthony fron Drunken Monkey Productions and KSYM fame. One of his friends is doing sound there and they have free bands and beer all day. I guess everyone in Austin is in the SXSW spirit putting on free shows. Free beer doesn’t hurt either. I let him know I am on my way to see the Breeders and hurry off across the street. We end up in the wrong building and had to ask some of the faculty for directions before we get anywhere close to the studio. I am expecting a large crowd for this. Who doesn’t know the Breeders? and who wouldn’t want to see them for free. We arrive in Studio 6a in the B building and come into the legendary studios where they film Austin City Limits.
The walls are adorned with the Austin skyline and there is a stage with 3 sets of bleachers around it. We walk in and there must be about 50 people there. I am a little shocked, but nonetheless happy about being there and being able to get inside. The crew works hard to get all the last minute preparations in order. They are scheduled to go on at 1:30pm and it is being broadcast live on Seattle’s KEXP independent radio. The Breeders come out to plenty of cheering and they immediately start sound checking. And they sound check to the song everyone really wants to hear.
The show kicks off The Breeders tear through a 4 song set consisting of 3 new songs from their new album Mountain Battles (due out in April) and Cannonball as the closing song. It’s rare to catch a band in this intimate of a performance, and this is probably one of the highlights of the entire trip. Their on stage interview was hilarious as they explained some of the background of their new album. KEXP usually has these live performances available as downloads from iTunes. I’m sure this will soo end up on there as well.
We left Studio 6A and decided to head back to Sixth. The closest we found parking was 2nd and Congress. Only about 6 blocks to our destination, a club called Vice. I had been wanting to catch the band The Raveonettes since we got here. I noticed they were playing about 12 times throughout all of SXSW so I was sure to catch them. I had found that they were playing at 5pm at Vice. We get there and it looks closed. What the Fuck!? I pull out my list and to my horror, I see that it says Vice Outdoor stage located at 1106 E 11th St. That was over 14 blocks away and over I35. We decided to walk it. The sun was out, it was a beautiful day, tons of people, man was it a far walk. We hear the Raveonettes playing at Stubb’s as we were walking over to Vice Outdoor Stage, but that was an invite only show for badges. They will soon be where we are. No worries. Walking over I35 was a little scary for someone afraid of heights (me)
We get to the Vice Outdoor stage at 3:45pm. The event is sponsored by Scion, Guitar Hero III and ATT. Lots of giveaways lots of people. Their motto is no badge, no wristband, no problem. Sounds good to me. We sit in the shade through the band Jay Reatard and chug our water as the temperatures has already reached 95 degrees. Once they are done we make our way over and get up right up front to watch the band setup.
Their music reminds me of a young Jesus and Mary Chain and the singers look is not different. He could be either one of the Reid brothers that make up the JAMC.
As for the rest of the band. The drummer plays only a snare and floor tom and stands up the whole time commanding the stage with the biggest beats she can play.
The other guitarist is taller than everyone else in the band and looks more like she walked out of a foreign art film.
They played through a very loud and awesome 6 song set that kept everyone bobbing and singing along. Closing out the set was their new single “Aly, Walk with me” which reminds me of an old western movie taking place at the beach. When you hear the guitar line, you will see what I mean.
This band as I mentioned played their asses off during SXSW. I counted at least 12 different shows they were at throughout the 4 day period. The show I saw was their second show of the day and they were due to play later that night at Emo’s with the Donnas. As great as they were, you could see they were tired. They have a new album and they are promoting the hell out of it. Lust, Lust, Lust.
Looking through this list I start seeing that some of the bands I really want to see at night are playing free shows during the day. We end up on Sixth street around 2pm and just start looking around. Every club has some sort of music going on. It was almost overwhelming at the amount of sound you heard. It was 2pm and there were more people walking down Sixth than on a busy Saturday night.
My brother David goes to meet his girlfriend at Emo’s to watch Tokyo Police Club. Erica and I start wandering and enter Agave on Sixth. This 3 piece band from Brooklyn called Appomattox blew me away with the three songs I heard them play. They had a cd for sale, but I wasn’t carrying cash (which is really stupid as SXSW).
After seeing this band tear the stage apart we wandered off and amused ourselves with the kind of things you would only see at a place like Austin during SXSW.
Paste Magazine had a free part in conjunction with Dell for the next 2 days at Volume Night Club
We picked up some free magazine and watched Delta Spirit, sounding like a cross between Ben Harper and Coldplay (yes, really!)
We then stood in line at Flamingo Cantina for the Under the Radar magazine event. The place was crowded, no air conditioning and small. We were given a shitload of stuff by the Under the Radar people including magazine, t-shirts, playing cards. Free swag is nice. The Shout out Louds came on about 20 minutes later. They sounded like a Swedish “The Cure” and it was evident that they had a large Swedish crowd in the audience.
I love The Cure, but this for some reason wasn’t doing it for me. I am guessing it was the heat and the smell of armpits and beer that made me want to get out of there. We made our way back to the Hideout and grabbed a coffee and took some time to answer some work email, even though I was on vacation.
I had a whole list of bands I wanted to see that night, but checking the list I had printed from the website http://www.showlistaustin.com/
It seemed that all the bands I wanted to see were playing free the next day. So a change of plans. We headed over to Daddy’s for some hot wings instead.
No badge and no wristband, I decided to take a couple of days off and head to Austin anyways. Officially starting Wednesday, I arrived about 1230am that night and headed over to The Hideout on Congress and 6th. One of my favorite bands that never comes to Texas was playing at 1am, Trespassers William. We had met them at SXSW 2 years ago and he had offered to help my band in any way possible. 2 years later he mixed and mastered the Ledaswan album. So we didn’t hesitate to get the chance to come see them again. Not that they were bad last time, but this time they put on a much better set. I would even say it rocked in its own way. I would describe Trespassers William music as an equivalent to that really great drunk you feel from wine…right before you go over into the “I drank too much wine stage”. Their musical is ethereal and beautiful. Listen to Trespassers William
The Hideout is a great little coffee shop that has a back room with stadium seating. This is used for both film and music. Being 1am when we got there, the employees suggestion for a bucket of beer instead of the 3 in my hand was a great suggestion. Thank you. And to the guys behind us that were trying to talk louder than everyone in the room before the show started…Fuck you!!!
That was what the weekend for me was all about. Friday night we played at the Rock the Ovaries benefit along with Mira Radar and Kick It! who were all excellent. Ledaswan ended up closing out the evening’s festivities. We had a rowdy group upfront that were slam dancing and stage diving through our set. This was the first time this had ever happend during one of our shows, so it was exciting and funny at the same time. Unfortunately, my sister (who was taking pictures during the show) said the battery on my camera ran out before the stagediving started…so no pictures of that. Dammit!!!
Saturday was our friends birthday.
Oni lives in Austin, so a road trip had been planned earlier in the week. Erica and I leave here about 630pm and make the one hour trek to Austin, TX. At 1030pm we arrived at Oni’s house (which by the way is where they filmed the movie ‘Teeth’, so yes I was partying at that house). The fridge was full of beer and by the end of the night David and I were too. Erica and Lisa stopped drinking a lot earlier, but apparently we don’t know when to stop (or according to David, I don’t).
We left and spent the night at Lisa’s house in her spare bedroom (thanks Lisa!)
Sometime during lunch on Sunday, it was mentioned that there is an Ikea in Round Rock. Now, I knew this but had never given it a second thought. We were going to leave right after lunch, but we decided to go check it out. Why not? Well, we kind of went crazy in there for a bit. You would seriously have to spend an entire day to see everything. and they have everything. Everything you can think of for your home, room, bathroom, kitchen…etc. We were smart enough to leave without spending under $100. But the next trip has already been planned. Erica must have this desk she saw there and I will certainly take advantage of that and get some other things I spied while there. For now I am very happy with our new lamps that we got.
Oh yeah. One more thing. My Chemical Romance is playing Stubb’s in Austin on Monday, April 28th. I am so going, but nobody else seems to want to go. I see these guys twice last year. Both times were at big places. AT&T Center and Verizon. Stubb’s is a small place only holding about 2000 people so it will be even better. Fuck it, I guess I will go alone.
Oh and one more thing. While listening to the radio in austin I heard that you can get writsbands to SXSW soon. You enter your name and billing info into their website and if you’re one of the lucky people drawn then you are charged $139 for each wristband (limit 2). In order to be eligible to buy them you have to have an Austin address. So does that mean they only want Austin people to be able to attend? What about if you want to take the week off to go to SXSW and see lots of bands, but you don’t live there? I wasn’t planning on buying a wristband anyways, but sounds kind of weird to me. I am going to make it up there, but probably for some select shows.
I’d like to think 2009 is off to a good start. We have a new president, new hope, and really weird Texas weather.
