SXSW Day 2 Boogaloo

Thursday morning was rough, I gotta tell ya. Mind you, we made it home before 8 PM on Wednesday evening. It’s funny how one too many Lone Stars can make you feel like you just got off a long bus ride from LA to Austin [got mugged in Albuquerque]. We were lucky to make it out the door and down to Emo’s around noon on Thursday. It was immediately apparent that our fellow SXSW partiers had been overzealous on Wednesday as well. Red River and Emo’s were fairly quiet compared to the same time on Day #1. Beautiful Newborn Children were halfway into their set when we arrived, and there were maybe 20 people there watching. Live, the BNBC sounded more like the Pixies than their recordings reveal but perhaps a little more garage-y. They even have a chunky, bald frontman/guitarist.

Beautiful[?] Newborn Child #1

BNBC finished their set with 15 minutes to spare in their already short time slot [I’m not even sure they have 30 minutes of material]. Field Music was scheduled to play next, but not for another 40 minutes. So we headed to Emo’s outside stage to get some daylight and check out another band.

Emo’s outside was just as dead as the inside stage. The SXSW peeps were still nursing their hangovers, maybe just starting to order their migas or whatever. That was understandable: we were still dragging our feet, too. The first band scheduled, The Research, took the stage before an audience of 10. By the first note, we knew they weren’t going to provide the boost we needed [they suck!]. With little deliberation, we decided some Death Metal Pizza [Hoek’s] was in order. 6th Street was just beginning to bustle as the normal downtown lunch crowd and the late rising SXSW crowd collided and started to fill restaurants. The Iron Cactus was packed. The guy at Hoek’s told us a pepperoni pie would be out in about 5 minutes, so we hung out on the sidewalk and did a little people watching. Still with the ridiculously large sunglasses, people? Come on. Lots of unfortunate haircuts. You are going to regret that wool coat, later--this is Austin, Texas, kid. Ding! Our pepperoni slices emerged from the fires of Mordor. That shit is hot! But soooo good.

We returned to Emo’s inside stage in time to catch Field Music. Neither of us had heard them before, but we enjoyed their set. The three piece band from the UK plays quirky-but-not-jerky art pop. Some of their high-pitched vocal harmonies reminded us of early Who.
















Field Music indoors at Emo's

Next, we went back to the outside stage to see Jason Collett [who’s lucky to be part of Broken Social Scene]. Jason Collett’s band is decent. Jason Collett is an ass. It sounds like he’s retreading the same American roots rock earth that Wilco has already slashed, burned, and salted . . . only he doesn’t do it very well at all. Plus, he looked like a jackass dancing around in his too-tight jeans and pointy boots.

At this point the crowd was still pretty thin, but people were starting to trickle in to the club. The Hidden Cameras were slated to play next. I understand they’ve gotten good press from the indie publications, and I remembered our friend Brad recommending them to us. Pitchfork described them as “flamboyant.” They are, indeed, flamboyantly gay. Their music is kind of poppy and spazzy: the frontman is equal parts David Byrne and Freddie Mercury. While it wasn’t my cup of tea, the Cameras put on a fun set and provided just enough of a jolt to resuscitate what could have become a dreary Thursday afternoon. They drew a small, adoring [equally flamboyant] crowd and they even invited a few fans to join them on stage to play tambourine.

The Hidden Cameras - flame on!

By the time The Hidden Cameras were done, the normal Emo’s day show crowd started to pour into the club. UK singer-songwriter, Richard Hawley was up next. We had never heard him before, so we didn’t know what to expect. This guy has style and charisma. With his crooning style and his witty Brit stage banter, I think he really charmed the 90 percent full house crowd.

Richard Hawley is fookin' boss, mate!

Up next: nothing says “Spring Break!” like Black Heart Procession, who hail from sunny San Diego, California. BHP played a good set, as expected. I’m really surprised the party crowd stuck around through their death waltzes and dirges. They opened and closed with songs from their last album, Amore del Tropico. I assume everything in between was material for their forthcoming album. It was par-for-the-course BHP. I’ll probably buy the new record. [Sorry, no good pics of BHP]

Of Montreal was next on the bill, but we decided to quit while we were ahead. We were still hurting a bit from Wednesday and were getting hungry. With our stomachs growling and our dogs barking, we hoofed it down to Mehkong River on 6th for some Vietnamese and Thai fare. The normally clean restaurant was a bit of wreck with paper chopstick wrappers strewn about like day old confetti. I don’t believe they were prepared for the onslaught of SXSW diners. Luckily our food and service were not affected, but it looked like the rockers at the table next to us had been waiting for their food for a really long time.

Day #2 took a long time to build steam, and, early on, it didn’t seem like it would live up to the promises of the day prior. We still had a pretty good time, but we needed to get rested for Friday’s Insound party at Club DeVille.