Thursday 13/03/08 South by Southwest @ Various Venues, Austin, Texas

For half a week every March, the city of Austin, Texas plays host to over 2000 bands and artists who come together with eager fans, fellow musicians, the press, records labels and more to create the mother of all music festivals, South by Southwest. Gigwise starts our SXSW experience on Thursday, the day it all really gets good.

At two in the afternoon, a very well-known Austin venue, Emo’s, provides stage time for a great Brooklyn-based band, Parts and Labor. Immediately the audience is captivated by the experimental punk essence this band exudes. The four-piece dive into songs that surprise and catch us off guard, starting and stopping and starting back up again rather abruptly, totally keeping us on our toes. The way they use their synth makes some tracks really deep and moving, whereas others are just happy and fun.  These guys are one of those bands you privileged to have stumbled upon.  Simply brilliant.

Not many bands’ sound checks leave you wondering whether your eardrums are going to survive their gig.  It’s a worrisome feeling.  Still, we stick it out for experimental-mental metal band Genghis Tron.  These guys have been around for a few years and are a force to be reckoned with, pushing the boundaries of traditional metal.  They don’t even have a drummer or a bassist; instead they use drum machines and three—no, maybe four; there are too many to count—synthesisers.  The guitarist uses finger-picking to an almost impossibly complex level (if you blink, you are going to miss something his fingers are doing to his guitar).

They play a fair few tracks off their first album ‘Dead Mountain Mouth’, but decide to concentrate more on their latest album, ‘Board Up the House’, which is much more easily accessible to a more “mainstream” audience.  What’s frustrating about the public reception of this band is that the amazing beauty and complexity of their instrumentation often goes unnoticed by most because of the insane vocals, which is sad because the vocals are actually just the cherry on top of their fantastic tunes.  It’s a phenomenal show and they’re an early zenith.

We chat with Michael Sochynsky, the keyboardist and primary drum programmer for the group, after the show.  It’s a massive surprise to find out what an almost geekily happy this guy is, considering he plays in one of the most intense metal bands around.  He seems delighted to indulge in his South by Southwest experience so far.  “I’m having a great time!” he says with a smile.  “I think South by Southwest is such a cool festival because there are so many amazing bands to see.  I’ve been catching so many awesome bands, it’s great.”

Next we walk around the corner to the other side of Emo’s to catch super-hyped band Tapes ‘N Tapes. Overly-anticipated by many in Austin, their gig is kind of a let-down.  ‘The Loon’ of course was a blinding debut, but their new material from ‘Walk it Off’ they air today just sounds like Good News for People Who Love Bad News-era Modest Mouse rip offs. Not very ground-breaking, but still just about good enough to stick round for. Another annoyance is that frontman Josh Grier and keyboardist Matt Kretzman look like they could care less about being there; the only band members who seem like they’re into the performance are the drummer Jeremy Hanson (who, if we may point out, looks like a spitting image of Rivers Cuomo) and bassist Erik Appelwick. 

As the sun sets on this gorgeous Texan city, Gigwise rolls over to one of the favourite music venues of all time, Stubb’s, to watch a showcase devoted to the soundtrack of the new Iraq War protest film, ‘Body of War’.  All of the musicians who were a part of it are present and perform a few songs in protest to the war.
One of the great musicians who makes up this soundtrack is singer-songwriter Mason Jennings.  Just him and an acoustic guitar, he trots onto the stage and begins to sing his heart out, “…Standing like a statue in the sea / In a little truck stop in Tennessee / Bombs are crashing down in waves / On a giant TV screen / … / People are dying in their beds / While this flag flies over our heads…” in his song 'Jesus, Are You Real?'  He has the power of mixing good folk pop with a serious message that makes a listener think hard.

The Rx Bandits come out to do a little number.  Normally this band is purely progressive rock, but tonight they take a different genre—reggae.  We’re not really sure how to react to this.  It’s not bad, but it’s not good.  Moving on…