SxSW '09 - Day 03
Gomez @ La Zona Rosa
The Bear @ Jackelope
TOMBS @ 710 Room
Year Long Disaster @ Red 7
Dixie Witch ""
The DollyRots @ Red 7 Patio
The Girls ""
Black Tusk @ Red 7
Valis @ 710 Room
Teenage Bottle Rocket @ Red 7 Patio
_______________
Day three of South By Southwest always tend to be the peak event for the festival. The bands and their fans are all in town by this point, the streets of Austin are full of music lovers and wannabe's alike, and the myriad sounds of music from different genres can be heard everywhere you go. The day three schedule also tends to have the densest bookings, making it that much harder to pick and choose which gigs to see. It was a tough one this year, but the shows I did settle upon were some of the best gigs I've ever seen.
We've sort of put the day gigs on the backburner for the past few days and instead opted to drink from the keg at Rusty's house. For a change of pace, we opted to hit up a day party downtown, and headed for La Zona Rosa. No free booze this year at the gig, unfortunately, and no free 'crap' from the promoters either (we usually throw the gift bag out anyway). We did catch a performance from the group Gomez, who have been a mainstay of the indy-music scene for some time. Though I'm not a fan, their indy-pop tunes were catchy and entertaining enough for us to hang out for the duration: or, at least until we finished a couple of pounder cans of Lone Star Beer.
Afterwards, we wandered around 6th Steet, taking note at how the crazy's were coming out in full force, and then stopping in at a Mexican Seafood restaurant for some grub and beer. We pretty much missed out on most of the day shows, save for a brief 5 song set from The Bear at the infamous Jackelope's Bar. Way too crowded for me to get any pictures, but the bands provided some pretty hooky riffs during their power-pop laced...
SxSW '09 - Day 03
Gomez @ La Zona Rosa
The Bear @ Jackelope
TOMBS @ 710 Room
Year Long Disaster @ Red 7
Dixie Witch ""
The DollyRots @ Red 7 Patio
The Girls ""
Black Tusk @ Red 7
Valis @ 710 Room
Teenage Bottle Rocket @ Red 7 Patio
_______________
Day three of South By Southwest always tend to be the peak event for the festival. The bands and their fans are all in town by this point, the streets of Austin are full of music lovers and wannabe's alike, and the myriad sounds of music from different genres can be heard everywhere you go. The day three schedule also tends to have the densest bookings, making it that much harder to pick and choose which gigs to see. It was a tough one this year, but the shows I did settle upon were some of the best gigs I've ever seen.
We've sort of put the day gigs on the backburner for the past few days and instead opted to drink from the keg at Rusty's house. For a change of pace, we opted to hit up a day party downtown, and headed for La Zona Rosa. No free booze this year at the gig, unfortunately, and no free 'crap' from the promoters either (we usually throw the gift bag out anyway). We did catch a performance from the group Gomez, who have been a mainstay of the indy-music scene for some time. Though I'm not a fan, their indy-pop tunes were catchy and entertaining enough for us to hang out for the duration: or, at least until we finished a couple of pounder cans of Lone Star Beer.
Afterwards, we wandered around 6th Steet, taking note at how the crazy's were coming out in full force, and then stopping in at a Mexican Seafood restaurant for some grub and beer. We pretty much missed out on most of the day shows, save for a brief 5 song set from The Bear at the infamous Jackelope's Bar. Way too crowded for me to get any pictures, but the bands provided some pretty hooky riffs during their power-pop laced performance.
With the evening setting upon us, we headed out to the 710 Room to catch their early showcase from the Metal label, Small Stone Records. TOMBS took the stage and powered through their loud set of grindcore metal. Their music was good, but the scream-o styled singing from the frontman just didn't rung true with me. So, we moved on to the next set of gigs on the to-see list.
The Red 7 was hosting two separate showcases at their club, one metal and one punk rock. We started off with Year Long Disaster, featuring one of the son of the great rock'n roll demigod Ray Davies of the Kinks. Their Blues inspired southern rock was good, but not great. It just wasn't enough to keep my attention, so, to the bar I went to watch the rest of the gig from the comfort of a bar stool.
Next up at the Red 7 was the Austin band, Dixie Witch. The group was a blind pick from the SxSW web page, and I checked them out simply for the fact that they were on after Year Long Disaster. And I thank god that I took the time to do that. Dixie Witch was easily one of the best gigs I was able to catch at the festival this year. Stoner Rock meets Southern Blues is the best to describe the trio's music, and they most definitely rocked the house out for their entire 45 minute set. They weren't selling CD's for some ungodly reason, but thankfully I was sober enough too find their music online after gigs and proceeded to buy up their entire catalog.
After the Dixie Witch show, I hightailed it outside to the patio to catch the beginning of The Dollyrots show. Still one of my favorite live acts of all time. And to think, the first time I ever saw them play (or heard of them for that matter) was at SxSW 2006. Kelly and her boys put on another great gig, throwing out their Pop-Punk styled sounds like no one else can. They played their classics, of course, but also debuted some of their new music from their upcoming summer release. Always a great gig to see, The Dollrots.
The next gig on the Red 7 Patio was another blind pick, but I have to admit that The Girls put on the best show of the night. Fucking brilliant is a better way to put it. From the first note, this Seattle based outfit crunched out the highest energy 70's power-punk tunes I've ever heard. Imagine the Buzzcocks on speed, and you'll get a better picture of what The Girls are all about. Their recorded music does their live show absolutely no justice at all, and they simply put a great show, even if seeing the lead singer in a speedo through the whole gig was a bit unsettling.
Finally it was time for a quick change of venue in order to catch an 11pm show over at the 710 Room again. Rusty, Terence, and I headed out to catch another Small Stone Records band. This time, Valis took the stage for a 55 minute set of stoner-rock infused metal. Another blind pick, I actually thought the band was going to be awful; at least after hearing the first couple of songs. Apparently, they had to borrow gear from other bands in order to play, and the technically problems were miring their performance. A few songs in Valis finally got their stride, and picked up steam from then on. They even ended their gig by bringing on the lead singer of the band The Glasspack for another ear shredding song. I'm hoping to catch another set from these guys before the close of the festival, most definitely.
After an aborted attempt to catch the famous garage act The Woggles, we moved back to the Red 7 to see the remaining gigs of the night. We caught a few songs from the metal outfits Kylea and SkeletonWitch (both crazy ass metal bands, great in their own right), but the full on set we caught was from the Wyoming band Teenage Bottlerocket. This next-wave punk outfit was a fan favorite apparently, filling the outdoor stage with underage punk-wannabe's and fanboys alike. But even I have to admit the reason for their draw: straight out punk rock sounds that would inspire a mosh pit even from the oldest fans in the crowd. They played full on for 45 minutes non-stop, taking a breather just to say a few 'thank-yous' before diving right back in to their next song. While not the most original music, the sounds Teenage BottleRocket put out were pretty damn good and worth the time.
So, that's it for Day 3 of SxSW '09. Overall, the best day of music we've had so far. Check out some of the pics in the Day 3 folder.
Gomez @ La Zona Rosa
The Bear @ Jackelope
TOMBS @ 710 Room
Year Long Disaster @ Red 7
Dixie Witch ""
The DollyRots @ Red 7 Patio
The Girls ""
Black Tusk @ Red 7
Valis @ 710 Room
Teenage Bottle Rocket @ Red 7 Patio
_______________
Day three of South By Southwest always tend to be the peak event for the festival. The bands and their fans are all in town by this point, the streets of Austin are full of music lovers and wannabe's alike, and the myriad sounds of music from different genres can be heard everywhere you go. The day three schedule also tends to have the densest bookings, making it that much harder to pick and choose which gigs to see. It was a tough one this year, but the shows I did settle upon were some of the best gigs I've ever seen.
We've sort of put the day gigs on the backburner for the past few days and instead opted to drink from the keg at Rusty's house. For a change of pace, we opted to hit up a day party downtown, and headed for La Zona Rosa. No free booze this year at the gig, unfortunately, and no free 'crap' from the promoters either (we usually throw the gift bag out anyway). We did catch a performance from the group Gomez, who have been a mainstay of the indy-music scene for some time. Though I'm not a fan, their indy-pop tunes were catchy and entertaining enough for us to hang out for the duration: or, at least until we finished a couple of pounder cans of Lone Star Beer.
Afterwards, we wandered around 6th Steet, taking note at how the crazy's were coming out in full force, and then stopping in at a Mexican Seafood restaurant for some grub and beer. We pretty much missed out on most of the day shows, save for a brief 5 song set from The Bear at the infamous Jackelope's Bar. Way too crowded for me to get any pictures, but the bands provided some pretty hooky riffs during their power-pop laced...