It has now been just over a month since the most awesome music festival in the world, SXSW, has come to a close and it is time for the 2nd annual SXSW awards.
You may ask yourselves why are we giving awards for one individual festival, well the easy answer is that for the one week that the music section of SXSW occurs has as much music as most people experience within a year. Once you have experienced the week you will understand.
While the independent adjudicators have been checking the results, which are listed at the end of this article, we had a chat with a complete cross section of some of those that attended this year’s festival; they include bands, promoters, workers, fellow journalists and those who were just there to love the music. As always, this week always brings up many memories, which we hope you will enjoy reading.
R13: Name?
LB: Lauren Burton
R13: Where are you from?
LB: I am from Austin, Texas
R13: What brings you to SXSW?
LB: I love music, obviously but I am also involved with Dart Music International and I got assigned last year as artist liaison with Polly Mackey and the Pleasure Principle and I had so much fun with them and I really enjoyed their stuff that I decided to come back and do it again.
R13: Favourite bands seen this week?
LB: Polly Mackey obviously, there’s another really great band called Angry Vs The Bear that I have seen and I love their stuff and this awesome blues band called Kill It Kid, they’re from Bath, UK and the singers voice blew me away, it was brilliant. All the bands I wanted to see I didn’t end up seeing but I saw so many new bands that I am totally satisfied.
R13: Any new bands discovered here at this year’s SXSW?
LB: There’s a band called Glorious Cycles that are really good, Kill It Kid and the band that opened for Polly, Intimate Stranger, I really liked them too, they are from Chile, they put on an awesome show.
R13: Any bands you regret missing?
LB: Oh I really wanted to see Sum 41, Bowling For Soup and Band of Horses, all big bands but I just stood outside and listened.
R13: How would you describe SXSW to someone who has never experienced it?
LB: An explosion of awesomeness. Honestly, it is like a full week long music summer camp. People everywhere, it’s like a dream come true, I wish everyday was like this. Outside of SXSW it makes me so sad, I go walking down and I get so upset thinking ‘It’s not South By’. I have a countdown on my calendar.
R13: Any funny moments at this year’s festival?
LB: Getting a cab at 3am! Parking is always really hard and I completely forgot where I parked my car so me and Angry Vs the Bear spent about an hour and half trying to find my car. We found it right at 3amright before they were about to tow it, it was great (laughs). Getting a cab is impossible. St Patty’s day was good too watching everyone, I people watched all day. I overheard a conversation with this lady who runs out the back saying ‘This isn’t about the sandwich Rob’, that kind of made my day.
R13: Name?
CC: Cary Caldwell
R13: Where are you from?
CC: I’m from Christchurch, New Zealand but I am here at Austin, Texas for SXSW
R13: What brings you to SXSW?
CC: I’m the event planner, or one of three event planners for SXSW festival and we deal with all citywide logistics of the festival that involves all the conference side of things, the hotels, the airplays, the police, the city!
R13: How does someone from New Zealand get involved with doing that?
CC I came over a couple of years ago, well about 8 years ago now, as a volunteer and really just worked my ass off and was literally doing 16 hours a day and they pretty much offered me a job off the back of that. It took me a couple of years where I was volunteering but now I am considered seasonal staff.
R13: Favourite bands seen this week?
CC: The best gig I saw this year was Doll and the Kicks at Emo’s Annex at 9pm on the Wednesday night. Bit of a shame that the best band was on the Wednesday night. Doll and the Kicks absolutely the best band I saw this year and I don’t understand why they are not signed or why they haven’t got a management deal. They was someone who I saw for the first time last year, a Spanish guy called Hyperpotamus who does 4 vocal mic’s and a loop station and i saw him in the church this year, the guy got a standing ovation, quite rightly so and he is such a wonderful human being, doesn’t take it away that he is just fucking brilliant. And I have to Say Polly Mackey and the Pleasure Principle, I look at the development from when she played here last year to this year and the fact that in that year she has pulled together an amazing production crew, like a really influential production crew but musically she has just developed like unbelievably and it just showed, it just totally showed and it was one of those acts that comes to South By and really can say they got something out of South By in terms of from this there’s potentially been a German tour picked up, there’s potential festival shows around Europe and I believe at this moment they are chatting to the producer of The Gossip. It’s stuff like that you hear and it’s really cool.
R13: Any bands you regret missing?
CC: Thousands of bands! I would have liked to have seen Muse, Motorhead but I got to meet Lemmy because I was doing stuff for his panel. I got to meet Gwar, which as far as I’m concerned was the highlight of my festival, I got to wrangle those guys as they walked down Sixth Street and into a venue. Gwar were the coolest guys ever, they are one of those bands that are funny, absolutely funny. I wanted to see Muse and I didn’t, I wanted to see a lot of shit and didn’t, that’s how it goes.
R13: I thought someone in your position would be able to just walk into any venue
CC: You can do that but fair’s fair, as we are always told, SXSW is not for the staff, it is for the people that are coming to the gigs, people pay a lot of money for badges and wristbands, so if you have got a staff member rocking in and it stops one other person that has paid money to go and see it, that’s bullshit man. We are here to work and that is the deal, which is kind of cool but is kind of arsey as well because you don’t get to see much.
R13: How would you describe SXSW to someone who has never experienced it?
CC: SXSW for someone who has never been here before would be a complete mind fuck! But it would change their lives. I think that everyone who has ever been here, it sounds a little bit arrogant sometimes but you can’t actually say ‘Well you never have been here so I can’t describe it to you’ because nothing you have ever experienced is going to prepare you for SXSW. For that reason alone SXSW is the biggest festival on the world, music industry festival and the coolest. You can’t describe it to someone who has never been here, I know that sounds really arrogant and bleugh but it really is true, and you know that.
R13: We know, we know
R13: Any funny moments at this year’s festival?
CC: The lead singer from Gwar walking into Emo’s at the back and just yelling from the top of his voice ‘Fear the might of Gwar and where are the ladies?’ then walking straight into the ladies toilet in his full rig, with his three foot dildo and suddenly this girl runs out of the toilet screaming! Classic.
R13: Name?
CC: Dave ‘Shakey’ Wheelhouse
R13: Where are you from?
DSW: Chelmsford, Essex
R13: What brings you to SXSW?
DSW: I’m a promoter back home in the UK, so I am looking for new bands to put on while they are over in the UK.
R13: Favourite bands seen this week?
DSW: That’s a tough one, quite a few good ones actually, I would say Angry Vs the Bear. The Crookes too, I have managed to book them already. Gringo Star were great and they gave me a shout during their showcase and King Of Conspiracy from Paris, they were the first band to play SXSW from the CD I make promoting bands out here, it was a great feeling.
R13: Any new bands discovered here at this year’s SXSW?
DSW: I saw a band last night at the Scottish Showcase called The Law, I thought they were really good and a couple of bands from Belfast, And So I Watch You From Afar and The Butterfly Explosion.
R13: Any bands you regret missing?
DSW: I would have liked to have seen Cheap Trick but it just wasn’t to be and Hole as well. Hole just seemed to play some party that was oversubscribed by about 2,000 people, it would have been nice to see Hole out here. It just seems the bigger bands have not bothered coming out this year.
R13: How would you describe SXSW to someone who has never experienced it?
DSW: Great opportunity for bands to get seen by industry people and for industry people to check bands out, like myself to come and check bands out first hand and it is a good networking opportunity as well because you could wait days and days to get a meeting with certain people that you just bump into in a gig here, so it’s great.
R13: Any funny moments at this year’s festival?
DSW: Not that I can talk about!
R13: Name?
J: James
R13: Where are you from?
J: Chelmsford, Essex
R13: What brings you to SXSW?
J: I was gonna go travelling really and the plans for travelling fell through and I had already paid for the ticket to come here and figured what the hell, I will still come along.
R13: Favourite bands seen this week?
J: A band that I came here for is a band called Circa Survive, they were really awesome, I saw them a couple of times. Another band I had heard of but not seen were And So I Watch You From Afar, who were really really good, actually they were fucking brilliant.
R13: Any new bands discovered here at this year’s SXSW?
J: Band called Grammatics were really awesome.
R13: Any bands you regret missing?
J: Not really, I think I pretty much saw everything on my list. I would have liked to have gone to more parties but seeing bands didn’t have time to fit the parties in really.
R13: How would you describe SXSW to someone who has never experienced it?
J: Just this immense collection of musical people really, it is just gigs in a can.
R13: Any funny moments at this year’s festival?
J: I would to say yes but no. Every moment has been really amazing but I have been quite well behaved, sadly. I was a bit jet lagged and went back to the hotel at 8pm, thought I would have a bit of a lie down, woke up and thought I would go out now and it was 2am, so there wasn’t any going out that evening.
R13: Name:
DG:Dan Goldin
R13: Where you from:
DG:ExplodingInSound.com / Boston, MA
R13: What brings you to SXSW:
DG:covering the festival for ExplodingInSound.com and DecoyMusic.com
R13: Favourite bands seen:
DG:Karnivool, Stone Temple Pilots, Slang Chickens, Junius, Violent Soho (and SOOO many more!)
R13: Any new bands not previously known that really impressed:
DG:Left Lane Cruiser!!
R13: Any bands you regret missing:
DG:TONS including: Awesome Color, The Entrance Band, Muse, Cracker
R13: How would you describe SXSW to someone who has never been:
DG:utter awesomeness! Concerts from the time you wake up till you're damn ready to sleep. Can't be beat!!
R13: Any funny moments at this years SXSW:
DG:J. Mascis asking if his guitar was "loud enough"
R13: Name:
CU:Christopher Unwin
R13: Band:
CU: Lifescreen
R13: What were your impressions of SXSW:
CU:An absolutely amazing event for musicians or music fans alike, a must for anyone. All the panels during a day were a great to get advice on the music industry and to network. In the evening Austin is great place for watching live bands and the venues are amazing.
R13: Have you played SXSW before:
CU: Not as yet
R13: What made you choose to come all the way over here:
CU: Well we've heard about it back home through the internet and friends plus we went to a conference in Yorkshire, Leeds in September 2009 giving people like me information on SXSW from all that info I knew we had to come to see great bands and musicians but also to meet people from the music industry.
R13: Other than R13 have you met up / done any deals while here:
CU: Not as yet, we have given many press kits out to various Managers, A&R peeps etc but its more of a case to follow it up with hard work from home.
R13: How would you describe SXSW to someone who has never been, both as a band and just attending point of view:
CU:An intense but amazing way to absorb yourself in everything music, an educational trip!
R13: Favourite bands seen this year, both wanted to see & had never heard of before:
CU: Stone Temple Pilots with Robbie Krieger, Priestess, Lions with Ginger from Wildhearts, Cheap Trick, Smokey Robinson the list goes on!
R13: Anyone you wanted to see but missed:
CU: Auf der Maur, Motorhead
R13: Any funny incidents happen at this year’s SXSW:
CU: We went to a shop called tears of joy as we like some spicy food, as we were talking to the shop owner she said "would you like to have a sample of this sauce" and we thought yeh why not when in Rome then she said something like "this bottle of sauce is a $100 a pop and the hottest in the world", ignoring that comment me and my friend had a small amount of sauce probably a pinhead amount it was tiny. But oh my god a sledge hammer just smashed me in the face it felt like someone had shoved lava under my skin, I was on fire man I felt like I was about to internally combust. The pain was stupid and I would not even give this stuff to my worst enemy it was evil, oh and the pain lasted about forty minutes.
R13: Any other thoughts on the whole SXSW experience? Like did it meet expectations etc:
CU:The experience was immense I knew it would have been good, but this was amazing a real eye opener and I would defiantly go again. I advise that if you’re in a band or just a music lover you must go as it will rock your world.
R13: Name:
MF: Mitzi Fox
R13: Band:
MF:Angry Vs The Bear
R13: What were your impressions of SXSW:
MF:We absolutely love SXSW, one of the best organised events in the world, from start to finish, and the most fun! We have played official SXSW showcases two years in a row now and both years have been great. The first year we got a lot of media attention due to the clothes we wore and people being attracted to the energy of our shows. We picked up a great deal of support for our music which we built on again this year and were shocked and surprised to find all our shows packed to the rafters this year with people who had been told they couldn't miss us. That was lovely.
America really seems to get what we're about.
R13: How would you describe SXSW to someone who has never been:
MF:I would describe SXSW as the best festival in the world. Floor to ceiling music everywhere you look. In every corner, every alley, every pub. And it's sunny. And some March sun after a cold UK winter is amazing! Oh and the people are the most generous in the world.
R13: Favourite bands seen:
MF:Shinobi Ninja from NY were fantastic - so much energy, we were smiling all the way through their set! We also made friends with lots of UK bands while we were out there including Chew Lips, Gloria Cycles and Doll & The Kicks (who we also knew beforehand) who were all great live and wicked people. Going to try and hook up with them all over here to do some stuff together.
R13: Anyone you wanted to see but missed:
MF:Would have liked to have seen Muse but we were playing at the same time and would never have got in anyway!!
R13: Any funny incidents happen at this year’s SXSW:
MF:Lots, but one in particular - watching Dave, Chew Lips tour manager eat a whole lemon including the skin in 2 bites and then directly afterwards devouring a whole lime, skin and all in one. Ooooooooh stomach pain!
R13: Name:
OS:Omar Soliman
R13: Where you from:
OS:Sheffield
R13: What brings you to SXSW:
OS:A few things. My auntie and uncle recently moved to Texas and seeing bands with the 2 coolest family members whilst supping freebies was too good a trip to turn down.
R13: Bands you liked that you saw:
OS:Marina and The Diamonds, well, did like. Chew Lips. Metric. (all female fronted, how’s that happen!?
R13: and saw by accident:
OS:In The Nursery. Hadn't even heard of them before the Entertainment Editor of the local paper mentioned they were playing. SXSW was their first ever US show despite being a band for nearly 30 years.
R13: Bands regretted not seeing:
OS:Standard Fare. After having their album on repeat play I was gutted to, not only find out that they clashed with Muse, but I'd already missed their other show. Thankfully they're playing on home turf in Sheffield soon
R13: How would you describe SXSW to someone who has never been:
OS:Imagine your city opening its doors to the world and its bands. Then add freebies and the various generosities of a typical American city and you're not even close. You have to go there to fully cherish it.
R13: Any funny moments during SXSW:
OS:On the Saturday for some reason I kept walking past Feargal Sharkey. Of course I knew he was there but our crossings became so often that he may well have become worried I was stalking him.
R13: Name:
RB: Rob Bailey
R13: Where you from:
RB: Basildon, Essex, epicentre of the universe if you believe the sun / terrible tabloids
R13: What brings you to SXSW:
RB: To see a load of cool bands
R13: Favourite bands seen:
RB: Holy Fuck
R13: Any new bands not previously known that really impressed:
RB: None, well I knew of the ones I wanted to see that I liked and were new (laughs)
R13: Any bands you regret missing:
RB: I didn’t see Holy Fuck another 2 times
R13: How would you describe SXSW to someone who has never been:
RB: holy fuck!
R13: and finally, any funny moments at this years SXSW:
RB: The whole of Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt
R13: Name:
JW: Jenna Wedgewood/whitesiren
R13: Where do you live:
JW: Austin, Texas
R13: What brings you to SXSW:
JW: I have lived in Austin for a long time and I have attended this festival every year since I moved here.
R13: What bands did you see that you loved, both you already knew of and saw for 1st time by chance:
JW: I always love experiencing the powerful performances by STEREO IS A LIE. I love dancing to MoTel Aviv. Seeing Motorhead for the first time after watching the premiere of "Lemmy" was definitely a cherished bonus. The line up presented by Woxy at Emo’s Annex on Friday was pretty cool: TV Torso, Twin Tigers, French Miami, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Crystal Antlers, and Bear in Heaven. I hope Woxy finds funding very soon. There is a major lack in the world of radio without Woxy in motion.
R13: Any bands you missed that you would have loved to have seen:
JW: I really wanted to see Black Rebel at Cedar Street (Filter Magazine party) and the band before them, Temper Trap. Sadly, I also missed METRIC and MUSE. We tried to catch Graham Coxon too, but somehow we got the venues mixed up. SXSW madness can and will do that to even old school festival goers. Please come back, Coxon!
R13: How would you describe SXSW to someone who has never been:
JW: Nuts, Crazy, Insane! A constant flow of: people, music, drinks, food, official and unofficial events (equally cool,) starting early in the afternoon and ending early the next morning…if you are lucky.
R13: Any funny moments at this years’ SXSW:
JW: There were many wonderful artists who performed at SXSW this year. There were also musicians who played and were not great at all. Additionally, there were a few bands who travelled to Austin who may have made it to the venue for load-in, but never quite made it back to play their actual shows! There are several extremely talented bands right here in Austin who consistently make great music and play amazing shows. These local bands who would never dream of missing a performance of any kind, were not granted an official showcase or contacted when these potential opportunities arose. You have to seek and find 'the funny' in those moments, and just laugh and wish for some positive changes next year!
Ok and now to the most important part, the much coveted R13 Awards. The results have been checked and are finally here, cue fanfare:
Band of the Week, for consistently performing at the highest level at each gig played: Polly Mackey and the Pleasure Principle
Runners up: Holy Fuck and The Crookes
Best Show of the Week: Les Savy Fav at Galaxy Room Backyard on Friday 19th March
Runners up: Muse at Stubbs and We Were Promised Jetpacks at The Parish
Best Local Band: Stereo Is A Lie
Runners up: Ume and New Roman Times
Best Up and Coming American Band: Apteka from Chicago
Runner up: The Broderick from Indiana
Best Previously Unknown Band Accidently Stumbled Across Live: Bear Hands
Runner up: Warpaint
Biggest Surprise for being better than expected and now in love with: Angry Vs The Bear
Runners up: The Drums and Midlake
Best day party: Dart Internationals ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ on the final Sunday just when you thought it was time to ease up this party put you right back up there.
Most fun gig: Being dressed as a cow during Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt’s show
Runners up: How can anything come close to being dressed as a cow by the band during the gig
What the hell happened to the weather award for the coldest gig: Warpaint @ the Do512 / Shiner free outdoor party and this was during the day, the guitarist had to keep blowing on her fingers to keep them warm between each song.
Funniest Moment: Has to be Gwar’s lead singer entering the ladies toilets at Emo’s in his full outfit, as described be Cary Caldwell above
Regretted Missing: Doll and the Kicks
Runners up: Standard Fare and Black Cobra
The waking up thinking ‘That must have a been a good night’ award: Paul Bates, bassist of Polly Mackey and the Pleasure Principle for waking up with a Texas tattoo on his leg and a broken hand, now that really must have been a good night.
Most hyperactive band member: The Drums’ bassist, Jacob Graham Never before has a tambourine taken such a bashing.
Best free food: Yorkshire Music day party for having Toad in the Hole although not quite sure what the lentil salad, salmon and broccoli pasties and battenburg cake really reflected Yorkshire food.
Best Stalking of a band award: Rob Bailey from Essex for seeing Holy Fuck at 4 separate shows in 23 hours
My thanks to all those that helped in contributing and giving up their time either during or post SXSW, look forward to seeing you all over in Austin, Texas again next year, officially starts 16th March. I will leave you with a quote from Rosie Lee, a photographer at SXSW, when asked to describe the festival ‘It’s like Glastonbury but on Steroids!’