(Pretend that I didn’t have computer problems and actually posted this yesterday.)
Well, I didn’t see any of the bands I had hoped to Wednesday night here at SXSW except the two guys from Massy Ferguson, Ethan Anderson and Adam Monda, who are sharing the living room of our friends’ condo with my friend Sara and me.
Despite having their gear damaged on the flight down from Seattle, they put on a great set at this bar called Shiners that’s sandwiched, vertically, between a rooftop dance club full of very pretty 21-year-olds and, well, I don’t know what the bar on the ground floor is.
Massy Ferguson has a very Americana feel. I think I’ve described them before as sounding more like they’re from the Heartland than the Pacific Northwest – they are named, with slight variation, after a tractor company. I’ll need to ask Ethan what that’s about. (On a side note, they’re also pretty funny guys who, when there’s no other booze in the house, will do shots of Bud Light. Oh, and they also performed a cover of “Can’t You See” by the Marshall Tucker Band complete with a flute solo.)
Before we closed out the night with them, though, Sara and I attempted to get into Stubb’s where the Avett Brothers and the Decemberists were playing. How the line system works here is those with badges get in first, those with wristbands second and those with cash and who are crossing their fingers might get in. It’s kind of a bummer but if I paid $600 for a badge I’d want special treatment, too. Anyways, the cover was $25 and the line long, so we decided to wander around and get a lay for the land.
The two main streets that all the venues are on are Red River and 6th, which intersect. They have them mostly barricaded off and there are just tons and tons of hipsters of every make and model flooding the streets. There are bands in white vans everywhere and mustaches and full sleeve tattoos are the predominant accessory.
There are also all these peddicab drivers, i.e. bicycle powered rickshaw cabs. A good friend of mine from college knows one of these peddicab drivers, a guy named Russell, and put me in contact with him. I haven’t been in need of his services yet, but I’ve been keeping an eye and out for him and have to at least meet the guy before I leave.
Austin is a beautiful city and the weather’s been perfect. Also, everyone is so ridiculously nice. You’d think on a week like this the ID checkers at the door to all these bars, the bartenders and wait staff would be a little snippy (I would), but they’ve been absolutely nice. Even at the punk bars there’s good service.
Because we’re not going to bed until 4 or 5 a.m., we’ve been slow getting up and going in the morning and since Jen and Brandon — our friends who we’re staying with — only have one car it requires two trips to downtown.
So Thursday we didn’t make it downtown until 4:30 p.m. We wandered around checking out the bars with no cover charge but always managed to just catch a band’s last song. (But of all the last songs I heard, the one from this band called Airline, I liked the best.)
Jen and Sara then went to meet up with the M.F. guys for dinner while Brandon and I stayed downtown. We camped out at Headhunters where we met up with his buddy Charlie and checked out his friend’s metal band. Mostly I stood outside, though, and kept an eye across the street at the Red Eyed Fly where The Thermals were playing at 10 p.m. to make sure a huge line wasn’t forming.
And just to make sure, I went in at 9 p.m. ($8 cover) and grabbed a good spot. There was this unbelievably minimalist band playing before them that made the time seem to draaaaaag on. Eventually The Thermals came on to a packed crowd.
Unfortunately there were some bass problems that cut into their set, but it was still great. (Like I said, I’m a big fan and haven’t seen them perform live before.) While Kathy Foster tried to figure out the bass problem, Hutch Harris once again made Twitter jokes to kill time. That guy either really loves or hates Twitter.
Anyhoo, they played “How We Know,” “No Culture Icons,” “Pillar of Salt,” “Here’s Your Future,” among others and closed with their new song “Now We Can See.”
I loved every minute of it.
After that, though, came the real SXSW test of endurance.
Sara and I headed over to the Radio Room to catch Blitzen Trapper and the Handsome Furs at the Sup Pop showcase. We waited in line for a while then decided to see if we could catch The Black Lips at a place that wasn’t on Red River or 6th. Well, we couldn’t find it and got back in the Radio Room line.
An hour and a half later, after giving serious puppy dog eyes to the door person and waiting out the others in front of us who left in frustration, we finally made it in ($13 cover).
I made it over to the side of the stage in time to see the very last Blitzen Trapper song and snap this pic of Marty Marquis, who grew up in Yakima. Later I’d get this funny shot of him while we chatted about the band that I’m probably the biggest nerd for, The Hold Steady. Blitzen Trapper went on tour with The Hold Steady a couple years ago and Marty said, “Well, you kind of have to be a nerd to be into The Hold Steady. (Lead singer/songwriter Craig Finn)’s a pretty deep guy.”
That made me feel better.
I know I’ll have a chance to see Blitzen Trapper again, so I wasn’t too bummed about that. And really, the band I was there to see was The Handsome Furs, the side project of Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner and his wife Atlas Strategic.
Once they started playing, that 90-minute wait in line all disappeared. I managed to get right up front and was, quite literally, blown away. (Probably should have been wearing earplugs.)
They played a lot of stuff off their new album but came back for an encore of “Dead + Rural,” which was unbelievable.
Friday was equally unbelievable with great performances by The Hold Steady and the Staxx Brothers. Today is our last day here and I’m just about to run out the door to make the most of it.
To see a few pictures from SXSW, more will be posted later, click HERE.