Thursday, 19 March 2009

6:00PM The Von Bondies (SXSW Live (The Bat Bar) Austin Convention Center)

John put it best: "I knew this song was good. I knew I should like this band. So why do I feel so bored and uninspired?"

The Von Bondies came across as just another band that has made it when they don't really deserve it, especially when there are thousands of better bands who are nicer and actually enjoy what they do.

I just don't get it. These guys would be lucky to be working at McDonalds if it weren't for their music: and NOT as the manager or even assistant manager. They have a captive audience who came just to watch them play, and their audience really, really wants to have fun. And their music does not have sadness as a schtick, like The Cure or Morrissey. So why do they never barely crack a smile? Why do they look like playing is a chore? Why do I want to enjoy their music more than THEY do?

Moreover, although the venue in the Convention Center is about as sterile and uninspiring as possible, the show was being taped and broadcast on DirectTV. The Beatles and Elvis did not blow their performance in a sterile television studio on Ed Sullivan, why should these guys be above it?

The lead singer also had this attitude that matched his long-bang hairdo: cover your face with fancy hair so they don't see what an insecure little twit you really are. I was getting in a worse mood the longer I stayed at this show.

I walked out after three uninspired, but great songs. I didn't even go to another band. I went out and sat on a couch in the convention center lobby to wait for the guys.

 

7:30PM Cerebral Ballzy (Beauty Bar)

Hard core New York Drunk Punk. It is 7:30, and these guys were completely wasted. But they were fun, happy to be here, and enthusiastic. The lead singer looked like Anton, a clerk who once worked for my firm a few years ago. Not the best show (or venue) ever, but things were picking up after an uninspired start.

8:00PM This Drama (The Tap Room at Six)

From the Canary Islands, This Drama opened by saying "This is our first time in Austin... and probably our last... so enjoy it while you can." However, it did not look like they had much of an attitude, so I took their opener as a humble admission that they would probably never be able to make a World Tour again, not as an uppity way of flipping off the city.

Yesterday, I complained about Euro twig boys with no ass who let their tight jeans slip below the bottom of their butts. The lead singer for This Drama had the same thing going, but because I actually liked the music and appreciated their non-contrived performance, I got over it. Good show.

8:00PM Casxio (Barcelona)

I decided to go to This Drama, while JT, Rob and Vinh all went to see some Disco. Twenty minutes after the show was supposed to start, the band was barely setting up, if it had set up anything at all. John asked around, and the only answer he got was, "I know they are here, but I have no idea where they are, why they aren't playing, or what the hell they are doing." No announcement, no band, no forgiveness. The odd part is that this band did one of the best jobs of canvassing the neighborhoods with their posters, so they had a good crowd, but didn't even show up for their own gig. JT, Rob and Vinh joined me for the end of This Drama. After that, we all went to The Arkells.

8:30 Arkells (Cedar Street Courtyard)

Other bands over the years had proved that judging bands by one-song SXSW samples can produce false positives. The Arkells proved that it can also produce false negatives, too. I had dismissed this band, but JT got me to re-think it, and I am really glad.

They played pretty straight forward modern rock that was solid and well done. Rob said it was the first band that completely removed him from the problems of his world and grabbed him completely into the music: for that forty minutes, nothing else but the show existed.

The lead singer was also just a normal guy bantering with the audience: the kind of rock singer I would not mind hanging out with. And he really seemed to appreciate being in Austin and telling stories about how much fun he was having. It was great to see another band have as much fun as we want to have at SXSW.

The only problem was the crowd, most of which really just stood there watching. It was a typical Cedar Street crowd. The singer tried to enroll them in some sing-alongs, and the crowd accommodated, but then reverted back into just watching. I don't get it. Just smile a little bit and at least pretend you are enjoying yourselves. ;-)

9:00 (Off to watch first half of Illinois basketball game).

Illinois was playing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 9:00. Even though I had decided to sacrifice this game for SXSW, no bands jumped out at me during this 9:00 slot, so I decided to join my fellow Austin Illini to watch the first half. It was not pretty.

10:00PM Out From Animals (Wave)

British punky pop. Very common, but very good. These guys also really enjoyed themselves and the moment, but not in an uppity or contrived way: exactly the sort of band I want to see at SXSW. I felt a bit pre-occupied checking the Illinois score, but it was a good show. The small but appreciative crowd also enjoyed it. They jumped off the stage several times to interact with the audience.

I talked with some girls after the show, who impressively said that they wanted to see bands with some "balls" to them. I told them about Dananananakroyd tomorrow, and then went to join the guys at Elliott Brood.

 

11:00PM Elliott Brood (The Velveeta Room)

The song sample was great, and they looked like friendly, down-to-Earth musicians without attitudes: the kind of guys I would enjoy having a meal with. The seated guitarist also played the bass lines with those foot pedals as he strummed his guitar, which was interesting. However, the live show unfortunately was uninspired and somewhat ordinary. I left after three songs, and the guys joined me a few minutes later to check out Tony Moore, instead.

11:00PM Tony Moore (Creekside at Hilton Garden Inn)

The sample was good and promising. However, the venue was a hotel restaurant, and was as inspiring and appropriate for a SXSW venue as... a restaurant in a chain hotel. To top it off, Tony played a solo piano singer show, not with a full band. We walked in, and I laughed at myself more than anyone else did for recommending it. I wish i would have thought to take a picture in the thirty seconds we were in side if only to capture the incongruity of that venue and that show with everything else we had seen so far.

The false advertising of a solo singer-songwriter masquerading as a band did not really strike me until it happened twice more on Saturday. Not good form. If you are going as a band, submit a band sample. If you are going solo, submit a solo sample. Very easy and straight-forward.

11:45PM The Golden Filter (Beauty Bar)

The sample sounded good, but the live show was not. The lead singer painted her face around her eyes pink for the show, which had a nifty effect. However, the venue was cramped and did not lend itself to a good electronic dance-rock show. It was the third act I had seen at the Beauty Bar, and I was sick of the venue. They actually started five minutes early, so the timing also worked in our favor so that we could make the midnight shows.

12:00AM The Von Bondies (Cedar Door)
Yeah... right.

 

12:00AM Geek's (BD Riley's)

The Geeks promised to be just another kitschy Jap Punky Pop band, and that is exactly what they were. Their "Engrish" schtick also got really old after 30 seconds. Yes, Japanese guys saying "motherfucker" as if it were socially acceptable ("I muvarfucker; you muvarfucker too; we all beeeeg muvarfuckers!")

But it was hard to not like this band. The lead singer had this endearing youthful smile and the whole band clearly enjoyed playing and performing. They covered a Green Day hit song and played very solid, three-bar-chord pop punk rock. The crowd loved them, and they were my second favorite of the night after the Arkells. Nothing innovative, and no pretenses about it at all. Just good rockin' fun. Great stuff.

12:00AM The Clutters (The Tap Room at Six)

The Clutters presented a genuine conflict for me at midnight. I wanted to see The Geeks, but I had pegged The Clutters as a band to see LAST year, and figured I shouldn't miss them this year. Their irreverent sample song "999 Ways to Hate Us" also not only sounded fun, it struck a personal chord with me for some... indescribable reason. In the end, The Geeks won out, and Vinh joined me while JT and Rob rode off to see The Clutters. The upshot is that they started a bit late, so after The Geeks, I caught the last three and a half songs of the Clutters.

Vinh and I made the right choice.

The Clutters were not awful, but they were uninspiring and lifeless. Only the bass player really showed signs of life, and he looked like a recent addition to the band because he barely knew when to come in on the chorus of "999 Ways To Hate Us." The picture above shows the only smile I caught from the keyboard players. Sappy, milquetoasty, passionless performance with little to no interaction or inspiration for the crowd.. Might as well have just listened to the record at home.

1:00AM The Woggles (The Tap Room at Six)
We would have seen those guys if Hot Kicks were not playing at the same time.

1:00AM The Hot Kicks (Friends)

The Hot Kicks were one of the bands JT and I looked forward to the most based on their sample. For John, this was a top-five choice for the festival, made even more important because work calls and distractions made him miss The Arkells, the best band so far on Thursday night. He described this night as in the running for the worst SXSW night ever unless The Hot Kicks delivered.

And they did deliver: solid Alternative Glam Rock, with some slower songs mixed in (that frankly did not work well, mostly because I never liked the "ballad" portion of rock concerts, anyway). They really enjoyed it, which made us enjoy it. At one point, the lead singer stopped a song and playfully yelled at the crowd for not dancing and having more fun like they were. "We wrote this song about Austin and named it "Sexy lust" for a reason; don't go lame on us, now!" The crowd laughed and jumped into a bit more action.

The female drummer was both disturbing and yet entertaining. She tried WAY too hard to look crazy with random, wild-eyed, demonic looks, suggestively licking her lips, mouthing lyrics and non-lyrics, or flipping her hair around. It was clear she was nowhere NEAR as crazy as she wanted to look; in fact, she looked kinda harmless underneath the wild wig and dark eye shadow. But at the same time, we all appreciated that she at least tried to entertain... and did entertain. It actually fit in well with the whole gestalt of the show. Rob asked me to take a video of the drummer for his kids, which I did.

The other thing I noticed and appreciated was the professional attention to details. Even though they were as rowdy and out of control as any other band onstage, they were one of the few bands who not only brought a poster to hang behind them for marketing, they brought a huge windowshade scroll with their band's name on it. Given that SXSW is about marketing from the bands perspective, It is surprising more bands don't do so. Now, obviously, a window-shade sign does not make a great band or even improve a band's sound one bit; but in a small venue, it showed an attention to detail that other bands lacked.

Lame moments, but a good night, nonetheless.