Showcase info: Deer Tick performs at 1 a.m. on Wednesday, March 18 @ Club de Ville (900 Red River St.) and 1 a.m., Friday, March 20 @ Habana Bar Backyard (708 E.6th St.)
Other appearances: Gigotron/Videothing Presents …, 11 p.m., Thursday, March 19 @ Club 1808 (1808 E.12th St.);Â Music by the Slice, 1:30 p.m., Saturday, March 21 @ Home Slice Pizza (1415 South Congress Ave.)
Deer Tick is performing at SXSW 2009 in Austin, Texas
Showcase info: Duquette Johnston performs at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, March 18 @ The Tap Room on 6th (311 Colorado St)
Other appearances: Birmingham Goes to SXSW, 1:20 p.m. , Saturday, March 21 @ The Creekside Lounge (606 E.7th St.)
I still think of the first Verbena record – Souls for Sale – as one of the greatest raw, garage rock records of the ’90s. It swaggers like a Stones record that was recorded in Alabama. It was full of piss and sweat, of late night jams recorded after a night of drinking, brawling, and crying. Bassist Daniel Duquette Johnston ducked out of the band before they made the jump to Capitol Records and before singer Scott AA Bondy started dating rock stars (Juliana Hatfield) and hanging out with one of rock’s elite (Dave Grohl). Though he wasn’t out of the music biz for good, Johnston was a hard man to track down unless you lived in Alabama where he was fronting a band called Cutgrass. This was in the infancy of the Internet and to this day there are no traces of any Cutgrass songs that can be found by searching deep enough on Google (believe me, I’ve tried).
In 2006, Johnston released his debut solo album, Etowah, full of twangy, southern rock balladry which kind of reminds me of Neil Young’s stuff (though I own no Young records so maybe I’m way off in my comparison).
As a music fan, I can’t imagine anything greater than SXSW – 4 days of non-stop good music, nice weather, and beer drinking. Is it all it’s cracked up to be when you’re an artist playing it and having to compete with 30 other bands during your allotted time slot?
Sure it is. Who would not want to come play and hang out with so many bands. If a band views it as a competition maybe they should be playing some battle of the band thing back home. Yeah, the music industry is filled with competition, but I’ve adopted the mindset that we’re all trying to make our art. I’m not worried about the other 30 bands playing the same time slot as I am. Whether it’s three people or 300 that end up at my show, they’re all where they’re supposed to be in the moment. Maybe it helps that my wife and I are both huge music fans so we look forward to all the craziness that is SXSW. The great thing about SXSW is that you never know just what to expect.
Showcase info: Crocodile performs at 7pm on Wednesday, March 18 @ Wave Rooftop (408 E.6th St.)
Duffy emailed me last week with a link to Crocodile’s profile on the SXSW site. “Check it out, this is one band that we need to go see,” he said. Duffy knows I’m a sucker for female-fronted bands, especially those that use synths but don’t overdue it. I’m not sure I listened to more than 30 seconds of “August is Over” before I emailed him back and said, “I’m SO there.”
DOWNLOAD: “August is Over”
Crocodile hails from Oklahoma and, to date, has only released an EP (The Great Depression) which can be purchased at all the usual online places (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon). Derek (synths, guitars, vocals) and Raechel Brown (synths, guitars, vocals) are married and Derek’s cousin Dusty Nelson plays drums in the synthcore trio – a nice lil’ family affair. Derek, as it turns out, has a pretty healthy resume, playing with artists like Steve (Blues Clues) Burns, the Starlight Mints, The Chainsaw Kittens and Liz Phair and has been involved in the music industry from a marketing and concert promotion side of things as well.
All three band members took turns answering the questions I sent.
About two weeks from now I’ll be in Austin, Texas for the 2009 SXSW Music Festival. Between now and then, I’ll be previewing some of the bands I’m hoping to check out – and there are a ton of really great bands playing this year so there will be no shortage of material.
The hottest rumor going right now is that Metallica will be performing at Stubb’s (a large outdoor venue) on Friday night (March 20). The Austin Chronicle lends some credence to this rumor by interviewing Creative Director Brent Grukle: “There is going to be a Guitar Hero event at South by Southwest,” affirms Creative Director Brent Grulke. “Some of Metallica’s band members may make an appearance at the event.”
Shunda K – “First Encounter”
Yo! Majesty leader Shunda K collaborates with Kotchy on the new EP Le Passion, Yo!
Of Montreal – “First Time High(Reconstructionist Remix of “An Eluardian Instance”)”
Jon Brion’s reinterpretation of the songs takes the basic tracks and adds more instrumentation and backing vocals – including the work of Nickel Creek vocalist and mandolin-player Chris Thile
Tara Jane ONeil – “Drowning”
There’s compassion and concern, wisdom and heartbreak, moving on and waking up in these songs.
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band – “Anchors Dropped”
UK magazine Uncut had this to say about the album, “an appealing piece of go-ahead indie pop, with a certain charismatic bagginess and wit (the call-and-response safari anthem, “Going On a Hunt”) that points to a bright future.”
Human Highway – “The Sound”
Spin calls it a “catchy-as-hell, jingle”
It Hugs Back – “Now and Again”
dreamlike soundscapes and experimental guitar feedback into sublimely melodic pop-perfect indie tunes, that has inspired some to compare them with My Bloody Valentine, Teenage Fanclub and Yo La Tengo
EAR PWR – “Future Eyes”
Blistering thumpers with infectious melodies, Disco chants with wild-eyed electro anthems
The Picture – “Deer Crossing”
Taking cues from bands as diverse as Jesus & Mary Chain, Love and Rockets, and The Cure, these heavily-buzzing rockers combine the expansiveness of early 90s rock with a timeless melodicism that sounds perfectly at home on a pair of headphones as they do in an arena
The Library – “You Don’t Need No Doctor, Sugar”
dance hooks and flair for dramatics
Bell – “Magic Tape”
skittish, bumpy half-time verses (smacking slightly of Timbaland’s early work with Aaliyah) shimmy, simmer and eventually set off a confetti mushroom-cloud floor-slammer of a chorus, with 808 bass and heroic keytar designed to eradicate personal anxiety and (by proxy) economic strife.
Bricolage – “Turn U Over”
distinct breed of extraordinary pop
Caroline Weeks of Bat For Lashes – “Elegy”
full of insight, sensitivity and intimacy and do justice to a poet whose love sonnets are undeservedly slighted in our day
Jukebox the Ghost – “Victoria”
highly-addictive, ebullient mix of piano/guitar/drums based pop
Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele – “Meet Me In The Garden”
cheeky lo-fi tunes