I went to Austin, Texas in March, for South By South West.
SXSW is a musical extravaganza of hundreds of gigs staged behind almost every second or third door along the main strip, 6th Street, and surrounding roads, where you can see music performed from lunch time till the early hours for four days and nights.
Choosing some of my favourite artists, I asked bands the six same questions –
- The band’s vital statistics
- Three facts about the band
- Two songs that they love, are inspired by, of their own, etc
- A recommendation
- A SXSW survival tip
- And a quote
And here’s what they had to say:
Vital Statistics:
I’m Lips.
I’m Rob Reiner.
Lips: And we are Anvil. We’ve been around for about 31 years and we’re still here and we’re here to stay. What else…?
Rob: We’ve got 13 albums.
Three facts:
Lips: We’ve got the best drummer in the world.
Rob: We’re ready to record our next album, ‘Juggernaut Of Justice’.
Lips: And we love to play live.
Two songs:
Rob: Let’s talk about our own songs, then.
Lips: Sure. ‘Show Me Your Tits’
Rob: That’s a great one. I love them all. ‘Race Against Time’, that’s another great Anvil track.
A recommendation:
Lips: What band do we recommend? We recommend that you…
Rob: I recommend you listening to Captain Beyond.
SXSW survival tip:
Lips: We’ll see what they throw at us… They say everything’s big in Texas, let’s see how big it is.
A quote:
Lips: “Coming to a town near you”.
Rob: “The Anvil experience – go see it”.
** ** **
THESE ARMS ARE SNAKES
Vital statistics:
I’m Steve Snere I sing in These Arms Are Snakes.
I’m Ryan Frederikson, I play guitar.
I’m Chris Common and I play drums.
I’m Brian and I play bass.
Three facts:
Steve: One of the facts is that we’re from Seattle, Washington.
Ryan: We are a band. You gotta come up with a good one, we’re failing miserably.
Chris: I’m hungry, that’s a fact.
Brian: Yeah, there you go three facts.
Ryan: We’re really taking it up a notch on this one.
Two songs:
Steve: ‘Hulkster In Heaven’.
Brian: ‘Love Shack’ by B52s.
Steve: (sings “Love shack baby”.
A recommendation:
Ryan: See (the band) The Past Lives, they’re good.
SXSW survival tip:
Ryan: Stay drunk as long as humanly possible.
Steve: And stop coming here, there’s too many people here.
Ryan: Us included, we’re not coming anymore. We’ll be the martyrs. Don’t come anymore.
A quote:
Brian: “Chicken”
Chris: I’d say “chicken” is definitely the quote. That’s our catchphrase.
Ryan: Well, that’s These Arms Are Snakes, that’s how exciting we are.
** ** **
ROLO TOMASSI
Vital statistics:
I’m Joe.
And I’m James and we play in a band called Rolo Tomassi from Sheffield, England.
Three facts:
James: We’ve been a band for just over four years.
Joe: We play heavy music.
James: And there’s five of us – we’ve got keyboards, guitar, bass, drums and two vocalists.
Two songs:
James: A song I’m particularly enjoying at the moment is called… Something by a band called Telepathy… I forget the name of the song. I really wanted them to play it last night, and they didn’t… But their whole album is pretty good. Oh, the song’s called ‘Devil’s Trident’. It’s my choice at the moment. And they didn’t play it last night and I was disappointed.
Joe: I’m enjoying all the songs by White Demin at the moment. I don’t know any names in particular.
James: I think ‘Shake Shake Shake’ is a particular favourite at the moment.
Joe: Yeah.
SXSW survival tip:
James: If you ever have the chance to come to SXSW, seize it. See as many bands as you can. Eat all the amazing food. And just enjoy the whole experience.
Joe: I’d say bring sunscreen. And shorts. Yeah. Our bassist didn’t bring any shorts. And just keep drinking coffee and energy drinks. You just gotta plough through.
A quote:
Joe: “What’s a girl like you doing working in a place like this?”
James: This is a quote that was delivered by our bassist at a Travel Lodge in Dublin. We’d all been out, we got back to the Travel Lodge, we’d all enjoyed the night, we were a bit merry, and he dropped that clanger and it’s since forever been quoted by us.
** ** **
Vital statistics:
Matt: We are the Bronx, we are from Los Angeles, we are compromised and made up of – composed I should say, not compromised – Matt on vocals, Joby on guitar, Ken on guitar; The other two that aren’t here are our drummer Vic and Brad on bass.
Three facts:
Ken: I love the band. I like chorizo, but who cares. And my favourite actor is Lou Diamond Phillips Jr.
Matt: I was born in a taxi cab. I enjoy water sports. And I’m a lot stronger than I look.
Joby: My favourite soft drink is Dr Pepper. My favourite food is tacos. And the last fact about me, which is probably the most vital, is that I’m number one.
Two songs:
Ken: The Bronx ‘Heart Attack American’. And lately I like ‘Six Days A Week’.
Matt: I’m gonna go with Bronx songs. Lately for me it’s ‘Knifeman’ which is off our new record. And ‘Notice Of Eviction’ which is off our first record. What about you Jobes?
Joby: I’m gonna go with, shoot, um, Jedi Nites songs, yeah, ‘I Smoke’ and ‘The Vette Gets Um Wet’. A band to watch out for. A band to be in, actually.
A recommendation:
Joby: Well, now that we’re at one recommendation, I can recommend, for all the viewers, listeners, internetters, emailers, you should check out a band called Jedi Nites, that features, probably the two greatest musicians of all time.
Matt: Yeah guys, I’ve never seen anything quite like these two. You know, there are a lot of bands like White Stripes, you know, whatever, two people bands, they’ve been pushing the limits, but these guys are beyond limits, they’ve created their own kind of…
Joby: Sub genre…
Matt: A sub genre of sub-genres. So, Jedi Nites, I think his name is Downstroke, he plays guitar,
Joby: And what’s the drummer’s name?
Matt: Solid High Hat Work?
Joby: Good High Hat Work.
Matt: Good High Hat Work.
Ken: And they’re on ‘The Advocate’ monthly. So if you wanna check them out, please order back issues, from 2004.
SXSW survival tip:
Joby: Now this is an interesting question. For guys like us, I think it’s about trying to finding a free place to sleep so we don’t have to go all the way back to our hotel, which is about 10 miles away. We didn’t really think about booking a hotel til the last minute. That’s my survival tip, book your hotel about a year in advance, otherwise you’re going to be in Houston.
Ken: Wake up at 10 o’clock and go get some tacos, go to the Jacolope and drink some beer, go next door to the Iron Cactus and listen to side three of ‘Led Zeppelin III’ and drink some margaritas, then go down the street to Emos and watch your favourite ironic indie rock motherfucking band, then at night time go down to Red 7 and watch an ironic punk band, then at 2am go to Best Wurst and get ironic bratwurst, and then walk around for four hours to look for your band on the other side of town and next thing you know it’s 10am and you’re doing it all over again.
Matt: Punishers. Stay away from punishers. You gotta learn how to spot a punisher a mile away to avoid them.
Joby: Also, the escape from the punisher.
Matt: Yeah, the escape from the punisher.
Joby: Hot breath is usually a characteristic of the punisher.
Matt: Yeah, hot breath and wandering eyes. Liquid is always good. Drink that Gatorade; get some of that G2 in you. If you wanna party with the big boys here you gotta stay well hydrated. If you’re gonna play three shows a day like we do, excelling at everything, getting better and better, you gotta stay hydrated.
Joby: Hydrated. Words to live by.
A quote:
Joby: Now we’re going to finish up with a quote from my main man Ken, here.
Ken: Okay, quote number one – “on your first date listen to side B of ‘Led Zeppelin III’”. Quote two – “be water”. Quote three – “I like chorizo”. Quote four – “would you like to use your checking or savings account for that?” No I’d like to use my ready account.
Joby: Ah, I’m gonna go ahead with a quote from myself. It’s a self-coined phrase – “Joby Ford, number one”. And now my main man Matthew over here.
Matt: I think I’m gonna close it out with a good old fashioned – “fuck you white boy”. An original. The Korean redneck. Alright.
** ** **
Vital statistics:
I’m Matt and this is Jon, from Delta Spirit
Three facts:
Jon: I’m the only one with a beard, but it’s not going to last for long, and it’s not a very vital statistic.
Matt: We’ve been on tour for way too long, but we’re going to keep on going.
Jon: And the story about how we came up with our name is fake.
Two songs:
Matt: I’ll go with ‘House Carpenter’ off the ‘Anthology Of American Music’, great song, you’ll learn something, listen to it.
Jon: And mine’s ‘I Went To The Hospital’ by Cass McCombs, because, I, I don’t know, he’s great.
A recommendation:
Matt: ‘Flowers Of A Sissy’ (laughs, at Jon).
Jon: Yeah, the book about Francis of Assisi’s life. It’s called ‘Little Flowers’.
Matt: ‘Little Flowers’, whatever, I didn’t read it.
Jon: And Fellini made some film about it, that’s really based on the book, it’s called ‘Little Flowers’, and they used real monks. So if you don’t like reading, just see the film.
SXSW survival tip:
Matt: Drinks tones of booze, don’t wear condoms, catch STDs and then spread them.
Jon: Or just have a mum that lives here and stay there instead of staying in a hotel and she’ll tell you not to do those things.
A quote:
John: There’s this guy Levon Helm, who has a new album out and there’s a song called ‘Poor Old Dirt Farmer’ and it really resonates with our band. And the quote goes “Poor old dirt farmer, has lost all his corn”.
Pictures by Amy Freeborn
