Stephen Francis on SXSW 2012

A few weeks back Model Stranger made our way down to SXSW. As usual it was a rewarding trip with a lot of great discovery and learning. I enjoy making the trip for quite a few reasons. The obvious is the chance to see bands I love back to back and of course being able to find new music as well.

This year was filled with pretty fantastic performances. My favorite performances included Sleepy Sun, Cory Chisel and Alberta Cross. All three for different reasons. I suggest you check them out. All have new albums coming out in April.

I may have seen a lot more music than I am mentioning but  all of the networking opportunities kept me on the hustle. This year I had a chance to catch one of the most entertaining panels I have seen in a bit hosted by Martin Atkins.

For those of you that don't know Martin Atkins, he is the aurthor of Tour Smart - an indie band's handbook on surviving the rough road of independent touring. He also is the author of Welcome to the Music Business You're Fucked and soon enough he will be releasing Band Smart. Martin's insight comes from years of experience as a musician, label owner, author and many other things. I've learned a lot from this man. I suggest you check him out.

I spent a lot of time in the convention center on my first day. I was able to land a day pass and made the most of it. For those of you who plan on traveling down to SXSW in 2013 and won't have a badge, I have a short blog I did last year that you can read on what to do without a badge.

I also had the opportunity of working for Fender at the Hard Rock. My friend Joe in Brighton, MA landed a last minute gig and asked me to fill in. My day was spent playing Fender Guitars and showing people at the party how to use the new unreleased Fender Mustang Floor model. They have a pretty cool campaign lined up with the Hard Rock where if you stay at a Hard Rock you can order an amp modeler and a guitar to your room for free. Some attendees at this party included Pete Wentz, B.O.B and Andy Rourke of The Smiths.

Joe and I with Andy Rourke of The Smiths

I was asked over a dozen times if we were performing and when I replied "No." a lot of friends and peers looked at me like I was crazy. I'm not against performing at SXSW but there is a lot of opportunities to meet people who you can work with year round - that is where we put our energy this year. I've done it before and I may do it again. However it is nice to sometimes take a backseat, watch and learn!

Any readers out there make a visit this year? What were your favorite stories? Favorite shows?

Vincent Joseph on SXSW 2012

March is that joyous time of the year when bands travel to SXSW in hopes of being discovered as "the next big sound."  Myself (and Model Stranger) have found it to be a much more gratifying business and networking endeavor, as well as, a damn good party.

As this festival continues to grow, bands continue to flood into Austin by the droves and saturation is inevitable. This is why bands must find ways to set themselves apart. For instance, we stumbled upon a band from Indiana called "Gun". This band was a bunch of no-bullshit, raucous-pyros. Were they great? Maybe not, were they entertaining? Absolutely.The culmination of their show resulted in the guitar player dousing his amp in starter fluid and and trying to set the amp ablaze with a lighter. You might ask how one gets away with that at an indoor club, the answer is... the kid used starter fluid and not lighter fluid so the amp did not even ignite; however, he was committed to saying "farewell," to his amp and I will always remember that and appreciate his balls.

I heavily enjoyed them, along with other notables such as, Cory Chisel. I would actually say that Cory was the most entertaining show of the festival, for me personally. He had a rich sense Americana and a sincerity in his voice that is hard to match. A kicker was when he stood alongside Alberta Cross for a collaboration-closing piece, very cool.

Stephen with Cory.

I guess it doesn't hurt when you have free booze and food to fuel your madness during the agenda-packed-14-hour-days. But when you break it down, no matter how many bands play, there will still be the odyssey of the Violin-Playing-Werewolf and the other various performing street artists that keep Austin weird and everyone else coming back for more.

Kevin James on SXSW 2012

So SXSW is this big glamorous festival with a ton of people from all over the world and every genre of music you can imagine...which includes a lot of shows that require a LOT of walking. I bought some insoles for my boots but they didn't seem to work and I do not suggest hiking around Austin in boots for days in a row. They do have pedicabs and some Chevy free rides for advertisement but we really didn't take advantage of any of those.

We had early mornings and late nights, all filled with experiences I would never give up. I met people from all over the world and saw a countless number of shows, some of which were bands I already dug and some that I found a new liking for.

Of course Jack White infiltrated the party and brought the Third Man Rolling Record Store. I, along with a plethora of others, waited patiently to pick up some limited stuff.

One show I wanted to catch but I happened to have a mistake in the time/day was Miike Snow. My friend and I had a few drinks and apparently mixed up the days but we ended up waiting for a while to see Jimmy Cliff in a small club, which wasn't a bad thing :{D A few bands I saw and also stumbled across while hitting random shows and suggest you check out were Alberta Cross, Band of Skulls, Dinosaur Jr., Strand of Oaks, and Gardens & Villa.

Alberta Cross

If you've never ventured down to the Lone Star state's capitol I would say it'd be a good idea to make the trek and experience this awesome city. "Keep Austin Weird" is their slogan for a reason...

Cheers!

Kevin James