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← back to archive	SXSW 2012: The Last Day So it comes, in what seems like a few minutes after you arrive in Austin, it is all over... Your feet are sore, your ears are ringing, your liver has been well and truly assaulted, your body clock is wonky beyond belief, the sights and sounds have amazed you, and it is a year till you can do it again. It will be a year till you again see most of the friends you have been to various combinations of gigs, bars, breakfasts and diners during the week, It is Saturday. It is over.... Here goes.... First up...at The Jackalope, another terrible long thin venue, are The Lovely Bad Things. One of my must sees - the review, culled from their own website....."If The Black Lips and The Pixies had children". The whole show was ruined by my forgetting my earplugs so it was deafening and unlistenable. I did buy their album on vinyl of course and their self description was right.... Next up the first of two bands in a competition. The competition is....which English band can best imitate a major stadium rock outfit and follow in their footsteps to glory and world domination. First, Morning Parade, from London, trying to be Coldplay. Not bad. Senility set in at this SXSW, so my scheduling was full of hiccups. Mostly , and fortunately, others suffered not me, but there was one peculiar recurrence, Twice I went to a venue to see a band called The St. James Society, in fact they were one of my must see bands , self described as Pentecostal Desert Glam ( no I have no idea either). The first time they never turned up. The second time, I got the day wrong ( have you heard a similar thing before?) So I found myself at the Easy Tiger patio. I asked someone who this band was and they said The Diamond Centre in their French accent. We got talking, he was a French indie record label owner checking out the band to potentially sign them. when he heard I lived in Paris, he became my best friend and gave me a pile of CDs by a French band he manages, Zenzile. When I got home to Paris, I looked closer, it was a limited release six cd box set of remixes. Played the first one. It is a stunning dub band, The entire box set is genius. The Diamond Centre turned out to be pretty good too, sort of The Go Betweens through a wah wah pedal. Including me there were five people watching. I bought their seven inch single...A SXSW five minutes. Next Peckerheads - brilliant set from Great Lake Swimmers...Fiddles were in this year.... On to 512 rooftop to see one of my finds of last six months from Daytrotter - Aunt Martha, terrible name but just a really cool Uncle Tupelo type band. Loved it. I took a long walk to a corner of Austin that has some great venues off the beaten track - Lustre Pearl and Bar 96 being two of the best. Bar 96, great venue - really cool bar with a marquee out back and fake grass area over the car park under the tent. Everyone sitting around. Cider on tap. I had two of my must see bands that I knew very little about playing one after the other so I parked myself there for a great sixty minutes. First, The Drowning Men, Canadian Anthemic Rock, I wrote. Actually another Springsteen/Gaslight Anthem type band. Great session. ...and they had a keyboard player with it all....Beard! Cap! Tatts! Smile! Denim Waistcoat! Cool organ! Next up were WIM, who their blurb said ...Wondrous live, haunting tunes, Sydney band on the rise. In reality...Nope. Lead singer was most pretentious individual of the week, leopard tights torn under his torn jeans with jesus sandals. Disaster.. Even my second cider could not make me like them.. Worst band seen at SXSW 2012 award comfortably winners... Part two of the English bands competition to be next stadium gods next. This time The Chevin from Leeds, who want to be The Killers. They won the competition easily, great live , great pop rock tunes and star lead singer. Expect to hear more about them. Okay,,,,SXSW 2012 is slipping away from us....it is now officially the evening. A lot of us gather at the Fire House to watch Tel Aviv band , Acollective. The place is full of plastic Irish - Americans in green "celebrating" St Patricks Day. The band are brilliant. One of the finds of SXSW... To St David's Sanctuary Hall to see a very intimate show from the great Micah P Hinson, accompanied every now and then by his wife...Brilliant.....if you dont know this guy check him out.... An oddity. Dorritos spent the first half of SXSW building a giant stage in shape of a vending machine right in front of our hotel. They were only open as a venue for two nights. WE checked out a favourite from last year ( yes breaking my no go to see anyone I had seen before rule) CHAPPO. The Black Belles? They were brilliant at the Jack White show, I was told. They were the most photogenic band according to Perry. My own review had them as an all-girl NashvilleWhite Stripes. I would describe them as one of the two or three most hyped bands of the week. Bored....in case you did not work it out. Second worst band of the week, I am afraid..... Who are the top prog indie rock band in China you all wonder. It is of course Duck Fights Goose. If they come to a town near you, do not go to see them. Upstairs same building 512 Bar - Hands and Teeth,,,Toronto indie psychedelic pop...enjoyed them.. To the Victorian Room at the Driskell Hotel, a particular favourite of mine. We get a seat in front row two metres from the band....Brilliant acoustic americana from The Pines..off to buy all their albums... I finish my SXSW 2012 by going to the party show held by Rich Aucoin...It was not quite as good as the show earlier in the week, but I liked his last home made slide projection. It had his mobile number and he invited us all to sms him and he would send a free link for his album. I did. He did and he also said he would be in Paris in the summer and he would hand deliver a vinyl copy of his record. And do you know, he will ....that is SXSW 2012... Who is going in 2013.....?

SXSW 2012: The Last Day

So it comes, in what seems like a few minutes after you arrive in Austin, it is all over...

Your feet are sore, your ears are ringing, your liver has been well and truly assaulted, your body clock is wonky beyond belief, the sights and sounds have amazed you, and it is a year till you can do it again. It will be a year till you again see most of the friends you have been to various combinations of gigs, bars, breakfasts and diners during the week, It is Saturday. It is over....

Here goes....

First up...at The Jackalope, another terrible long thin venue, are The Lovely Bad Things. One of my must sees - the review, culled from their own website....."If The Black Lips and The Pixies had children".

The whole show was ruined by my forgetting my earplugs so it was deafening and unlistenable. I did buy their album on vinyl of course and their self description was right....

Next up the first of two bands in a competition. The competition is....which English band can best imitate a major stadium rock outfit and follow in their footsteps to glory and world domination. First, Morning Parade, from London, trying to be Coldplay. Not bad.

Senility set in at this SXSW, so my scheduling was full of hiccups. Mostly , and fortunately, others suffered not me, but there was one peculiar recurrence, Twice I went to a venue to see a band called The St. James Society, in fact they were one of my must see bands , self described as Pentecostal Desert Glam ( no I have no idea either). The first time they never turned up. The second time, I got the day wrong ( have you heard a similar thing before?) So I found myself at the Easy Tiger patio. I asked someone who this band was and they said The Diamond Centre in their French accent. We got talking, he was a French indie record label owner checking out the band to potentially sign them. when he heard I lived in Paris, he became my best friend and gave me a pile of CDs by a French band he manages, Zenzile. When I got home to Paris, I looked closer, it was a limited release six cd box set of remixes. Played the first one. It is a stunning dub band, The entire box set is genius. The Diamond Centre turned out to be pretty good too, sort of The Go Betweens through a wah wah pedal. Including me there were five people watching. I bought their seven inch single...A SXSW five minutes.

Next Peckerheads - brilliant set from Great Lake Swimmers...Fiddles were in this year....

On to 512 rooftop to see one of my finds of last six months from Daytrotter - Aunt Martha, terrible name but just a really cool Uncle Tupelo type band. Loved it.

I took a long walk to a corner of Austin that has some great venues off the beaten track - Lustre Pearl and Bar 96 being two of the best. Bar 96, great venue - really cool bar with a marquee out back and fake grass area over the car park under the tent. Everyone sitting around. Cider on tap. I had two of my must see bands that I knew very little about playing one after the other so I parked myself there for a great sixty minutes. First, The Drowning Men, Canadian Anthemic Rock, I wrote. Actually another Springsteen/Gaslight Anthem type band. Great session.

...and they had a keyboard player with it all....Beard! Cap! Tatts! Smile! Denim Waistcoat! Cool organ!

Next up were WIM, who their blurb said ...Wondrous live, haunting tunes, Sydney band on the rise. In reality...Nope.

Lead singer was most pretentious individual of the week, leopard tights torn under his torn jeans with jesus sandals. Disaster.. Even my second cider could not make me like them.. Worst band seen at SXSW 2012 award comfortably winners...

Part two of the English bands competition to be next stadium gods next. This time The Chevin from Leeds, who want to be The Killers. They won the competition easily, great live , great pop rock tunes and star lead singer. Expect to hear more about them.

Okay,,,,SXSW 2012 is slipping away from us....it is now officially the evening. A lot of us gather at the Fire House to watch Tel Aviv band , Acollective. The place is full of plastic Irish - Americans in green "celebrating" St Patricks Day. The band are brilliant. One of the finds of SXSW...

To St David's Sanctuary Hall to see a very intimate show from the great Micah P Hinson, accompanied every now and then by his wife...Brilliant.....if you dont know this guy check him out....

An oddity. Dorritos spent the first half of SXSW building a giant stage in shape of a vending machine right in front of our hotel. They were only open as a venue for two nights. WE checked out a favourite from last year ( yes breaking my no go to see anyone I had seen before rule) CHAPPO.

The Black Belles? They were brilliant at the Jack White show, I was told. They were the most photogenic band according to Perry. My own review had them as an all-girl NashvilleWhite Stripes. I would describe them as one of the two or three most hyped bands of the week.

Bored....in case you did not work it out. Second worst band of the week, I am afraid.....

Who are the top prog indie rock band in China you all wonder. It is of course Duck Fights Goose. If they come to a town near you, do not go to see them.

Upstairs same building 512 Bar - Hands and Teeth,,,Toronto indie psychedelic pop...enjoyed them..

To the Victorian Room at the Driskell Hotel, a particular favourite of mine. We get a seat in front row two metres from the band....Brilliant acoustic americana from The Pines..off to buy all their albums...

I finish my SXSW 2012 by going to the party show held by Rich Aucoin...It was not quite as good as the show earlier in the week, but I liked his last home made slide projection. It had his mobile number and he invited us all to sms him and he would send a free link for his album. I did. He did and he also said he would be in Paris in the summer and he would hand deliver a vinyl copy of his record. And do you know, he will ....that is SXSW 2012...

Who is going in 2013.....?