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← back to Blog Archive	Midday, it starts. Into the Convention centre to International Day stage to see Daniel Brandt, one third of the acclaimed German ensemble Brandt Brauer Frick. Lively start to the day with lots of bashing of drum and plonking of synthy keys. But then…… Band of 2019 SXSW alert. I got to witness the phenomena which is the Dublin band Fontaines D.C. In their lead singer, Grian Chatten, they have one of the most mesmerizing leads for many a day. It felt like we were witnessing something quite out of the ordinary. In the presence of genius I would say. The band are an out and out punk band and all the guys in the band are impressive but Chatten’s worrying stage presence, half menacing/half lost soul, marks him out as a performer who dazzles. We saw them in the same tiny indoor stage at Cheer Up Charlies (the place was jam packed) but we knew it would be so we got in early and staked our places at the very front. A blistering three songs followed only for the whole thing to come to an abrupt end as the lead guitarist’s amp, then replacement amp, packed in. They walked off, apologizing, but it still stood out amongst all my SXSW shows as one of the most special. I decided to go see them again - breaking a golden rul , but more of that later. Here is the first song of their first show in the USA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy4ui3QiZyo&list=RDWy4ui3QiZyo&start_radio=1&t=0 And here is the Guardian UK’s article on them this week, in advance of the launch of their debut album, Dogrel: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/apr/05/irish-punks-fontaines-dc-you-can-feel-the-growing-anglophobia FONTAINES D.C. Impossible to follow that. I saw Kidsmoke next a decent jangly guitar Welsh band but they simply served as detox from the highs of Fontaines D.C. However then I went back to Cheer Up Charlies to see another of my Must See bands - I had thirteen Must See bands in my list of 200 bands that looked interesting to see. The band in question were another London outfit, Black Midi, who were also in the list of bands my fellow festival goers of days past, Simon and Dave, had said I should see. A choppy sound meets a bank of noise with a quirky lead singer. They were fairly good but not in Fontaines DC league, yet they were on the big outdoor stage and the others were in the tiny inside place. Baffling. Must be the funny costumes. BLACK MIDI Time for the daily Scottish band experience, so back to Latitude 30 to see The Dunts, a straightforward punk band from Glasgow. As straightforward punk bands go they were straightforward with a punk sound. I then accompanied my friends to see KOLARS who I have seen several times in the last twelve months. They played in the sprawling Parish venue to a sparse crowd who they got moving with their self described Glamabilly stuff. Bands like doing new names for their music. KOLARS like it so much they also call their sound Desert Punk. After seeing them a handful of times they came across quite stale to me. Last show of the afternoon was back in the convention centre to see Dermott’s recommendation YOLA. She was a multi talented singer who acted like a great session or backing singer which she then confirmed by talking about singing with The Black Keys. Not being a fan of that band it prompted me to leave. I think I was having a hangover all afternoon from the Fontaines D.C. experience. Evening is upon us and I head to St David’s Historic Sanctuary, one of the two churches that puts on shows. There I see City Of The Sun, an instrumental psychedelic trio from Brooklyn. Quite a nice sound and perfect venue for them. Not very RockNRoll though. So I head back to Cheer Up Charlies inside. CITY OF THE SUN There I see Bellows an electronic pop band also from Brooklyn. Some really good songs. Like this one, Housekeeping: https://bellows.bandcamp.com/track/housekeeping-3 BELLOWS It feels like the night is bubbling up. Back to Latitude 30 to see The Howl and The Hum from York, England. Pretty impressive, one of those bands who want to be Muse, Elbow or Coldplay, so they will become boring but for now in their early years it is good to see them go for stadium rock whilst playing tiny clubs. I liked it. Check out the video for their latest single Godmanchester Chinese Bridge. Always like me a video made up of old home movie family footage: https://www.youtube.com/TheHowlTheHum THE HOWL AND THE HUM There are some locations better than others and it must be soul destroying to travel half way across the world or even halfway across America to make your SXSW debut, excited as hell to be given the chance to play there and you end up in a crap venue for your only official show. The epitome of this type of venue is the lounge bar on the 18th floor of the Hilton Garden Inn here in Austin. Now a couple of things, who has ever heard of an inn with 18 floors. Secondly, surely after all these years the SXSW officials must know this is the arse end of venues and will destroy a band rather than make them. It is just as I described it, lounge on top of a hotel but not one of those cool or hip rooftop bars, it is atmosphereless and has chairs set out in rows for the always sparse crowd who bother to trek all the way to see whichever unfortunate band drew this straw. I always go at least once to see how a band on my list copes with the utter dismay they must feel. Few can carry on as if they are playing the coolest venue in town. Tonight I give you Indianola who have come down from Nashville for this privilege. They are good but I mean…..check this setup, they have no chance. They were last seen throwing their instruments in a dumpster and heading back to Nashville. (It might be a Nashville thing, I recall the last band I saw in this venue a few years ago were also from Nashville). Anyway you can get a free download of their rather good single 1960s here: https://www.indianolamusic.com/download-1960s INDIANOLA Yes that’s right, you can count four people in the audience apart from me…… Back to Cheer Up Charlies for the wonderful Esbie Fonte, an LA singer with some great off the wall songs and a distinctive voice style. Go to the Boulevard ep here and listen to Pico and Westwood. Special. https://soundcloud.com/esbiefonteofficial ESBIE FONTE The night is building. I head into Valhalla, a real dive bar, to see the perfect band for this place. A bunch of grizzled rockers who have been around for about 15 years. They are American Werewolf Academy. They have rock pedigree. They used to be called Robot Monster Weekend and their latest album, their sixth, is called "Dead Without Dying and Gleefully Detached". So happy campers they are not.The lead guy who sings and plays guitar was obviously the worse for wear through something, lets say alcohol. He did not let that stop him - he was a rock god, scissor jumps, high kicks. He nearly fell over five times. The rest of the band barely moved an inch. It was a great show. Eventually he could not both sing and play guitar so he just sang. Remember the name, you will never hear it again, but for thirty minutes they were the kings of Austin. AMERICAN WEREWOLF ACADEMY Took a break from downtown Austin and headed to Rainey St, a street of bars and clubs to the Canadian House at Bungalow (similarly to the UK, the Canadian music folk takeover a venue for the whole week, wall to wall Canadian bands). I should say that you can hardly go wrong with either Canadian, Australian or UK bands at SXSW - the competition to get here is so tough that the ones that do are invariably, at worst, good and at best brilliant. First I see Wintersleep who are a quite good indie band, but you need to have some stage presence or stunning voice/songs to stand out here. They did not. The next band did though. One of my Must Sees for the week did not disappoint. The Dirty Nil were absolutely brilliant. The sound, the stage dynamics, the presence. This band will be huge. Added to the theatre was the fact that whilst this is a threesome, four people took the stage. The fourth person had no instrument, and no mike he just danced about. I learned later that he is the bass player and had just broken his hand prior to the show so one of their friends played bass and he just added comedic value as you will see when you check out the video I took. Plain brilliant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwd3pmARCnc THE DIRTY NIL Back to Valhalla to see South Korea’s top punk band with the quaint band name of Drinking Boys and Girls Club. Every song lasted no longer than 90 seconds. Manic twenty minutes. Then I saw the only Portland band of my whole week, Reptilians. They were fine but not outstanding and to be honest I always struggle when the band describe themselves as Dream Pop. Equals lightweight and flimsy in my eyes. But the night was not over. It is about midnight now to give you all your bearings. How about seeing the top band in Croatia? With perhaps the worst name of the week. Welcome to Jonathan. Even though their own blurb says “The band’s name reflects the idea of unity. Jonathan being a metaphorical single person with a blend of character traits and whimsies from each” I thought I should give them a chance. What we got was formulaic middle of the road indie rock from maybe one of the best dressed bands of the week, suits for all. In a cheesy way I thought they were quite good. Check out the song Maggie https://jonathan3.bandcamp.com/album/bliss JONATHAN Back to Valhalla which increasingly was becoming the venue of choice, with some stellar line ups. Next were the Japanese all girl punk sensation Otoboke Beaver. They took the stage in demure summer frocks and proceeded to cause mayhem. I left to go to the last show of the night after twenty minutes by which point I thought all hell had been let loose. I was wrong as I read next day in the papers that there was near riot. At the end the venue pulled the plug on the band, switched the light on and made people leave. Not before all hell really was let looser than ever before. This crowd was one of the hits of the week in every show they played. Mental. OTOBOKE BEAVER It is 1.30 am,time to squeeze in Birthh (spelled correctly) the stage name for Alice Bisi from Florence Italy. A gentle end to a crazy day. Best song is Queen of Failureland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZgZeqPUtY0&list=RDFZgZeqPUtY0&start_radio=1&t=0 BIRTHH Day Two over, some great stuff today. I head to bed at 2.30am. Averaging ten miles a day walking here so far. Only three days left!!!! Band of the week; Fontaines DC, and The Dirty Nil were exceptional too.

← back to Blog Archive

Midday, it starts. Into the Convention centre to International Day stage to see Daniel Brandt, one third of the acclaimed German ensemble Brandt Brauer Frick. Lively start to the day with lots of bashing of drum and plonking of synthy keys.

But then……

Band of 2019 SXSW alert. I got to witness the phenomena which is the Dublin band Fontaines D.C. In their lead singer, Grian Chatten, they have one of the most mesmerizing leads for many a day. It felt like we were witnessing something quite out of the ordinary. In the presence of genius I would say. The band are an out and out punk band and all the guys in the band are impressive but Chatten’s worrying stage presence, half menacing/half lost soul, marks him out as a performer who dazzles. We saw them in the same tiny indoor stage at Cheer Up Charlies (the place was jam packed) but we knew it would be so we got in early and staked our places at the very front. A blistering three songs followed only for the whole thing to come to an abrupt end as the lead guitarist’s amp, then replacement amp, packed in. They walked off, apologizing, but it still stood out amongst all my SXSW shows as one of the most special. I decided to go see them again - breaking a golden rul , but more of that later.

Here is the first song of their first show in the USA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy4ui3QiZyo&list=RDWy4ui3QiZyo&start_radio=1&t=0

And here is the Guardian UK’s article on them this week, in advance of the launch of their debut album, Dogrel: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/apr/05/irish-punks-fontaines-dc-you-can-feel-the-growing-anglophobia

FONTAINES D.C.

Impossible to follow that. I saw Kidsmoke next a decent jangly guitar Welsh band but they simply served as detox from the highs of Fontaines D.C. However then I went back to Cheer Up Charlies to see another of my Must See bands - I had thirteen Must See bands in my list of 200 bands that looked interesting to see. The band in question were another London outfit, Black Midi, who were also in the list of bands my fellow festival goers of days past, Simon and Dave, had said I should see. A choppy sound meets a bank of noise with a quirky lead singer. They were fairly good but not in Fontaines DC league, yet they were on the big outdoor stage and the others were in the tiny inside place. Baffling. Must be the funny costumes.

BLACK MIDI

Time for the daily Scottish band experience, so back to Latitude 30 to see The Dunts, a straightforward punk band from Glasgow. As straightforward punk bands go they were straightforward with a punk sound.

I then accompanied my friends to see KOLARS who I have seen several times in the last twelve months. They played in the sprawling Parish venue to a sparse crowd who they got moving with their self described Glamabilly stuff. Bands like doing new names for their music. KOLARS like it so much they also call their sound Desert Punk. After seeing them a handful of times they came across quite stale to me. Last show of the afternoon was back in the convention centre to see Dermott’s recommendation YOLA. She was a multi talented singer who acted like a great session or backing singer which she then confirmed by talking about singing with The Black Keys. Not being a fan of that band it prompted me to leave. I think I was having a hangover all afternoon from the Fontaines D.C. experience.

Evening is upon us and I head to St David’s Historic Sanctuary, one of the two churches that puts on shows. There I see City Of The Sun, an instrumental psychedelic trio from Brooklyn. Quite a nice sound and perfect venue for them. Not very RockNRoll though. So I head back to Cheer Up Charlies inside.

CITY OF THE SUN

There I see Bellows an electronic pop band also from Brooklyn. Some really good songs. Like this one, Housekeeping: https://bellows.bandcamp.com/track/housekeeping-3

BELLOWS

It feels like the night is bubbling up. Back to Latitude 30 to see The Howl and The Hum from York, England. Pretty impressive, one of those bands who want to be Muse, Elbow or Coldplay, so they will become boring but for now in their early years it is good to see them go for stadium rock whilst playing tiny clubs. I liked it. Check out the video for their latest single Godmanchester Chinese Bridge. Always like me a video made up of old home movie family footage: https://www.youtube.com/TheHowlTheHum

THE HOWL AND THE HUM

There are some locations better than others and it must be soul destroying to travel half way across the world or even halfway across America to make your SXSW debut, excited as hell to be given the chance to play there and you end up in a crap venue for your only official show. The epitome of this type of venue is the lounge bar on the 18th floor of the Hilton Garden Inn here in Austin. Now a couple of things, who has ever heard of an inn with 18 floors. Secondly, surely after all these years the SXSW officials must know this is the arse end of venues and will destroy a band rather than make them. It is just as I described it, lounge on top of a hotel but not one of those cool or hip rooftop bars, it is atmosphereless and has chairs set out in rows for the always sparse crowd who bother to trek all the way to see whichever unfortunate band drew this straw. I always go at least once to see how a band on my list copes with the utter dismay they must feel. Few can carry on as if they are playing the coolest venue in town. Tonight I give you Indianola who have come down from Nashville for this privilege. They are good but I mean…..check this setup, they have no chance. They were last seen throwing their instruments in a dumpster and heading back to Nashville. (It might be a Nashville thing, I recall the last band I saw in this venue a few years ago were also from Nashville).

Anyway you can get a free download of their rather good single 1960s here: https://www.indianolamusic.com/download-1960s

INDIANOLA

Yes that’s right, you can count four people in the audience apart from me……

Back to Cheer Up Charlies for the wonderful Esbie Fonte, an LA singer with some great off the wall songs and a distinctive voice style.

Go to the Boulevard ep here and listen to Pico and Westwood. Special. https://soundcloud.com/esbiefonteofficial

ESBIE FONTE

The night is building. I head into Valhalla, a real dive bar, to see the perfect band for this place. A bunch of grizzled rockers who have been around for about 15 years. They are American Werewolf Academy. They have rock pedigree. They used to be called Robot Monster Weekend and their latest album, their sixth, is called "Dead Without Dying and Gleefully Detached". So happy campers they are not.The lead guy who sings and plays guitar was obviously the worse for wear through something, lets say alcohol. He did not let that stop him - he was a rock god, scissor jumps, high kicks. He nearly fell over five times. The rest of the band barely moved an inch. It was a great show. Eventually he could not both sing and play guitar so he just sang. Remember the name, you will never hear it again, but for thirty minutes they were the kings of Austin.

AMERICAN WEREWOLF ACADEMY

Took a break from downtown Austin and headed to Rainey St, a street of bars and clubs to the Canadian House at Bungalow (similarly to the UK, the Canadian music folk takeover a venue for the whole week, wall to wall Canadian bands). I should say that you can hardly go wrong with either Canadian, Australian or UK bands at SXSW - the competition to get here is so tough that the ones that do are invariably, at worst, good and at best brilliant. First I see Wintersleep who are a quite good indie band, but you need to have some stage presence or stunning voice/songs to stand out here. They did not. The next band did though. One of my Must Sees for the week did not disappoint. The Dirty Nil were absolutely brilliant. The sound, the stage dynamics, the presence. This band will be huge. Added to the theatre was the fact that whilst this is a threesome, four people took the stage. The fourth person had no instrument, and no mike he just danced about. I learned later that he is the bass player and had just broken his hand prior to the show so one of their friends played bass and he just added comedic value as you will see when you check out the video I took.

Plain brilliant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwd3pmARCnc

THE DIRTY NIL

Back to Valhalla to see South Korea’s top punk band with the quaint band name of Drinking Boys and Girls Club. Every song lasted no longer than 90 seconds. Manic twenty minutes. Then I saw the only Portland band of my whole week, Reptilians. They were fine but not outstanding and to be honest I always struggle when the band describe themselves as Dream Pop. Equals lightweight and flimsy in my eyes. But the night was not over. It is about midnight now to give you all your bearings. How about seeing the top band in Croatia? With perhaps the worst name of the week. Welcome to Jonathan. Even though their own blurb says “The band’s name reflects the idea of unity. Jonathan being a metaphorical single person with a blend of character traits and whimsies from each” I thought I should give them a chance. What we got was formulaic middle of the road indie rock from maybe one of the best dressed bands of the week, suits for all. In a cheesy way I thought they were quite good.

Check out the song Maggie https://jonathan3.bandcamp.com/album/bliss

JONATHAN

Back to Valhalla which increasingly was becoming the venue of choice, with some stellar line ups. Next were the Japanese all girl punk sensation Otoboke Beaver. They took the stage in demure summer frocks and proceeded to cause mayhem. I left to go to the last show of the night after twenty minutes by which point I thought all hell had been let loose. I was wrong as I read next day in the papers that there was near riot. At the end the venue pulled the plug on the band, switched the light on and made people leave. Not before all hell really was let looser than ever before. This crowd was one of the hits of the week in every show they played. Mental.

OTOBOKE BEAVER

It is 1.30 am,time to squeeze in Birthh (spelled correctly) the stage name for Alice Bisi from Florence Italy. A gentle end to a crazy day.

Best song is Queen of Failureland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZgZeqPUtY0&list=RDFZgZeqPUtY0&start_radio=1&t=0

BIRTHH

Day Two over, some great stuff today. I head to bed at 2.30am. Averaging ten miles a day walking here so far.

Only three days left!!!!

Band of the week; Fontaines DC, and The Dirty Nil were exceptional too.