I sincerely apologize about the downer yesterday. However, like any story, there should be an Act 2 where there are obstacles that prevent our main character from achieving a dramatic need, a culmination where everything falls apart and the main character reaches his/her lowest point and seems farthest from fulfilling some objective.
We're not quite out of Act 2 yet folks.
Before we went to SXSW, I had no idea what it would be like. I figured a chic Woodstock maybe. An Apple Chill with music. I don't know. But there were a few obvious things I should have considered before I reached those expectations. The first is the cost. Full coverage tickets for SXSW are $600 I think. Include the airfare and hotel and we're talking about a $1500-$2000 trip. It's not a cheap trip and that fact immediately leaves out a large demographic of concertgoers. I'm not saying these attendees have cash to spare, but they are people that have at least a little bit of disposable income.
There is also the consideration that this is an industry event-for managers, for publicists, for bloggers, for labels, for writers. All of these people want to know what the next big thing is. It's their job. They are the ones that will tell us what we should be listening to or rather what is worth listening to. For this, I applaud them. Most of us don't have time or energy to troll the web looking for bands. SXSW may be 'work' for some of them, but it also a little bit of a vacation. They'll get plenty of free beer and food along the way. Yet this crowd is not the type of crowd that just got off work, hired the babysitter and wants to go to a show to let off a lttle steam. And for this reason, a band could feel a bit like a fish in the aquarium.
Yet they don't even tap on the glass.
I won't use our show as an example, speaking subjectively about the band is a very tough thing for me to do. So I will use some other tried-and-true bands.
We went to see the French Kiss Showcase. French Kiss is a great label with some great bands: Call Me Lightning, Thunderbirds Are Now!, Fatal Flying Guilloteens, The Hold Steady and of course, the mothership, Les Savy Fav from New York. We met a couple of people that were working the streets for some other showcases but they had to take a break from their soliciting to come to this show to see Les Savy. By the end of the night, the place was packed with people who wanted to see Les Savy. There was an intense line outside for people who desperately wanted to see Les Savy. I have never seen Les Savy before. Mike (who is a huge fan) told me that "Springsteen ain't shit compared to this guy".
Them's fightin' words.
After the show, I can honestly say that if you went to see Les Savy and didn't have a good time, it's your own damn fault. The lead singer, Tim Harrington, is one of the finest in the business. He is a true joy to watch work. In the past, he has told the hands-in-pocket crowd in the front row to please get out of the way for people who want to dance. This guy sweats and shakes and has some great patter in between songs. Mike has seen them four or five times in different cities and I asked him what are the crowds like and he said, they dance, they shout back lyrics. I asked him if this crowd at SXSW is anything like a regular crowd. He said he didn't know because he was in the front row and never looked back.
The crowd behind him was pretty much what you would've expected from the above description of what I think is a typical SXSW-er. Even though it's SXSW, a perfect evening, free beer all day, after the first few rows, it was kind of like a collective 'Meh'.
It's the type of crowd that if you decide to stage dive, they won't necessarily catch you.
I know this is true because I saw it happen to Mike.
We also saw another band with a great frontman, Raleigh's own Valiant Thorr. Seems kind of weird to drive 1400 miles to see a band that performs in your backyard a dozen times a year but when you see some hyped bands that don't exactly hype you up, it's best to go to the sure bet like Fav and Thorr. Valient Thorr seems to be loved in Austin, playing several shows during SXSW which may not mean anything, but one of those shows includes an anniversary party for a local rock paper. If the Independent had an anniversary party, I'd assume it would get bands that it loves.
And it's pretty much the same deal that if you go see these guys and don't have a good time, it's your own fault. For this show, the reception was more enthused than the Fav show even though I consider both Valiant and Fav's skills to motivate the crowd about the same. Maybe it was because it was in the middle of the afternoon in what is probably considered an Austin bar with what I think was probably a lot of locals. I tend to think that this crowd was more local heavy as opposed to festival goers.
Bands can only do so much at a show. Bands are not just jukeboxes. You desperately rely on the ebb and flow of the crowd. There's something there between the two of you-the band and the audience. I have played hundreds of shows in my lifetime and there was no experience that even compares to our week before last's show at the Broad Street Cafe. We didn't play any differently, we didn't play harder or better. But the crowd found the string in between our paper cups and they shouted back. I'm glad that I got to experience it at least once in my life (Thank you!).
If you came to SXSW to look for buzz or a contract or a publicist for your band, well I guess you need that experience to happen there in Austin but most of the time it seems to be fairly sterile shows and I don't know if the crowd's are always willing to sweat and shake and shout, they just seem willing to be entertained. Maybe they have to pace themselves to get through the day to see all the bands so they conserve their energy. I'm not really sure.
Philisophical musings of The Crowd aside, I really needed to see both of these bands. We saw a number of hyped bands that I thought were just okay and then when that happens, I always feel a bit cheated or something. Maybe it's because I feel like I can't communicate with the people that hype them up. Like most kids growing up, there was a time in my life when I couldn't feel like I could communicate with anyone and the guitar helped facilitate that a bit. And now, here I am, unable to receive the messages that these people are sending. And sometimes I just don't get it even though everyone seems to think that they are 'amazing'.
Then again, maybe I have shitty taste in music. I don't like Human Touch or Lucky Town, so it can't be that bad.
People come to Austin to find the next big thing but then it becomes a competition where people are going to all these shows just so they can say that they saw 'The _______s and they were AMAZING'. And then they talk and talk and talk about that one band and I don't think it's a case of putting too many eggs in one basket. I think it's a case of thinking you HAVE to put your eggs in any basket at all. I think it's a case of people spending a lot of money to get here and well, they have to write about something and they will walk out of this town with basket.
Everyone grows up reading books on rock and roll with the author describing some tightrope rock and roll show and what an impact it had on them and the impact it had on the history of rock and roll itself. I believe that everyone wants their own Elvis. Everyone wants their own Punk Rock. Everyone goes to shows wanting to feel that exhilaration, that "Oh my god I can't believe I'm hearing this. I saw the future of rock and roll and it's name is The Shit Fishsticks" thus ensuring their own history in rock and roll as being the first person to ever write about the Shit Fishsticks.
I think that I simply enjoy seeing local bands play more than national bands. I'd rather see Valiant Thor or Tooth than Mastodon. I'd rather see Sleepsound and The Dry Heathens and Spider Bags and The Dirty Little Heaters (*sniff*) and all the rest of the lot of you out there. Years ago, I gave up on seeing national and regioanl bands that came to the area a long time ago. Maybe that's unfortuantely reflected in Red Collar's music or how I personally sing or play guitar or whatever, but I felt that a lot of the time, it's a case of the Emporer's New Clothes.
Given a choice between playing shows and seeing them, I'd much rather play.
Or maybe what I'm trying to say is given the choice between watching someone else wear the Emporer's New Clothes or me wearing them, well...
...jacket size 42, regular, please.
j
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