We just returned to Denver from another great South by Southwest week down in Austin, TX. Three days of the van, sunshine, great music, sweat, BBQ, warm beer, and bro time is just what the doctor ordered.
Tuesday evening we packed up the van and drove through the night, putting us in Austin by mid-afternoon on Wednesday. This gave us just enough time to check out the pool before heading downtown to the Thirsty Nickle on 6th Street to play our first show of the week.
Immediately following our set at the Nickle we caught a great show put on by a band called Firework Show from Charleston, SC. From there we were fortunate enough to get into Stubbs thanks to our friend Colin and Time Out New York, and we checked out sets by James Blake and the Smith Westerns while spending way too much on 16oz cans of Dos Equis.
Thursday we woke up and headed down to meet father-in-law and good friend CL Roznovak at this BBQ joint called the Salt Lick that everyone is always gushing about. It was worth all the fuss. We hung out at Rozie’s place down in Wimberley for a while and checked out his dad’s old ’51 Gibson- one that was crafted in Pat’s hometown- before heading back up to Austin to get ready for our afternoon show at JP’s Java with our Denver pals Lords of Fuzz.
JP’s is a great coffee joint that also serves beer, a concept that had our entrepreneurial labidos in overdrive for the remainder of the trip. This was the second year in a row that we were able to play a daytime show at this fine establishment, and we heard great sounds by Taiwan’s The White Eyes and the Fuzz before sweating through our 30 minutes in the sun.
That night we made our way down to auditorium shores to catch a free show by The Strokes, and then back across the lake to see our buds The Fling from Long Beach, CA, shortly thereafter. From there we milled about town and saw a number of bands, did some people watching, and called it a night before we forgot where our hotel was.
Our last day found us downtown for tacos and some meetings before catching a show by San Diego’s Writer. This day really fell into place quite nicely, as we bounced around shows by the Riverboat Gamblers, Fake Problems, The Fling, and Kurt Vile, scored some free beer and a much needed ice cream break, and then headed over to the Hampton Inn to join Ric Baca and the rest of the Denver Post crew for a salty pool party.
After a few beers and some pool water, we bailed before any of us swallowed enough of either to give us the trots. We ate some more street meat and caught an awesome set by Denver’s Adai before heading over to Peckerheads for our final show of the week. A big thanks to the Epilogues and American Tomahawk for putting on the show and having us. The sound was incredible and the crowd was even better.
South by Southwest is like spring break for 25-year-olds, as well as those of us slightly older who think that going to Sandals Bahamas with our significant others is a terrible idea. While often a hot crowded mess, there really is no place we’d rather spend a few days every March. We are now home recuperating and sleeping-in, already looking forward to SXSW 2012. Work continues on our next album, and we have another pre-production session scheduled in a few weeks. For those of you in Denver, you won’t want to miss our show with the Swayback and Photo Atlas on April 15th at the Hi-Dive, it will be epic.