Steve Lamacq
Thu 15 March: Eggs, Teas and Bands
Anyone who's ever been to America will know this one true fact. There is too much choice. You can have your eggs at breakfast in one of four different ways. If you want a cup of tea you have to chose black tea, green tea or herbal tea. If it's black, do you want Earl Grey or Breakfast tea? Small, medium or large? Milk? Take away or drink here? Please, just give me a cup of tea…I'm suffering from Option Paralysis.
Which is why SXSW is such a grand microcosm of the US way of doing stuff. It's like walking up to the live music counter and asking to see a band. "Certainly sir. Loud or quiet? American or European? New or slightly used? Underground or mainstream?" It's a brilliant quandary of course, but there were 64 (yes, SIXTY FOUR!) gigs last night, and they were just the official ones.
Chances are some of these won't run to time either, which is why I missed the delightful Crystal Castles, but I did manage to tick off a few bands whose demos/cds sounded ok. The Japanese shouty girl duo KIIIIII were a good idea, but palled after a few songs so I nipped to the Beggars Banquet showcase where Wolf & Cub were better live than their latest single suggests. Saw a bit of I Like Trains (they made it!) and then got the invite to Lily Allen's tour bus. You can hear the result of that on one of our shows.
From there on, it got a bit hectic. As you walk the main streets you invariably bump into people you've met or worked with over the past few years (Adam, the old manager of We Are Scientists, Dan who looks after Two Gallants and some nice people from Liverpool who have a showcase here compered by Pete Wylie!).
And still the bands play on. Caught a little of the NME showcase followed by LA's Monsters Are Waiting, who quite a few people have been talking about. White Rabbits from Brooklyn are another of the buzz bands so far. I finally wound up by watching Looker at Maggie Mae's. This was a bit of a treat for me as the four-piece are New York's rama-lama popsters of choice and friends of The Hold Steady. Simple, but effervescent three minute bursts of guitar tuneage, delivered with unabashed enthusiasm.
The easiest choice of the day.
