Vic's Diary: Day 2

Relatively refreshed after a night's kip (we're all a bit jetlagged, and only really sleeping 3 or 4 hours a night out here), Thursday is filled with promise and lists of bands to see as long as my arm! There's a fairly random element to SXSW that I love. I want to be able to document the Scottish bands, see some international 'buzz' bands and also see a few old favourites. So after walking into town, grabbing a couple of breakfast tacos - my favourite, yum! - and meeting Nick from the website team, it was off to catch some live music. I have this enormous 'Free List' that a friendly Austin-ite Amanda, sends me every year which includes all the unofficial, secret and off-the-wall showcases and barbecues.

After a wander around, some serious sunshine on our backs and a wee bit of planning, I headed to Stubbs - one of the largest and most established venues here. This year REM played their showcase on Wednesday night, but Thursday afternoon was a metal extravaganza featuring Napalm Death and... the band we all wanted to see... Motorhead! After turning up, seeing a queue of about 1000 people waiting, Nick and I decided to turn away. At that moment a friend, Andrew, called my name... he was right at the front of the line, about to go in! We sauntered up, got a wrist-band and walked straight in... what chancers! Precisely as we entered the outdoor arena, Lemmy and the boys hit the stage with their customary 'We are Motorhead, we play Rock'n'Roll!' - awesome!

Not a bad start to the day's music. From there we went back to 6th street to catch The Dykeenies run through a set at Maggie Mae's. They've had a hell of a time so far! Their drummer been refused entry to the US, but none of their equipment turned up either... with borrowed bits and pieces, and a few technical hitches, they made it through their first show of the festival - watch the video interview here. After that it was time to run to 'Habana Calle 6' for a lovely wee outdoor-patio venue to catch Make Model's first gig of SXSW. A massive success for the Bebo Showcase, and a sweaty but happy Lewis and Aimi from the band had a quick chinwag with me after...which you can watch here.

Stuart Thomas from the 'Scottish Arts Council' was kicking about as well, so we grabbed a chat with him about his views on SXSW 2008 which you can watch below.

The heat is unbelievable this year. Quite often it can be dull and even rainy in Austin in March, but this year everyone's walking around dripping with sweat in a slight daze. We had a quick sit down and a fruit-based drink for refreshment (margarita of course!), then met Popup's ex-manager and friend Alec Downie, another SXSW veteran. We were all preparing for their official showcase gig across the street at the Habana Annex, so after a slice of pizza on Red River street, they did their thing. Having attended the festival last year and built up contacts and Texas tour diary, Popup pulled a great crowd and played one of their best-ever sets for the occasion. I had a blether with them as they'd come off stage, which is available to watch here.

The whirlwind was very much in effect from this point on, as I realised I wanted to see as many bands as possible from now until bedtime. When you're working you can miss a lot of the action. So, on came the walking shoes and out came the gig guide... first up the awesome hardcore might of underground, Toronto punks - 'F*cked Up'! Not for the faint-hearted, but possibly the best and most unhinged performance so far! Then over to see Make Model (again!) at the 'Clash Magazine' showcase - packed to the gunnels, which the Dundee boys from Clash were delighted about. I stayed for 'Carbon/Silicon', who feature Mick Jones from The Clash/B.A.D and Tony James from Generation X/Sigue Sigue Sputnik... haha! They were pretty good actually, but I need something more crazy...

Mark, our Radio 1 sound-engineer, was with me by this point and he wanted METAL - typical, eh? Hmmm... how about new-thrashers Municipal Waste? Emo's Annex it was and an amazing show with added moshpit was witnessed... Mark was happy! High on Fire' took to the stage for the loudest gig of the festival so far but after after a few monstrously heavy tracks, I parted company with Mark and hot-footed it to see 'Holy F*ck'... I'm actually trying to see any band with the 'F-word' in their title... it's not big or clever, but the bands are actually amazing... only F*ck Buttons left to see! The Holy F*ck gig was rammed and had an amazing vibe, but it was time to see some of the 'BBC Introducing Showcase' at 'The Rio', hosted by Steve Lamacq. It had a great line-up and 'MGMT' were supposedly incredible. The man I wanted to see was Edward Larrikin, now known musically as 'The Pan I Am'. I arrived just in time for his set, watched eagerly by a crowd featuring Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong amongst other luminairies. Sadly, due to beer or two too many, the band were loose and unprofessional with Ed swearing his way through songs and stage banter that left me feeling very disappointed. However, Stuart Maconie and Lammo (Steve Lamacq!!) were on hand for a chat about the evening's festivities and, for some reason (MGMT?)... prog rock! After some banter and a nightcap, I could feel my bed calling me... so I heeded that call and walked off into the night... hasta la vista, amigos!

Links

On the BBC

• Scotland's Music
• SXSW Blog

On the web

• Official SXSW site