Hitting The Trunk Road: SXSW – Disneyland For Music Fans

I was somewhere outside of Austin when the drugs began to take hold. Wait, stop right there. I’m cribbing from someone who might have an incredibly litigious estate. (Parody! Fair Use! Prank caller! Prank caller!). However, when writing about the annual South By Southwest Festival it’s quite easy to feel as you’re borrowing from others as several themes are universal. There is an ocean of free beer and a plethora of fine food spanning Tex and Mex cuisines as well as a wide range of fine BBQ; the lengthy days are often an exhausting ordeal leading to sore feet, tired legs and aching backs; there is music coming from every nook and cranny of downtown Austin; lines and queues are aplenty and, if done right, you leave knowing dozens more bands than you did one week prior. If you’ve read SXSW coverage before – including last year’s Trunk Road dispatches – you are familiar with the usual tropes.

For the uninitiated, SXSW or South-By is an annual music industry boondoggle that attracts more than 1,000 bands to Austin, Texas for a slew of showcases that last from noon to 2:00 AM. (and often later). With influential executives and tastemaking cognoscenti present, it’s a phenomenal opportunity for up-and-coming bands to solidify their reputation, gain exposure or make their name. Each afternoon, there are a whole host of parties that are open to the general public and at night, the official showcases take place with access (mostly) restricted to badge holders and wristband bearers. If you are a music fan, this is Disneyland.

The bands that come down to Austin each March are customarily more familiar to the readers of Pitchfork than to those who peruse the classic rock/jamband oriented sites. However, that doesn’t mean that classic rock goes unrepresented over the course of the week. Iggy Pop & The Stooges, Eric Burdon and The Zombies will show up on SXSW stages as will the likes of Richard Thompson, John Hiatt and the North Mississippi Allstars. John Fogerty is slated to play a closing night set at the ACL Live theater. Luther Dickinson and Jim James will play solo sets and The Midnight Ramble Band will headline a day long tribute to Levon Helm at Auditorium Shores. Depeche Mode will make a much ballyhooed return and Dave Grohl will bring his Sound City Players extravaganza to Stubbs.

From a more modern rock aspect, Cold War Kids, with a new guitarist in the fold, will play numerous sets and Local Natives, Cloud Nothings and Japandroids will pop up around town. It may be near-on impossible to miss Mac DeMarco as the guitarist seems primed to tote his guitar to nearly every showcase within 3 blocks of Sixth and Red River. It may also be hard to miss Foxygen as the L.A. based duo also seems to be filling their dance card to the max. Vampire Weekend will be in town for what appears to be one set designed to promote their new album and The Flaming Lips will be doing things that Wayne Coyne deems cool.

This little preview doesn’t even factor in the multitude of electronica, hip-hop/rap, world music and DJ showcases on the schedule. Kendrick Lamar and Ghostface Killah won’t be hard to find and Snoop Lion nee Snoop Dogg nee Snoop Doggy Dogg will throw down at Viceland. Red Baraat will split their time between the world music world and indie shows and Baauer might be persuaded to play The Harlem Shake if someone requests (or more likely if there is simply electricity in the building).

Two of the most typically anticipated showcases seem to be absent from this year’s slate. National Public Radio, whom we all knowingly refer to as NPR, will still be hosting their annual Wednesday night extravaganza at Stubb’s, this year featuring Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Alt-J and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but their more eclectic Thursday afternoon day party at The Parish is nowhere to be found. More noticeably absent will be the Saturday afternoon Mog Showcase at The Mohawk. In past years, acts like Big Boi, TV On The Radio, The Black Keys, Bob Mould and The Roots have foregone other SXSW shows for one set on the Mog stage. When you factor in Mog’s penchant for assimilating each year’s hottest acts on one stage, SXSW 2013 will be missing one of its greatest one-stop-shopping day parties. Still present will be the daily showcases at Mellow Johnnie’s but it will be curious to see how large will loom the presence of its owner, Lance Armstrong.

With 1,000 bands descending on Austin for the week, it is a fools errand to believe that catching everything is possible. It’s what makes the event so singular in its scope: despite some universal themes, 10,000 people can go and have 10,000 separate, distinct experiences with each one being equally meaningful in catching the import of the event. In that sense, Hidden Track was wise enough to also send Jeffrey Greenblatt to Austin for SXSW 2013 with an unlimited expense account to keep us swimming in Lone Stars and barbecue.  Hidden Track, prepare to empathize with Jann Wenner; let Fear & Loathing In SXSW commence.

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