Feature

By Ashley Toland Editor

If only I had known that bands are now apparently required to wear skinny black jeans, I would have set up a jeans stand at the corner of 6th and Congress in Austin, Texas, last week, while attending the SXSW (South by Southwest) music festival. Seriously. I would be rich right now, as I’m fairly certain that about 85 percent of the members of the 1,700-plus bands in attendance had these dark dungarees painted on their 85-pound bodies.

But denim choices aside, the 23rd annual festival had record attendance and offered label execs and music lovers a chance to see some of the hottest up-and-coming acts from all over the world.

It’s just as maddening as it is awesome, as it is impossible to catch everything you want to see.

Last year, we researched and researched and compiled complicated schedules and tactical plans to make it to this venue at this time to see this buzz band and then run across town right after to catch another, which we usually missed because we couldn’t make it in time. Let’s just say we got a little frustrated.

So this year we had a new plan – to have no plan. We were just going to venture in out of the venues and catch whatever band happened to be playing. SXSW isn’t a “big field” type of festival. All of the shows are in bars, hotels and other music halls scattered around downtown, which makes for a really intimate experience. No big screens or seas of folding chairs to navigate around here. So we thought this set-up would really be conducive to the new no plan – plan.

But I think we found out our plan of no plan was not such a good plan after all, as we ended up seeing a lot of bad music. It seems a lot of new bands are trying to capture this old British pop vibe. Some succeed. But a lot of them failed miserably – and did so in their skinny black jeans. But we did manage to capture a few acts I really loved. And nothing is better than discovering new music, and some of them even had on regular old blue jeans.

Delta Spirit (Orange County, CA) www.myspace.com/deltaspirt and www.deltaspirit.net

This was the first band we caught in Emo’s main room Wednesday night. Emo’s would be the place where all of our Cell Block/Blind Mule/Satori underground kids would live if they were Austinites. Considering the venue, I was a little nervous about what these guys would sound like, but it was a very pleasant surprise.

The five-member group plays too many instruments to name, and they play them well. And their vocals, especially those of front man Matthew Vasquez, are amazing. Their myspace page describes their sound as “grime, hardhouse, ghettotech,” if that means absolutely anything to anyone. But I guess that kind of fits because it really is “grimy,” rocking music laced with almost angelic sounding vocals. I think that dichotomy is what makes them so interesting.

Be Your Own Pet (Nashville) www.beyourownpet.net

This is a band I would never in a million years listen to at my house or in my car. But I would see them live every time they came anywhere near here. This record label guy we were talking to in the audience said all of the band members were about 17-years -old, which looked about right.

The three dudes who played the drums, guitar and bass are probably sharing a tube of Clearasil. And Jemina, the girl who fronts the band – Oh my God. I already feel sorry for the litany of men she is going to destroy over the course of her lifetime. And she will. A super cute little blonde, she is a wildcat.

If you ever wondered what Courtney Love was probably like at 17, I think this would be it. She was cursing and screaming at the Clearasil brothers the whole time and wearing a very short skirt and let’s just say she wasn’t afraid to give everyone a money shot, though her “business” was covered in tights slightly lighter in color but similar in texture to a Hooters girl’s hosiery. Their short songs are punky, loud and noisy but you don’t care, as you watch her jump all over the stage. It was a total train wreck.

Dexateens (Tuscaloosa) www.dexateens.net

We didn’t even realize this band we were digging on at The Habana Room was from T-town until they screamed “Roll Tide” in the middle of their set. But then it made sense, and maybe these guys have even played here before, and I missed it. But if they haven’t, they need to because I would describe them as a punkier, edgier Drive By Truckers. Mobilians would love them.

Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers (Northampton, Massachusetts) www.myspace.com/sk6ers

I’m a sucker for a singer/songwriter. If some girl screwed you over and you want to whine about it all night, I’ll be on the front row, screaming for five encores. And Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers allowed me to do this at SXSW, though I didn’t scream for encores.

Well, maybe just one. Oft compared to some of my favorites, Wilco and Whiskeytown, their album will be shacking up in my CD player for a good long while.

And not a one had on skinny, black jeans.

Ashley Toland is Lagniappe editor. Contact her at ashleytoland@lagniappemobile.com.

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