whatevernevermind

Republic Tigers

Thursday was the beginning of Filter's SXSW stage at the Cedar Street Courtyard. I decided to park it there for the day, which proved to be an easy way to see a bunch of great bands without leaving. I even had donuts and BBQ, all before noon! And just as noon rolled around, Two Sheds took the stage and totally impressed me. There weren't a lot of people around, but they put on a really great show and I'll be keeping my eye out for more of them.

Republic Tigers also put on a great show. I'd heard of them, but had never seen them before. The place started filling up pretty well by the time Everest took the stage. If you haven't seen them, or haven't heard of them, you owe it to yourself to do so immediately. Full disclosure: Their manager is my roommate and Joel, their guitarist, is a close personal friend of mine. Not that any of that matters when they play. They'll be one of the big break-out acts of the year for sure.

I saw maybe a couple of songs from Low vs Diamond and think they're pretty good. Be Your Own Pet was amazing. They're so loud and fast and kind of obnoxious, but really entertaining.  (Don't miss Buzznet's recent video interview with the band.) I saw a few songs from Robyn, but apparently she was having trouble with her sound and I wasn't all that interested in what she was doing anyhow. I hadn't eaten since the donuts and BBQ before noon, so I left to get food and go back to the hotel to get a little work done.

I'm at SXSW under the guise of work. I feel pretty guilty calling this stuff work though. Most of the time. The Big Bad Boss Man, the nickname I've given my real boss, finally graced Austin with his presence. My style of working means going to shows I want to see and seeing people I want to see at those shows. BBBM doesn't roll like that. He likes to go to the label showcases to see bands neither one of us really want to see just to meet up with the label folks and make it look like we're there to see their bands. Who are we kidding? I saw no one. You know what else he likes to do? Tell me the morning after, that while we were watching bands we didn't want to be watching, R.E.M. was taping a show that we had access to. The evening didn't end up being exactly what I wanted to be doing but I did end up seeing 14 more bands today, bringing the running total to 32 bands in 2 days and 3 nights. Not bad. Here's how the evening shaped up:

12:00 Two Sheds
1:00 Republic Tigers
1:45 Everest
2:30 Low vs Diamond
4:00 Be Your Own Pet
5:00 Robyn
7:30 Jacob Golden
8:00 Portugal. The Man
9:00 Howlin' Rain
9:30 Enter Shikari
10:30 Black Tide
10:45 Money Mark
11:45 Augustana
12:45 Old 97's

Friday morning it's back to the Filter Stage, gonna hit the Village Voice Media party and probably the Levi's/Fader Fort as well. And BBBM won't be invited. It's time to rest the dogs and the eyes.

HEY ... don't forget that Buzznet and Filter Magazine are giving away a 10 CD Prize Package until March 25. You can ENTER HERE.

Why go to Austin when you've got Buzznet? Keep checking back here for SXSW pics, videos, reports and more as we get our fill of bands on the brink.