SXSW 2017: Even Festivals Are Bigger In Texas
By David Schultz Mar 23, 2017 • 11:06 am PDT
Words by: David Schultz
SXSW :: 03.13-19.17 :: Austin, Texas
Every March, while the rest of the world pays attention to the NCAA Basketball Tournament, celebrates St. Patrick’s Day and pines for spring, the music industry focuses on its portion of the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. Unlike the heavily curated summer festivals that seek to compile a high-profile slate of acts featuring newsworthy headliners, SXSW features up-and-coming artists seeking to broaden their profile. Despite the pre-festival concern that this year’s event would be smaller and more constrained, it’s hard to say that 1,800 artists playing on more than 70 stages exhibits restraint.
With an overwhelming number of options, it’s a Herculean feat to see even one percent of the acts plying their craft over the course of the week. What makes this alluring? It’s fun to try.
At last year’s SXSW, the most prominent events were the keynote speeches delivered by President Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama, marking the first time any resident of the White House attended the Austin soiree. While no personal appearance was in the offing from the current President, the executive branch hardly remained absent.
Although generally apolitical, SXSW became mired in the country’s omnipresent immigration debate. Even before the festival began, a contract rider containing ominous language threatening foreign artists with potential deportation for playing unofficial showcases received considerable media attention. Subsequently, stories emerged about artists from Italy, Egypt, England, Spain and elsewhere being denied entry to the U.S., some being detained at the airport before being sent home. No matter that SXSW historically embraces and showcases artists and musicians from all over the world, publicly disavowed the onerous language that had long been present in the rider, and had no involvement in any act’s travel difficulties, the negative publicity siphoned off a modicum of SXSW’s goodwill.
Unsurprisingly, the musicians on the festival’s abundance of stages had their thoughts on the subject. Wearing a shirt bearing the message that “No Human Is Illegal,” Hurray For The Riff Raff frontwoman Alynda Lee Segarra touted her experience as an immigrant, principally from the Stubb’s Amphitheater stage as part of the NPR showcase and more understatedly at the FryeDays party at Blackheart. Lo-fi veteran R. Stevie Moore finished his set with Jason Falkner at the Bar None showcase at Maggie Mae’s Gibson Room by simply uttering “resist.” The River Whyless finished their Blackheart set by donning pink pussyhats and tearing into a timely version of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son.” Nashville singer-songwriter Andrew Combs closed his set at the indoor Blackheart stage with “Bourgeois King,” from his upcoming album, Canyons Of My Mind, its chorus of “build a wall and set us free” reverberating well after its conclusion.
Delivering a different political message, PWR BTTM opened up the NPR showcase with an eye-opening set only diminished by the fact that they took the stage before the large majority of the crowd could be admitted. It’s extremely easy to discount Liv Bruce and Ben Hopkins as a glammy spectacle – a flamboyant take on They Might Be Giants put on by a pair of Dr. Frank N’ Furter wannabes seeking their 15 minutes of fame through sheer outrageousness. Dismissing Bruce and Hopkins so brusquely would be a grievous error as there is a four percent chance that PWR BTTM is presently the most important band in America. With unflinching self-awareness and a quick sense of humor, the New York duo revels in their over-the-top presentation of a glam band on top of the world. They have the songs, which are undeniably catchy, and they have the chops as Bruce absolutely shreds on guitar. Underlying it all though is a demand for acceptance and an urgent message of equality. If the NPR set is any indication, PWR BTTM may transcend music as they force their way into the mainstream.
As SXSW focuses its attention on smaller, rising acts, appearances by established artists for anything other than an unabashed publicity stunt are rare. Truly, no one headlines SXSW. Nonetheless, Garth Brooks, this year’s keynote speaker, came close to putting on a feature performance, anchoring a country-based showcase on Saturday night at Auditorium Shores. However, Brooks’ most noteworthy performance took place the night before when he surprised the crowd at the Lucky Spoke with an unannounced 17-song set that opened with the barroom classic “Friends In Low Places.”
Other SXSW “surprises” included Willie Nelson appearing at Ray Benson’s annual birthday bash that raises money for the Health Alliance of Austin Musicians and Lana Del Rey playing a short set as part of an Apple Music showcase. Unquestionably, the rap and hip-hop showcases generated the most excitement. The Mass Appeal event at Stubb’s headlined by Lil’ Wayne had people lining up hours before the doors opened while organizers announced well in advance that Atlantic Records’ Make Trap Great Again showcase, featuring Ty Dolla $ign, Gucci Mane and Meek Mill had long reached its capacity.
In terms of Austin royalty, a strong argument can be made that White Denim has reached the upper stratosphere. A decade ago, the feisty local trio seemed to play all of their songs in an unbroken stream of consciousness, ending when they either ran out of music or the instruments broke. With recent personnel changes, White Denim’s focus has returned to its founders, guitarist and lead singer James Petralli and bassist Steve Terebecki. Over the course of three SXSW sets, the most notable being at the Sound Exchange showcase at Stubb’s, White Denim returned to their free-form ways. In “River To Consider,” they cribbed hooks from other songs into the lengthy instrumental jam that closed the tune and ended the set with bombastic takes on “Anvil Everything” and “I Start To Run.” With Petralli nearly breaking every string on his guitar, it posed the question as to whether there is anyone that can keep up with them and why the jam band scene has not more wholeheartedly embraced them.
One of the most pleasant surprises of the week was Mondo Cozmo, the relatively new project of Philadelphia singer-songwriter James Ostrander. In an almost archaic turn of events, “Shine” has garnered considerable airplay on AAA radio without an album behind it. The eminently catchy single isn’t a fluke. On the StubHub Live Sound Stage at Bangers, Ostrander, backed by former indie-buzz darlings Illinois, ran through a startling set of anthems that are desperately in search of an arena. More than any other act in Austin, Mondo Cozmo seemed ready for much larger stages. The bold, precocious post-punk sound of Cherry Glazerr, now the project of teenager Clementine Creevy, also seemed destined to play grander locales than that presented by their Secretly SXSW set at Barracuda.
Not every band at SXSW was in their formative years. Modern English, the British new wave band that had their moment in 1982 when “I Melt With You,” a heartwarming song about making love in the midst of a nuclear holocaust was a worldwide hit, visited Austin to raise awareness of Trees, their upcoming album. Although the title track pleasantly echoed Bowie’s “Heroes,” they wisely held the crowd hostage for their set at the Barracuda Backyard as part of the Part Time Punks showcase, withholding “I Melt With You” until the end. As the crowd dispersed through the main room, many stopping to catch the end of Potty Mouth’s set, lead singer Abby Weems jokingly took note that Modern English must have played their hit.
Cindy Wilson of the B-52’s opted to present a slew of new songs over the course of a set at the Rosquatch party at Swan Dive, that leaned heavily on disco beats and distorted vocals. While not unenjoyable, it did not remove the urge to hear a gratuitous vamp through “Roam.” One veteran act that gave the crowd exactly what they wanted was !!! who made the patio bar of Maggie Mae’s cook like it was 2007. One of the bands to emerge from the blogger-driven mp3 era, !!! have never abandoned their dance-heavy grooves and still conjure up the party-style atmosphere whenever they play. Although !!! skews very much toward disco, there are times when the groove becomes quite jamtronica and not much different from a the Disco Biscuits jam.
Leaning hard into the nostalgia curve, Cheetah Chrome and Johnny Blitz joined forces to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of The Dead Boys’ debut album Young, Loud & Snotty by playing it in its entirety. While their official showcase at Hotel Vegas featuring Pentagram’s Bobby Liebling on vocals, Jake Hout handled the Stiv Bators role at Beerland. Opening with “Sonic Reducer,” Chrome and Blitz tore through the album, laughing at how quickly it took to play the entire thing. Like all great punk rock shows, it was a high-energy shambolic free-for-all that served its legacy well.
In contrast to the punk attitude, corporate sponsorships are an integral part of SXSW. While the labels, booking agents and publicists are a bit subtle about their branding, other companies – largely non-music related – have no shame in plastering their name above the music. While some bands get a bit prickly about the relationship, others seem quite comfortable with it. Hippo Campus made sure to blatantly and unabashedly tout Twix, the sponsor of their Collide showcase at Bar 96 and Liv Bruce unashamedly demanded a Topo Chico sponsorship. The sponsorship that generated the most excitement was Showtime’s conversion of the Clive Bar into a paean to Twin Peaks, the David Lynch show happening again this May. Along Rainey Street, Showtime built a small replica of Norma Jennings’ RR Diner and had waitresses in the emblematic blue outfits serving coffee and a cherry pie that would have immensely delighted Special Agent Dale Cooper (actor Kyle MacLachlan did stop by to sample the wares). Inside, the stage was a recreation of the ominous Black Lodge, complete with red curtains and the hypnotic black and white floor. While the environs may not have hyped the show to the degree Showtime hoped, it did provide a thrill to longtime fans of the show.
It should come as no surprise that not everything at SXSW comes across as a rousing success. Although Let’s Eat Grandma had the right demeanor to play on the Clive Bar’s Black Lodge stage, their set lacked any sense of drama or import. The Norwich teens dead-eyed the crowd while playing a series of atmospheric dream pop reveries that simply hung in the air. Ought’s Tim Darcy , in Austin in support of his solo album Saturday Night, may have offered the most trenchant critique by simply laying down and possibly dozing off. Although animated, Joan Of Arc’s set at Sidewinder as part of the Flowerbooking showcase may have well been a put on, the goofy stage antics a possible reaction to the monotony of performing multiple sets over the course of a week for audiences of varying interest. There’s also room for Spinal Tap moments. British pop trio Jennings Couch played their official showcase at Stephen F’s Bar, a plush hotel bar that’s radically different from many of the other sparsely decorated venues. With the NCAA basketball and wrestling tournaments being shown to their left, the band seemed bemused to be playing in what felt like a posh living room . . . and then their set collapsed behind them.
Unlike at some other fests, SXSW crowds aren’t always there to be entertained by what’s on the stage. Due to the snow storm that ravaged the east coast, singer Julie Byrne jumped in her car and drove 24 hours to get to Austin in time for her performance as part of the Stereogum/SPIN at Empire Garage. Her reward for her SXSW odyssey was to have her quiet melodies practically drowned out by the chatter of the predominantly inattentive crowd. Laura and Lydia Rogers, otherwise known as The Secret Sisters, encountered similar problems during their set at Blackheart, their quiet harmonies battling the nattering crowd for attention. British country songstress Holly Macve also fought for attention during her opening set at the BBC 6Music showcase at Latitude 30. However, she was hindered by a singing style that seemed to preclude fully opening her mouth to be heard.
Not all audiences battled their entertainment. Singer Anna Wise, possibly best known for her work with Kendrick Lamar, needed only a looping machine, some recorded beats and her personality to win over the crowd at the Mazda Studio. Shutting everything off, Wise simply went amongst the crowd. As she sang a capella, the audience clapped along and ultimately the entire room sang the song with her.
On the festival’s last day, news spread of Chuck Berry’s death, posing the question of whether it was better to learn of his passing from Hamish Anderson before he and his band winged it through a version of “Johnny B. Goode” or from Facebook like the rest of the world. Nearly every band paid respect to the rock legend in some form or fashion. However, fewer than you would imagine had a Berry song in their repertoire. For a festival that prides itself on looking forward, it ended with a respectful nod to the past.
