SXSW 2009

It made me sad when I read that The States played their last show this past Thursday. Especially since I couldn't be there.

I met this Brooklyn band during South by Southwest in 2006. I happened to walk into one of those free night show because I wasn't sure what time the band I wanted to see was performing. Luckily for me, The States was already onstage. Even though I only caught the last songs from their set, I instantly became a fan.

After their show, they started striking up conversations with the crowd and handed out free demos from their record that was released at the time. I saw this as my chance to introduce myself and ask for an interview. They were game and the rest is history.

I kept up with this band through the years, catching them every time they played in Austin. They even contributed a track for one of my compilations. I have all the albums and recently I wrote a review for the newest one “We Are the Erasers” for Accent, which you can read here.

So farewell guys, I'll miss ya and your shenanigans. However, don't fret. Turns out Chris Snyder, the vocalist/guitarist, has been working on a little project called “ThreeSixFive Project.” His goal is to write, record and post a song every day for a year.

You can check out his progress here.

Now to share with you the last interview I ever did with The States during 2009's South by Southwest's Music Festival.

Introduce yourself and what do you play in the band.

Chris: We're the States. We're from Brooklyn. My name's Chris.

Joe: I'm Joe.

Pete: Peter.

How's South by Southwest treating you so far?

Chris: Friendly as hell. Hot. Wonderful weather. Hot wonderful women. Yeah, it's been great.

Pete: Beer, food, barbeque, sleep, sleep.

Chris: Yeah, it's great. It's our 3rd time down and probably the best one of the ones that we've been so.

Did you tour on the way over here? How did that go?

Joe: It was great. We drove first to Nashville. We did our last record over there with Chris Grainger and just did our mastering, final mixing session with them. That record got mastered like a day after we left so we played a show and finalized the record. All of it. Everything's done so third record's in the bag and we went to where?

Pete: Mobile, Alabama. We got to meet some of our fans down there from the internet. Came to see us for the first time.

Joe: The interwebs.

Pete: Then we drove to New Orleans and that was vacation day.

Chris: St. Patrick's Day.

Pete: St. Patrick's Day and so we went to a St. Patrick's Day parade. Got to see the sights. Eat the eats. Drink the drinks. Stayed in a scary hotel.

Joe: Yeah, it was a crack house. It was awful.

Pete: It was prostitution, cross dressers, roaches, rats, the whole thing. And then from there, drove down here.

Chris: That's right.

Pete: Across here, I guess. Got to see the Mississippi. Was that Mississippi we went through? Where'd we go through?

Chris: *shakes head*

Pete: That was all Louisiana all the way across, I guess.

Chris: Yeah I think so.

Pete: We've been here since Wednesday night. Played a show Thursday.

Chris: Yes and two today. That's it.

Pete: It's been great.

Have you seen any good bands since you've been here?

Chris: Birds and Batteries from San Francisco. We're sort of like friends of friends and it was way across the river and it was really awesome. I can't describe it but it's really awesome. I think they should have a website if you google it. Birds and Batteries.

Joe: I think it's birdsandbatteries.com

Chris: That's likely yes.

Joe: And then Planeside. We saw our friends from Planeside down here and a bunch of other people we've bumped along the way.

Chris: We stopped in Nashville with a group called Luna Halo who are from Nashville. Great guys. Awesome band. We saw them probably two or three times. So far so all good. All good shows.

Joe: It's great.

So when do you think the album will come out?

Joe: Don't know. Right now we're figuring out our next six months. We're going to try to see if somebody's going to pick it up and pay for it or we're going to do it ourselves. That'll be decided in the next three months probably. Then our back up plan is to do U.S. touring by the end of early summer, late spring.

Chris: Long story short though. Record will probably be out at the end of this year. It'll certainty be available online very shortly. A month. Maybe a month. Yeah, we're excited about it.

Joe: We're going to leak it. We're going to leak it all.

Chris: Yes. We're going to leak our own record.

How do you feel the music has changed since Pete took over the bass?

Chris: Well, I don't know if it was because Pete took over the bass or the direction we were moving anyway, or some combination of the two, it's probably that but the music is more band music now. It was very produced before the last record, the last time we talked to you. And this one, we really wanted to focus on three guys in a room. I mean, trios are special for a reason and so we were trying to focus on that. I think that came across. It's got a lot of space in the record. It's not shock full of stuff.

Joe: Extra stuff. It's basically us playing in a room together and that's really what we went for. Pete is really good at seeing the fat in parts and taking it out and helping the groove of the beat and the groove of the song flow. So it was something we were never able to do before. Just like look at something as it doesn't need all this shit to be in the song. Pete was the catalyst to help everything kind of move along in a better direction.

Pete: It's kind of like same band, different process. More or less. It still sounds like The States. It was just a different way to get there.

Yeah, it's kind of simplified but not really. I don't know how to explain it.

Chris: The last record, we just couldn't play all the stuff live. There was just three guitar parts all the time. It doesn't really make sense. I mean, it was fun to do and we liked obviously our record, but we wanted to do things that we could play together. And yeah, that does mean that it's simpler but it also means that the essence is more pure.

Pete: Definitely more of a spiritual record. At least it felt like for me. The way we collaborated was very personal. Where I know where the last two records kind of came from, this felt like it was like therapy for me. Some of the content Chris talks about kind of hits me in certain ways. Almost like I'm outside of it but within it. This record just took me to a different place than anything I've ever been in.

I interviewed Casxio in the back alley of Barcelona after their SXSW showcase. Sitting on amps, the guys and gal gave me an insite on the recording process for the upcoming album and the story behind this band.

Click here to read more previous articles about Casxio.

First off, how is South by Southwest treating ya so far?

Lucas: It's been good so far. It's like a big party of course and it's all a blur so far to tell you the truth.

Eric: It's good. We're out of LA and we're playing music in Texas in front of a lot of Texans and people from all over the world. So that's the best part about it is that people that we've been talking to like yourself and some people from New York and even England are coming out and they can see the show in person. so that's the best part about it.

And I saw Perez Hilton in the audience. He was standing behind me so that was kind of cool.

Eric: Actually Andrea's been talking with him because we played a show last week in LA. We opened for Yelle. Perez came out and introduced Yelle so she emailed him and they've been talking about it. We're going to go to his party later and everything. Talk about celeb gossip.

How are people responding to your shows so far? The music is kind of different than what's out there.

Lucas: Yeah, it is. Sometimes it takes a second or a couple of songs for them to really give a response that we want, but eventually we get that response. It's been positive at this point.

Eric: It takes one drunk guy dancing on the floor to open it up for everyone.

Lucas: That's right.

All: Jordan.

And you mentioned Phil's producing your album.

Eric: Yeah, Phil's producing and helping us out with the sound while we're here in Austin. Then he's helping us record all our new tracks and everything.

Lucas: Yeah, we're recording in his studio, Hanger 1018, in downtown LA. Amazing studio.

So you're currently recording right now?

Lucas: Yeah. We're aiming for the end of this year for the release of the first Casxio album.

Eric: Christmas. It's actually going to be our first Hanukkah album.

Ok and how did this band come about? How did ya form?

Lucas: We formed about two years ago. I basically recruited these folks to my band. They were more than happy to do so, I guess, because they're still here.

Andrea: We were playing pool and then he came over. He saw my keyboard and that was it. That was the beginning.

Lucas: Yeah and Eric here came from New York. Came down here and didn't know exactly what to do with himself. He was slumming it. Slumming it. Living under a bridge somewhere.

Eric: And Lucas saved my life.

Lucas: And I saved his life. I did. Gave mouth to mouth.

Ok. I'm sure you get asked this a lot but the meaning behind the name.

Lucas: You know, that's a tough one. Because there is no meaning behind the name. It's just a cool sounding name.

Eric: It's a word that was kind of out there but the point is to put that music, that sound like you said you don't hear it too much and brand that name with that sound.

Andrea: I just think it sounds sexy.

Lucas: I think so too. I think it sounds sexy.

Andrea: It does. It really does.

Lucas: And I think that's why I like it.

It matches the music.

Eric: Exactly.

Lucas: Yeah, absolutely.

Now we're going to have fun. If you were a superhero and could have any superpower, what would it be?

Lucas: Did we talk about this?

Eric: I think we did? I think we did this once.

Andrea: I feel it's a question too.

Lucas: Wow, I think we've answered this before. I don't remember what I answered. If I could be a superhero, I would want to be able to fly one inch off of the ground. That's probably it.

Eric: Just hover?

Lucas: I'd just like to hover one inch off the ground but be able to control where I'd go. Not like I'm hovering and you push me and I float away, but I want to be able to control that. I think that'd be really kind of cool. It'll look like I had those skating shoes on all the time, but I wouldn't need to go out and buy them so I'll be saving money.

Eric: Teleportation.

Andrea: Ok my turn. I would like to change little things on a cellular level with my eyes so I can like shape shift things with my mind.

Eric: Dr. Manhattan?

Andrea: Yes. But you know what though, I could also cure cancer if I did that. Like I could look at it and would change the cells in my mind and be like “oh, your tumor is gone.”

Lucas: That's amazing.

Eric: I think you would be Jesus if you could do that. You could turn water into wine and shit.

Andrea: I'm choosing my super power.

All right, what's next for you after South by Southwest?

Lucas: We have a few shows lined up in LA. One in Spaceland. I dunno. We're working on it. The main priority right now is working on the album. Yeah, so just working hard with that.

Eric: Yeah, we'll be playing shows in LA. Just building on what we're building on in LA and getting ready for that album.

Andrea: Dance party Casxio. Dance party 2009.

Eric: We're looking for a pet DJ. Right?

Andrea: She said what are we going to do? That's what we're going to do.

Anything you wanna add?

Lucas: Work hard. Study. Graduate. Go on to bigger and better things.

Andrea: And don't do drugs.

Lucas: Oh yeah and don't do drugs. Drugs are bad. Yeah, that's about it.

It’s the last day of SXSW! I attempted to sleep in to catch up on my sleep from the past 3 days but instead I woke up at 9:30 with no problem. Great.

I left my house later than I wanted because my boyfriend wanted to have breakfast with me so that took longer than I wanted. Oh well. I missed Folio.

Click here to read the rest at my Accent's SXSW blog.

To make up for my lack of shows on Thursday, Friday was filled with show after show of really good stuff.

My first stop was at Momo’s for the SXSW Underage Party. I didn’t know the show featured under-aged bands so imagine my surprise when I walked in and saw that I was one of the oldest people there. All the other adults seemed to be parents of the bands and fans in the venue. So my immediate reaction was “What did I get myself into?”

Click here to read the rest at my Accent's SXSW blog.

Thursday was not as successful as Wednesday. Mainly because I was so exhausted walking and standing around all day Wednesday. My shoulders were sore from carrying a heavy bag, my feet were in pain from all the standing, so I didn’t enjoy SXSW as much as Wednesday.

I got downtown later than I wanted to because I forgot my bus pass at home. I was in such a rush to get to work, I forgot my wallet. When I discovered this after my shift, I had to rush home and get it. I was a little annoyed to say the least.

Click here to read the rest at my Accent's SXSW blog.

Pretty good first day. Usually Wednesdays are a bit slow trying to get into the groove of the festival and this year’s was no exception. I made a schedule to try to see all the bands I wanted to see but unfortunately, different factors such as really long lines had me changed my mind.

So I get downtown around 12:15 because the traffic is insane at noon. There was a line of cars from Cesar Chavez and East of I-35 which expanded up to Cesar Chavez and Chicon Street. I couldn’t see past that but I wouldn’t doubt the line of cars kept going.

Click here to read the rest at my Accent's SXSW Blog.

In regards to music journalism, 2009 was a great year for me. For life in general, not so much. Here's hoping 2010 will be better. But nevertheless, 2009 had it's highlights. I got to attend several music festivals for free with press passes, was asked to join some great writing teams and from there, formed some really good friendships. It seems that people are starting to notice my writing from the various publications I write for and that's a pretty good feeling. So I know this is the time of year where people do the whole “Best of...” articles, but I'm doing more of a highlights type list and less of Top 10 whatever lists.

So without further ado...

Song I Can't Get Out of my Head Lately: All Hail “ex lover” and Like Clockwork “Hands Up!”
"ex-lover": This song is pretty awesome. Try getting this song out of your head after the first listen.

This review says it all for “Hands Up!”

Best Band Discovery: Quiet Company and Fireants

Quiet Company giving out Free Hugs from Sarah Vasquez on Vimeo.

In my experience, when a band usually uses clever promotion such as passing out free hugs during SXSW, the band isn't normally very good. Hence the clever promotion. So I was in for the surprise of my life when I ran into Quiet Company during a dinner break at that March festival. I introduced myself, met the guys, interviewed them about the gimmick and of course, got free hugs. Afterward, they handed me a cd to review but with all the chaos of SXSW, I didn't get to hear it until a week later. Not only did I write an album review, I also write a short feature. Both for different publications. That says it all. Pay attention to this band ya, I expect 2010 to be the year for them.

Man, Fireants. What a great discovery. I'm so glad I was at the right place at the right time. After my interview with El Guapos, I stuck around Momo's during SXSW and heard the Fireants. For those that hang out with me regularly (especially my Accent friends), know I'm a huge fan of the Fireants. I know I mention that they're high school students, but that doesn't make them a great band. They are seriously talented. The fact that they are this talented now while in high school makes me excited to see what these guys and gal are gonna become once they get older and maturer. I've only seen them twice but the two times I saw them, they had turned every member of the crowd into fans by the end of their set.

Bittersweet Goodbye: Bankrupt and the Borrowers
I first saw this band perform during Emo's Free Week in January at Beauty Bar, but seeing them in their true element: drunk and carefree is what really won me over. I kept following them throughout the year, seeing them gather more and more fans with each performance. Named one of Austin Monthly “Nine to Watch in '09,” it was obviously this band was going places but then it was over. Just like that. After the death of band member Jon Pettis, the band decided to not continue and ending their run at Fun Fun Fun Fest in November. While I completely understand their decision, I know I'm not alone when I say that I hope the remaining members keep playing whether it be in another band together or in their own separate ways.


I started working on this slideshow of the last song they performed at Fun Fun Fun Fest. The plan was to create this awesome slideshow with all the 300+ photos I took with the audio I captured. When listening to "I Love You Baby" recording after the show, it was an obvious choice to put the photos to this song. However, the song is over six minutes long. I worked on it as much as my attention allowed me to in one sitting. This is what I have so far.

Bankrupt and the Borrowers "I Love You Baby" from Sarah Vasquez on Vimeo.

The Year of the Music Festivals
SXSW
This was the first year I actually went with a wristband. Usually, I just wander around and check out free shows during this festival. But thanks to the Accent, I was given a wristband and a photo pass. Although my usual experience wasn't enhanced because of this, it was cool seeing people part away from me when I got up front to take photos because of my orange photo tag.

Fun Fun Fun Fest
My first experience with this festival was again thanks to Accent. When we came back for the semester, I asked my faculty advisor if we were applying for passes because I was determine to attend, even if it met I would pay for myself. Luck would have it that we got in! Sadly, I didn't get to enjoy Sunday acts because of the rain but what I did see that weekend was pretty memorable. Death! Danzig! Need I say more?

Best TV Show of 2009: Glee
Yeah so this show is not Austin based but who cares? It's a great show. I love this show!!! I watch it religiously. With my love of musicals and pop songs, the moment I saw the trailer, I knew this would be my new favorite show. The plot could use some work but there are many memorable moments that make that flaw forgivable. But really it's all about the music.

2009 Most Memorable Interview: Whitman
I interviewed a lot of bands this year but Whitman takes the crown. It had been years since the last interview with these guys so we had a lot of catching up to do. Before the actual interview, things got a little awkward as one of the band members unknowingly asked me about my relationship that just ended. With the wound still fresh combined with PMS resulted in some tears shed. Whoops.

But irregardless, Ram Vela as always gave me an entertaining interview. Without the rest of the guys, nothing regarding the band would have been shared. I think that's what makes this band work. Reading the interview shows the great chemistry they have with one another to provide a great show and music.

Here's a clip that didn't make the final product that proves what I just wrote. When I transcribed this part, I couldn't help but laughed out loud making the surrounding people wonder what the hell was wrong with me. I'm glad it didn't get published. Reading the text version wouldn't have done it justice. See for yourself. Well more like hear for yourself. The video is a bit dark.

Whitman describing themselves from Sarah Vasquez on Vimeo.

Most Momentous Night: Martin Atkins
No I didn't sleep with this man. Get your head out of the gutter.

Just attending this guest speaker's talk was an event in itself. Ok, first off, I don't have a car. I ride the bus. So I rode the bus for over an hour all the way to Northridge Campus. Then my phone service went down. I had no way to contacting anyone, couldn't use google maps to check when the next bus stop was coming. I got stuck on a bus for over an hour, got stuck at UT in the cold and rain. Overall FAIL. Thanks to twitter and free internet at a coffee shop, I was able to contact my brother and he saved the day, or rather the night.

Listening to Martin Atkins was a great experience. I learned a lot from this knowledgeable musician. Even though I'm not a performer, there was still lots to learn from him that could be applied to my site and my writing.

Year of the Mixtapes and Downloads
I dunno what it was but also thanks to Twitter, I've received a lot of mixtapes and albums for free downloads as a way of promotion. Most bands just posted a link to a handful of songs and viola! I have music to check out from bands I probably wouldn't have discovered otherwise. Unless they added me on MySpace. Smart move bands. Smart move.

Spring Awakening
Man, talk about spontaneous. I received an email earlier in the day that Accent needed someone to attend Spring Awakening and review it. I've heard so many great things from this musicals and being a huge fan of Glee, I wanted to see the musical that gave Lea Michele one of her big breaks. So I said I would go, got my roommate to grab the tickets for me, attended a meeting that night and had my boss rushed me to Bass Concert Hall with 2 minutes to spare for curtain call.

The review will be up soon. I'm so close to finishing it. I've just had other projects that were bigger priorities.

Here's another song to get stuck in your head. "Bitch of Living" is one of the more rockin' songs from the musical. It's been on repeat for awhile now. I would forever love a band if they were to cover this song.

Most Annoying Thing of 2009: Social Media Widgets on Websites
You know, I thought was done with slow loading pages when bands stopped using flash and javascript on their website and went with the “simple is better” websites or just stuck with MySpace. I was wrong. I was way wrong. Now to social media, everyone wants to include their twitter widget, their Last.FM widget, their Facebook widget, etc. all on their main website. So what does that mean to me? Slow ass loading websites yet again. On my personal laptop, this isn't really a problem but when I'm on a computer of lesser value, this presents a problem. It's like being back on dial-up again. So bands, stop it! Simple buttons that direct me to your social media is so much better. Seriously. I know I'm not alone in this.

Favorite Albums From 2009: (in no particular order)
Chief Rival
Quiet Company
All Hail
Ideal Soul Mart
Built by Snow
The States
Statement Code

Toys I Couldn't Never Live Without: Macbook Air and Flip Camera
First of all, Thank you Vista for sucking so much that it forced me to go Mac. Never again will I use Windows by choice. The love for my computer can never be explained. HAHA. Sad, right? But seriously, I carry this thing everywhere for the most part. It's super light, does what I need it to do which is pretty basic: internet, word processing, video watching, music playing and now video/audio editing. Best purchase I've ever made. Plus, it's so pretty!

Best purchase I've ever made #2 is my Flip Mino Camera. I've used many types of recorders for interviews: tape records, iRiver mp3 player, digital recorders, cheap video recorders, my bro's Sony HD camcorder and nothing compares to my Flip. Push of a button, it's instantly ready to record. I don't have to worry about making the band wait so the recorder can turn on, or make sure the tape is ready or whatever the other recorders gave me havoc. The sound quality is more than superb. I recorded an interview in the middle of 6th street surrounded by the loudness of all the people walking down the street, bands blaring from all the clubs. And you know what? Those interviews still sounded clear. It was obvious they had trouble hearing me during the interview but the camera obviously didn't have a problem. Seriously amazing.

There you have it. 2009 in a nutshell. I'm sure I forgot some things but these were definitely the highlights I wanna remember.

Walking around aimlessly downtown during last year’s SXSW, I overheard this band playing through a speaker from the venue. Intrigued by what I heard, I walked upstairs of Nuno’s to see Casxio playing on stage. Unfortunately, I only caught the last two or three songs from their set, but the funky soul pop music impressed me. I grabbed a free sampler they were handing out and left.

I guess the selection committee for SXSW felt the same way as I did because although, this is their second year performing during the festival, this year is the first year they are an official showcase band.

Click here to read the rest at my Accent's SXSW blog.

Choo Choo, from Bern, Switzerland, will be heading down to SXSW not only for their first officially showcase but also for their first live gigs in the United States. I met this band through their twitter and they were one of the bands I selected to watch from the massive list of SXSW showcased bands.

Lead singer and guitarist, Dan Choo took some time to answer some quick questions I emailed him.

Click here to read the rest at my Accent's SXSW 2009 blog.

For The Accent, I was one of the five staff members selected to cover 2009's SXSW Festival with a free photo pass and music wristband. Our requirements were to post a recap of what we see on a blog they created for us, upload the photos we took onto the Accent's Flickr account and then a pre- and post-article for the print edition. Needless to say, I was very busy but it was a lot of fun, saw some great bands, hung out with old and new friends and the list goes on.

So instead of posting everything here one post after another, here are some links. I will be posting some of my SXSW blog though as separate posts.

Click here to read my SXSW blog.

They reposted our first blog here.

Click here to go the Accent's Flickr page where my SXSW photos are posted.

Click here to read "Accent Bloggers' SXSW Live Music Highlights"