Going Down - South by Southwest
Author: Cary Caldwell (photography by Aubrey Edwards (Austin Chronicle))
 The Mint Chicks certainly made an impression with their on-stage antics at SXSW, not least with the Austin drummer pictured fending off Kody Nielson's mic stand. |
The South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival is held in Austin, Texas every March. Now in its 19th year, SXSW is the second biggest music industry festival in the world (behind MIDEM in France and ahead of Popkomm in Germany), and without a doubt the coolest and most important.
The festival itself is broken down into three separate entities - Music, Film, and Interactive. The festivals are all based at the Austin Convention Centre as the hub, then spread out over a number of cinemas, media design companies and 60-odd performance venues.
This year proved to be the biggest SXSW festival yet, and while the number of performing NZ acts was smaller than in 2004, the actual number of Kiwi registrants was higher than ever. The Have,The Coolies, The Mint Chicks, Jakob andPluto performed showcases with varying degrees of success, whilst non-performing artists likeScribe and Christchurch’sFlip Grater used the festival to meet and greet, check out Austin’s hospitality and generally just party or wind down from their summer touring schedules. Other NZ registrants included FMR headMark Ashbridge and Gemma Gracewood from TV1’s Frontseat.
The NZ Music Industry Commission was again co-ordinating things for the performing artists, running a trade show booth and hosting the NZ party. 2005 also saw two New Zealanders on full festival staff for the first time at SXSW - myself, Cary Caldwell, as Assistant Event Planner and Charni Silk as an Assistant Music Festival Production Manager. This impacted greatly on how the NZ acts and registrants were treated and the ease at which things were organised or sorted for them.
New Zealand’s real involvement with the Music festival kicked off as last year with the NZMIC’s party at Brush Square Park. The park, situated right next to the Convention Centre and the SXSW Headquarters Hotel (the Austin Hilton), was attended by upwards of 400 people who were entertained by all the performing Kiwi acts.
The Coolies kicked the party off with their shambolic, yet surprisingly tight brand of punk and were followed by Jakob who had the required park police officer raving about them. This did cause a moment’s fright for the band when he went up to them to thank them. As one of band recalls, he saw a cop come up with pistol and taser and ask them ‘Are you guys Jakob?’, before offering his hand and thanking them for a truly brilliant show.
Next up, The Have, who had gained themselves a good reputation at last year’s festival. They played their usual hard and fast rock before leaving the stage to The Mint Chicks. Apparently, not relishing the semi-formaility of the occasion, they tore into their set, hanging from tent supports, ripping up the tent floor - then getting chased off the stage by an irate stage manager who had lead singer Kody Nielson by the throat. This pretty much set the tone for their set the following Friday and the photo above. The party finished with Pluto.
Singer/guitarist Milan seemed jetlagged and guitarist Tim Arnold ‘surfed’ the tent floor on his guitar, but as usual they laid down their pure rock/pop to an utterly appreciative audience.
The next day started the NZ series of showcases, the core of what SXSW is about. Bands are invited to perform and allocated a venue and time slot. First up was Pluto at the Lava Lounge. There was a minor hiccup trying to get underage (in the US) members of The Have into the show, the bar manager explaining "You drink, we beat you up". Performing songs from their new album, Pluto’s beautiful harmonies filled the venue and left their small audience happily stunned.
