South by Southwest has become a right of passage for bands today. Last month, Irradio made the trek out to Austin in support of their first record in 3+ years, entitled "I Am The Horn". Dan Dasher and crew arrived to perfect Texas weather, all access passes, and a sea full of people.
I didn't do much driving due to the Rick Blare driving Monarchy. I didn't mind much because I got to catch up on some reading, and of course take pictures from the back of the van. Austin from a distance is very subtle.
This was the alley where we loaded our equipment for the Afro Punk showcase. As the nights progressed these allies would be full of musicians, unloading equipment (and what not). This particular evening there were random people urinating outside with no shame, and the most random of dress rehearsals before they went on stage.
Rick and Steven seem to enjoy sharing the same bed at the Clarion. We don't always have bunk mates, but most of the time these two end up on the same bed.
I was pretty fortunate, with my all access pass, to climb on stage with cursive and witness a really sweaty, emotional experience. Many of the venues were small and packed like this, which makes SXSW all the more personal.
Lucky for me, I ran into our San Diego brothers in The Soft Pack, fresh off their European tour with Franz Ferdinand. I ran into Brian at the hotel in the hot tub, we were so excited to see eachother. Back in San Diego we know the opportunity to see or play shows together has been slim, so supporting eachother on tour is probably the only time we will see each other's music. Their show was really exciting, total rockstars.
I was hoping to get blown away by some avant garde singing when I walked into Julliette and The New Romantics, inside the Austin convention center. However, I kept reverting back to Natural Born Killers and Cape Fear everytime Julliette looked my way and rocked out. Her band was very polished, but The Licks provided her with more soul than The New Romantics.
The weather was absolutely amazing, most of the time we were in T shirts and shorts. I took this picture of Jim at the Austin Convention Center. The top floor was the artist center, free drinks, massages, press interviews, etc.
I was extremely pleased to be the only happy face with a purple jacket! At this point we were headed to see one of the premiere DJ's in the U.S. They were called NASA, just think MGMT with more costumes, but electronic. Their show was amazing and so much fun. I met alot of fun people there....
The bitter sweet last day of the festival and our most relaxed. I was never in the room, always to busy meeting people at the pool and binging on my tour diet of Starbucks and Denny's. I know it sucks, but on tour you kind of just eat what's around. Every time I do that I usually think of Nick Mason's quote "everything in moderation."
Irradio's CD Release is at The Casbah Sunday, April 26th with Demasiado, Sayvinyl and Students. The show is free!