Mojo - The Music Magazine

"I'M A BLOGGER. Not a famous blogger, but I guess a few people read what I write," says a tall, large man standing in front of us as we wait in the queue to collect MOJO's passes for Austin's annual four-day musical bender.

"So when you're not blogging, what do you do?" asks the man in front of him.

"Oh, well, I really do enjoy blogging because I just love music," comes a hesitant answer.

"Yeah, but what do you do for a living?"

"Oh, yes. I see. Um, I'm in real estate."

Welcome to SXSW where, everybody it seems, is in the music business, even blog-handed estate agents. Then again, Austin is a music city like no other. The fact that it boasts of 200 live venues says as much. And, for the 22nd year running, over four days an estimated 14,000 artists will showcase their talents to the world's waiting media, dedicated fans and bloggers both famous and unread. Austin's dedication to the event is as impressive as it is fiscal, the city closing down the main musical artery of 6th Street to allow pedestrians to wander freely between the town's venues, the majority of which crowd along this half-mile strip.

Primarily designed as a festival to promote new music, in the last few years SXSW has also become a festival where even established artists appear in order to reinvigorate their careers. Consequently, this year sees sets by the likes of Tony Joe White, The Bar Kays, PJ Harvey, Devo, Dinosaur Jr and Metallica (the latter playing a not-so 'secret' show as they launch a computer game), alongside appearances by the genuinely unknown (pick of the Day One names: Natalie Portman's Shaved Head). Welded to this are a slew of industry-focused panels (today: Jarvis Cocker's professorial discourse on the art of the lyric) and discussions, alongside sessions designed to aid newer acts (tomorrow, Doing A 360 Degree Deal With Yourself).

While most of the official shows take place in the evening, the daytime is characterised by parties which feature at least six bands apiece, meaning that music often starts at midday, running 'til 6.00pm before a short break allows you to gird your loins for the night ahead and shows that run until 2.00am.

This year, MOJO's first musical encounter involves a casual wander into legendary Austin venue Emo's where we find a four-piece from Sacramento named Trash Talk (pictured left) grimacing, gargling and gurning their way through a feral, apocalyptic hardcore set. Tipped as the next US act to break out of the punk underground, the band's unrelenting attitude is showcased by their ferocious new single, East Of Eden. It lasts all of 30-odd seconds, during which their singer appears to strangle himself with his microphone cord, forcing him to vomit biliously onto members of the audience. An impressive start at 3.30 on a Wednesday afternoon.

Jolted into life by Emo's ongoing slam-fest, we stroll on to 6th Street to grab a slice of pizza (from 'Hoey's Death Metal Pizza Parlor... no, really) and to catch Rhode Island three-piece The Low Anthem (pictured top) at the Thirsty Nickel. With a sound based on intimacy, quiet charm and melody, the trio find themselves competing with a conflicting showcase from the venue across the road and draw on their rockier material first, (The Horizon Is A Bellway and a cover of Jack Kerouac's Home I'll Never Be) before returning to the heartbreaking material that defines their recent self-released album, Oh My God Charlie Darwin.

If their show is damaged by the circumstances under which they play, one thing becomes abundantly clear during their set: The Low Anthem are truly startling songwriters and instrumentalists. Theirs is a gloriously romantic vision of America that sits somewhere between Dylan and Waits. Furthermore, they have the songs to seduce almost any crowd, and with shows looming with everyone from Josh Ritter to Bruce Springsteen that can only be a good thing.

Our dip into the world of melody is followed by a return to something altogether noisier as we return to Emo's in preparation for London upstarts Gallows to take to the stage on a bill that also includes Bad Brains singer HR and Hollywood punk legends Circle Jerks. As Gallows begin their set, frontman Frank Carter (pictured right) dives into the audiences and slam-dances, creating a one-man pit and going eyeball-to-eyeball with virtually every member of the audience during the first three songs.

"Alright, fucksticks! I've had enough of doing this down here on my own," he sneers, clambering back on to the stage as the band launch into The Vulture, a new track from the band's highly anticipated second album, Grey Britain. Indeed, Gallows elect to air a ton of new material tonight (London Is The Reason and Leeches being particularly impressive) which receives a tumultuous welcome from a crowd harangued and, in some cases, punched into submission by the indefatigable Carter.

Tonight, you sense that while Gallows remain steadfastly British, their audience in the US is growing and growing fast. The following morning daily paper The Austin Chronicle will describe Gallows as "the most gutter-heroic thing to happen to UK punk since the Pistols", referring to the night as "the stuff SXSW showcase legends are made of."

In contrast to Gallows's remarkable set, HR takes to the stage an inert, lifeless presence, his mix of mellow roots reggae and alt.soul suffering from a band that's locked in a funk-metal time-warp. The man's set is nevertheless greeted with warmth by an audience who revere him for his achievements in Bad Brains and who struggle to understand how a man once so dynamic can now appear almost somnambulant.

If HR is a huge disappointment, then Circle Jerks (pictured left) are a band who, now in their 30th year, have lost none of their frenetic energy. Like so many of their contemporaries, Circle Jerks's musical contribution has yet to be effectively recognised. While The Stooges, the New York Dolls and the Ramones set the pace for US punk, the likes of Circle Jerks, Black Flag and Minor Threat introduced a DIY ethic that fuelled the alternative rock outpouring of the '80s.

Tonight, the band's own musical perspective is evident, frontman Keith Morris - resplendent with his four-foot dreads and 'Listen To The Germs' T-shirt - taking time to deliver a lesson in US punk-ology by drawing a genealogical lines that links the Beach Boys to the Ramones, The Weirdos and his own band during one of his many onstage digressions.

"People ask me 'Why do you keep doing this?'" says Morris mid-way through the band's hour-long set. "Well, it's a mixture of stupidity, ignorance and the fact that I'm a 53 year-old man who still has an inner 16 year-old child!" As if to underline his point, the band's buzzsaw-punk set is both energised and packed with material - including Wild In The Streets, Junk Mail and Coup D'État - that has singularly failed to date.

As Emo's prepares itself to welcome Juliette Lewis and her new band, we feel obliged to move across the street to Club Deville to catch Phosphorescent (pictured right) - Matthew Houck's one-man project turned six-piece.

Houck's latest album, To Willie, is a tribute to Willie Nelson's 1975 tip of the hat to Lefty Frizell, To Lefty From Willie. Houck's tribute features 11 Nelson covers delivered in a heartfelt and affecting manner and tonight, since Phosphorescent are in Willie's hometown, they seize the opportunity to play a majority of the album, spurred on by the word that Nelson's daughter and granddaughter are in the audience.

Reasons To Quit opens the proceedings with a band of harmonies and some remarkable pedal steel licks, Too Sing To Pray follows suit, while a rollicking Pick Up The Tempo sees Phosphorescent emerge as a latter day equivalent of The Band. Strict running times curtail their set, leading to a squalling version of The Party's Over, but this is not enough to ruin the sense that their forthcoming appearance at the MOJO Club in London in May should be truly something to behold. Tonight, Houck and co. provide us with a beauteous end to an exhausting day. And, as 2.00am comes around, we repair to the hotel in readiness for tomorrow's renewed musical exploration...

Phil Alexander

Photos courtesy of Piper Ferguson

READ MOJO's SXSW DAY TWO REPORT HERE!