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Alright everyone, today I am
giving you three things: one final take on SXSW, my interview with the
Bravery and my video of Amy Winehouse performing an acoustic version of
Rehab. Normal posting resumes tomorrow. Enjoy.
Throughout five days Sarah and I saw 49 different bands and a total of 52
complete sets of music. It was actually more than that but I chose not
to comment on anything that I didn't at least see 15 minutes of since I
didn't think it would be fair to review an artist after hearing only a song
or two. Here are some lists that detail my thoughts a little more.
Top 5 Favorite Performances
1. Annuals at the Lone Star Lounge in the Austin Convention Center
2. Amy Winehouse at the Levi's/Fader Party at the Fort
3. Mooney Suzuki at the Little Radio Party at Red Eyed Fly
4. The Good The Bad And The Queen at the Levi's Fader Party at the
Fort
5. The Faint at Eternal
Top 5 Artists That I Missed
1. Land Of Talk
2. The Sammies
3. Busdriver
4. Snowden
5. 65daysofstatic
Worst Performance
1. Macromantics at Emo's Lounge
Despite my love of how things at SXSW are run there are some things that I
have serious problems with. One in particular is the incompetence of
the people that are running the sound for the venues. You would think
that after a few days of countless performances some of these people would
figure out how to turn up vocals in a monitor without the artist asking a
hundred times before their set starts and then another twenty
times during it. Here is another list.
Top 3 Dumbest Things I Saw "Sound Guys" Do
1. Dude at Spiro's who thought Buck 65 didn't need a microphone
2. Dude at Beauty Bar who said "I don't know what else to do" when the
keyboards weren't in the monitor
3. Dude at Chuggin' Monkey who seemingly refused to turn up Cloud
Cult's vocals
Given that this was my second year at SXSW I was definitely a lot more
organized and aware of things that were going on throughout the day in
addition to the showcases at night. If you helped me get into
something I once again thank you very much and eagerly await running into
you again next year.
As I have already mentioned I was able to grab a few minutes with the
Bravery to ask them some questions about their new album, The Sun And The
Moon, and a couple of other topics.
Me: You guys worked with Brendan O'Brien (on the new album), how was
that?
Sam Endicott: It was a great experience.
He is just such an unbelievably talented musician. I feel like he
really elevated our plan.
Me: Was it a little nerve racking?
Sam Endicott: At first it was intimidating
because he would be like "Oh I have to take this phone call" and it would
end up being Bruce Springsteen or Eddie Veder.
Me: Was Brendan brought in to achieve a specific sound?
Sam Endicott: It wasn't a specific thing but we
did want to make an album that was more musical. We are better
musicians now and we are playing better as a band, so we wanted to go in
that direction more. He is known for working with bands and for
getting great performances out of bands. He also has an amazing ear
for songwriting so he is really great in helping you express the story that
you want to get across.
Me: Did you start making the album before Brendan came on board
or was he there form the beginning?
Sam Endicott: He was there from the beginning. We started
writing on tour and then moved to Atlanta for four months to record the
album with him. Before we finished it we went on tour for a month to
try the songs out live.
Me: When you try them out them out live do they end up changing a lot?
Sam Endicott: Yeah, they change a lot. I
think the idea is that there is live and then there is the studio so there
are two different mediums in which to make music. In the studio you
focus more on atmosphere, layering and subtlety so that every time you
listen to the album you hear something new. Whereas the live
show is more about energy...a wall of sound that kicks your ass.
Me: Alright, now I want to ask you about file sharing. It is a
big part of my blog and I noticed that you guys have no downloadable tracks
available for the new album....only streaming. Would you prefer to
have them be downloadable?
Sam Endicott: Well, first of all that isn't up
to us.
Me: Yeah, I didn't think it was.
Sam Endicott: Secondly, when we first started
out our entire album was available online before we were even signed to a
label. My attitude is this: the internet is really positive
because it gives a lot of power to young bands...bands that don't have a lot
of money yet. You can distribute yourself all over the world for free
wherein the past you needed a label to do that. The downside is that
when you are established people tend to not buy your records as much.
Generally, a third of the people that have your album are people that
actually bought it.
Me: Were there or are there concerns about the new album leaking?
Sam Endicott: Well you generally hope that it
doesn't leak. I think streaming is a good way to handle that. It
allows people to hear it.
Me: So big plans in regards to touring later this year?
Sam Endicott: Yeah, we are going to do one off
shows for the couple of months. Then the album comes out on May 22 and
we are planning on hitting the road in the middle of the month until....well
indefinitely.
Me: I know the video for An Honest Mistake was pretty elaborate, are
there any similar plans for Time Won't Let Me Go?
Sam Endicott: Yes, but I cannot discuss it.
It is top secret.
After this I wrapped it up and headed out to more showcases. If I had
known that I was going to end up seeing Annuals three times I would have cut
out of the Ace Fu showcase early and
made the effort to see the Bravery perform at Stubb's that night.
Maybe I will get the chance when they tour later this year and beyond.
Big thanks to Cornerstone for setting me up with the interview and to the
Bravery for taking a few minutes to answer some questions.
Last but now least today I have my video of Amy Winehouse performing an
acoustic version of Rehab at the Levi's/Fader Party at the Fort. I
shot this on my little Sony Cybershot so it is not the most badass footage
ever but I think that came out pretty well. Plus, I actually like this
version of the song more than the original. Let me know what you
think. |
