Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
More proof
that we really were at SXSW!
One attendee took short clips of many of the bands he saw; the compiled video - featuring us about 2/3 of the way through - is available here.
A Canadian attendee reported on it in their local paper, nicely for us as well. Houston was in attendance, too, and gives an unique perspective here. Note who's piccy is featured in both articles?
And here was Portland's own The Mercury's take on it all. Just draw your attention to that last line and you'll know what it's like to be a non-emo or pop or post-punk band in PDX.
One attendee took short clips of many of the bands he saw; the compiled video - featuring us about 2/3 of the way through - is available here.
A Canadian attendee reported on it in their local paper, nicely for us as well. Houston was in attendance, too, and gives an unique perspective here. Note who's piccy is featured in both articles?
And here was Portland's own The Mercury's take on it all. Just draw your attention to that last line and you'll know what it's like to be a non-emo or pop or post-punk band in PDX.
Yes, the Misfats did indeed play SXSW 2007
Only now am I just recovering, I think. That's alotta walking and standing for large folks, to be sure, but very much well worth it. We arrived in Austin on Friday afternoon. After some hotel hassle and logistics wrangling we headed down to the convention center and retrieved our wristbands and badge. These magical items were our wampum for playing on Sunday night and they allowed us entry pretty freely the nights' prior.
After drinking much, eating more, seeing many, many bands, and being brought low by the rapturous frozen blended joy known as "Purple" (from the messican joint next door to our hotel) we were finally ready for our time in the sun. Sunday night only featured, like, three locations for music so it was a nice, easy day - altho' Emo's did have another stage in their main bar area going on most of the night as well. I think I saw many people retreat there after peeking in on us, to be certain.
But at least Emo's carried Sparks so we were well set. It's a fantastic place, for those that haven't been or played, btw. The green room is in a sorta quonset hut on the top of the place and you take some rickety, narrow stairs to access it. While you're doing that, though, the stage folks are soundchecking your gear - yes, you heard it correctly. That was a nice new thing for us, fo' sho'. We'd brought guitars and cymbals and the stage manager (I think?) got us a backline of gear from one of the earlier acts of the night to use for our own flatulent purposes. That, too, was pretty sweet.
After a "confrontational" opening punk act that was pretty fun, there was Big Balls, a Bon Scott-era AC/DC tribute. I gotta say, their lead singer had some serious pipes and did a spot-on sound, even tho' the local freebie rag wouldn't publish the word "balls" in its entirety in the ad for the show. The Jazzus Lizard was up next, performing jazz covers of Jesus Lizard songs. A few folks hung around but not many; altho', to be fair, folks just moved from one section of the bar to the other during acts they didn't "get" or care much for (perspective is everything, innit?). The Suffragettes were up next, a stellar, spot-on Bowie tribute covering "Spiders From Mars" in its entirety. This was only their second show but you'd never know it as they were a great lead-in for us and provided alot of positive energy for the crowd to feed upon.
We got to the stage at about 12:45am and proceeded to tear into things proper. Maybe it was the stature of the event or the amount of Sparks we'd consumed but we all seemed pretty stoked AND virulent in our trash-talking. Normally, there's a fair amount of conversation I'll generate but it's usually just me, not everyone in the freakin' band. That, too, was a nice change. Here are some highlights of our set:
Would we do it again? Absolutely! Everyone treated us pretty well, we made some good connections with BloodHag and Jello Biafra again, and had a great time all around. Maybe we'll pull this thing out, dust it off, and repeat next year? Who knows. As for this present time, tho', let the pictures tell the remainder of the tale...
Us on stage, walkin' like we're talkin':
I love this guy's reaction to our patented "BackFat"(tm):
Us with the Emo's sign in the background to prove it (note, too, Skullface Fan front & center):
Again, gotta love the varied crowd reactions to us taking to the stage:
An artsy interpretation of the 'fats:
After drinking much, eating more, seeing many, many bands, and being brought low by the rapturous frozen blended joy known as "Purple" (from the messican joint next door to our hotel) we were finally ready for our time in the sun. Sunday night only featured, like, three locations for music so it was a nice, easy day - altho' Emo's did have another stage in their main bar area going on most of the night as well. I think I saw many people retreat there after peeking in on us, to be certain.
But at least Emo's carried Sparks so we were well set. It's a fantastic place, for those that haven't been or played, btw. The green room is in a sorta quonset hut on the top of the place and you take some rickety, narrow stairs to access it. While you're doing that, though, the stage folks are soundchecking your gear - yes, you heard it correctly. That was a nice new thing for us, fo' sho'. We'd brought guitars and cymbals and the stage manager (I think?) got us a backline of gear from one of the earlier acts of the night to use for our own flatulent purposes. That, too, was pretty sweet.
After a "confrontational" opening punk act that was pretty fun, there was Big Balls, a Bon Scott-era AC/DC tribute. I gotta say, their lead singer had some serious pipes and did a spot-on sound, even tho' the local freebie rag wouldn't publish the word "balls" in its entirety in the ad for the show. The Jazzus Lizard was up next, performing jazz covers of Jesus Lizard songs. A few folks hung around but not many; altho', to be fair, folks just moved from one section of the bar to the other during acts they didn't "get" or care much for (perspective is everything, innit?). The Suffragettes were up next, a stellar, spot-on Bowie tribute covering "Spiders From Mars" in its entirety. This was only their second show but you'd never know it as they were a great lead-in for us and provided alot of positive energy for the crowd to feed upon.
We got to the stage at about 12:45am and proceeded to tear into things proper. Maybe it was the stature of the event or the amount of Sparks we'd consumed but we all seemed pretty stoked AND virulent in our trash-talking. Normally, there's a fair amount of conversation I'll generate but it's usually just me, not everyone in the freakin' band. That, too, was a nice change. Here are some highlights of our set:
- Foil launching into his big guitar solo out over the crowd, just going for it balls-out, only to discover he'd accidentally unplugged his guitar in stepping out there
- Our two Ding Dong eating contestants who failed to grasp the concept that this was an eating contest and proceeded to throw said Ding Dongs out into the crowd
- Said female contestant flash titties and nearly raping Jerry Baloney
- Another female flashing us titty and only I see it
- Female contestant trying to jump up on me only to rip my shoulder to shreds with her rings and such
- A fan showing up in fantastic skullface makeup
- A drunk, fun-loving, loyal crowd sticking around on a Sunday night until 2am
Would we do it again? Absolutely! Everyone treated us pretty well, we made some good connections with BloodHag and Jello Biafra again, and had a great time all around. Maybe we'll pull this thing out, dust it off, and repeat next year? Who knows. As for this present time, tho', let the pictures tell the remainder of the tale...
Us on stage, walkin' like we're talkin':
I love this guy's reaction to our patented "BackFat"(tm):
Us with the Emo's sign in the background to prove it (note, too, Skullface Fan front & center):Again, gotta love the varied crowd reactions to us taking to the stage:An artsy interpretation of the 'fats:See? We really were at Emo's:
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