SXSW bound.

Last March I was lucky enough to head up north to the city of Austin, Texas and attend one of the most exciting festivals I've ever been to. South by Southwest is the name of it and it takes place every march in this lovely city since 1986.

To get started I would like to tell you what this so-called festival is all about. First off, this is no Coachella, no Lollapalloza, no Glastonbury. This festival takes place on the streets of a city, and what a city it is. It's five days full of music from day to night, having as much as forty or more bands playing at the same time. Moving from pub to pub through the city having the chance to listen to some great new bands from all over the world.

If you fancy seeing famous bands and singing along to their lyrics without having to stand in line for two hours, this might not be the place for you. For what SXSW is all about is showcasing up and coming bands all the way from Norway to Uruguay. Just to clear things up, there are a lot of famous bands playing at SXSW, specially this year, such as Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Vampire Weekend, The Flaming Lips and even Prince. So yeah, at Souht you might get the chance to see Devendra Banhart perform at a small presbyterian church, which is amazing. But the catch is on that might since most of this shows are really hard to get into or in some cases (i.e. Prince) almost impossible.

Now, if, on the other hand you are really keen to listen to new bands whom you've probably never heard of before, support the music industry, and make amazing new friends in a lovely city, well, what are you wainting for? This is the place to be!

Ok, so even though this was my first time at SXSW of hopefully many more to come. Throughout my daily experiences, new friends and sore feet, I managed to learn a couple of things. So here they are, some tips for whenever you make it to Austin during this amazing time of the year.

First off, pay special attention to the bands playing during the day. Even though the official showcases are at night some of the bands also perform during the day. This is how I managed to see Jake Bugg, Alt-J, JBM and Atlas Genius without having to sacrifice watching some other bands that played at night at the same time these were playing. I also saw some new bands whom I wasn't planning on seeing and they were quite amazing to say the least.

Jake Bugg

Alt-J

Atlas Genius

Another thing I learned is to just go with the flow, don't make any plans and don't worry that much if you missed an specific band you were planning on watching. If you are having a good time just stay and continue having a good time. Now, if you are not having that much of a good time, go and find some good times someplace else. That worked out just fine for me as well. Just try and have a great time at all times, that's what you went there for. If you can, before arriving to the city, RSVP to all of the parties that diferent brands are throwing, just go on Tumblr and check them out, a lot of bands are playing in those and you get a bunch of free shit, now, who doesn't love free shit, right?

Also, give yourself the chance to meet new, amazing and interesting people. You have no idea how many of these specific and sometimes rare kind of human beings are roaming the city streets during this five day mayhem. Last but not least, here are some life saving tips that might come in handy. Bring a jacket, during the day it might be sunny and swell but at night it gets quite windy and the shivering look is just not sexy anymore. Use comfortable shoes, you spend around thirteen hours walking around the city, sometimes sitting it down, sometimes dancing it up. Drink lots of water or beer or whisky, just drink, you do not want to find yourself dehidrated in the middle of a kick ass gig.

IMMANU EL

Mikhael Paskalev

Franny Glass

I would also like to take this opportunity to give a shoutout or recommend some of my new found and favourite bands whom I was so so lucky to hear and see during this festival. Now, they all have different sounds to them but that's the beauty of it! There's so much to listen to and everything is new and exciting, now, whats not to love about new and exciting? Exactly!
Here is a list of them, in no specific order:

• Disclosure (U.K.)
• Caveman (USA)
• IMMANU EL (Sweden)
• Franny Glass (Uruguay)
• JBM (Canada)
• Palma Violets (U.K.)
• I can chase dragons! (Mexico)
• Thee Oh Sees (USA)
• Max Capote (Uruguay)
• Mikhael Paskalev (Norway)
• Laura Muvla (U.K.)

I'm going to sign off with a quote from the speech Dave Grohl gave this year at SXSW as he was the guest for the keynote speech.

"... This was fucking real... so in love with life and so in love with music... I was free."


Words and Photos By Ximena G. Romano