Catherine Perez
University student, coffee addict, and freelance music journalist hailing from Austin, Texas. In my spare time you can find me perusing record stores for CDs.
SXSW Day 1 greeted us with a small bite of what’s to come as the music festival arose from its slumber and set sail towards a vibrant week ahead
As University of Texas at Austin students and local Austinites, we’ve heard magnificent stories of how an already bustling city becomes a mecca of creativity at SXSW every spring, but we’ve only experienced it second-hand through word of mouth and social media glimpses. When we reached out to the CLUNK team and offered to cover the fest on their behalf, we were elated after receiving the nod of approval.
DAY 1
Our first official day of SXSW (it’s technically day four for us, but the music festival officially kicked off today) opened with quite a late start and a mile (kilometer and a half) trek to the bubbling center of downtown Austin. After picking up some much needed caffeine and stopping by the press lounge to do some work, we wandered around the streets to see what piqued our interest. An enthralling green sign with lights arranged to form the word ‘PARAMOUNT’ caught our attention as we found ourselves on Congress St. in front of the Paramount Theater. Serendipitously, “This is a Film About The Black Keys,” was premiering and our only wish for the hour that we waited behind barricades, was to get a glimpse of the Ohio natives at the premiere’s red carpet. As Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach arrived, we attempted to snap some pictures of the duo before we broke up for an early dinner at Austin’s own, Happy Chicks. Realizing the night was approaching rapidly, we set foot towards the Sheraton Backyard where the British Music Embassy was located, to attend our first show of the night, China Bears.
Upon arrival, we observed an interview on stage with Simon Williams, founder of Fierce Panda Records, as the label was celebrating its 30 year anniversary. A bit behind schedule, China Bears took the stage at 7:42 PM and ran through a setlist of established tunes and introduced a few sneak peeks from their upcoming debut album, ‘Participation Trophy,’ out July 12th. Latest single ‘Easy Kill,’ was among the set’s song catalog; the upbeat, danceable piece remained a notable aspect of the show as it featured a brief, closing drum solo by drummer Dean McCaw. The Somerset outfit brought a set replete with energy and passion to the British Music Embassy, to which the crowd seemed to appreciate, as the venue was packed with onlookers smiling and nodding along.
Just three minutes later, Colchester outfit PET NEEDS They began their set above a small hill at the British Music Embassy. With the blink of an eye, the few hundred concertgoers who were just watching the indie quartet had made their way up the hill and were cheering at the start of a new show. By the time we reproached ourselves after the first show, and made our way up the hill, we had missed the first song. Once settled at the new stage, we were surprised to see a PET NEEDS acoustic set featuring brothers Johnny and George Marriott on guitars and an electric bass drum pedal, but missing drummer Jack Lock and bassist Ryan Sharman. Later, the group revealed that Sharman had broken his leg and couldn’t make it, but didn’t mention the whereabouts of Lock. However, the group persisted and exhibited a phenomenal show teeming with contagious energy and a monumental stage presence, overshadowing the lack of band members. “George I think we’ve broken America,” proclaimed Marriott, which remained the memorable quote of the night as the group closed off their 30 minute set with ‘Get on the Roof.’
After a successful day one and a lot of enjoyment we called it a day after Pet Needs and made our trek back to the car to head home, get some rest and prepare for what Day 2 had to offer.
