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| Sharkmuffin |
Tri-State Area Day
My cheap flight from Newark to Austin on Southwest Airlines came with the requirement that it leave at 7am. That meant a 3:20 alarm so that I could take NJ Transit to the airport. This made for a very long day.
The flight was, as they say, uneventful; and I got to my hotel in plenty of time for it to be too early to check in. That was OK. I packed my camera bag and got a Lyft into downtown Austin to pick up my wristband. After a few beers, I decided I needed a taco and ran into Dead Stars drummer Jaye Moore at the taco truck. Turns out they were playing their first set of the festival right across the street at Cheers Shot Bar in about an hour. Perfect.
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| Dead Stars |
I headed up to the rooftop of Cheers and watched Dead Stars do their thing. For a makeshift stage on a small roof deck things sounded pretty damn good. Dead Stars are absolutely one of my current favorites, so it was a good way to start things off. From there it was over to the Salvage Vanguard Theater for "Babes Fest." I wanted to get over there to see Sharkmuffin and High Waisted. Aside: High Waisted's recently-released On Ludlow is quite awesome, and I hope to see them again while I'm here.
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| High Waisted |
Turned out the show was RSVP only, but Sharkmuffin's Tarra Thiessen arrived just in time to hustle the guys from Dead Stars and me inside. Sharkmuffin played a great set, and I got the sense that people had come out specifically to see them which was super cool.
The 90-degree heat and lack of sleep were beginning to take a toll, so I headed back to the hotel for a shower and some food. For a business-oriented hotel near the airport, the Hampton Inn & Suites - Austin Airport, has a lot going for it. Two of those things are the fantastic and inexpensive Javi's Best of Tex-Mex restaurant just across the road and a free 5pm beer and wine happy hour.
Free beer. A few tacos. Then it was over to the UT area to meet up with our Jersey pals, The Everymen and Overlake, at Hole in the Wall. It was a little New Jersey convention in the place for the first two sets as both bands played to their hometown crowds. I got to contribute to the final noise section of Overlake's set when Tom Barrett passed me his Jazzmaster and told me to start strumming.
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| The Everymen |
Decision time: Hang at Hole in the Wall, try to see something official / quasi-official, go to bed? I opted to try to catch Madrid's Hinds over at Hype Hotel. They were playing the first of 16 SXSW shows. I got there, and the place was already at capacity with a line of badge holders (who get entry priority over wristband holders like me) that stretched the length of the block. Oh well. I walked over to Hotel Vegas, hoping to maybe catch Thee Oh Sees; but the situation was similar. Note to self: Get to shows with buzzy bands early if you want to get in.
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| Overlake |
That was all actually ok with me as I was dead on my feet. I've got big plans for today. We'll see what happens. Stay tuned. I've been blowing up the CoolDad Music Instagram and will continue to do so, if you'd like to follow along.
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