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| A Giant Dog |
Sleep When Dead
I woke up in the wee hours of Saturday morning and noticed a figure looming in the dark. "Bye, Jimmy." It was Chris Dickman heading out for his early flight back to Jersey. I'd be on my own for the day.
I had one goal for Saturday. That was to make it to A Giant Dog's midnight set at Cheer Up Charlies. This would be easier said than done as a week's worth of sleeping four hours per night was starting to catch up with me. In previous years, I generally took it easy on Saturday nights, turning in early following some shows during the day. But this would be A Giant Dog's first set of the week, and I would kick myself if I left Austin without seeing them on their home turf.
I made myself a Texas-shaped waffle in the hotel breakfast area and walked downtown. Joe Steinhardt from Don Giovanni Records messaged me that Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires would be hitting the stage at The Side Bar at 1pm. After a more than serviceable couple of slices at Austin's Hoboken Pie, I headed over there to catch the set.
It was the Athens in Austin Day Party, so the bill was filled with Georgia bands. I walked in during the end of the set from The Artisanals on the outside stage. Then, I headed into the darkness of the bar for Lee Bains's set. I'd been trying to hook up with the Glory Fires all week long, and I was happy to run into them finally on the last day. The sun streamed through the big front windows in the bar making taking pictures a challenge.
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| The Artisanals |
The Glory Fires did their usual wild set with Bains moving throughout the crowd and handing his guitar and mic off to eager participants in the audience. After that, I dipped back outside for the last half of the last song from Nashville's Katie Schecter. Back inside for a quiet set from Athens's own Thayer Sarrano. Sarrano performed as a duo with a drummer who also handled some bass duties. I dug her set which had kind of a Mazzy Star vibe.
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| Lee Bains |
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| Katie Schecter |
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| Thayer Sarrano |
Austin, like many cities and towns across the country, has been overrun by dockless shareable scooters and bikes. I never could bring my 49-year-old, relatively uncoordinated self to scoot anywhere; but I do love cycling. I borrowed an electric-assisted bike and was over at Hotel Vegas in a flash.
There, I caught the tail end of the set from Austin punk band, Late, on one half of the patio stage. I slid over to the other half and waited with a whole bunch of people for Stockholm's Viagra Boys. I'd been hearing a bunch about them over the course of the week. Post-punk performance art. Songs like "Can't Get It Up" and "Sports" take down bro-y masculinity with the boys staying in character the whole time.
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| Late |
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| Viagra Boys |
Back over to Patio Stage 2 for Austin psychedelic dream rock band, Annabelle Chairlegs. I wrote about them a few years ago. They played Asbury last year, I think. Rosi really dug them on her first day in Austin. This was my first time seeing them, and they rocked.
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| Annabelle Chairlegs |
Joe from Jersey City had been talking up Amsterdam's Pip Blom (the name of both the band and their lead singer) all week. I saw that they were playing the third outdoor stage at Hotel Vegas, and I decided I had to see what he was on about. He was right. High-energy, gritty garage pop. One of my favorite acts of the festival.
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| Pip Blom |
I grabbed another bike back to my hotel. The motor really helped with the giant hill I had to climb multiple times during the week. Why didn't I do this sooner?
Anyway...
Rest time, then one, final stop at Torchy's Tacos to fuel up for the evening ahead.
I walked over to Las Perlas on 7th to catch another set from Toronto's mesmerizing Tallies (one of only 3 bands I saw more than once, the others being The Beths and Dentist). I walked in just in time to hear Atlanta's Lunar Vacation. The young band call what they do "pool rock." It sits somewhere on the dream pop spectrum. Nice. Tallies absolutely slayed again.
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| Lunar Vacation |
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| Tallies |
By now, it was almost 11; and I knew I would make it. I hoofed it over to Cheer Up Charlies and posted up at the front of the stage just as Brooklyn's Bambara were setting up. I'd seen their name on various bills throughout the day, but I'd be catching their final set. Their guitarist noticed my Mets cap as he went over to set up his pedal board, and we had a nice conversation about the 2019 NL East outlook.
Bambara play eerie, gothic, western / southern-inspired punk. Vocalist Reid Bateh throws himself into the performance without regard for his own personal safety, swinging and slamming the mic stand and falling off the edge of the stage into the crowd. It was a wild set.
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| Bambara |
As A Giant Dog took the stage, lead singer Sabrina Ellis gave me and some of the other people in the front row a nod of acknowledgement. They opened the set just as the clock struck midnight with, appropriately, "Sleep When Dead." At one point, during "Lucky Ponderosa," Ellis kicked a drink; and it splashed over a woman's camera. Ellis apologized, mugged for a few shots, and then picked the camera up and licked it clean.
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| A Giant Dog |
I have a soft spot in my heart for A Giant Dog for a number of personal reasons. But I do think they might just be the best rock and roll band in these United States right now. They brought it for the duration of their 40-minute set on Saturday night.
When they were done, so was I. I wanted to stay for the 1 AM set from Har Mar Superstar, but I was outta gas. I trudged back up the hill, got into my room, and crashed on the bed in my clothes, my camera bag next to me.
Every year after South By Southwest, I have mixed feelings. It's a long week away from family, and I do get lonely at times. I run myself into the ground taking pictures and trying to kick out posts; and I'm never really sure who is paying attention. I wonder if I'm making any connections or doing anything really to grow the site.
But I'll tell you something. When I'm down in it, getting jostled around, taking pictures, and screaming along with my favorite band, there really isn't any place I'd rather be.
