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| Charly Bliss |
The Ides of March
After our showcase at Hard Luck Lounge on Thursday, Chris Dickman and I surprised ourselves with how early we were up and out the door. We took the rented equipment back over to the good people at Austin's Rock n Roll Rentals (Again, can't recommend them highly enough), and then picked up the Yawn Mower dudes for a little blunch at P. Terry's Hamburger Stand.
Chris was looking to browse for some records, and I still hadn't caught a set from Mike Krol. The stars aligned on that one as Mike Krol and his band were playing the Waterloo Records Day Party. We hopped over there, and I got myself situated in the photo pit.
One of the things I often forget to do when shooting a show is format the card in my camera before I start. After about 16 shots of Mike Krol, I got the message that my card was full. Forgetting that I had my SD card case in my bag, I just re-formatted the one in the camera and pretty much missed out on my two-song allotment from the pit. Oh, well. I shot from the barricade, and still ended up with way too many.
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| Mike Krol |
I've grown into a huge Mike Krol fan over the last several months. This set was good, but it didn't have the wild vibe of an indoor club at night with Krol's strobes giving me a seizure.
We left Yawn Mower at Waterloo so they could see Spiral Stairs, and I headed to The Side Bar where The Midgetmen's annual Jump Start showcase was going down. Chris and I took our sweet time, and I ended up walking in just as Dentist were breaking down from their set. Who knows if I'll ever get another chance to see them play?
There were plenty of other bands on the bill that I wanted to see, and I managed to catch sets from Spider Bags, Gymshorts, and Bad Moves. I've seen Spider Bags a bunch at this point. Friday's set took me back to that first time they blew me away at The Saint. I remembered Gymshorts from their opening set for Tacocat at Rough Trade a few months back. They're heavy and loud with a big dose of humor thrown in.
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| Gymshorts |
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| Spider Bags |
I've loved Bad Moves since their self-titled EP from a couple of years ago. 2018's Tell No One is one of my favorite albums maybe ever. It's a power-pop masterpiece. I'd never managed to catch a set from them before, though; so I was grinning like an idiot when they played "Spirit FM," "The Verge," and other songs I've been in love with for a while now. Both Gymshorts and Bad Moves played in the bar, and it was bordering on pitch black in there.
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| Bad Moves |
The line across the street for The Current's showcase at Barracuda was around the block for most of the day. By the time I walked over there at 5pm or so, things had died down enough for me to get inside for Philly's Low Cut Connie. I was able to stake out a spot up front among the Low Cut Connie die-hards. Frontman Adam Weiner is a showman and a blast to shoot. He came down from the stage at one point and put a big bear hug on me as well as anybody else he bumped into in the crowd. It's impossible not to get swept up in the emotion and community of a Low Cut Connie set, and I was feelin it.
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| Low Cut Connie |
Time for a dinner break, so Chris and I headed over to one of the many Torchy's Tacos that dot the city. I would eat at this place every frigging day if we had them here. Then, we drove over to Hard Luck Lounge just in time for me to walk in after another set from Dentist. Welp. Guess that was probably my last chance with them.
Anyway...
2/3rds of Dentist and I headed over to the Rolling Stone party at Native Hostel to catch The Beths and Charly Bliss; while Chris, Emily, and Yawn Mower headed over to Lady Bird Lake to see the big show from Big Boi, Cee Lo, and Dungeon Family.
Native Hostel was starting to pack out, but we got in early enough that I was able to worm my way up front. Taylor Janzen was playing when we walked in. In just the few minutes that we watched, the Winnipeg native blew me away with her voice.
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| Taylor Janzen |
The Beths delivered another great-sounding set, but they were clearly a little more subdued than when I'd seen them earlier in the week. When I'm at South By Southwest, I'm kind of cut off from the news. It wasn't until after they'd played that I learned of the horrific terrorist attack that took place in their home country of New Zealand earlier that day. It stung to think about how they must all be feeling being so far from home on such a sad day. All I could do was silently will some peaceful vibes their way.
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| The Beths |
In between The Beths and Charly Bliss was Japan's CHAI. What a wild set. Twin sisters. Everyone dressed in pink. Sugary, joyful, and a little bit subversive. Narduwar The Human Serviette was right next to me absolutely loving them. Judging from my Instagram feed, I think I'm the only person who was at South By Southwest who was too nervous to ask him for a picture.
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| CHAI |
Charly Bliss came out and powered through a set marred by technical problems. They did their best with virtually no help from the on-site sound crew. Beths' guitarist Jonathan Pearce eventually came out and did some of the sound crew's work for them, dealing with the microphone that was shocking singer Eva Hendricks for the entire set.
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| Charly Bliss |
For their part, Charly Bliss did what they could. The understandable frustration became apparent at points, but they didn't let it sap the fun from their set. I love Charly Bliss's debut, Guppy. I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about the band's new sonic direction; but, live, the new songs definitely had some edge.
Our two groups reconvened at Attabar to end the night. I did some designated driving and Uber'd back to the hotel to rest in preparation for one more go on Saturday.
