Let it be known that today that is first day we groaned when we saw a new glut of SXSW missives end up in our inbox. Gone are the bright-eyed days of early January when we welcomed each SXSW e-mail like a homebound war-weary soldier. Now when we see something with "showcase" in the heading, we just glance the through the copy for the promise of free booze. We still can't wait to hit Austin, but dang, it's getting taxing just thinking about we all need to see.
After missing Tuesday night's
Buxton show with Warpaint, we now have strict marching orders to check out the latter group. The all-female band had the Houston interwebs aflutter before their set was even over, making closers Akron/Family an afterthought for some. Most of the boys at the show fell in love with the gals in Warpaint as well, so don't be alarmed if you get light-headed watching the above clip. You are not alone.
This past week we did get unofficial official word on two biggie SXSW headliners. Muse and the Stone Temple have both made arrangements to play the festival with STP playing the Austin Music Hall on Thursday night. They will be debuting tracks from their upcoming new album as well. The Muse show is still without a venue, but the smart money would be on Stubb's on Saturday night or even the AMH.
It's not Soundgarden or Arcade Fire or the rumored Pavement sets we were chomping for, but we like us some Weiland (at least with STP) so we are more than happy to hear the news. Then there are the Motley Crue and Deftones rumors, which exasperates us even more.
On the Tuesday of SXSW week is the Third Annual End Sounds Pre-SXSW Show/Party over at Red 7, which will feature an all-star Descendents tribute band, with MxPx's Mike Herrera and a handful of Riverboat Gamblers doing their best versions of "Hope" and "Myage." We hope to make this if for some sad and non-magical reason we miss Motorhead and the Sword at Stubb's that night.
Rocks Off got an e-mail about a band from London called the Jim Jones Revue who sound like ""James Brown fronting the MC5 with Little Richard guesting on piano." It's a pretty adequate description, with most of their songs produced into the red and destroying all hearing orifices in the process. It's good stuff and we hope that the live show is just as manic. But we have been burned before by hype ahead of SXSW. Don't let us down, JJR. The band has six shows lined up so we have at least six chances to hopefully be blown away. Or not.