I will try to sum up the last 3 days but I might have to cut some things out.
Day 1 was pretty relaxed compared to last year, we drove from Mobile AL to Austin so we were all a bit knackered when we arrived at the hotel. We got right into the action, our first thing was a short set for KHMX on the patio of an Irish bar called Fado, which meant a full Irish breakfast and a pint of Guinness for breakfast. Happy days. There was an audience and they seemed to enjoy it. One gig done, one more to go.
The next was over to the Lava Lounge for the aptly named Scottish Showcase which was full of Scots, funnily enough. My good friends Dave McGeechen and Rob Hicks were there as well as a load of bands from home. I only caught the tail end of Twilight Sad and was looking forward to seeing The Fratellis only to find that they couldn't make it. The upside was that we got to play an extra couple of songs.
The rest of Friday was spent in my friend's big country house at a deck party with our crew and a load of new faces, I met a guy called Robert Randolph who is a black pedal steel guitarist and a lordy big guy. He told me when he was growing up, his parish never had a choir of singers but instead, pedal steel players in which he was one of them. The thought of it blows me away.
It was time for more music and we headed to the legendary Stubbs BBQ. First thing was to get my hands on a Texas Tea then it was off to watch Andrew Bird. He was playing on the outdoor stage and was very intense in a good way. Perry Farrell was on next with his band Satellite Party He was wearing pale blue platforms and had his wife on BV's which sadly never resulted in a Johnny Cash/June Carter or James Taylor/Carole King partnership but instead made for some very bizarre viewing. I stayed for two songs and then checked out who was on inside the bar.
A young guy called Simple Kid was playing and had a great vibe. In one song he used an instrumental of 'Paranoid' and had live footage of them playing it with Ozzy only singing now and again whilst he sang over it, it was wicked. Last band I saw that night was 'The good, the bad and the queen'. They sounded great and everyone there seemed to be really into it. It just proves how great a musical mind Damon Albarn has. I also wanted to see a band called 'Dirty Fuzz' but unfortunately got roped into doing a phoner with Japan instead. Saturday was even busier, I had some interviews to do in the morning, then some photos to do in the Gibson Headquarters a little way out of town. They had a great range of guitars including a lovely L5 semi acoustic. I just couldn't put it down, it was gorgeous and had such great tone and feel. We managed to blag a lift back to town on the Gibson tour bus to Stubbs where we were playing that night.
Tonight's show was going to be wild. A Fine Frenzy opened then it was us, Kings of Leon followed by Spoon and headlined by The Stooges. I was nervous because I feared that it would be full of fans craving some heavy duty rock 'n' roll. The place was packed and we played the best that we could, all trying to give it all we had and I was well chuffed with the audience reaction and our overall performance. I put it down tot he fact we all watched some of the footage from the American Folk and Blues Festival '62 - '69.
If watching people like Willie Dixon and Big Mama Thornton perform in their prime does not inspire you then nothing will. I watched most of the Kings Of Leon's show and they played a quality set with a few new tunes thrown in and was introduced to Amy Winehouse for the first time since supporting her about 4 years ago. She was very friendly and I ended up going to a gig with her, my manager and a few friends. Her bass player was playing in a separate band and they were playing some very slick rhythm 'n' blues.
I liked it a lot. I had a few drinks then said goodbye to Ms. Winehouse and made for The Stooges. Iggy and the band were electric and I got a little injection of anarchy that night that I plan on building on. I was told the next day that Iggy actually referred to me as "The guy with the voice" which made me buzz for about 5 hours. Legend! I imagine he's "The guy with the cock" then! Sunday meant the end of South by SW and although I only got two days of music I was more than happy with what they contained.
We had one more gig though and it was for the Austin City Limits TV show. You walk in and you see photos everywhere with legends such as Johnny Cash, Neil Young, Buddy Guy, Tom Waits which meant they all played. It was an immense honour to play and although my voice was a bit croaky I thought it was ace. During a break in the day I bizarrely got to take a driving lesson in a 1968 Camero Convertible without the shackles of an instructor, what a cracking time!
Austin is a special place and when you bring all these bands it becomes one huge big live party. Don't miss it if you can help it. The outcome is I have a faint tan, I've started to call everyone 'pal' for some reason, I now know that Perry Farrell is insane, Texas Tea still kicks arse and I have a new found passion for both Iggy Pop and 1968 Cameros... Cheers Austin!