Austin, Texas, is home to another kind of March Madness. The annual South by Southwest Music and Arts Festival is a musical orgy of Bacchanalian proportions, a seething crush of bands and fans so completely out of control that by the time you leave, you’re unsure whether hearing is even possible.
Louisville is well represented at this year’s festival. If you go, check this list of the hometown bands invading Texas.
Wax Fang: 2007 is shaping up to be a banner year for the Fang, which has risen from a Black and Endless Night to develop a reputation for scorching live shows opening for My Morning Jacket, The Features and Spoon. Wax Fang is taking a break from recording its highly anticipated second album to rock the South, and plays on St. Patrick’s Day at The Mohawk.
Coliseum: This Auxiliary Records trio will give new meaning to the phrase heavy-handed when it plays the Relapse Records showcase at Room 710 on March 15, sharing a bill with the likes of Don Caballero. It’s likely the only break Coliseum will take to play out before heading to Massachusetts in the spring to record its Relapse debut.
The Glasspack: Dirty Dave & Co. will open the 2007 SXSW Small Stone Records Showcase at Room 710. The set time will be around 6 or 7 p.m. Dirty Dave Johnson’s other project, Muddy Nasty River, makes a guest appearance at Small Stone’s day party, and Glasspack Web master Joey Toscano plays, too, with his band Iota.
Phantom Family Halo/Dead Child: Dahm is pulling double duty this year, singing for Dead Child and Phantom Family Halo. Both bands play Blender Magazine’s day party on March 15 at the Ritz, and later that night at the Cold Sweat Records/Buddyhead showcase, also at The Ritz, with Lords.
Your Black Star: Louisville’s two-time SXSW veterans have been there, done that and are still going. In January, the group recorded an EP to be released on Hawthorne Street Records later this year. Singer/guitarist Jeremy Johnson says the band will hit four- or five-day parties as part of an East Coast and Midwest tour.
Broadfield Marchers: These SXSW virgins play Bourbon Rocks on March 14. “We’re pretty excited. None of us have ever been to Austin,” said bassist Mark Zdobylak, whose group played CMJ in New York last year.
Young Widows: The three-piece that rose from the ashes of Breather Resist is touring with Pelican in support of its debut for Jade Tree, Settle Down City. “It’s always fun,” Evan Patterson said of Austin. Young Widows plays with Jade Tree records pals March 15 at Lambert’s and again the same day at Emo’s.
Pusher: Singer Steve Sindoni’s post-Breather Resist project heads to Austin for an inaugural visit to the festival, playing March 15 at the Blender Balcony at the Ritz.
Shedding: Connor Bell’s solo project plays the Home Tapes Label’s showcase on March 14 at the Mohawk.
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