Sean Gonzalez is traveling with Hodera, who spent their first South By Southwest Festival together. Here is a day by day look at SXSW 2016, checking into the unofficial showcases as often as possible.
SXSW DAY 1
After writing a review for the new Into It. Over It. outside of a Guitar Center, I headed down to the Funeral Sounds / Broken World Media showcase and hung out there for most of the day. Alaska was the first band I watched, and they blew me away. Urgent screamo music with magnificent drumming, how had I never heard of them before? They had an absolutely killer set. Sinai Vessel played a rather elegant set immediately after. Along the way I purchased a 12 pack of beer and continuously drank my weight into a $4.99 Taco Cabana meal before heading back to the showcase to watch the rest of the bands I had told myself I would check out. Prawn slaughtered their six songs and I Was Afraid dazed my ears. All in this time I had met some rather amazing individuals, including catching up with people I had helped before with reviews, interviews and Internet connections. I had the lovely opportunity of befriending Julien Baker (whom I watched Prawn next too) which blew me away. Oh yea, See Through Dresses rules, JANK’s set was probably the best one there; full of rowdy feel good anthems. Kississippi ended my first day with dreamy tunes relaxing my ears. Now sober, it was time to rest for the next day.
SXSW DAY 2
After a couple of long hikes between showcases, I can successfully say that day two was full of music. The AdHoc Unofficial Showcase was hosting All Dogs, Frankie Cosmos AND Waxahatchee back to back to back. What a lineup! I had to hike back alone (thanks guys) to Funeral Sounds to catch the craziest string of bands in a row. Greyscale massacred their set, All People was electrifying, Pope was both raunchy and great. Donovan Wolfington played after and the entire room went bonkers. Immediately after, I hopped in front for Sorority Noise and was singing to every song. Hodera’s first showcase was that night, so we headed on over to the Love Goat (driving finally) and saw Cardboard Swords before Hodera played. Sinai Vessel, although Josh (drums) had food poisoning, did very well. Alaska played another amazing set, becoming one of my new favorite bands. Off to the hotel room to party was the next option on the list (in which no partying happened, stay tuned).
SXSW DAY 3
We slept in a bit later thanks to staying awake till 2 am getting our hotel room sorted out, but the extra sleep time was necessary to continue the epic adventure of SXSW. Getting a late jump on the day, we arrived at our first showcase (Ozona 21st Street Co Op) to play to a great crowd of individuals. Hodera nailed their set, even in the midst of a string breaking on one of the guitars. We loaded out really quickly to make the Father Daughter / Topshelf Records show case, but not before I caught a few songs from the almighty Woozy. At the new destination, we watched Prawn bring the sky down with their blistering songs. I met PWR BTTM for a quick minute before the duo performed their beautifully queer songs in front of a large crowd. Diet Cig was over capacity, so I stayed to watch Woozy for a second time. The second showcase for Hodera of the day offered us two free drinks, we had a smaller crowd but they dug the music. Quickly we traveled to the Run For Cover showcase where we saw Pinegrove, Turnover and Citizen. Pinegrove melted our hearts (per usual) and I watched Turnover and Citizen between chats with Brixton Agency friends (shout out to Emily and Talia) and Neil from D. Wolf. Taco Bell lullabies helped us sleep. (Thanks Feed The Beat!)
SXSW DAY 4
The day started off with me waking up at 10:45 having to get a musical premiere up by 11, which I did rather quickly and it went well and Stars Hollow rule. In the lounge I texted Neil to get the address to their daytime party, in which we found out it was a house we stayed at earlier in the week, actually, correction it got moved thanks to a neighbor promising to call the cops. After seeing Don Wolf yet again we traveled over back to the Stereogum showcase, where I watched PWR BTTM again, before Hodera took the stage for their last showcase! I then proceeded to lose my backpack and eventually recover it, surviving that terrifying panic attack and taking ubers across town. An acoustic secret show featuring Evan of Pinegrove, Cam of Sorority Noise and Julien Baker happened before my eyes and I only cried four times. Neil and I drank some beers in the van, end day.
SXSW DAY 5
After surviving a sleep paralysis episode (terrifying) we headed to the recently posted schedule of Brooklyn Vegan’s newest showcase to finally watch Diet Cig (glorifying). It’s always great to see musicians in love with their music, as I caught both members smiling and dancing. It allows the set to flow more naturally and sound way more intimate. From there, I walked to the nearest Starbucks to utilize a gift card (thanks friends) and cranked out an article. I walked back in a rush to meet up with a close friend from Chicago, where her and the band watched Julien Baker and Into It. Over It. play amazing sets. This was my second time seeing Julien Baker, and while both sets were different, they possessed the same level of intimacy and emotional outpour that almost feels natural to her songs. Into It. Over It. was vibrant and explosive, playing all kinds of catchy tunes with a smile beaming from Evan Weiss. The rest of the group went inside to see Mothers while I relaxed, if only for a half hour. The last band I saw was Looming, which was a great pick me up to the end of the night. I would want to discuss more of our adventure to Sixth street, but gunshots were fired and that put the entire night into a wide pupil fear of not knowing what comes next.
