South by Southwest 2012 Day 1

Hello blogosphere!  It is SXSW 2012!  My apologies for not posting yesterday!  It has been an awesome two days here in Austin, and more awaits us!  For the first official day of the music festival, I saw Tribes, Foxy Shazam, Light Up the Darkness, and Rocky Loves Emily.

Photography by: Vicci Patneaude

The first performance of the day was Tribes at Waterloo Records!  Since this is SXSW, it's perfectly normal to discover new bands, and that's exactly what happened here.  These guys from London have a pretty good sound - got me head bopping a little bit.  They're worth checking out, but to be honest, the next band made these guys a bit forgettable.

Photography by: Vicci Patneaude

Back in October, I saw Foxy Shazam open for Panic! At the Disco.  I remember them being entertaining, but what's amazing is that their performance became even more entertaining simply from standing closer to the stage.  You know what I mean?  It's as if I was seeing them for the first time for real just because I could see them up close.  A phrase that would describe their performance perfectly is "marvelous ruckus."  The music sounds like ruckus, yet it sounds marvelous.  These guys have an immense amount of energy, and they literally go crazy on stage when playing their music.  They look like they're just banging their instruments without caring what it sounds like when in reality it still sounds awesome.

Photography by: Vicci Patneaude

The lead singer in particular is famous for smoking multiple cigarettes on stage in the middle of their set, but - I don't know if he does this on a regular basis - he actually ate all the cigarettes.  That's insane!  And Skye, the keyboard player (pictured right) hopped onto his piano and began stomping on it like a mad man!  Sometimes he'd even spin one leg around it too, which I think is pretty cool.  Ladies and gentlemen, Foxy Shazam is the ultimate epitome of performance. If you ever get a chance to see them, don't miss out!

After Waterloo Records, Vicci and I ventured to 311 Club to see some familiar faces from Rocky Loves Emily.  After greeting them outside the venue, we went inside to catch the last few songs from Light Up the Darkness.  One of the most interesting aspects about them is that the women in this band dominate the vocals, both singing and screaming.  It was cool to hear - it felt as if the women were empowering!

Photography by: Vicci Patneaude

It's almost been a year since I've seen the fellas in Rocky Loves Emily, and I'm excited that they're playing SXSW again!  They mainly played new songs, which were really good, with a couple of old songs too.  The performance was a lot of fun - lots of dancing, jumping, clapping, and singing!  Brandon, the lead singer, really knows how to relate to the audience and get them pumped up and moving, and it's entertaining to watch everyone else play their instruments!  My favorite song of the set was "Guilty, Guilty" which will be on their new record coming out April 24th 2012 so be sure to mark that on your calendars!  They just released a new music video for the latest single, "Secrets Don't Make Friends," so check that out too (below)!



Hope everyone at SXSW had a great first day cause I know I did!  Day two didn't include going to any shows, but it was just as fun!  Read the next post to find out!