Thursday & Friday Wrap Up @ SXSW

Hey y’all! Unforts I was unable to make SXSW but my friend Miyuru, an up and coming DJ here in Edmonton that has residency at the Starlite Room for Surely Temple Thursdays is making me uber jealous by being there. Good thing he’s agreed to give me (us) some updates on his shows/experience day to day! Woooohoo!

Thursday & Friday: Liver disease is imminent.

I admit I’m a SXSW virgin and this year was my first time at the festival.  I had gone to CMJ in NYC this past October, so I knew what to expect somewhat as SXSW can be likened to CMJ just on a much much larger scale.

My first two days, I was somewhat keen on planning out my days and making sure to be at X venue at Y time.  The last two days though, I gave up.  Friday and Saturday are much harder to keep up with, because there are many more important shows to hit that overlap with each other, and the locals are out in full-force meaning long lines at most venues.  Even your badge doesn’t help you out as much as you wish.

I didn’t even get into the Rachel Ray party after waiting 3 hours.  But that’s ok, I met a million people in line who were supercool.

This post is going to be very different.  I could tell you about all the acts that I’ve seen in the past couple days but really, there was nothing much out of the ordinary during the shows, except Metallica at Stubbs and Kanye’s appearance at the Fader Fort and Perez’s afterparty (both of which I didn’t make).

So, what did I do the last two days?  I want to get this all down before I forget.

Thursday had one of the best parties ever – the Alternative Press party.  We got there early to get in because it’s supposed to be insane.  Almost completely open bar, top shelf booze included.  Rooftop venue.  Pillows/couches along the perimeter.  They even had waitresses to get the drinks out, which is awesome for an open bar.  The tote bags they gave out actually had killer stuff in them but mine got stolen (long story).  Tommy Sunshine DJ’d it too which was fun.

Later that night we ended up at the IHEARTCOMIX showcase at Beauty Bar, probably my favorite venue at SXSW because of the artists it hosted this year.  I don’t remember much except for waiting for Thunderheist to come on stage.  Everything was running late so they came on around 1 AM instead of 12:15.  Great set though.  Isis killed it and so did Graeme (on iTunes? hahaha) but apparently Isis was ticked with her set.

I wanted the show to end on time because the Fool’s Gold party was that night.  Because it ran late, by the time I got to the Palm Door the RSVP line was ridiculously long, and the VIP line wasn’t moving either (where I was).  I actually walked over there partly with Graeme from Thunderheist and he couldn’t get in either.  Same with my boys from NYC who run Whoa Oh Recs.  Same with these girls from some band that said they knew me.  That was funny, this Asian girl came up to me and said she knew me and I thought she was the chick from HeartsRevolution.  So I showed her his pic of me and “her” that I took at CMJ on my phone.  Then she said that wasn’t her and I’m like “what’s your name?” and she said Keeks in her British accent.  I stll don’t know who she is!

I decided to leave around 2:40 AM and came back to the hotel where my friend was, still recovering from the AP party.  I told him what happened and he said fuck it and we hit the Palm Door again.  Johan from the Lose Control party tried to sneak us in through the back but it was no go.  Then we just went to the RSVP line which was non-existant at this point and we were in.  Finally!

This was a great party, I wish I had come early to get in from the start.  TONS of artists and guests!  Seriously, even though it was labelled Fool’s Gold, it might as well have been FG/Mad Decent/IHEARTCOMIX all in one, with special guests on top.  Plus an open bar!  I was sober at this point so I only had two beers.

After the party I met all the artists, pics to be uploaded soon.  JOTS gave me the new A-Trak disc which I got signed outside, which was very cool.  I haven’t listened to it yet but I’m sure it’s great.  I love the artwork more than anything else, Dust La Rock represent.

Outside, we ate burritos and drank beer from this street vendor.  He was pretty gone too so we grabbed more than we paid for.  All good.  That’s where I met Pearl & Thomas from Champange Champagne.  I love these guys.  We kicked it for about 2 hours on the streets of Austin.  I didn’t realise how early it was until I saw the streetsweepers and hobos.  Thomas almost got in a fight with one over nothing and threw one of the stolen burritos at her; even I got riled up, eek!  We talked mostly about chicks and being first generation kids to immigrant parents.  If you don’t know these guys look them up, Tom’s a legend.

Anyway we split ways after exchanging numbers and I rolled into bed around 7ish.

The next day I woke up around 12 or something and I don’t think I even made any day shows.  None that I can remember.  Oh I remember now, I ended up at the Aussie BBQ for free beers that tasted like pine sol (loves it).  I forget what other open bars I went to.

Friday was the night that made me realise all these shows sure do get tiring.  I was at Beauty Bar again because there were a slew of great DJs playing.  Tittsworth, Ayres, Catchdubs, Don Rimini, Klever, Craze, Treasure Fingers (best of the night) – hell, even my hometown band Shout Out Out Out Out (Edmonton, represent).  In all, there were two rooms and maybe 10-12 acts?  Really cool and I met a lot of people but I wasn’t really with many people and just kicked it…it got boring.  I left at 2 and Pearl caught me at the end of the night and invited me to hit Franki’s party (IHEARTCOMIX) but I just ended up going back to the hotel.  Too tired and my feet were killing me.  And I had seen all those guys the night before.

Saturday was a super busy day, in terms of how many people were out there.  We started with the Rachel Ray party, which we didn’t get into.  It hit capacity right as we got to the door, so fuck it, one-in-one-out with the VIP line growing – no point.  My boys from KRUX were supposed to interview Lady Sovereign but we bailed on that too because her voice was waning and she didn’t want to do any more interviews.  So instead, we ended up at the Fader Fort because Kanye was supposed to show up.  I know I’m leaving something out but I don’t even remember.  Oh yes, I made more friends at the Sierra Mist tent and we went together.

Fader was legit as always.  Open bar, tons of beer and AWESOME lineup on Saturday.  The crappy thing is, there aren’t enough bathrooms.  I had to piss so bad that I ended up cutting the line the first time, and the second time I went outside to do it and got back in no problem.  The third time, Fader was packed and we got an ALL ACCESS pass so we started hitting backstage to get to the bathrooms.  They were even kicking out artists from backstage because of Kanye, you needed the all access.  I couldn’t hold it any longer though (my friends had the pass) so I went outside hoping I’d be able to get back in but NOPE!  I was left out in the cold.  It’s cool though I met tons of people and got some numbers, DJ Sega typed his cell into my phone because I was too intoxicated hahaha.

So would you believe it, Pearl saw me outside.  He had just texted me saying he’s coming to Fader too.  He was with these two chicks from Anorak in the UK.  We couldn’t get in though, not all four of us, so we hit the Vice bar instead.  I was pretty gone so I thought I was at the Vice party.  I loved wherever we were though, the band was really good.  But it was getting late and my cab was arriving at my hotel in 3 hours!  I had to make the most of whatever time I had left.

I decided to meet up with my man Oscar who got me the free hotel in the first place.  We go back to Coachella two years ago.  He’s the music director at KRUX.  We ate Wendy’s and I almost got a hit by a car (my fault).  Actually that happened a couple times…

Oscar had a Perez wristband and an extra for me, but I decided to screw it in favour of going to Mohawk.  Not for the music this time despite HEALTH playing at 12 PM, but to catch up with my girl Jessica from Detroit who’s at WIDR 89.1.  I’m in love with this chick, she’s just that cool, and so are her friends!!  I don’t think I ever felt so at home until I met them.  I get really depressed thinking about it.  Hard to explain in words so I’ll stop there.

We had shots and a couple drinks and hugs and words and jokes and all that jazz.  And I missed out on everyone I wanted to see that night, like MSTRKRFT (who I probably would have been late for anyway) and Felix Cartal especially since I haven’t heard him yet.  But I don’t even care!  And that’s what I came to realise about SXSW.

Listen up, there are just so many shows and lines to get into shows and people and VIP entrances and bars and all that jazz that goes into a show that, you do forget about the important things in life.  Shows are shows, and it’s cool to really really want to see this artist or that artist.  Just don’t get caught up in all the corporate branding and DJ monikers and stage personas, go for the music.  And after you go for the music, why not do something that’s truly interactive and connect with the people you love and enjoy the little time you have together when you’re all under one roof.

That’s the best thing about SXSW to me, and I can’t wait to be back next year.
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Thanks for the recaps Miyuru! I will defs make it out next year as well.