Doug Van Pelt

SXSW.09

The last full day of SXSW always comes with a sigh of relief. There's one more full day of parties and concerts and hanging out, but it's at the end of at least three days just as packed in a row preceding it. It's an endurance contest of sorts. There is a fun softball game/BBQ party between portions of the industry (like print media, marketing, artists, clubs/talent buyers, agents/managers, record labels, radio/online, SXSW staff, and mixed media), and even a couple more showcases on Sunday night, but it winds down for a lot of folks with Saturday's last show. One of the fun things I appreciate about events like this are the panels.

WOODSTOCK: Untold Stories
This star-studded panel was fun to watch, as luminaries from the legendary event were there to tell stories. One of the panelists began his recollection with the comment that: "Anyone that says they remember something at Woodstock wasn't there!" After showing clips of the remastered, touched-up version that is coming out on DVD this summer with loads of bonus footage (including some never-before-seen artists, like Creedance Clearwater Revival), Wavy Gravy reported that he runs a camp with kids and, on its last day, they wake the kids up with the Jimi Hendrix version of "The Star Spangled Banner" and "they all have a giant pillow fight -- with no head shots."

Organizer Michael Lang sat up there, looking younger and brighter than any of his contemporaries, told the story of what led him to put on the festival. He ran a headshop in Miami in the late 60s, had started doing local shows, and went to the Monterrey Pop Festival, which inspired him. He put on the Miami Pop Festival in May of 1968, with rotating stages and other advances they used later at Woodstock. Jimi Hendrix played and this inspired him to do the bigger event after moving up to Woodstock in upstate New York. He neglected to take out rain insurance on that Miami Festival, due to the lovely sunshine in Florida and little sign of rain, but they were poured upon on the second day. This probably helped prepare him for the unexpected stuff that went on at Woodstock, like a change of locations right before the fest, which is a factor that kept stage lights from being featured at Woodstock. They had several local shows in the area in the year preceding the fest, called "Sound Outs," with local artists jamming. One of those local artists that would often show up was Van Morrison, by the way. He told the audience present that stories like this were included in his new book, The Road to Woodstock, which comes out in July. Legendary producer Eddie Kramer told a few stories of how he recorded all the acts at the three-day festival. "Recording it was three days of drugs and hell," he commented. Turns out, it was so far away, that there was no communication with the stage from their recording trailer.

Gregg Rolie, the vocalist and keyboardist for Santana (later joined Journey, by the way), related his story of flying over the crowd in helicopters, because the cars driving up to the festival started parking on the highway, jamming it up for access. "The people looked like ants," he said, "but it was lost on me." Other panelist described how it was just another show, but at various times it hit them how large of an event it was. Stu Cook of CCR described how the backstage area was stocked and how all the musicians hung out and enjoyed themselves. They performed, however, with no real stage lights. At one point in the show he heard someone yell from the darkness that was really 500,000 people, "We're with ya!" At that point, he said, "Okay, that's the guy the concert's for," which gave them direction and a goal amidst the darkness.

Other interesting tid-bits I picked up were details like: Santana didn't even have a record out when they played Woodstock. They were a West Coast band playing on the East Coast for pretty much the first time. This gig and their place in the movie (the drum solo by Santana's Michael Shrieve) really put them on the map. A band called Quill, who were one of the local bands in the area spreading the good intentions of the festival promoters prior to the event, got their chance to perform as a way of saying "Thank you" for their help in the local area. The new version of the DVD boxset will include some of their music. "We wanted to keep politics out of the festival," said Lang, "because the fest itself going off was the biggest political statement we could make."







FRODUS
Frodus is an unusual band and I would have really liked to have seen them. I entered the club a few minutes before their 4:35pm set time, ready to stake out a good spot. This performance had some hype and buzz for it and I was excited to take notes and document this rare reunion. The Radio Room was where Viva Voce had played a couple nights earlier, so I had some good ideas on where to stand. When the previous band finished, the crowd completely thinned out, so I got right up front in the center. I even sat down while they cleared the stage and set up for Frodus. I couldn't remember exactly what the guys looked like, because I had spoken to one of them on the phone and talked via email, but I think it'd been years since I'd seen them. The main guy setting up looked familiar, but there was an outside chance this venue had two stages. I waited and waited, getting impatient, because a flawed schedule can mess up plans further on down the road. When they finally took stage, I stood up from where they had been sitting and I saw the most fascinating and creative introduction to a show. They played a relaxation CD over the sound system, with a soothing, female voice telling the listener to allow their muscles to completely relax, starting at the top of the body, going down the shoulders, and so on. The band stood there as if they were meditating and relaxing. Then they all struck two power chords in quick succession. Complete rest. The soothing voice was at center attention, going on about floating and being at peace. After about 20 long seconds, they did it again. Full stop. Another 20-30 seconds. And again. The blast that disrupted the silence was so stark and intense that it made for fabulous dynamics. They did this about 8 more times. It was a crazy start. I was glad to have seen that. The songs didn't sound as mathematical as I'd remembered Frodus. And there were four guys in this band! The second or third song was downright melodic! The keyboardist was dancing during one intro... Wait a minute! I looked at the poster and noted that Cursive or Milemarker were supposed to start at precisely at 5:15, which is when these guys finished setting up and actually started playing. I went to the back of the club and asked if there was another stage. Guess what? There was. Frodus had just finished, as did The Van Pelt. So, two mysteries of SXSW '09 were not witnessed by this reporter. I did what any grieving reporter would do: I went to the Woodstock party and got some BBQ before my interview with Superdrag's John Davis. John and I sat down for a good two hours, which was awesome, interesting, and relaxing.







ANBERLIN
In my self-imposed duties as a HM Magazine writer, I try to cover as many bands and a good cross-section of the bands we usually cover. It is rare, because of this goal, to ever see a band twice. But, as I often say on twitter.com, "I heart Anberlin." Here was a chance to see their official showcase, which would likely start on time, be run through a perfect sound system, and be well attended. Their show at 9pm Saturday night sounded SO much better than the previous morning's 2:30am performance. The goosebumps didn't happen during "Breaking," though. It was nice to hear "Adelaide" tonight, too. During "The Resistance" there was extra percussion from three extra guys armed with drumsticks. It sounds even better and brighter live than on record. One thing I noticed again, and it's been bugging me for awhile the last few times I've seen the band is how Stephen Christian's vocals seem to fade in and out while he's moving around the stage. I appreciate seeing his onstage energy and I like how it adds to his stage personality, but the volume of his fantastic voice suffers when he's moving. This makes listening to their albums a little bit sweeter of a musical experience than the concert. There was a fun and brief death metal growl for one short verse in "Godspeed" by Stephen the last two nights. Guitarist Joseph Milligan handles some nice toggle switch action during "Feel Good Drag," which they saved for the end again. Instead of throwing his bass down on the ground this time, Deon Rexroat launched himself into the crowd to churn out the final few chords before getting back on stage.







THE SHACKELTONS
I had one more show to catch before SXSW '09 was over for me. It was this last issue's "Declaration of Independants" artist, Mark Redding and his band, The Shackeltons. It was a great finale for me, as the band was just amazing. Redding was holding flowers above his head, but that wasn't the only thing that made me recall the first few times I'd seen mewithoutYou. This guy had the same charismatic and riveting personality onstage as one Aaron Weiss. "Thank God for Otis Redding," the frontman announced. "We yearn to make you dance deep inside." He introduced a song called "The Ache" and said, "We want you to shake your heart a little bit." Midway during the song he fell to the ground to shake. When he jumped up, at times he sucked his thumb with palm open and clapped that hand with the other. The band flavored the show with almost a constant, danceable beat. "You raided my island, but I've asked for no rent," he cried after a song that he introduced with a dedication to pirates. Later he asked everyone in the audience to hug someone next to them. It was kind of awesome to hug and be hugged and see it going on almost all over the room. This band is now a new entry to my "amazing" and "special" lists.