Hello CMU types, I'm Duncan, CMU's US Correspondent and I'll be doing my best to send in daily round-ups of the news, shows and events of most note from this SXSW thing, straight to your email inboxes the following day. Panel discussions, official shows, less official shows, I'll be covering it all - well, actually, there's an absolutely ridiculous amount to see here, so probably scratch "all" and make it "quite a bit".
Anyway, let's talk about Wednesday. For various reasons I won't bore you with, my party didn't make it to Austin until about midnight but, after a lengthy search for a parking space, we made up for lost time and headed straight to Friends For The Kids Records showcase, arriving just in time to see San Francisco's Honeycut. This band sent mixed messages. On the one hand, top marks for innovation: the 'drummer' was hitting buttons live on a drum machine, rather than playing a kit, and the keyboard player really really wanted to be a guitarist. I've never heard such an impressive guitar solo played on a keyboard before. But on the other hand, in the charisma department things were kind of lacking. Plenty of promise, but the band clearly isn't achieving their full potential quite yet.
Liverpool's The Wombats, on the other hand, are closer to the top of their game. Sure, there's not exactly a whole heap of innovation in their sound, and some of the lyrics are a little clumsy, but the energy and enthusiasm was unparalleled and the band were tight and played well. Forthcoming single 'Backfire At The Disco', played as an encore, got the biggest cheer of the night, and there was plenty of dancing going on - unusual for such an industry-focused shindig.
Tomorrow (well, today once you read this) Errors, Shout Out Out Out Out and SixNationState are all high up my priority list. Any recommendations of other shows/bands are always appreciated - especially if you're not affiliated with the band you're recommending! Email me at [email protected]. More tomorrow. Meantime, goodnight from Texas (it's still night here)!