25 TIPS FOR SXSW (PART 2 OF 5)
As most of you know the SXSW Music + Film + Interactive Festivals and Conferences are fast approaching. Over the next five days, I’ll provide you with 5 different daily tips in various areas (lodging, driving, getting around Austin, etc.) that will hopefully help you maximize your trip based on my own personal experiences.
As I said yesterday in my first 5 tips, my focus will mainly be on the Music and Media Conferences (March 17-21), but many of my tips and advice will be general enough that you can apply them towards any part of SXSW.
Todays 5 Tips are for those Driving to Austin
For some the drive to Texas has been planned for quite some time. Others may have procrastinated and may decide in the next few days that they are going to head down there without much of a game plan.
I think everyone should make the drive through Texas at least once. It should be a mandatory rite of passage necessary prior to being allowed to proceed with any further road trips. 80% percent of the drive you’ll have that “glazed over” look with no hope of distractions from your barren country route. However, Texas has some of the best cities (in my opinion) to make a quick getaway to at least once every few years, and Austin tops the list (I’ve always said that if I ever decided to move away from LA and Orange Counties, Austin would probably be my top choice of new city to reside in).
I’ve made this specific drive to Austin, specifically for SXSW twice as an adult (ok, ok …I’ll confess not by myself and one time I didn’t even drive but you get the point, right?), and a few other times on family trips as a child/teenager.
Don’t complain about the lack of scenery, instead take advantage of it. If you have co-pilots that will be sharing driving duties you can use this time to get some sleep, given the fact that you probably will not be getting any for the next 4 days (or however long you’re there for).
Anyhow before I start to ramble any more than I already have here are the 5 Tips for those you who have decided to drive (whether you are in a band or not)
1. Directions – If your car doesn’t have a navigation system (and even if it does) don’t forget to bring the directions, a Thomas Guide, or at least map (one that has (California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas would probably be more helpful than that decorative one you have of Paris that hangs on your wall). Don’t count on your phones to bail you out as sometimes those 3Gs and 4Gs aren’t as reliable as the OGs at the gas stations that give you directions.
Common sense right? Well let me just tell you, that one year due to printing of misc. last minute items (Party RSVPs, directions to hotels and parties, lists of shows we wanted to check out, etc) we completely forgot to bring directions to Austin from Los Angeles with us and if my memory serves me correctly we did not have maps with us. So we had to call a friend and ask her to send us directions to Austin via text/email. She of course was more than amused, finding it to be the most hilarious thing she’d ever heard. I wasn’t worried for one, as I have a photographic memory and had taken a quick glance at the directions and knew that we had to jump on the 10 East and drive for about 12-15 hours through Arizona, New Mexico, and into Texas on it. So we had plenty of time to get someone to give us directions, but after the 10 we had no idea what to do. So don’t start your trip with this stress and remember to take the directions or a map with you.
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25 TIPS FOR SXSW (PART 1 OF 5)
As most of you know the SXSW Music + Film + Interactive Festivals and Conferences are fast approaching. Over the next five days, I’ll provide you with 5 different daily tips in various areas (lodging, driving, getting around Austin, etc.) that will hopefully help you maximize your trip based on my own personal experiences.
My focus will mainly be on the Music and Media Conferences (March 17-21), but many of my tips and advice will be general enough that you can apply them towards any part of SXSW as I’ve learned a lot from what used to be my almost ritualistic annual escapades of drinking Shiner Bock (actually I prefer Blonde), eating not enough BBQ, and trying to make it to too many music shows and parties over the course of nearly a week in Austin.
Because many of you might be scrambling around trying to book last minute hotel rooms, I’ll start off with these 5 Lodging Tips.
1. Pick a hotel, Any hotel
You may want the Driskill, but realistically unless someone else is footing the bill and you pretty much have standing reservations you probably won’t be staying there. Sure the Gayot 4 key winning Intercontinental, Omni, and Hilton Hotels are where you might see some of the more established acts and keynote speakers staying, but you probably won’t end up there either. The 4th Street hotels (Four Seasons, Radisson, and the other Hilton) make up the rest of the prime walk to EVERYTHING located hotels however, if you wanted to stay there you should’ve booked your hotel rooms at least six months ago (and even then they might not have had the availability). (more…)
The Problem With Music by Steve Albini
For those of you that listened to last Sunday’s episode of Ammunition Radio, this is the Steve Albini article we were referring to (thank you to Andre for sending to me so that I didn’t have to go digging for it). We hope that by now all of you have come across this and read this, especially if you are in a band or a musical artist (whether signed or not). Some of the content is a little dated and some of the numbers need some tweaking as it was written a few years back, but the majority of it still applies and really this is one of the most accurate, informative pieces on the music industry you will ever read.
The Problem With Music
by Steve Albini
Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit. I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed. Nobody can see what’s printed on the contract. It’s too far away, and besides, the shit stench is making everybody’s eyes water. The lackey shouts to everybody that the first one to swim the trench gets to sign the contract. Everybody dives in the trench and they struggle furiously to get to the other end. Two people arrive simultaneously and begin wrestling furiously, clawing each other and dunking each other under the shit. Eventually, one of them capitulates, and there’s only one contestant left. He reaches for the pen, but the Lackey says “Actually, I think you need a little more development. Swim again, please. Backstroke”. And he does of course.
Every major label involved in the hunt for new bands now has on staff a high-profile point man, an “A & R” rep who can present a comfortable face to any prospective band. The initials stand for “Artist and Repertoire.” because historically, the A & R staff would select artists to record music that they had also selected, out of an available pool of each. This is still the case, though not openly. These guys are universally young [about the same age as the bands being wooed], and nowadays they always have some obvious underground rock credibility flag they can wave. (more…)
TIME SERVED
As you may be aware this month on Ammunition Radio on IsGoodRadio.com (podcast can be found at ammunition.podomatic.com), January’s guest co-host Amanda Jones and I have been discussing the musical experiences of our youth. We both grew up in two different worlds, she being a Los Angeles native took advantage of everything it had to offer and has the stories to share that come with such an experience. I grew up approximately two and a half hours north of here in Bakersfield, that although only a short drive was a completely different experience.
This past Sunday (and also next Sunday), we invited our talented friend and drummer Mr. John Montgomery (Bottom 12, It, Resonant Heads, Year of the Dragon, Cakecutter, The VCR) onto the show to also discuss his experiences with the LA music scene and beyond as he’s been a working musician who’s also heavily involved in the licensing/publishing side of the music business.
Last Sunday, we had my roommate and host of What’s So Funny? Sarah Longuieul whose father was one of the owners of music venue The Coach House, discussing her own experiences growing up in Orange County with members of U.S. Bombs, Angry Samoans, and the Smut Peddlers.
Although, I am from the “born in the 80’s” generation, there were some parralels within all three of our music experiences and we’ve all seen many of the same bands (just possibly at different points in their careers) and share mutual friends with many of those members of those “old school” bands.
Although, I’ve been trying not to incorporate too much country into Ammunition, everyone that knows me well, knows that Country music is a constant with me, most of my first concerts were Country music shows (at now defunct places like Cadillac Ranch and Mesa Marin Raceway or the “historic” Fox Theatres, and later consistently at Buck Owen’s The Crystal Palace). The “Bakersfield Sound,” built primarily by Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and Wynn Stewart has always been a pillar of influence in the Country music genre. With the addition of the Crystal Palace, a who’s who of Country music was always “passing through.” Just like LA has a lot of film and musical history, there is a lot of country music history in Bakersfield. I was especially sad to hear about the closing down of the Buck Owen’s Recording Studios last year, and funny enough my childhood friend (who probably hangs out with my parents more than I do nowadays) Danny Garone’s band, the Iron Outlaws, ended up being the last band to record there.
You can see some footage of the final days of the studios in this documentary by N.L. Belardes for ABC Channel 23
Aside from that Country scene, growing up in Bakersfield there was definitely a fairly healthy music scene throughout my youth, (especially after the addition of Jerry’s Pizza in the early 90’s which had the teens and pre-teens taking busses from the southwest, and everywhere else in town, to downtown’s Chester Avenue for local as well as established primarily punk, power pop, and alternative rock acts.) (more…)