Total Chaos, Austin-style (Incase Goes to SXSW 2011)
This year’s SXSW music conference was long, loud and lurky. We did not sleep much nor did we eat much. We were too busy bee-boppin’ around venues, visiting friends and sponsoring events. Of the many shows and parties we attended our favorite of the week would have to be the ‘Best In Show’ showcase at Trailer Space Records. Located next door to East Side Pies and across the street from Ideal Soul Mart, this beautiful record shop played host to hundreds of all-ages music fans and more than 30 musical guests, (including Thee Oh Sees, La Sera, King Tuff, Strange Boys, Vomettes and White Mystery). Thanks to the efforts of organizers Jonathan Harry Weinberg, Col. Abe, Volar Records and Trailer Space owner Spot, the party struck just the right balance between a raw DIY punk show and a simple neighborly visit with friends.
As for MWTX 5—WOW!!! Transmission Entertainment, FYF Fest Productions and the East Side Drive-In definitely pulled it off again. It was a joy to participate for the fourth year in a row in an event so consistently fun, friendly, and energetic. Over 55,000 people rsvp’d on mwtxparty.com, (of which more than 20,000 attended the all-day party), making it once more the largest unofficial event of the entire music conference. We’d like to extend a huge thank you to Rosa, Johnny, Brendan, Graham and Max at Transmission Entertainment, and to Sean, Phil, Mike and Kate at FYF Fest Productions.
Vice Late Night ran 12 midnight to 4AM on the final night of the conference. Harsh tokes for tired folks. After a 12-hour day spent shooting photos in the hot hot sun, doling out a few thousand Incase Slider Cases for iPhone 4, and watching a zillion bands at MWTX and Trailer Space we were reasonably certain we might not make it to the brutal end. But thanks to Thee Oh Sees, OFF!, and Odd Future we certainly did. In true Vice fashion the party was a bewildering mess held in a blown out vacant bank building. Booming sound, rumpled fashions on crumpled hipsters, dim lighting, happy cops and a few hundred friends… Classic. It was a great (albeit exhausting) late night lurk. Thanks again to Shanon Kelley and Stewart Stone, you are like angel babies in our arms. We couldn’t have done it without you.
