I’m about to head out to do some hiking at Enchanted Rock here in the Texas Hill Country but I wanted to post up on some other good folks playing SXSW this year while I have my morning coffee.
Now, for some odd reason, it’s a little tricky to figure out who is playing showcases by city at this year’s SXSW. In prior years, there would be some straight-up list I could dig up that would list all the bands and their hometowns but I can’t seem to find it this year. The show listings don’t have this detail; you have to drill down to each band’s event page to find this; local press coverage (a typical fall-back) seems to be pretty jaded and minimal so far this year; and the festival’s search feature is kind of janky (“Houston, TX” gets you Clive Davis and Devendra Banhart but we’re not in that same search). Nevertheless, I did look around and saw we had some great bands representing our fair city this year and wanted to point you in their direction. Click on the link on each name for more info.
- Something Fierce – Tuesday, March 12 (12 -12:40AM) – Houston’s best pop-punk band, bar none! We don’t begin to arrive in town until Thursday but if we could be there on Tuesday, this one we’d be at.
- Grandfather Child -Wednesday, March 13 (12 -12:40AM) – Simply put, the best thing Houston has going. The musicianship, the live show, and the songwriting are unbeatable.
- Fat Tony – Wednesday, March 13 (12 -12:55AM) – Some of the smartest and wittiest rap you will ever hear and live the guy is amazing! Seriously, his shows are crazy fun!
- The Tontons -Wednesday, March 13 (10-10:40PM) – (What is with Houston on all lumped up on Wednesday?) With Asli Omar on vocals and a tight as shit band behind her, they are easily Houston’s classiest band.
- The Sour Notes – Saturday, March 16 (7:30 – 8PM) – OK so they are from Austin but they have some ex-pat Houstonians in their ranks and are simply good solid indie rock worth checking out.
- My Education – Tuesday, March 12 (1 – 1:50AM) – Same here. A great Austin band with some H-Town ex-pats as well. These guys do that instrumental post-rock thing and are well worth catching.
- Wo Fat – Thursday, March 14 (10 -10:40PM) – No Houstonians here but this Dallas band leads a Small Stone Records showcase that will drop some of the heaviest music you will hear at the festival!
