No matter how many times you go to SXSW there's no good way of preparing for the millions of cool people and millions of idiots you will meet every second that you're awake. For a start I watched Kid Cudi with 4,000 drunk frat boys dancing like Flavor Flav after a really dodgy pill, it was surreal and not what I remembered from previous years, although it was a Red Bull party so what did I expect?
This years left turn was going out there with Domino act Wild Beasts (above) who I co-manage. I discovered a new behind the scenes Austin which was good and bad, hanging out with the Daytrotter guys, the Domino staff, as many free Lone Stars as you can drink, being treated like a second class citizen by pretty much every person who is trying to get you on and off stage within a 40 minute slot, no sound checks, no where to store gear and the worst traffic imaginable. All that a side we played some blinding shows and sold all of our merchandise which was sweet. The highlights were playing shows with Sky Larkin, Dirty Projectors, Chief, We Have Band and Paul Marshall.
We still had time to make new friends and see some sweet new bands like Local Natives (above), Young Widows (below), Wavves, Casiokids, The Soft Pack, Gringo Star, Blank Dogs, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Woods. I challenge anyone to go out there and not be overwhelmed, even after going three times its just too much to comprehend and take in. Its exhausting and makes you ill, but on the last day you still can't bring yourself to check out of the hotel.
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