Look, if you are a buzz band, say, I dunno Palma Violet or Savages or something, it makes sense to make to take the trip to Austin for SXSW. You’ve played a coupla gigs in New York, you’ve got name recognition, the industry is out there and people have heard of you and will check you out.
Or if you are unknown but signed to an indie label that is having a showcase, maybe you’ll get lucky right?
But other than that, what the hell are you wasting your time at Austin SXSW?
Not only does 2013 suck on a large scale (no keynote speech from Bruce, hey boys? Mick Jagger don’t play that) but everybody else has stayed away as well. Kinda like Coachella , they are riding on their charm without being very charming.
OK, so what if you are a small band, you’ve saved your shekels and you wanna be discovered? Go to SXSW? You can, or you can play “Take 5” and have about as good a chance of breaking big. There is a mindlessness about going to a place with 1000 other bands, it is like being the grayest rabbit in a hutch syndrome. How do you really expect anyone to notice you. Even if you stand out you won’t stand out, I promise you.
Really we know the form now. Start regional, move to Brooklyn, graduate from Glasslands to MHOW and still be poor but have your integrity. All well and good but how does SXSW help matters in the slightest. Unless you’ve been heard you can’t get heard.
Austin might well be a great place to conduct business if you know who you are going to conduct business with but if you don’t, what do you do there but get ignored? Hell, Austin clubs are so arrogant they won’t even let you in to see the bands if you are from a blog, “I don’t care how many hits you get, you aren’t real rock critics” –or something like that. So the only chance these small bands have, picking up some free press from bloggers, is destroyed through know nothing club owners.
Why is your band there? You will get a bigger buzz playing New Jersey than going to Texas. Nobody has the ears or the intelligence, or really give a damn. Lana Turner’s been dead a long time folks, you aint gonna get discovered at a soda fountain .