popwreckoning

Wednesday morning dawns overcast and humid in downtown Austin. After 36 hours of stressing and running errands like a madwoman, I am finally here. I head to the convention center and pick up my wristband (priority passes that basically allow you into venues before the general public) and get my camera tagged for the press sanctioned areas at venues. Its official- I am official. SXSW Music 2011 had begun.

After looking for decent coffee (a necessity in the coming days), I get into one of the first of many queues for the week. I want a wristband for a specific venue and without it I won’t be able to get in, even with my general wristband. I am blocks away from the venue and a security guard confirms my suspicions – there is absolutely NO way I am getting a venue wristband, as I showed up too late. I try again with another venue and am denied again. So far, SXSW has already shunned me twice, but I tried not to let it spoil my day.

I wander downtown Austin a bit and get an idea of the general venue layout. With over 90+ venues spread out across multiple square miles, I know that I need to make a plan for the next few days. Heading back to the apartment that I am sharing with other industry people for the week, I start looking at the schedule and fleshing things out a bit. I leave early to head back across the river and back into the mayhem.

At 6 pm, the streets are packed. The fourteen venues along the Red River corridor are sporting queues for both badge/wristband holders and the general public, who are more than willing to shell out some significant cash at each separate venue to see a glimpse of the action. I grab some barbeque and stand in line at Mohawk, the furthest venue up Red River, and home to two stages, one indoor and one outdoor. At 7:45, the doors were opened and security was out in full force. After getting my camera gear inspected, I was let into the small, intimate venue that would be home for the night to some of the best electronica that I have ever heard. It would be the first of many venues I visit tonight, but a great place to start out. The indoor stage is small, low to the ground, and there was a small crowd of people milling about as the first act queues up his laptop and starts mixing his beats, kicking off the night in style.

Up first was Sodapop, the playful moniker of Anticon Records’ label manager Shaun Koplow’s DJ persona. Mixing everything from San Francisco underground rap to electropop of today, Sodapop basically curated a live, mixed version of Anticon’s general catalogue, including throwing in some new musical visions of his own. It’s clear that the label isn’t just his livelihood- it’s his passion and he knows it inside and out. With this bit of transparency, it was incredibly interesting to watch him shift from genre to genre, different styles with a fluidity of someone who knows the general electronic scene and wants to push those boundaries a little further that what we might expect.  Throughout the night, Koplow would be spinning between the sets, a veritable palate cleanser with his general genre-bending sound. I plan on keeping my eyes peeled for this guy in the future, because the electonica genre is due for an overhaul and a revolution, and chances are that Koplow will be somewhere near the forefront.

Up next is a guy with a saxophone. Everyone looks confused, as this is an electronica showcase, but we go with it. Once he records and loops a few phrases, it all starts to make sense. It’s the genius of Asura and Anenon, a collaborative work of Ryan York and Brian Allen Simon. Brian Allen Simon, Anenon, is the founder and CEO of Non Projects and another visionary in the genre of experimental electronic composures, who is also multi-instrumental musician. The intricate loop of saxophone notes is then blended with piano and synth to create a hauntingly beautiful intro before drums and melodic vocals kick in to fill out the track and creates such a potent blend of ethereal tonations that it is sure to give you goosebumps. He continues along this vein, making the crowd sway and bop along with his beats, continuing to fill the room with sound. It’s like being dumped into a tank of noise- so many layers, so much complexity that it’s hard to keep track of it all. The resulting cohesive pieces are nothing short of vibrant musical imagery, passion in music form. It’s brilliant and bold and sets the standard for the night and gives me an idea of where he will take his fledgling label in the upcoming years.

Mixing the second half of this set is Asura, the creative alias of Ryan York. York has a background chock full of classical jazz, electronic, and modern classical education and experience and brings that to the table in his tracks. With an organic approach to his pieces, the simple sounds mixed in obscenely complex patterns take on a life of their own. Standing there, I felt like I was drowning amongst living, breathing beats, pops, and thumps. Live, he is dynamic, mixing completely improbable sounds. It’s mind-numbing and liberating all at once, a veritable experience of noise in its truest form. A favorite of mine was “Timber” featuring Ana Caravelle, another Non Projects composer, whose ghostly voice lends even more embodiment to the static, staccato base track being mixed by York.

The overall experience of these two was completely and utterly thought provoking and a little intense to be honest. I decided I needed a change of pace and wandered over to the Red Eyed Fly in attempt at catching Marques Toliver. I had heard through the grapevine that he was exceptional, and I wasn’t disappointed. Walking into the back of the packed venue, I could hear him crystal clear and all I could compare him to is Jason Mraz, but with a little more soul thrown in. Not only can this man belt it out with the best of them, he is incredibly vocally talented. He combines his amazing voice with lyrics that hit home with such a passion it makes your chest hurt. Playing songs off his upcoming debut EP, Butterflies Are Not Free, he captivated the crowd and myself with an intensity that was almost scary. If he keeps following the same path, guaranteed his songs will start showing up on wedding playlists and on popular television series here shortly. I only happened to catch a few songs towards the end of his set, but I am bound and determined to get my hands on the EP when it comes out to see what other soulful tunes lay in store for the masses.

After all of this electronica and soul, I wanted something a little different. Heading to Emo’s Annex, I caught the American Scarecrows set. I’m not much into folk rock at all, but they could probably change my mind on that. “Wild Hearts” is their first “single” off the still untitled upcoming debut album, and is downright brilliant. Along the same vein of Counting Crows with a tiny bit of folk and country thrown in, and you have this incredibly addictive band out of Burnsville, Minnesota. They were incredibly fun and brought out a healthy dose of talent- something I really wasn’t expecting from a band that is practically nonexistent on the internet. I am stoked to see what they bring out with on the debut, especially if the live sound was anything like their recorded sound. I could definitely see them playing Austin City Limits or Bumbershoot, possibly even Coachella in the next few years, and hope to see them next year at SXSW with a bigger fanbase.

Back at Red Eyed Fly, I managed to squeeze my way into the Summer Camp set. When it comes to lo-fi pop, they are probably one of my new favorite bands in the genre. Despite the technical difficulties, this adorably entertaining duo had the crowd singing and dancing along. Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey make up Summer Camp, with both of them doing a mix of vocals, and Jeremy playing the guitar, making the tracks simple and sweet. Vaguely reminiscent of Tennis and Spectral, if you’re into that vein. They were a perfect complement to the now slightly breezy, warm, almost summer night and I could tell that the festival was really finding its pace for the year. With their debut out this spring, their tracks “Ghost Train” and “I Want You” are both catchy and perfect for the upcoming summer season.

I decided to go a little more mainstream at this point and head down to ACL Live at the Moody Theater. I run and catch a pedicab across town (a godsend after wandering with 32 lbs of gear up and down Red River) to make it in time to catch DeVotchKa. Turns out the pedicab driver is a bass player in a band playing here at SXSW on Sunday night and invites me to come see them play (my flight leaves at 6 pm that evening).  He gets me there just in time for me to make it into the photo pit before they come on.

If you’re like me, I never really got the hype around DeVotchKa. I could never really get into their tunes, could never really understand exactly WHY everyone claimed they were so great. I’m a connoisseur of gypsy styled music (I’ve seen Gogol Bordello a countless number of times), but just couldn’t seem to get into their sound. Seeing them live, I’m totally regretting not listening to them sooner. Celebrating the release of their fifth album, 100 Lovers, they rocked the Moody Theater. The Denver based band has been around for more than a decade and yet still hasn’t lost their touch- instead, it seems like they are gathering a bigger and better fanbase over the years and are still willing to adapt and change to meet the demands of the industry and their fans. With their success of the Little Miss Sunshine Soundtrack, for which they were nominated for a Grammy, they have finally found the time and funding to perfect their sound.

This was clearly apparent with their performance. They sounded polished, perfected, a little tighter than the last time I had listened to them (probably six years or so ago, when I first got into the gypsy scene), and seeing them live was damn near enlightening. They have put a lot of time and effort into making themselves who they are at this point. Live, they are a gypsy wedding band full of fun and contagious tunes and they not only bring forth a great sound, but some interesting elements to their live set. From acoustic bass to sousaphone, trumpet to accordion, viola to violin, Theremin to guitar- it’s all there. They are the proverbial gypsy band, through and through, especially with their extensive 2011 tour schedule booked. With a blend of Romani, Slavic, Greek, and Spanish influences, their folk cabaret style show is musically sound and visually appealing. They were the perfect opener for the night’s final act.

At 11:45 pm, the sound of bagpipes fills the Moody Theater. Flogging Molly comes out to a visibly excited crowd and plays one of the best live shows I have ever seen. If you’ve never seen Flogging Molly, you are sorely missing out. If you haven’t even heard of them, go Google them. I promise, I’ll wait.

With some of the best Celtic rock around these days, they kicked off St. Patrick’s day the right way. The crowd (drunkenly) sang along, the band really got into the show, and many of the photographers were dancing or singing along in the photo pit. The energy in the room was better than any other show I have ever seen, hands down. I have to say, the ACL Live stage was one of the better venues I got the privilege of shooting over the course of the week, and coupled with this amazing band, it was the proverbial perfect show. The lighting was amazing, the sound and acoustics were more than decent, and I had a blast. For an Irish girl to kick of St. Patrick’s Day with a Celtic rock band, I couldn’t have had a better first day. I had finally hit my festival stride and wasn’t quite ready to call it quits for the night.

Grabbing our gear, two other Seattle based rocktographers and myself trekked from the ACL theater all the back up to the Red River venue of Stubb’s in hopes of catching Duran Duran. However, the line was long and security told us that there was no way we were going to be able to get in to shoot. We stood around and listened for a bit (they actually were pretty amazing live) before heading back to our respective lodgings for the night.

Along the journey back you could hear the surrounding venues, clubs, and bars starting to celebrate the holiday. SXSW Music had just started and was nowhere near over.

(Look for the rest of my SXSW coverage coming soon!)

Find the artists here:

Anticon Records
Asura and Anenon
Ana Caravelle
Non Projects
Marques Toliver
American Scarecrows
Summer Camp
DeVotchKa
Flogging Molly
Duran Duran

SXSW

Check out more Day 1 photos here!

Adam Duritz, the lead singer for popular rock band Counting Crows, took the time to talk to talk to Joshua from PopWreckoning during their Kansas City stop on the Traveling Circus tour.

They talk about everything from the band, side projects to the music business.

Counting Crows’ Traveling Circus and Medicine Show Tour wraps up Tuesday, August 24 at the Ravinia Festival in Illinois.

Joshua, Popwreckoning: Your band formed in 1991. So over the last 19 years, how have the drastic shifts in the business of music changed the way your band works?

Adam Duritz, Counting Crows: We formed in ’89.

PW: I see. Wikipedia fails me again. Well then, in the last 21 years, how have the drastic shifts in the music industry altered how your band approaches music.

AD: Well, I think, at the time, there was a lot of constant interaction with the record labels. Um, at the the time, we gave away a lot of money for full creative control and to choose the label we ended up with. We were in a bidding war and there was a lot of money from other labels, but we gave that up to be on DDC and work with our current manager. At the time that label was kind of approaching music in an alternative way of how things were done in music. He was creating a lot of modern music in that time. Nirvana, The Sundays, Peter Gabrielle: the list goes on and on. There were just so many great bands. There was all this music that you look back now and are like the bedrock of what modern music is. And they’re so eclectically gifted too. But at the time, I mean, Nirvana was playing the kind of music that no one was looking at until then. And that of course became a part of a huge movement.

And I think that we were an Indie-College Radio band from San Francisco who also were playing music that didn’t sound like anyone else’s music. Especially stuff like “Round Here.” It was nothing like anything else at the time. Like The Posies, bringing back the guitar rock, using piano half the time. There was just so many great bands that were there. And that’s a major thing about it.

The other thing was the money and creative control. It’s something we needed later when Gary left, but at the time it was what was important because we could really collaborate with record companies. We were contacted by a lot of guys who were very musically inclined, very talented, very creative, very daring. They were willing to take very fun bands and be willing to be quite visionary about what to do with them. They worked with their musicians. At the time we really did work with these record companies. I think that’s the biggest change we’ve gone through – that there was a time when labels like Geffen did exist and were collaborative. But as it went on it became more and more corporate and more and more consolidated. And I think the real disaster was the net. It’s not what killed them economically, but it did kill the business in terms of, um…the business recovered from the bit torrent thing, from Napster, but I think when iPods and iTunes came along, that killed it. Because once you can pass an album around and you can carry it in your pocket, there is not much reasoning for an album. But Napster killed it in the fact that they never really grasped the concept that the internet as a worldwide marketing tool. That’s what it is. It’s not a cash register. It’s really the most amazing tool ever in the fact that it connects you with every person in the world for free. You can reach everyone and all you have to do is put it out there. It’s better than radio. It really is. They’d rather pay radio millions and millions of dollars or to push their formats up the chart instead of realizing that people are not carrying radio in their pockets. They’re carrying their iPods. You only use radio if you’re driving. But the truth is they simply didn’t embrace the internet and it’s free. You still need smart marketing people to creatively know what to do with it, but you don’t have to pay for the land, you know? To pay for the space. People will take it, you know? They’re HAPPY to go to sites. And there are so many great websites. So many, big ones and midsized ones. There are a lot of people who love music. And, America is not a country with a lot of great music magazines. It hasn’t been for a long time. England first of all, they’ve always had so many. There are sites that review 100 plus albums a week or every month. But online, there are great sites. And there are times where I can be really closed off from the world. I don’t listen to radio or anything. But the internet makes it possible for people to come to me and say, “You have to listen to this band, they’re awesome.” On twitter, people just point me to music and they end up being great bands. But the thing is, we are on the verge of being on the edge of a total golden age of music. Where all kinds of new fresh rock and roll can get born again. Because Rock and Roll is on the verge of dying and being replaced by these massive acts that labels are choosing to spend millions and millions of dollars on, but the internet puts us back into punk rock. It puts us back into rock and roll.

PW: Okay.

AD: Sorry, that went really long.

PW: No, you’re fine. I’m a huge fan of detailed answers. I guess though on kind of the same note, you guys have always been very supportive of both recording and the trading of your shows, or bootlegs. How do you think that that with the help of the internet has helped the artist and/or hurt the industry? Because the industry itself has always seemed to kind of frown on it, but you’ve always been very supportive.

AD: Well, I think the industry was foolish to frown on it in the first place because once you’ve bought the record there is nothing more to get. You know what I mean? Except to go see them live. You might do that. But the things that were there were these live recordings. And the more you listen to a live recording and the more that you like it the more likely you are to give it to a friend who’ll end up going to buy their record. It’s just another way to get music out there that would otherwise just end up going unheard. So it was always harmless. It was always silly to not like it.

I can understand not wanting to give away your record entirely, while I could still see giving away songs for free as a good idea. And, in some cases I think giving away the whole record could be a good idea, but it was always silly to not give it away live. I mean, take me for instance. I have a wall of CDs and DVDs and records. But the thing is, I think we are a good live band and I want people to hear it. I want as many people as possible to hear that music. Because I love listening to live music. It’s like, you got the album already by the Counting Crows, so here’s the concert. If you want to record, record. I mean, bring your video camera. When we had Saturday Night, Sunday Morning coming out, I was just encouraging everyone to bring their cameras out. Bring your video cameras. Because if I want to play a song that’s on the new record, you’re going to put it on Youtube today. So, go ahead. It’s like promoting our record before it comes out.

I’ve never understood why there is such an antagonism between fans and bands and record labels. It gets this whole anger about which bands are trying to pull the wool over your eyes and shit. And the media tends to pick up on that as well. The writing becomes very venomous and I’ve never really understood that. If you love it and get it, then you want to foster some goodwill you know? If people like your music, give them more. You weren’t going to sell it anyway. Or else, find a place to sell it, you can do that, too. Maybe people want a better copy so you can make that available. But like, you want to make as much connection as you can with everyone. So, why not make the connection. Which brings us back to the internet and what hasn’t been done.

PW: I can see that. I’m going to rush you a little as we only have about a minute. So I’m going to ask you kind of a quick question not completely surrounding the Counting Crows. I’d like to discuss with you a wonderful album I recently discovered by Kid Lightning. He recorded a song, “Barely Out of Tuesday,” which you wrote. I kind of wanted to hear your thoughts on the album, his version of the recording and why you think, for being such a beautiful album, it simply wasn’t noticed as much as it should be.

AD: When I started my first record label for Dave‘s band, Gigolo Aunts, we also worked with Joe 90. He and members of Joe 90 formed Lowstar together. We lived together for ten years. We also made a movie together, that he wrote. I think Dave is a brilliant songwriter. Gigolo Aunts and Counting Crows came out about the same time and worked together. We opened on different ends of the same tour with The Cranberries. Then we went on tour together.

I think that album is really beautiful. I think it didn’t get noticed because it wasn’t really on any label. I think if it came out now, it would have a better chance thanks to the internet. I’m hoping that after the movie is made, since his real life is one of the characters in the movie. It’s kind of about a bunch of townie art colony fuck-ups. I’m kind of hoping that after that people get to hear his music, because a little bit of it is on that, there’s a Lowstar song, but I think it’s a beautiful, beautiful record.

The funny thing about “Barely Out of Tuesday” is that I had forgotten I’d written it. I’d written it a long time ago with an ex-girlfriend. I played piano and she came up with the chords and we blended it together. And well, we don’t get along, so I’ve never used the song. But neither of us had a copy of the song. He just sort of sat down one day and wanted to do it from memory. And strangely enough, remembered most of it. I mean, there was a verse in there that he got all wrong and was kind of made up I wrote that song in 1996. That recording is from maybe a decade later. I don’t know how he came up with that off the top of his head. I think he did a great job with the song and the album as whole is beautiful. That’s the kind of record I hope will get the attention it deserves in the future. That’s the kind of record that could draw attention now.

We’re building a website called Underwater Sunshine. It’s not a Counting Crows website at all. But we’ll be involved in it. We are building it from scratch. It is going to involve like magazine, film, dvd, and music. It’ll be a forum that anyone can write on it. Short films. And our film, there will be clips from that. We will keep the Counting Crows archives there. We will have my blog there. Then links to the Facebook. We are going to do a jukebox. Everything on there will have a link where you can go buy it. We’re going to get people to do podcasts. Everything on the Podcast will be listed with links where you can purchase it. We plan to release the Notar record there, our rapper. Counting Crows stuff will be there. The soundtrack for the movie and the artists. I want the entire soundtrack to be a free download. The deal is, we give away that one song as a free download. But right behind it, we link it to your whole album or all your albums. We will sell them there. And it is all digital, so there is no overhead. So we can afford to sell things really cheap. So we give all the money to the bands. I’m hoping that it’ll be a place that I can find many different things to attract people.

People say it is fragmented. But you’ll come for a sports article or something and see Counting Crows. You’ll come for Counting Crows and find independent rock music. You’ll come for independent rock music and find, shit I don’t know, the movie. Come for the movie and find Kid Lightning. The idea is to cross pollinate with the internet. I’m hoping that there are sites like that and sites like yours, that these places will become more and more essential to the culture than records. Like, the Kid Lightning record, records like that in the future you’ll be able to get at place where you’ll go. It’ll be less like a band’s website where you go only if you care about that band and more like a home entertainment center.

You’ll go there like you go to your blog. Have fun. Listen to bands that you like. Watch a movie. Find things to read about music and art and interesting people. You’ll listen to radio shows and podcasts and through that discover all sorts of new music and new films and old films. Shit you didn’t know. But it’s more like home entertainment. We’re going to launch it in the fall when we release the Notar record. We’re also going to launch Counting Crows live stuff on there. A lot of other material. So, I can’t wait for stuff like that. That Kid Lightning record is fantastic and most people have never heard it.

PW: It’s a shame man. This whole thing sounds fantastic.

AD: Thanks, man.

PopWreckoning is giving away tickets to Red, White and Boom on July 6 at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City. The line up features Counting Crows, Barenaked Ladies, Kris Allen, Augustana and Angel Taylor.

There is one pair of tickets up for grabs, and the contest will end at 12:00 p.m. the day of show. Winners’ tickets will be at the door when you arrive at the show. Please also include your full name and email in the comment so that we can get in touch with the winners of the contest.

Winning is easy, simply complete the following steps:

1. Comment in this article with the answer to this question: Counting Crows received an Academy Award nomination for what song and in what film was it featured? PopWreckoning staff will read your answers and choose from the correct ones the day of show.

2. Repost this article on either your facebook, twitter, myspace, blog, website or other social media tool. Spread the wealth, then send us the link (by posting it in your comment).

Then, best (and easiest) of all, show up at the venue and enjoy the show, compliments of PopWreckoning. Good luck!