Amyl and the Sniffers Doing Drugs Onstage
Lead singer, Amy Taylor, smashed her mouth on her mic at the Thrasher showcase, so she was already bleeding midway through her raucous set when she announced onstage “I heard there was a guy in Austin who makes his own poppers and calls it Double Scorpion” On cue, a guy in the front row holds up a bottle of poppers and invites her to sniff, and then the entire band proceeds to put down their instruments to line up and do poppers, delaying their set until they got a whiff, and then returned to said instruments and launched into the next song.
City Morgue Causes Bizarro Mayhem
Zillakami, one half of City Morgue, was arrested when he landed in Austin on an outstanding warrant. However, he also nearly incited a riot revving up the crowd at City Morgue’s Thrasher showcase. Moshing and stage diving left numerous fans bleeding, yet still smiling, while a dystopian crowd slammed into each other gleefully raging to the morbid trap-metal. When a fan is moshing around while holding a chucky doll, you know the scene is apocalyptic.
Otoboke Beaver Bull Rides A Fan
An all-female punk band from Kyoto that attacks the crowd with their music, literally attacked a crowd member at their showcase at the Main. Their aggressive music stylings and fast-paced delivery bubbled over to where guitarist, Yoyoyoshie, jumped on to a large fan in the front row and literally rode the fan around while shredding her guitar. The fan who had the guitarist’s legs wrapped around his head seemed to be more than fine with what had happened to him.
Band Survivor at Dozen St.
Some cringe worthy band turmoil took place at the unofficial showcases at Dozen St. bar on the East side. Band names will be withheld to save them the embarrassment but midway through a set, a bandleader informed his guitarist that his guitar was out of tune and instructed him to tune it. The guitarist was unable to tune his own guitar and literally walked out of the venue trying to find someone to tune his guitar. Upon not being able to tune it, the lead singer told the poor guitarist to leave the stage and that he was fired. Ouch! I was also informed by a house bartender of another firing, where a guitarist who had been playing out of key their entire show was given a lesson onstage by the lead singer, guiding his hands to the appropriate frets, until he gave up and fired the guitarist. SXSW-harshed on two counts!
David Fricke Makes An Appearance
If you are a music journalist, a Rolling Stone magazine fan, or just haven’t had your head in the sand for the last fifty years – you would know the name David Fricke. The former Rolling Stone editor and music review god suddenly materialized at the Brazilian music showcase at Lucille and jammed out to psychedelic vibes of Boogarins. The absolute legend was hanging out with Austin Chronicle cronys, Raoul Hernandez and Michael Toland. The guy who gave Cobain’s last interview, shined a light on 70’s punk and guided the world’s best rock magazine through its golden years was head nodding to the music just like the rest of us.