SXSW is more than just music and parties. It is chance to see what various companies have to offer the participants at SXSW. The SXSW exhibit hall is where you can see what these companies are up to.  From Microsoft to the Embassy of Spain, there are all types of businesses promoting something.  So I visit some of these booths to asked them about what they are promoting.

One of the most interesting things I saw in the exhibit hall was several web companies promoting applications to help artists, bands, labels, promoters with their craft.  One company I talked to is based out of the UK called BandCentral.  I got a chance to interview Wil Padley who is the founder of this really unique band/artist management tool.  The tool is very similar to the collaborative web app Base Camp, but geared for artists and bands. BandCentral offers a variety of tools like gig management, file storage, internal communication, fan manager, tasks lists, finance manager, and a social network manager to help a band and artist be organized for a small monthly fee.  I talked to Wil on why he created BandCentral, how it works, and more. Plus we talked a little about his band, The Domino State.  You can actually download one of their songs for free. Check out the interview with Wil Padley below.

This Oubliette by The Domino State

Click here to view the embedded video.

Detroit band Death & Blogger Rob Fields

One of the coolest things about SXSW is the chance to meet people in person who you only know via the internet.  I actually bumped into Rob Fields while on a smoke break.  He blogs for one of my favorite blogs called Bold As Love (name of a Hendrix song). The blog focuses on black rock and alternative music. You can read more about his thoughts on black rock here. Here is a statement from his blog about the mission:

I’m Rob Fields and I started Bold As Love to provide a platform for people–particularly African Americans–to discover Black rock music. I also want to explore how the increasing prominence of Black rock is impacting Black imagination and how we conceive of and understand ourselves in the world. I believe that Black rock can save Black culture and ultimately change this country for the better.

Rob was also the moderator for a panel interview with the legendary Detroit band Death. People have considered the band Death as the pre-cursor to what we know as punk music. The band formed in 1971 and consisted of three brothers. In 2009, Drag City records released all seven Death recordings on CD and LP under the title …For the Whole World to See (from Wikipedia). Take time and visit Death’s MySpace page. Listen to the interview with blogger Rob Fields as he discussed the panel, and black rock music in general.

Part 1: Interview with Rob Fields from Bold As Love

Part 2: Interview with Rob Fields from Bold As Love

Click here to view the embedded video.

Also NPR did a story on the band Death.  I love the album, and highly recommend you take a listen.

Listen: With an operation as massive as SXSW, featuring as many bands as they do, variety is an unavoidable fact. Even within a showcase, there can be a huge swings in style and tone. Take Milwaukee-based experimental rock band Collections of Colonies of Bees as an example — I saw them take the Team Clermont stage after retro indie-pop act Jeremy Jay and before experimental-folk band Califone. In fact, later that day, they shared a showcase with human exclamation mark, Andrew WK! The perfect spot for broad taste and forward thinking music.

Before he had to jump on stage, I caught up with Chris Rosenau for a quick interview:

Their performance was a blur of rigid melody, disarming builds, and that chugging Collections of Colonies of Bees sheen. Check out a track I recorded live:

Does Collections of Colonies of Bees sound as good in Austin as they do in Milwaukee? I’d say so:

And I’m sure you’ll have your chance to see them yourself back in Milwaukee sometime soon!

One of the most talked about groups in 2010 is not a indie rock band, or some hipster electro artist,  but a string band from North Carolina that goes by the name of Carolina Chocolate Drops. The Carolina Chocolate Drops are a traditional black string band that formed back in 2005.

Being young and living in the 21st century, the Chocolate Drops first hooked up through a yahoo group,  Black Banjo: Then and Now (BBT&N) hosted by Tom Thomas and Sule Greg Wilson. Dom was still living in Arizona, but in April 2005, when the web-chat spawned the Black Banjo Gathering in Asheville, N.C., he flew east and ended moving to the Piedmont where he could get at the music first hand.

You can hear their cover of Blu Cantrell’s “Hit Em Up Style” on 88Nine RadioMilwaukee.  I got a chance to see them in an intimate setting here at SXSW.  Below are some recordings of their performance, plus a couple of videos (coming soon).  Definitely, do not sleep on the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Carolina Chocolate Drops – “Cornbread & Butterbeans” Live from SXSW 2010

Carolina Chocolate Drops – “Snowden’s Jig” Live from SXSW 2010

Carolina Chocolate Drops – “Durangs Hornpipe” Live from SXSW 2010

Listen: After a long and uneventful 22 hour drive from Milwaukee to Austin, we tracked down Milwaukee rockers Invade Rome the night before their spot at the Muzzle of Bees Showcase. Probably a little bleary eyed after all the hours staring at the road, they were gracious enough to sit down with Tarik for an interview. In this audio piece, they discuss why they temporarily uprooted their normal lives and made the big trek down to Austin for SXSW:

Here is the full, uncut interview with Tarik — they get into past experiences at SXSW, the Milwaukee music scene, what they look forward to seeing at SXSW, their thoughts on Austin and a lot more:

Super nice guys! I’ve actually never seen them in Milwaukee, and I can’t wait to see them play with home field advantage when I get back.

Listen: In crafting a showcase for SXSW, Ryan from Muzzle of Bees managed to snag an awesome cross section of Milwaukee’s music scene — a little bit of this, a little bit of that, all top notch. During the process of getting it all together, Ryan said he felt a bit like a coach putting together a lineup for the big game, filling each slot with some purpose and meaning.

So who batted leadoff for the Bees? Milwaukee’s favorite post-rock orchestra, Group of the Altos. Moving from the delicate and contemplative to the soaring and intense, the Altos seemed to make a crowd materialize from nowhere with their inspired set. I’ve seen them a number of times, and they’ve never never sounded as good as they did in the Austin morning sun. Listen to a track I recorded from their set:

After the show, Group of the Altos’ very affable and awesome trumpeter, Brenden Benham, gave me a wonderful interview. We talked about his trip down to Austin, the Altos, and how he wrote an e-mail that led to him touring with the spectacular Broken Social Scene:

Below, check out a picture of myself and Brenden, who became old pals during the course of our interview.

Listen: Last year,  Kings Go Forth got a ton of love for the Milwaukee Music Awards, as they swept almost every award we gave out. Most relevantly, we gave them our “Most Likely To Blow Up Award,” and they really came through — since then, they’ve been signed on David Byne-established Luaka Bop Records, got some great reviews, prepped their album for release, and are slated to play some big shows on the Coasts in the coming months.

There were a good number of folks at their Muzzle of Bees showcase, none paying closer attention than Yale Evelev, President of Luaka Bop Records. After their show, I caught Yale for an interview, and he told me the unlikely story of how he discovered Kings Go Forth through a BMX biking video:

Here’s the full interview I did with Yale — we get into how Kings Go Forth fit into the Luaka Bop stable, what he thinks is coming next for Kings Go Forth, and more:

Like Yale, I hope we’ll be seeing them playing a lot more shows in the near future.

Listen: On SXSW Music’s Thursday, for whatever reason, Milwaukee bands seemed to be playing all over town, all day, one after the other. In addition to the wonderful Muzzle of Bees Showcase, Juiceboxxx had a few spots, Collection of Colonies of Bees played a few shows (including playing on the same card as Andrew W. K.), etc. It had me running up and down 6th Street until my legs were sore.

As I’ve quickly learned to expect in my few days at SXSW, the highlight of my day was a surprise. I heard through the grapevine that Gordon Gano (amongst other things, lead singer of the Violent Femmes) was playing a showcase just a few blocks away, so I ran over and caught the end of his set on an outdoor stage. Perfect person to talk to when covering Milwaukee at SXSW, right?

I love seeing Gordon play, with the Violent Femmes or otherwise, but I’ve always been itching to ask him one question. We both went to the same high school (Rufus King), and while we graduated years apart from each other, Gordon’s name was still strong in the school’s lore. My 10th grade English teacher, Ms. Minga, told me that Gordon had once sung a song at a National Honor Society induction at King, but things had gone terribly wrong. Her details were a little sketchy, so I took this opportunity to have Gordon straighten out the story:

Proto-Femmes playing at Rufus King High School! My alma mater! If you like that story, here’s the full interview with Gordon, where a lot of the details are filled in:

Seriously, talking to Gordon Gano I’d never been so star struck in my life. And he was so nice! Stay tuned for more!

Milwaukee’s Juniper Tar made the trip from Milwaukee to Austin to play few shows during SXSW including the Muzzle of Bees Showcase that went down yesterday, March 18th. 88Nine’s got to chance to sit down with Jason Mohr from Juniper Tar to talk about their trip and their SXSW experiences.

Juniper Tar (Jason Mohr) Interview

Click here to view the embedded video.

Yesterday, before the Kings Go Forth show at the Muzzle of Bees showcase, I got a chance to talk to Andy Noble, founder of Kings Go Forth, about his first love – record collecting. While he is not playing with Kings Go Forth at SXSW, he will be checking out record shops to look for some wax.  We talked about how he got started in record collecting, his first record, rules of record collecting and more.  Andy also tells some great stories while searching for that rare record.

“Some of the  world’s  best funk and soul  that was ever produced or ever cut to plastic was done in the state (Texas)…” – Andy Nobel

Part 1 of the interview: Andy discusses his beginnings into the world of record collecting:

Part 2 of the interview: Andy talks about the culture of record collecting and some of the unwritten rules:

Part 3 of the interview: Andy gives his advice to people who want to start record collecting:

Kings Go Forth’s debut album on Luaka Bop is do out in April 2010.

Listen to Andy Noble’s first record he ever purchased…

Click here to view the embedded video.