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Mrs. Magician plays at the club B.D. Riley’s on Sixth Street in Austin for SXSW. (Photo by Michael Mayer)

By Michael Mayer

San Diego’s Mrs. Magician has been making good garage-pop-punk since it released the excellent “Strange Heaven” in 2012. The long-anticipated second full-length, “Bermuda” is due in May and the band played some of the standout new material in its show at the cramped B.D. Riley’s in Austin.

Click here for Mrs. Magician’s website

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Liv Bruce, drummer for the New York queer punk band PWR BTTM talks between songs at the club ScratchHouse in Austin for SXSW. (Photo by Meri Simon)

By Michael Mayer
Photos by Meri Simon

PWR BTTM is New York’s best (only?) queer, drag punk rock band. Liv Bruce and Ben Hopkins took the stage in Austin in long gowns and overdone makeup and showed off great chops musically and lyrically. Sharp melodic hooks are packed under hard guitar and slashing drums (the two are both proficient at both instruments and trade off during the show). And the band writes a lot about dating and relationships, its principals’ orientation dictating a slightly different take than usual (“I wanna boi who keeps the bed warm while I shower.”)

Ben Hopkins of the New York queer punk band PWR BTTM plays at the club ScratchHouse in Austin for SXSW. (Photo by Meri Simon)

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Tedo Stone, left, previewed some songs from his upcoming album at the club Sidebar in Austin for SXSW. (Photo by Michael Mayer)

By Michael Mayer

Tedo Stone hails from Atlanta, where he grew up in a musical family and was playing in bands by the time he was 12. He started formulating his own material a few years ago and his sound bounced all over the place till his most recent release, “Marshes,” which combines a southern sensibility and pop/rock hooks and harmonies. His label, This is American Music, has specialized in artists that overlay a southern cast on folk, country and rock sounds and Stone’s album is a perfect example.

He wasn’t an official SXSW showcase artist, but still played six gigs, including a packed show at the club Sidebar as part of a contingent of Athens and Atlanta-based bands. His four-piece band sounded great and stretched out a couple of songs into extended and dynamic jams.

Click here for Tedo Stone’s Bandcamp site

Click here for the This is American Music site

Tedo Stone, right, played with his band at the club Sidebar in Austin during SXSW. (Photo by Michael Mayer)

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Lydia Loveless sings at the Motel San Jose’s SXSJ (South by San Jose) concerts in Austin for SXSW. The bass player is Ben Lamb. (Photo by Michael Mayer)

By Michael Mayer

Lydia Loveless has been on the rise for the last couple of years, her rock-country crossover sound (which is getting more rock all the time) winning over critics and record-buyers. But, and you read it here first, 2016 will be The Year Of Lydia!!

At her SXSW shows, the Ohio native played a number of absolutely outstanding songs that are due to be released shortly on her fourth album. And she is the subject a new documentary by director Gorman Bechard entitled “Who is Lydia Loveless?” And her live shows just continue to get better. She’s backed by her husband, Ben Lamb, on bass, a pair of great guitarists in Todd May and Jay Gasper, and a more recently added crack drummer in George Hondroulis.

She pulled from all her recent albums (and the new one) in her many SXSW sets. A lot of bands come to Austin and repeat identical setlists but Loveless gave the fans who followed her around town some variety. And there are so many great songs in her repertoire now, it can’t be seen as anything but win-win.

Check out this cool panoramic video shot of Lydia performing a new song, “Clumps.”

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Claire England and Peter Richards of Seattle’s Dude York play at Cheer Up Charlie’s in Austin for SXSW. (Photo by Meri Simon)

By Michael Mayer
Photos by Meri Simon

Discovering Dude York was a perfect little bit of South-by-Southwest-ness. I was seeing a band in Spider House, a venue up by the University of Texas campus with an indoor ballroom and a couple of outdoor stages. One of the bands outdoors finished and I knew I had to run across the street where I was hoping to catch another band. To get there I ran through the ballroom, where a trio was playing, something fast and something really catchy. But I raced across the street to see this other band, who it turned out had just finished. So I ran back to the outdoor Spider House stage, going again, through the ballroom where this same band was still playing, still cranking out infectious pop-punk hooks. I continued back outside and suddenly realized where I should be, and that was back inside, watching Dude York.

The trio has been a mainstay of the Seattle club scene the last few years, though bassist Claire England joined not long ago and has added a second songwriter along with Peter Richards. Her songs are a great addition (check out Love Is below). Both songwriters have a good handle on fast, fun, hooky punk and the band wowed a crowd at Cheer Up Charlie’s just off Sixth Street in the band’s official SXSW showcase appearance.

Click here for the Dude York website

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The Australian band Oh Pep! plays at the Parish in Austin for SXSW. (Photo by Meri Simon)

By Michael Mayer
Photos by Meri Simon

Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, Olivia Hally (Oh) and Pepita Emmerichs (Pep) are one of many artists who come over for SXSW, offering a foreigner’s take on Americana. The influences they cite on their blend of folk, pop and bluegrass include Ryan Adams, Gillian Welch, Andrew Bird, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, so they seemed to feel right at home in Austin and the crowds responded.

Hally plays guitar and sings in strong, versatile voice and Emmerichs adds mandolin and fiddle. They are backed by a bass player and drummer (yeah, heresy in the bluegrass world), filling out the sound nicely. They offered songs from the three EPs they’ve made since 2012, and from their upcoming debut full-length album. Oh Pep! made a big splash at the CMJ music marathon in New York last fall, and has been championed by NPR and the New York Times so a breakthrough seems imminent.

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John Moreland, an Oklahoma singer who was one of the most anticipated acts at SXSW, played during a daytime party at the club Bungalow in Austin. (Photo by Meri Simon)

By Michael Mayer
Photos by Meri Simon

John Moreland was a little ticked. The club where he’d just taken the stage was located tight between two other clubs on Austin’s trendy Rainey Street. Over the wall was a heavy metal band blasting away, and Moreland sat there armed only with an acoustic guitar. “Just turn my monitors way up, and let’s give this a try,” he said. And he picked the first notes of “Hang Me in the Tulsa County Stars,” the lead track on his remarkable “High on Tulsa Heat” album, and the crowd leaned in and the heavy metal band next door didn’t matter anymore. All that did was Moreland’s smoky voice, his raw, confessional lyrics and his masterful guitar work.

It was these songs (from the new album and his previous, “In the Throes”) that have pushed him onto every “must-see” list and got him booked just under fellow Oklahoman Leon Russell at this party, and invited to perform by Willie Nelson at a special SXSW-week shindig Willie throws at his ranch.

The success surprises even Moreland. In “Blacklist” he sings “This sure ain’t how I thought that it would feel to finally have made it … damn it’s overrated.” He certainly has paid his dues, playing in hardcore bands, self-producing records, all with little attention. But “In the Throes” in 2013 was the breakthrough. He got noticed in a lot of opening concert slots, including once very notably by MSNBC broadcaster Rachel Maddow, and landed some songs in TV’s “Sons of Anarchy.”

There’s an aching beauty in his folk-country songs that would be enough to open your heart to his music, but the melancholy in many of his songs completely pulls you in if you’re not there already.

In “Break My Heart Sweetly,” he sang,
“I swore the days were over, courting empty dreams,
I worshiped at the altar of losing everything …
I should be dealing with my demons, but I’m dodging them instead.”

There is a little hope, though, among the desperation. In “Gospel,” he sings,
“I wanna set fear on fire, and give dreaming a fair shot”
“And never give up whether anybody cares or not.”

The Oklahoma singer John Moreland paid tribute to his home state, as well as other subjects, in ink. (Photo by Meri Simon)

Click here for John Moreland’s website

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Max Kerman, lead singer of the Canadian band Arkells, plays at the Canadian Blast BBQ in Austin during SXSW. (Photo by Meri Simon)

By Michael Mayer
Photos by Meri Simon

Arkells are no stranger to SXSW. The Hamilton, Ontario, band has torn through Austin a few times before, always playing a zillion shows and leaving the newly converted in its wake. Their Canadian blue-eyed soul meets anthemic-rock sound is so made for the stage. This is a band that knows how to arrange a song, maximize its power and deliver it with passion and elan. Its shows are dance frenzies, with intense sing-along choruses and unexpected fun (lead singer Max Kerman loves to stroll into the crowd mid-song).

Their three albums are all gems (they’ve won four Juno awards, the Canadian Grammys) and this time they arrived with a clutch of new songs from the yet-to-be-released fourth album and it promises to be another great one.

For all its success in Canada, Arkells have yet to make a huge dent in the U.S. scene but there are lots of shows coming up in the spring and summer of 2016.

Click here for Arkells’ website

Max Kerman, lead singer of Arkells, jumps into the crowd at the Canadian BBQ in Austin for SXSW. (Photo by Meri Simon)

Anthony Carone, keyboard player for Arkells, at the Canadian BBQ in Austin for SXSW. (Photo by Meri Simon)

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Bassist and vocalist Becky Blomfield leads Milk Teeth, a punk band from Stroud, England, in its gig at the Des Moines Embassy in Austin for SXSW. (Photo by Michael Mayer)

By Michael Mayer

Milk Teeth went through some tough times to get to SXSW. Founded three years ago in the small town of Stroud, England, the band did the requisite touring in cramped vans, playing at the bottom of bills and eventually lost one of its original members. But two EPs helped spread its sound and they finally saw the release this year of their first full length album, Vile Child.

The band is first and foremost a thrashy punk band with appealing hooks and great vocals by bassist Becky Blomfield. But they add in a healthy dose of Seattle grunge, so much so that the band has come to hate hearing the “n-word” (Nirvana) in comparisons.

The recorded output includes some songs sung in a death growl, cookie-monster style by Josh Bannister, but his departure left Blomfield as the clear front person. Billy Hutton was recruited to take Bannister’s spot on tours but he mercifully mostly steers clear of the growling vocal style.

The band wowed a crowd packed into the dark Javelina club one night at SXSW, drummer Oli Holbrook and guitarist Chris Webb throwing themselves around the teeny stage in the punk fury. The band is now going through the same kind of growth stage in the U.S. that it went through in England, touring nationwide as the fourth band on a bill of groups that all starred at SXSW.

Click here for Milk Teeth’s website

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