SXSW Experience: The Heavy Guilt

I traveled to Austin with The Heavy Guilt, but they spent the majority of their days and nights busking while I had some SoundDiego/Casbah/sddialedin things I had to do, so I still asked the band to share their afterthoughts. This is from Sean Martin, guitarist of The Heavy Guilt. They will be performing tonight at the Casbah in the Atari Lounge. If you went to Texas and didn't hear from me, feel free to answer the questions and shoot'em over to me for posting. 

Did you drive or fly? Any travel stories you'd like to share?

We drove. Too many stories. Al and Rosey were beside me the whole time and write more eloquent than me, but...

I noticed the sky a lot during my travels. San Diego has some plush atmosphere, so it was quite obvious I was not at home. The fiery nature and general bigness of a Texan sky definitely reinforces the vast 'big' sterotype to be true at it's source. Pretty awesome.
The cats in Transfer captured its essence best.
Arizona also presented venus, jupiter & the moon at eye level around 4 am, Wednesday morning.

Did you play? If so, when and where?

A primal & mobile incarnation of the Heavy Guilt hit The Sahara Lounge, The Whole Foods Tent
& about a dozen guerilla sets in the streets of Austin. Primarily on 6th St.

Any memorable or standout moments from your own shows?

Multiple feelings of exhilaration and exhaustion. The final time we were shut down by the fuzz on Saturday was kinda epic. The police Austin were pretty flexible and seemed to get a kick out of slapping our wrists, tongue in cheek.

Did you catch any parties or showcases of note?

I caught a full on shred metal band roguing on the cobblestone.
I applauded their approach synonymous to The Guilt, as I housed several breakfast tacos from The Flaming Cantina. Sad I missed the Heartless Bastards. Guess I'll spot them at the Belly Up next month. Erikka Wennerstom's guitar playing influenced my playing before I went into the studio last year.

Will you go back as a band or fan in 2013?

2013 seems hopeful.

Any wrapup thoughts, lessons learned, crazy moments, cool tales to share?

Radiohead is awesome. Along with the Immortal Technique and Austin BBQ.
Al Howard really is a shaman.
We are spoiled in San Diego. Any fluctuation in weather is rats on my tools for playing music.
I broke 6 strings and all of my fingernails.
It was great to see other San Diego bands hustlin hard. Little Hurricane threw down and turned some heads.
Lesson 1 stay hydrated and breathe.
Lesson 2 learn lesson 1 & the rest fall in place.

On our drive back from Texas, we hit massive dust storms, heavy wind, and a crazy snowstorm when we hit Pine Valley that we learned shut down the highway just a couple hours after we passed through it. This is some of that footage taken from the back bench that I shared with Sean (best to watch in HD).

SXSW Experience: Little Hurricane

There were so many San Diego bands in Austin this year that it was impossible to see everyone while we were there, so I asked some locals to share their SXSW experiences. This is from Little Hurricane. The band is performing tonight at TNT at the MCASD downtown with The Howls. If you went to Texas and didn't hear from me, feel free to answer the questions and shoot'em over to me for posting. 

How long were you in Austin (from when to when)? 
The 12th-18th, as well as a show the week before on 3/10


Did you drive or fly? Any travel stories you'd like to share?
We drove, since we were on tour the month before. The drive was pretty mild, but got terrifying on the way back in New Mexico when we hit a dust storm, with 70MPH gusts and then returned to a snow storm in California!

Did you play? If so, when and where?
We played The Hype Hotel, Beauty Bar, The Lonestar Riverboat, Auditorium Shores, and Buffalo Billiards

How were your crowds? The venues?
The crowds were amazing, the venues/ soundguys varied. Auditorium Shores was one of our biggest shows and stages to date! Opening for The Shins was awesome and totally unexpected!


Any memorable or standout moments from your own shows?
The show on the Riverboat was pretty memorable. We got to see the city while playing music and drinking Shiner on a riverboat! Who could ask for more?!

Did you catch any parties or showcases of note?
We went to an awesome house party across the street from Stubbs. It was a great way to end the festival- with an open bar!

Will you go back as a band or fan in 2013? 
We'll be back in Austin this year for sure!.

Any wrapup thoughts, lessons learned, crazy moments, cool tales to share?
Last year we got a huge break from a flyer we handed out at SXSW. We would never have gotten to play the shows we had this year had we not gone last year and promoted our band. SXSW is worth it no matter how small or big you may be.

The band has a pretty solid press package circulating to blogs. If you'd like to read it, click the jump.

Little Hurricane featured in Sport Illustrated Swimsuit Video

Tons of good things have been happening for Little Hurricane over the past year and as the band is about to set off for more touring and performing several showcases at SXSW, the band's song was recently used in a promo video for the release of Sports Illustrated's annual Swimsuit Issue. Each model's shoot was paired with a song- catch Little Hurricane soundtrack Genevieve Morton's shoot.

Catch Tone and CC at the Casbah on April 28. Tickets are onsale now.

America's Cup Racing Series Kicks Off In San Diego

Penalty!

I'm at the America's Cup Village at the moment. I scored press credentials which means that I might hang out here during the week for a change of scenery while I take advantage of their wi-fi and learn a thing or two about racing. sailing. catamaraning. I dunno...maybe I'll pick up the lingo while I'm here. I'm also going to strategically sat by some Spanish media guys. I love hearing castellano.

I ran into Halloran and met the stage managers and they told me the listings had been updated but it appears that the site still has the vague spaceholders for the Battle of the Bands slots. They told me that Abandon The Raft, Illuminauts, Black Hondo, and one more qualified- the name escapes me now-but they didn't tell me what order they qualified. I heard Jamuel Saxon is playing on Friday, too, but I don't know what time. So yeah, I'm not very useful right now but thought I'd update what I know since I'm here now. I changed the link to the banner ad at the top of my site, so you should be able to get those updates when the ladies post from the office.

Wednesday, November 16 - Agua Dulce (4:15)
Thursday, November 17 - The Silent Comedy (8:15) , Little Hurricane (7pm), The Donkeys (5:15)
Friday, November 18 - Chromeo DJ Set (8:30), K.Flay (7:45), The Soft Pack (6:30), Earth Amplified (4:15)
Saturday, November 19 - Diplo (8:15), Hyena (7pm), The Chain Gang of 1974 (5:45)
Sunday, November 20- The Cataracs (5pm)







Obviously there is going to be massive press coverage (this media room is MASSIVE), but here are some quick photos I shot. More photos after the jump.

Agua Dulce soundcheck

America's Cup Village Is Coming...and Bringing FREE Concerts!!!

The America's Cup doesn't take place until 2013, but for many years it was an institution here in San Diego, so it is fitting that the first America's Cup World Series event is taking place right here in our own backyard (if you consider the Big Bay your backyard). Even if you know nothing about the regatta, the great thing for you is that the organizers are making a big party out of it. So even if that means they're trying to attract a younger demographic to care about the sport and earn eyeballs for advertisers by bribing you, I'd say that if someone wants to throw a free multi-day event and book awesome FREE CONCERTS, I'm all for it. (There is a suggested donation of $10 for Ocean Conservation Projects)

The concerts will take place at the America's Cup Village (Broadway & Navy Pier on Harbor Drive) each day immediately after racing ends so set times are approximate. There is also a Battle of the Bands taking place, so if you think your band has the chops to play, I highly suggest entering (click the battle of the bands flyer below or the banner at the top of my site). A little bird may have told me that there has only been ONE ENTRY so far, and though they reserve the right to not book anyone, it's a great opportunity to get in front of a lot of eyeballs and the contest closes on Sunday. Halloran will be hosting each night's events.

Wednesday, November 16 - Agua Dulce (4:15)
Thursday, November 17 - The Silent Comedy (8:15) , Little Hurricane (7pm), The Donkeys (5:15)
Friday, November 18 - Chromeo DJ Set (8:30), K.Flay (7:45), The Soft Pack (6:30), Earth Amplified (4:15)
Saturday, November 19 - Diplo (8:15), Hyena (7pm), The Chain Gang of 1974 (5:45)
Sunday, November 20- The Cataracts (5pm)

Newsy Bits: @T_R0Y, @LilHurry, @WavvesWavves, @gopband, @JoshDamigo & more

Today is an email cleanout day, so I'm gonna post some random stuff. Some of it is old news, some of it really old news, but in case you hadn't heard....

Troy Johnson has a new TV show! His Food Network series, Crave, makes its debut tonight at 8:30 pm. David Moye wrote about it for HuffPo here and you can see Troy's first blog for the network here. Check out the video that landed Troy the gig.

After playing SXSW and Lollapalooza and winning Album of The Year and Best Alternative Album at the San Diego Music Awards, Little Hurricane will be playing at this year's Austin City Limits, return to San Diego for the San Diego Music Thing, and then hit the road as tour support for Manchester Orchestra. The duo is playing a not-so-secret free show on Tuesday night (21+) in San Diego. I'm not supposed to tell you until tomorrow, so check back in the morning.

Last week (and as already reported in CityBeat), San Diego's Grand Ole Party announced they would be releasing their sophomore album, Under Our Skin. According to the press release, "In early 2009, the band went in the studio with producer Ben H. Allen (Animal Collective, Deerhunter, Gnarls Barkley) and recorded a new record - finished in July 2009." By August of that year they broke up, JP was off working on stuff with The Hot Moon and later with releasing solo work as Vegetarian Werewolf and Kristin, as Dee Dee, blew up all over the blogosphere with the Dum Dum Girls. The band is still broken up, but the full record comes out tomorrow. Grab a free download of the single, 'All Night' below.

And, not to be outdone, Wavves was chosen by MTV to serve as guest composer for their new scripted series, "I Just Want My Pants Back" under the music supervision of Nic Harcourt. The show premiered last night after the Video Music Awards and featured Wavves' "I Want To Meet Dave Grohl". Music from the episode, which also featured Pepper Rabbit, Saint Motel and more, can be downloaded here.

Last week, my friend Sal Filipelli's home was burglarized and all of his gear was stolen, including 3 guitars, a bass, two computers, two recording microphones, a car stereo, piano tuning tools, and an ipod. You can see photos of all of the equipment here if you have any information or see anything shady while you're perusing craig's list, hit him up on Facebook.

And while I'm speaking of burglary, Josh Damigo was hit for the 4th time. His San Diego apartment was broken into twice before he relocated to LA, and now his car has been hit for the second time (while parked in secured parking). People suck. But forget the burglaries, why don't you just prove that most people don't suck, and help with his next record and donate generously to his Kickstarter campaign?

Back to the inbox. It seriously feels like it never ends...

Friday the 13th: Low Volts CD Release Party @ The Casbah!

It's an EXTRAVABONANZA!!! Celebrate the release of the debut record 'Twist Shake Grind Break' by Low Volts 'one-man-band'. Performances by: Low Volts, Little Hurricane, Restavrant and Stephen Rey & the Slicks! Many surprises in store including the debut of 'The Hi-Watts'!! Beautiful people, good souls and a DOOZY of a great time are in order!! Mark your calendars now for Friday the Thirteenth in May where good luck awaits all who join us!

Check out the teaser vid!

You Can Wreck My Home Anytime... You Dirty Little Homewreckers...

Give Em Hell

little hurricane | Myspace Music Videos

Okay, so this post isn't going to win me any awards or probably teach you anything new, but If you're new to San Diego, and didn't know, The San Diego Music Award winning duo, Little Hurricane's new record, "Homewrecker" just dropped on itunes and if it doesn't win something at the SDMA's this year, then I'm going to hand them one of mine. (I'm just a pussy-lipped singer/songwriter with open mic generics anyways...) I've already listened to the album thrice, and my ears won't quit making out with my headphones. @LILHURRY's frontman, Tone, has a voice that is about ready to explode, and if you haven't met CC, then you've possibly missed the hottest drummer San Diego's ever known. (I'm totally gonna research chick drummers in SD and do a post on it... so feel free to nominate the hottest chick drummers in the "comments" section.

The best way to describe their sound is to say that they're a mix of dirty blues and california surf. They're similar to the Black Keys, White Stripes, or Cage the Elephant, but with Jon Foreman's (Switchfoot) voice. The album is wicked consistent with great songs like "Sweet Pea", "Homewrecker" and "Give Em Hell". They are a "MUST SEE" whenever they're in town and they'll be playing at SXSW 3 or 4 times this week. (You can see where on their myspace.) They are having their album release at the Casbah on April 2nd with Get Back Loretta, River City, and Low Volts. (Why it's not a "Featured" concert is beyond me... get with it, Casbah...) (9:00 start time, buy your tickets before it sells out.) (Also... if you guys want me to play a tambourine or sell merch... I will... seriously...)

I only have a small critique on the album. I've seen them play live 3 or 4 times, and I know Tone can go off even bigger on his vocals than he showed on these tracks. I would have loved to sit in the studio with them and have him scream into the mic so that it ruined his voice for a month and a half. I feel like he held a little bit of the dirtiness back, but on the other hand, CC did do a great job on her vocals. (I know that's kind of a critique, but I'm a pitch guy, ask Holslin... and even perfect 10's can miss a note or two...)

If they don't follow this album with a live record, I will go on a hunger strike and camp outside of the San Diego Zoo flinging poo at people. (That one was for you, Rosey... You go to the San Diego Zoo too much... Me and Tim Pyles both agree. I'm also not mad that you didn't invite me to SXSW, but still asked me to write in the blog. Whatever.) I'm gonna go ahead and call it now- when their live record comes out, it better win a SDMA or I'll give them my other one.

This album and band are so good, Seth Combs would probably clap once or twice.

Buy it on itunes now.

*no homes were wrecked during the writing of this blog