Over the years Charlotte, NC’s DIY music scene has grown from an underground hotbed to the mainstream thanks in part to Treasure Fest and Recess Fest, both festivals sharing a lot of similarities. Now in its third year, Treasure Fest takes place mostly in the Plaza Midwood area of Charlotte, with 70 + bands spread between 5 venues over 2 days.

The original idea of this preview was to find 5-10 bands to present as “must see acts”, but listening through the lineup, that’s something that’s nearly impossible. For old school indie rock, hardcore, or emo fans, this festival is a wet dream. Some people’s reaction might be “These types of bands still exist!?, while others will realize that not only do they still exist, but may be as strong as they ever were. A motivated scene, flourishing outside of the spotlight for now, Treasure Fest highlights some of the best bands you’ve probably never heard of from up and down the East Coast, including an array of locals.

This type of “scene” isn’t something that’s bustling in South Carolina yet, but one that thrives throughout North Carolina.

The heart of the festival bucks the popular festival trend of corporate sponsors, and spoon fed advertising, sticking with local sponsors that are embedded in the music scene with views aligning with Treasure Fest principles. Two day tickets are only $25, with most of the money going back towards expenses and paying out-of-town bands. That’s like .35 cents a band, so you’ll have more money for craft brews and PBR.

Again, highlighting just a handful of bands wouldn’t do this lineup justice. High energy bands run off high energy fans. Here’s a list of bands that are more our cup of tea.

South Carolina Bands

Big Awesome (Bluffton, SC)

Death Panels (Columbia, SC)

Rubrics (Greenville, SC)

Apart (Greenville, SC)

Highlights

Old Flings (Asheville, NC)

Muscle & Bone (Asheville, NC)

Motel Glory

Bo White Orquestra

Tyler Brown

Radio Reds (Greensboro, NC)

Red Collar (Durham, NC)

Sea of Storms (Richmond, VA- ex Mouthbreather)

Oddczar

Sundials (Richmond, VA)

Museum Mouth (Wilmington, NC)

Torch Runner (Greensboro, NC)

Viewfinder (Boone, NC)

Center of the Sun

Pullman Strike

Late Bloomer

One Another

Sinners & Saints

Lions to Lambs

Hectorina

Full Schedule

FRIDAY

***the milestone***

Oddczar 1:00- 1:30
Apart 12:15- 12:45
Barrow 11:30- 12:00
Irata 10:45- 11:15
Burners 10:10- 10:35 (side)
Au Revoir 9:35- 10:00
Kato 9:00- 9:25 (side)
Hemp Hill 8:25- 8:50

***snug harbor***

Temperance League 12:30- until
Scowl Brow 11:45- 12:15
One Another 11:00- 11:30
Franz Nicolay 10:00-10:45
Red Collar 9:00- 9:45
Center of the Sun 8:15- 8:45

Museum Mouth 7:35- 8:00
It Looks Sad 6:55- 7:20
Big Awesome 6:15- 6:40
Radio Reds 5:35- 6:00

***lunchbox records***

Sundials 11:45- 12:15
Muscle & Bone 11:00- 11:30
Sea of Storms 10:15- 10:45
Rubrics 9:30- 10:00
Means Well 8:45- 9:15
Viewfinder 8:00- 8:30

***tommy’s pub***

Hectorina  12:00-12:30
Secret Hospital 11:15- 11:45
Black Wine 10:30-11
Brick Mower 9:45-10:15
Black Market 9:00-9:30

***twenty two***

Tyler Brown 9:00- 9:45
Dollar Signs 8:15- 8:45
Mineral Girls 7:30- 8:00

SATURDAY

***the milestone*** 

Torch Runner 1:00- 1:30
Old Wounds 12:15- 12:45
Pig Mtn. 11:30- 12:00
Out Crowd 10:45- 11:15
Test of Time 10:10- 10:35 (side)
Just Die! 9:35- 10:00
Manalive 9:00- 9:25 (side)
Narratives 8:25- 8:50

***snug harbor***

Whatever Brains 1:15- until
Bo White Orquesta 12:30- 1:00
Wymyns Prysyn 11:45- 12:15
Double Negative 11:00- 11:30
Joint D≠ 10:15- 10:45

Chalkies 9:30- 10:00
No Tomorrow 8:45- 9:15
Unholy Thoughts 8:00- 8:30
Devil’s Hand 7:15- 7:45

Manic 6:15- 6:45
Stepdad SS 5:25- 6:00
Cheap Art 4:45- 5:10
Uniform 4:05- 4:30
Rogue Nations 3:25- 3:50
Death Panels 2:45- 3:10 (floor)

***lunchbox records*** 

Old Flings 12:30- 1:00
Mike Bell & the Movies 11:45- 12:15
Bandname 11:00- 11:30
Kicking Spit 10:15- 10:45
Nuclear Santa Claust 9:30- 10:00
No Love 8:45- 9:15
Late Bloomer 8:00- 8:30

***thirsty beaver***

Sinners & Saints 7:30- 8:15
Pullman Strike 6:30- 7:15
Lions to Lambs 5:45- 6:15

***common market***

Funky Geezer 11:15- until
Hungry Girl 10:20- 10:50
Almost People 9:40- 10:05
Amanda X 9:00- 9:25

Moog Music has partnered up with Paxahau, the production company behind Detroit’s Movement Electronic Music Festival and Jazzfest, to present the return of Moogfest in April 2014.  Paxahau is reknown for their commitment to honoring the history of electronic music and innovation, a quality that was sure to appeal to the lasting legacy of Bob Moog that Moog Music upholds.  The shift towards spring dates will allow for outdoor and daytime events, as well as distancing Moogfest from AC Entertainment’s Mountain Oasis Music Festival.

“Moogfest is not just about Moog or music, it’s about celebrating the creative, forward-thinking spirit of both Bob and the city of Asheville. We’ll shine a light on inventors, new media artists, circuit benders, programmers, and people with ideas that could change the way we experience music, art and performance.” 

 -Emmy Parker, Moog’s Senior Brand Manager

I would imagine this means an added emphasis on workshops and talks, which were a part of Moogfest during it’s run with AC Entertainment, but at times felt like an afterthought (especially the 3rd year).  The switch in production companies will almost certainly be reflected in the lineup choices.  I for one would be extremely excited about a lineup chock full of Detroit Techno.  In the end, Asheville ends up with two top notch music festivals.

The annual Indie Grits festival hosted by the Nickelodeon Theatre in Columbia, SC gets kicked off Friday April 12, with an opening party on the 1600 block of Main St. featuring music from Say Brother and The Royal Tinfoil and a DJ previewing sounds of Columbia’s first Hip Hop Family Day.

While the 10 day festival focuses on film and the exposure of Southern filmmakers, in recent years cultural events and live music performances have become a bigger part of the festival experience.

Headlining the music portion of Indie Grits in 2013 is Dent May at the Columbia Museum of Art.

Friday, April 12, 7 – 10 p.m.

1600 Block of Main Street in front of the Nickelodeon Theatre, also featuring food trucks and beer and wine for sale.

Indie Grits Opening Party

Say Brother- Columbia’s own group of whiskey drinkin’, outlaw country rockers, have quickly become one of the cities most popular acts, partly because they bring the party to any show they play, and partly because their music is so damn on point. But isn’t that how it should be?

The Royal Tinfoil- Charleston, SC band The Royal Tinfoil song’s flow between dirty Americana and blues rock with a raucous stage performance that will have many folks wondering where they found their dance moves. Hint, it was in that last sip of Makers Mark that’s in the flask in your back pocket.

Wednesday, April 17, 11 p.m.

The Whig

Pizza party

Belk Boys

Yacht Rock DJ

Tuesday, April 18 8 p.m.

Columbia Museum of Art

Dent May- Mississippi native Dent May will headline the festival at the Columbia Museum of Art with his psyched out sound, and southern croon.

Dog Bite- The name Dog Bite might be familiar to some SC music lovers as the band that toured with hipster home town heroes Toro y Moi. Last year Pitchfork blurbed on the release of their single “Feeling Pretty Faded.”  While their self description of the song gave no indication to what the band actually sounds like, faded is a super laid back jam with a steady shaker with hazy vocals and a repeating hook. Falls somewhere in the “wave” sub sub genres.

People Person- It’s not enough for Jessica Oliver to drum in one of Columbia’s top indie rock bands in Can’t Kids, so she has a host of side projects. The most popular being People Person where she sings and plays some of her own punk tinged tunes. People Person has made a quick rise without an official release under their belt. That says a lot about the quality of the material at hand.

Friday, April 19, 10:30 p.m.

Hunter-Gatherer Brewery (900 Main Street)

Burnt Books- Columbia, SC is known for it’s heavier music and Burnt Books are one of the bands carrying the torch right now. With female lead vocals that swell from whispers to screams with honest lyrics, mixed with mathy guitar leads, they offer an interesting listen no matter what music you’re into.

Happiness Bomb- The first time we saw Happiness Bomb was last year and Free Times Music Crawl. There was a buzz around them, but we had no idea what to expect. What we got was a full on puppet show and a metal onslaught of guitars, bass, and drums. It made our night.

Enter To Win Tickets to Dent May/Dog Bite/People Person

Winner will be contacted via email Tuesday April 16 with 2 tickets available at the door.

Dig South, the southeast’s first and only interactive festival exploring the digital economy, gets kicked off in Charleston, SC this weekend including a loaded music lineup.

The sideshow, which includes national touring acts, local talent, DJ’s, comedians, and networking events starts Friday with events at Redux, Charleston Music Hall, and The Alley. Headlining the festival is Lee Fields and the Expressions, who after making music for the past 40+ years has found the fountain of youth and is making some of the best music of his long career.

Friday April 12

Redux 8:30 pm – 2:00 am

(8:30) Heyrocco

(9:30) Elim Bolt

(10:45) Brave Baby

The Alley 8:30 pm – 2:00 am

Rachel Kate

 Rachel Kate- This Institution

Those Darlins

Charleston Music Hall

Comedian Dusty Slay

Rosco Bandana

Dangermuffin

SATURDAY, APRIL 13

Redux (7:00 pm -2:00 am)

(7:00) Hurray for the Riff Raff

(8:30pm) Sam Doores + Riley Downing & the Tumbleweeds

(10pm) Barefoot Movement

Charleston Music Hall (7:00 pm – 9:00 pm) & (10:00 pm – 12:00 am)

Lee Fields & The Expressions

The Alley (8:30 pm – 2:00 am)

Yarn

The Bushels

May 11, 2013

11am to 8pm

Over the years I’ve heard a small crowd of folks complain about the music at Rosewood Crawfish Festival, but you won’t get any of that here.

Every year we’ve previewed the Crawfish Festival lineup and enjoyed the mix of solid local acts paired with a more nostalgic act that fits perfect with the festivals primary demographic. This year follows that same outline with Big Head Todd and the Monsters headlining the festival, along with a solid mix of styles on a local level. Recent festival headliners include Marcy Playground, Gin Blossoms, Tonic, Better Than Ezra, and Eve 6, a solid group of performers for a festival this size.

The Maple Street Stage and the South Howard Street stage show diversity in the local music scene with outlaw country rockers Say Brother headlining the Maple Street Stage and The Movement headlining the South Howard stage.

Rosewood Crawfish Festival is a festival catered towards lovers of all things Creole, Cajun, and Crawfish. With over 10,000 pounds of quality Crawfish cooked and served every which way, the festival has it covered. A family based festival, a majority of Rosewood Crawfish Festival proceeds go back into the community, improving Rosewood parks and green spaces, and also giving back to other local charities.

Activies

In addition to the music and food the fest also offers up a Crawdaddy Dash 5K, an Artists Village featuring 25 local artists, and a Lil Crawdaddy Carnival for the kids.

Woodrow Street Stage

By Terrence Richard of Junior Astronomers

Right now I’m tucked away in the van driving what to me seemed to be a Tornado in Florida. Its been some time since we left Austin but it feels like only yesterday I was hungry and sweaty all over. Searching for free booze and new tunes. This is how my voyage went down.

After spending two weeks on tour with our Mississippi brothers The Weeks we arrived in Austin on Tuesday. The first and last night in Austin is always my favorite. We met up with our great friend Dan Millice, who mastered our record to check out a house show. I didn’t think too much of it until I was told that Thomas Pridgen (ex Mars Volta drummer) was playing with his new band The Memorials. We got there to also catch Lite, this crazy band from Japan that sounded like Battles and BOYFRNDZ from Austin, Texas who actually had their record produced by Ikey from The Mars Volta as well. After a few beers and half bottle of Evan Williams we preceded to Red 7 where our dude’s we’re about to start their SXSW week off. Anytime you can catch these guys please do. One of the few bands I can watch every night and never get tired of. We ended the night on top of some roof listening to dance music and getting bottle service. One of us may or may not have thrown up off that roof. I’ll leave it up to you to guess.

Day Two started off rough but we grabbed some truck food and made it to catch The Rocketboys at Rusty’s. I only caught probably 3-4 songs but this is close to one of my favorite sets I saw at SXSW. We had to rush to the Billy Reid shindig to catch the second The Weeks set so we jumped in a cab to avoid the stress of rushing. Billy Reid sure knows how to throw a party. Beautiful women, great bands, and free Old Fashioned’s. We stuck around to catch The Weeks and Dawes before heading to our first show at SXSW. It was a house show in someone’s backyard. Making it for only two acts before us we decided to grab some beer and enjoy before our set. One group named The Lower Class stood out. Young rappers that definitely had their own style. When it came to our turn to The Weeks showed up and we got down. I will never not enjoy house shows. The energy at them is non comparable to a club show.

Day Three we kept it pretty chill until later that day. The drinking in the sun the past few days had taken a toll but we were still pushing on. First thing you have to understand about SXSW is that time management is key. After ordering most definitely the best philly cheese steak sandwich I checked the time only to notice my dudes Sol Cat from Nashville were going on in 5 mins. I handed my sandwich to Philip and walked down to catch the tail end of Kingston Springs set. First time catching Kingston Springs since last years Serpent and Snakes party so in hindsight I’m glad I left my delicious sandwich. Up next was Sol Cat and these dudes never fail to get the party started. Definitely the grooviest band I saw at SXSW. We ended the night at what seemed to be a Nashville party (Miley Cyrus reference?) to catch Dino’s Boys (Atlanta) and Natural Child (Nashville). Nashville’s scene is one of my favorite scenes right now in the country. Seem’s to me from outside perspective that everyone is just trying to rock and have fun.

Day four started with catching our hometown buddies HRVRD play at their record labels showcase. It’s always gnarly seeing your dudes you grew up playing with grow as a band and it brings me complete joy seeing tons of people get into these dudes. They played a killer set then had to bounce so we trekked it to catch a drink and see Natural Child again. We probably ended up seeing every band twice this SXSW trip. After some whiskey shots and a bit of confusion we decided to catch Turbo Fruits play at Hotel Vegas. These dude’s always put on a killer set and if you haven’t seen them make sure you catch them. Our second set was later that evening for the Vulcan Army Showcase. Due to PA troubles our set got pushed back about 2 hours so we made it for Pan,Co, Cloudeater, Winter Sounds, and Cusses. It’s crazy going so far away from home and still have relatively local bands playing a show with you. After drinking free booze for those two hours we proceeded to play inside the gallery. More cramped then ever but still a great time. We only had enough time for 4 songs since the show got pushed back but it was just enough.

The last day at SXSW had finally come. The day to party like this is your last SXSW. We started with our last The Weeks set at The Serpent and Snakes/ All Saints Party. This was my favorite set of theirs. We got properly day drunk and took some promo shots behind the venue with Laura Meek, our photographer friend from Mississippi. Afterwards with a lot of down time before the next set we went on the search for the last SXSW meal. We ended up at a delicious BBQ spot where both Obama had been and signed a menu. I’m surprised they didn’t ask me to sign a menu but whatever. I guess Obama’s more famous. After eating we went to get cheap drinks and talk to our friend Brent. Needless to say this was the downfall of the evening. First time we’d all got real drunk together the whole week so we we’re on top of the world. Loudest dudes at the bar and buying too many drinks. In fear of not being able to get into the last The Weeks show we decided to try and catch Dignan. Eli and I trekked it back down to Rainey St to a packed house. Dignan is probably one of the most underrated bands in this country. Everytime I catch them play I asked myself why they aren’t huge. They played all my favorites and truly was the perfect end to my SXSW trip.

Everyone has their own opinion on SXSW. Its gotten to commercial, it doesn’t really help smaller bands anymore, blah blah blah but what I do is take everything face value. It’s just a great week to hang with your friends, catch some music, eat gnarly food, and drink as much free booze as you can. If that sounds too commercial to you then don’t go but I’ll make sure myself and Junior Astronomers show up every year. Three more dates left on our tour home with HRVRD and I already miss Austin.

3/25 – Jacksonville FL – Phoenix Taproom
3/26 – Charleston SC – Tin Roof
3/27 – Columbia SC – New Brookland Tavern

KARATE! – The Whigs

Saturday at Savannah Stopover started out with a rehashing/learning how the previous night’s escapades unfolded. After being generally unpleased with myself, I was able to shrug off my disappointment and embrace the sunshine and low-70-degree temperatures outside. It was a new day and there were new bands and venues to discover.

Since the music didn’t start up until 4 p.m., our Savannah tour guide, Hanna, showed us the finer points of being downtown that she’d picked up in her four years at SCAD. In no particular order, these are the places you absolutely must visit next time you’re there:

• Savannah Bee Company – Likely the best honey you’ll ever taste. They have samples of every variety of organic honey they offer, as well as various honey infused/bee produced products. I highly recommend the Earl Grey Beeswax lip balm (which is available at Earth Fare here in Columbia). It puts Burt’s Bees to shame.
• Crystal Beer Parlor – Beer is in the name, so we’re off to a great start. This local joint is known as much for their draught selection as they are for their burgers. I tried both the bison and lamb burgers and nearly experienced touch-less orgasm.
• Form – The cheesecake to end all cheesecake. DO YOU HEAR ME? Cheesecake Factory doesn’t even get a slot on stage at Amateur Hour next to this stuff. It’s also available in local eateries across the downtown area (I got my slice at Coffee Fox).

Autumn Owls @ Congress St. Social Club – 3/9/13

Once we finished galavanting about town, we headed back toward Congress Street to find some music to listen to. Thankfully, we stumbled upon Autumn Owls‘ 6 p.m. set at Congress St. Social Club. Owls’ sound forgoes the simple rock formula of many power trios, instead opting for an interplay between instruments that makes their melody lines as important, or more important in some scenarios, than the vocal melodies they accompany. Their use of harmonies between guitar and bass, odd time signatures, dark minor keys and an Alesis drum pad on some songs tells me these guys have listened to some Radiohead in their day.

Autumn Owls set a high bar for the rest of the acts I would see that day. Thankfully, the bands at the Georgia Music Showcase rose to the occasion.

Walking into the Knights of Columbus building that the showcase was being held in, I immediately felt like we shouldn’t be there. The scene was one of high A-frame ceilings with fancy chandeliers hanging from them like stalactites of upper status and glossy hardwood floors that cast your reflection back at you even in dim light. Yet for some reason, roughly 500 music fans, a full service bar and a stage had been plopped right into the middle of it. However the Stopover organizers were able to obtain that space, I thank them. Beauty aside, the room had the best sound of any I was in that weekend and seeing a show there felt like a special occasion.

Ponderosa @ Knights of Columbus – 3/10/13

Once I came out of my state of shock about the room, I approached the stage and tuned in to Ponderosa, who were already in the middle of their set. The Atlanta quintet featured atmospheric harmonies and a dual guitar attack atop pounding drums and I was instantly in the palm of their collective hand. Also, their keyboard player was a functional and integral part of the band, which excited me since I’ve seen so many useless keyboard players recently. Maybe it was the music, maybe I was still in awe about the room, but I’m not sure I’ve ever been so concretely focused on a musical act. Every crescendo, every drum hit took me along with it to a new place. It was something I can’t properly put into words, I just know I won’t ever forget it. I’ll be buying their album ASAP to relive it.

After Ponderosa came The Whigs, an Athens favorite who’s made a name for themselves nationwide – and I was about to find out why. Remember the rock formula power trio I mentioned earlier? These guys do it better than just about anyone else. Singer/guitarist Parker Gispert brings the charisma, grit and searing guitar of a Neil Young, while drummer Julian Dorio and bassist Timothy Deaux flesh out the rhythm section with bone crushing presence to form a garage outfit that hints at their southern roots without crossing the line into Lynyrd Skynyrd territory. The trio took the crowd on an hour-long ride, with each player having ample room to show off their chops on their respective instrument, followed by a two song encore. At one point, Dorio made a stink face while beating his drums mercilessly that will forever be etched in mine and my friend Mike’s brains. As I said on Instagram that night, The Whigs are those dudes.

[Side note: I always try and figure out what obscure people the people I'm looking at resemble. For The Whigs (click for photo), the guitarist was Neil Young, the bassist was the Buddy Christ and the drummer was a mix of Martin Short and the warlock kid from Disney Channel's Halloweentown. Solid lineup.]

While most excellent, over an hour of listening to The Whigs was physically and emotionally draining, so Mike, Ned and I holed ourselves up at a table inside Congress St. Social Club and stumbled upon the folk of Henry Wagons. As I was falling asleep in my chair, I don’t remember much of Wagons’ set outside of him dedicating a song to Fat Elvis, saying “he’s the version of Elvis we all aspire to be.” Well said.

At the end of my musical run at Stopover, I looked back on what had been a great weekend and officially changed my opinion on Savannah. I will no longer fear returning there, but will look forward to and embrace it instead. Stopover is largely responsible for that, as they proved for the third year in a row that a crawl-style festival through the streets of their fine city is well worthy of both big-time bands and music fans from around the country not passing them over on I-95, but instead planning to be there.

Stopover, I tip my cap to you, thank you and your city for a great weekend and hope to see you again next year.

Due to work obligations, I wasn’t able to catch any of the bands Thursday night. Missing Kopecky Family Band was most disappointing, as I haven’t seen them live since they released their first full-length, “Kids Raising Kids,” and loved their show at 5 Points Pub last year. My brother will likely never forgive me for missing The Last Bison as well – they’re from very near our hometown and have been on a meteoric rise since forming less than three years ago, signing their orchestral folk sound to a deal with Republic Records two years ago. From everything I could gather, Thursday night was a great time and I apologize that I couldn’t be there to cover it.

Once we (Ned Durrett and the Kindly Gents) finished playing our set Friday, we were immediately swept up by both the city and the festival’s attentive hospitality. The staff at the central festival help desk was extremely attentive, making sure I got my press badge and had a good understanding of the festival layout.

The first band I went to find was fellow South Carolinian outfit Heyrocco. I hadn’t been able to catch them live yet, only hearing their offerings on the last two years’ Scene SC samplers, and was extremely impressed by the amount of energy the indie rock trio injected into what had been a pretty docile basement bar (Taco Abajo) to that point. Their recent single, “Elsewhere,” showed off the group’s musicianship and ability to play in odd time signatures (verses in 7/4 here) with precision and ease. All three members sang at some point during the set, be it lead or harmony, which I found extremely impressive since I sing like this.

Heyrocco @ Taco Abajo – 3/8/13

After Heyrocco’s highly entertaining set, I was off to the artist’s lounge. Once we arrived there, we were greeted with free food and drinks and met Hanna, a social media content manager volunteer for the festival who became our music/general Savannah liaison for the remainder of the weekend.

Unfortunately, the hospitality in the artist’s lounge may have been too great, as the free libations offered definitely affected my ability to properly play the role of photographer Friday night, which is entirely my fault. Free moonshine is not to be played with. I apologize, good readers, for the blurriness of some of the photos in the gallery below and hope that you can forgive me.

Next up was the ten-plus block trek to Forsythe Park for the of Montreal show. The festival made a great call by having the main headliner play here, as the scenery was beautiful even at night and all of the space was needed for what I would guess was a few thousand plus people in attendance. I have limited of Montreal listening experience, mostly coming from my high school girlfriend. All I knew was to expect the weird and outlandish. That’s exactly what went down.

While the group’s musical forays into the indie and psychedelic realms were entertaining themselves, the real show was found in the band’s onstage antics. At various points, the following characters emerged to grace the stage:

• 

  ‘Merica…n…luchador.

  Two female bat-like creatures who eventually removed their cloaks to reveal massive blow-up breasts.

• A couple of strange clown-like figures that frontman Kevin Barnes scaled, creating a massively tall cloaked man in the vein of Scrubs‘ giant doctor gag.
• A pair of luchadores, one wearing an American flag suit and the other what appeared to be a British themed suit, battled across the stage, with a referee awarding the American luchador victory, followed by him running across the fountain infront of the stage and crowd surfing.

Like I said – weird and outlandish.

Friday ended with the discovery of a couple new acts that I look forward to hearing more from. Annapolis, Md.’s Sun Club were kind enough to indulge my drunken conversation about Baltimore and Charm City Cakes before taking the Taco Abajo stage for a raucous set that displayed intricate part writing behind powerful and catchy vocal hooks. Afterward, we headed down the street to catch Brooklyn’s Country Mice per Hanna’s suggestion – a good suggestion, indeed. The quartet’s Americana laden garage rock is listener friendly across a wide variety of musical tastes and, as good as their music is, they are even better people.

Sadly, the end of the Country Mice set is where my night took its ultimate turn-for-the-worse. The rest of the evening included meeting people only to forget them the next day, unwarranted cursing directed at Bono (well, warranted really; it’s Bono) and me circling our group of friends doing this dance for upwards of five minutes (so I’m told).

The day that I remember having at Stopover, however, is one I won’t soon forget. The festival established itself in my mind as a burgeoning vessel for regional and national touring acts and I was excited get some sleep, feel human again and enjoy what Stopover’s Saturday had in store.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

]]> http://www.SceneSC.com/2013/03/13/festival-journal-savannah-stopover-part-one/feed/ 0 http://www.SceneSC.com/2013/03/13/sxsw-2013-day-1-recap-31313/ http://www.SceneSC.com/2013/03/13/sxsw-2013-day-1-recap-31313/#comments Wed, 13 Mar 2013 19:09:07 +0000 Kathrine Brock http://www.SceneSC.com/?p=14173 We decided to ease into Day 1 of the Music portion of SXSW, but we probably went a little harder than originally planned. After checking in and getting all our credentials, we set out to find some free drinks and food before the night started. We wound up at a boathouse at the Tumblr + Soundcloud Party.

Tumblr/Soundcloud Party @ The Boathouse

We then ran up Red River to catch Wild Cub, and ended up catching the very last of the Polyphonic Spree’s set as well.

Wild Cub @ Club DeVille

My biggest regret of last year is probably how I missed this band play a Prince cover set on New Years Eve. Wild Cub is one of the few Nashville bands that won’t let the crowd just stand and watch, it’s impossible not to dance along.

Kopecky Family Band @ Cedar Street Courtyard

It’s no secret we love this band here at SceneSC. We were excited to celebrate their recent signing to ATO and enjoy an open bar and great food at the DYN party. Plus we always like to wager on how many instruments Markus is going to play at one time.

The Weeks @ Red 7

Whiskey Soaked Swamp Rock or just good ole rock. I freaking LOVE the Weeks and am stoked for their new album “Dear Bo Jackson” out this year. We ran into Terrance from Junior Astronomers while lurking around the front of the stage for photos… but we’re not sure he remembers seeing us…

We ran back to the DYN party and caught a rare John McCauley + Taylor Goldsmith & Friends AKA Middle Brother set. It sounded exactly as wonderful as you’re probably thinking. We’re pretty lucky.

Dawes @ Cedar Street Courtyard

Dawes opened their set with “If I Wanted Someone” and at that point, they had my tiny black heart in their hands. They ran through a packed set of oldies and a few new ones – including the single “From A Window Seat”. The courtyard and VIP were filled to the brim and everyone was totally there for it. It was a great set to close the night.

Special thanks to Uber (for the free pedicab ride!), the Kopecky Family Band for being great people, and DYN for throwing a great party!

Alright Austin…

We’ve stretched, prepped our google doc schedule, RSVP’d to every party, packed some snacks, charged our cameras and booked our post-sxsw pedicures for next week. We’re ready to drink all of your Shiner and eat all of your chips and queso.

We’re excited to do this again, and of course see a bunch of awesome bands. Keep up with us here and over at @SceneSC of course (@kathrinebrock & @redbluejeans will be hijacking it for the week).

Disclaimer: If I do happen to meet Stevie Nicks this week, please send my regards to my family and my dog. It’s been real.
ALSO PRINCE IS IN TOWN. (and we’re not even gonna talk about JT…)