Back to SXSW
by Alexander Benedick Myrvold

So I got a chance to play at South by Southwest (SXSW as it will be known through the rest of this article) in Austin, Texas for the second year in a row. For those of you who don’t know, SXSW is an annual music festival held in Austin and is pretty much universally considered to be the premiere showcase for independent and unsigned new acts in the music industry. It is also a blast. There were something like 1500 bands registered as official SXSW acts, and that doesn’t even count the hundreds of other bands who streamed in and played wherever they could set up. Close your eyes anywhere in downtown Austin during the week of SXSW and I guarantee you will hear at least six different bands all playing at the same time.
As a participating musician, I do have to say that the entire experience is both exhilarating and depressing at the same time. The exhilaration comes from being around thousands of other young musicians – meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends from around the nation. The depression sets in once you realize that all of these bands are trying to garner attention just like yours, and there’s only so much room in the limited hearts of the media.
This year’s buzz band was Vampire Weekend, coming out of New York. They have a song on the radio, and it felt to me like they were chosen for lack of a viable contender. I saw their performance and was honestly not very impressed. I also saw the Los Angeles noise rock duo No Age (another band that seems to gather hype like squirrels gather nuts). They were pretty fun to watch live, but I was still dumbfounded as to how all of this hype is surrounding them. I just didn’t see anything all that special. It definitely helped pound into my head the fact that a lot of the time, fame is the luck of the draw.
My band, Bedroom Walls, got a chance to play, and we put on a decent show (especially considering that there was another band playing incredibly loud directly above us). SXSW has become a staple of independent music these days. If you’re an up and coming band looking to gain respect and a wider audience, then you had better be playing at SXSW. It’s really not that hard–you can register online.
Other than the depressing realization that there are thousands of people trying to do exactly what I’m trying to do, the SXSW music festival is an amazing experience. The only downside is that there are so many things going on that it is impossible to see everything you’d like to. There are parties, showcases, and random musical happenings (No Age performed under a bridge at 3 a.m.). Nevertheless, if you have a band and can get down there, it is more than worth it. There is nothing like SXSW. The only thing I can think of to compare it to is a less sleazy, more artistic version of Spring Break.
Local bands, send your demo CD to Alex Myrvold c/o Out & About, 60 Fifth St., Gilroy 95020.

	~ Alexander Myrvold is a graduate of USC with a degree in creative writing. He is currently pursuing a career in the music industry in Los Angeles and is touring the midwest with Bedroom Walls.