FOUND's SXSW Tour Diary: Day Two

The heat’s really intense here so we decided we weren’t going to do too much trekking around with our gear. We rode the bus into town and went straight to Fado’s, the Irish bar we were going to be playing. They have a nice beer garden / yard along the side with a little stage at the back.

The party was a belated St Paddy’s celebration with Irish, Scottish and English acts on the bill, organised by a lovely Austinite called Juliana who took great care of all the bands. The atmosphere was really relaxed and we hung out in the shade drinking free beer and eating from the Irish / Tex Mex menu – an odd combo.

The first act up was a English chap with an extremely croaky voice – a fella who goes by the name of Beans On Toast. I can only describe his music as “Billy Bragg for the chemical generation” (not my cup of tea I’m afraid Mr Toast).

I’d not come across the next band before, but they were definitely my highlight of the day – a power trio from Derry called Fighting With Wire who play grungy rock in a Foo Fighters style. Great drums, in fact great bass, guitar and vocals too.

Glasgow’s Nacional played a super tight set and well received and then it was us. We had a much much better show than Wednesday. There was probably only 50 or so folks there, but the vibe was great and we stormed through the tracks, despite the baking sun.

We’d managed to get our electronics sorted out – turned out all that was wrong was the voltage difference between the UK and US and Juliana’s friend came to the rescue with some Duracell batteries – it’s the only brand that works in Kev’s delay pedal. If you’re reading this, Duracell, go and sponsor us? Kev could be the new Duracell bunny.

The sound was excellent and we were filmed and interviewed for a new New York ‘taste maker’ website. I hate the answers I give in TV interviews and this one was no exception. Cheesy Hawkes.

By this time the sun was so hot that there was no choice but to hide in the shade and drink. No choice. We hung out there until the early evening then started to make our way to an art opening at the gallery that our host Rachel runs. Along the way Kev bought a cowboy hat and me and Al picked up some dodgy chilli dogs, which I’m regretting now.

We’re at the biggest music festival in the world and we go see some art. That’s how we roll. But it was great. Shepard “Obey” Fairey had a bunch of his prints on display and he came down and spun some tunes for half an hour. Outside a break dance comp was going off. There were some awesome dancers. Particularly a guy called Omar. Awesome.

Then more beer until the small hours . . .