St Deluxe at SXSW: Part I - Westbound and Down

Our first day in Austin has been a rollercoaster to say the least. We were lucky enough to be given a place to stay thanks to the SXSW housing program. The people that are putting us up for the duration come to meet us at the airport; they give us a ride to this co-op building shared by 20 college students, half of which are back home visiting family and friends for spring break.

We got ourselves together, checked that the guitars etc have arrived with us in working order and quickly get on the way to the festival to register and explore SXSW.

Once in, we check out the convention centre and the British music stall. We talk to a few peeps we don't know and some we do. Kim Fowley appears lofting above the crowd, he really is that tall. He's here to promote a new film about the band 'the runaways'. He asks after Jamie's [guitar/vocals] dad, gives us a few tips for getting the best out of SXSW and we get a few photos with him. In typical Kim fashion he gives us a quote for the pic: "Kings of Scotland meet Irish/American madman."

There's a place just across the street that promises free beer and snacks so being a bit hungry and ready to cool off with a cold one we head out there and bump into fellow Scots Fangs. First time meeting these guys and they seem like a lot of fun.

The Scottish showcase is on later so we head up to show a bit of support and bump into Vic Galloway and chat for a bit with Scott from Frightened Rabbit.

Up to this point it's been a long arduous journey which was quickly forgotten once we arrived in Austin and got busy exploring and meeting up with people.

During the Scottish showcase we hear the news filter through that Alex Chilton has died. Our official SXSW showcase was to be one of the bands supporting Big Star. Not only the chance to see them play, but to share a stage with him was going to be the highlight of SXSW for us. This is the steep descent after a steady rise on the first day's rollercoaster ride.

We're truly saddened at the loss of Alex and really can't believe he's gone. Bands like Teenage Fanclub introduced us to the world of Chilton and Jamie had the pleasure of meeting him when he was recording at Riverside studios. I can't really put into words how much of a loss this is going to be to us, all the other fans here in Austin and across the rest of the world.

RIP Alex Chilton