Emmy the Great: ‘It’s chaos’
“The best advice I can give is don’t expect anything to run according to plan. It’s chaos, but all the bands – even the really hot bands – are playing more than once. So if you can’t get into the super-super-hot big party, it’s not a big deal. You’ll bump into everyone on the street later anyway. It’s kind of like Christmas – don’t let the pressure get to you and don’t expect it to be perfect! There are only 800 taxis in Austin, and I don’t think they’re allowed to expand or bring any more in. My boyfriend said that one year he had a fever and it took him so long to get a taxi that he just cried on the street. Also my experience of using Uber in the US is that you get to the other end and it’s $400. So you certainly won’t be getting where you want to go as easily as you would hope. My advice would be to rent a car, locate your nearest car park and take turns to be the designated driver. Finding vegetarian or vegan food isn’t easy, so look out for the blue trailer selling ‘Rockin Vegan Tacos’.”
Buffalo Billiards, Thu 19, 11pm; St David’s Bethell Hall, Sat 21, 11pm
Bop English: ‘You’ll see people in tight pants and cowboy hats doing the Texas dances’
“Anyone coming from the UK will be really surprised at the quality of the inexpensive Mexican food, which you can find everywhere. Polvos is a really good spot, it’s on South 1st which is out of the madness a little bit. Takoba is more down in the mix, that’s a good one too. The Longbranch Inn is a historic bar on East 12th. I think it’s been open since the 1920s, which is a long time for us! Donn’s Depot is a funny bar on West 6th Street – it has a fake Old West saloon feel that I think people will get a kick out of. They have Texas swing music and line dancing, so you get to see people in boots shuffling around. The Broken Spoke is another good place if you want to see people in tight pants and cowboy hats doing the Texas dances. If you’re looking for a nice place to relax for a couple of hours, we have a big lake right on the edge of downtown, called Lady Bird Lake. There’s a boardwalk that goes all the way around the perimeter. I have to look after my little girl for most of the week, so that’s probably where I’ll be!”
Fair Market, Sun 15, 8.30pm; Hotel Vegas, Mon 16, 9.30pm; Austin Chronicle SXSW Party, Thu 19, 2.20pm
Chris Slorach, bassist for Metz: ‘They’re not going to run out of beer’
“They’re not going to run out of beer, so don’t feel like you have to drink it all on the first day! Make sure you get some insoles for your shoes, because there’s a ton of walking involved. Every now and then you might see one of the sponsored taxis that’ll pick you up and drive you places for free, but those are hard to find. The only thing you can really rely on is your two feet. And have a bottle of water with you at all times because Austin gets pretty hot. Just try and take it easy if you want to last the whole week. You know the Tarantino movie Death Proof? There’s a scene where Kurt Russell’s in a bar eating nachos, which was filmed at the Texas Chili Parlor in Austin, just north of downtown. I like the vibe of the place – it’s far enough out of the way that it can be pretty mellow, and it serves an amazing bowl of chili.”
Mohawk Outdoor, Wed 18, 10pm; Cedar Street Courtyard, Thu 19, 10pm
Twin Shadow: ‘Get in a rickshaw, go here, go there’
“Make sure you can swim before you jump in the river, because I almost drowned once. By March it gets pretty hot in Texas, but the river is still much colder than you think, and if you jump in, intoxicated, with all your clothes on, it’s not a good time. We’d been partying all night and decided it was a good idea to continue getting drunk by the river. For some I reason I jumped in and everything got really heavy really quick. I think I had a leather jacket on. Bad move. The best way to approach SXSW is to go with absolutely no plan – get in a rickshaw, go here, go there, just improvise your entire experience and I think you’ll have much more fun. Otherwise it can be a bit like New Year’s Eve when you’re chasing the party around town and you always think the next one’s going to be better.”
Ironwood Hall, Weds 18, 8 pm; Spotify House, Thu 19, 12pm; Hype Hotel, Thu 19, 5pm; Stubbs BBQ, Fri 20, 3pm; Cedar Street Courtyard, Sat 21, 5pm
Molly Rankin, lead singer of Alvvays: ‘Three of us got food poisoning’
“We’re probably the worst band to ask for advice because we didn’t really come out of SXSW all that well last year: three of us got food poisoning. I think they got it from a pizza trailer at one of those outdoor food courts. There was a sign that said ‘help wanted’, which may have been a clue. Five of us were staying in the same room, and by 3am they were running for the washroom. We had a couple of shows the next day, which were a bit of a bust, and then we had to drive for 27 hours back to Toronto because we all had to work on Monday. So there were things we never got to do that we want to do this year: there’s a really great natural swimming pool west of Austin [Hamilton Pool Preserve] that was created when the roof of an underground river collapsed. It looks like utopia, so we’re going to try to escape there at some point. There’s also that crazy bat bridge on Congress Avenue where you can stand on the bridge and see hundreds of thousands of bats flying around. Just don’t volunteer to work on Monday and avoid the pizza trailers.”
Hype Hotel, Weds 18, 5pm; Mohawk, Weds 18, 9pm; Mohawk, Thu 19, 1.15pm; Cheer Up Charlie’s, Thu 19, 10pm; Mohawk, Fri 20, 2.30pm; Waterloo Records, Sat 21, 3pm
King Tuff: ‘Yup, they serve beery cheese’
“There’s a great antiques store in Austin called Uncommon Objects, where everything is colour-coded, so it’s like walking into a rainbow. Austin is just a cool place to walk around. People have weird homemade sculptures in their yard – my friend calls it the ‘Austin trash aesthetic’. And the sky is different in Texas: at night, it gives off this kind of purple light. I usually hang out at a bar called Easy Tiger. The courtyard is full of old bathtubs with plants growing out of them, and they serve pretzels with beery cheese. Yup, beery cheese.”
Fair Market, Sun 15, 7pm; Cedar Street Courtyard, Thu 19, 11pm; Hotel Vegas Patio, Sat 21, 12am
THEESatisfaction: ‘If you’re paying for alcohol, you’re doing it wrong’
Stasia: “Take your phone charger with you everywhere, or pick up a little charging stick and make sure that it’s fully charged at all times. There are so many pop-up shows you don’t want to miss out on.”
Cat: “You should check out some of the unofficial showcases. A lot of people focus on the big Fader or Pitchfork shows, but if you wander around and go see some bands you’ve never heard of, you might stumble on something really cool. One year we saw Wiz Khalifa before he blew up.”
Stasia: “I don’t know the name of it, but there’s a family that have a barbecue truck right in front of [music venue] Red 7, it has really good brisket and sausage.”
Cat: “And make sure you RSVP for all the places with free beer. If you’re paying for alcohol at South by Southwest, you’re doing it wrong.”
Liberty, Fri 20, 3pm; Bungalow, Sat 21, 9.35pm
