SXSW Recap Day Seven - The British Embassy
By day seven Haleigh was done with all of her shifts. She had put in her time and the rest of SXSW she could do what she wanted.
We started out in the afternoon with the Japan Nite preview party. The club it was being held at was small and dark.It was already packed wall to wall with people when we got there. Maki Rinka was on stage and I made my way to the front to get a couple of shots of them. I had seen them the previous year and enjoy their look. They are a fourties style japanese band so there performances tend to be fairly photogenic.
When they ended the crowd shifted with a good number of people leaving while others came in. Peelander-Z was up next so I shifted to a better spot and Haleigh joined me. They did a great show as usual but the crowds and darkness made it difficult to get many shots. Since I have shot them several times in the last year I instead just focused on enjoying their performance.
At this point Haleigh and I split up for a bit. I had to work in the evening so I had a photography staff meeting to go to before heading to my assignment. I went to the convention center and right next to where our meeting was going to be taking place, Devo was doing a panel discussion. I got to see a good bit of the panel and get some shots of the band.
They started out the panel by premiering a video for a soon to be released song "Don't Shoot, I'm A Man!" The video was great and the song was catchy. It was really Devo on top of their game. It was obvious that even though it has been a good number of years since their last hit, they haven't lost their touch. The band then came out with their signature hats in their hands which they kept on the tables in front of them throughout the panel.
I enjoyed their talk, it gave me a new appreciation for how talented every member of the band turned out to be. I had heard of Mothersbaugh's work on television and in the movies but I hadn't realized how much other members of the band had done.
The one disappointment of the panel was that Mothersbaugh came off as a bit of a grumpy older guy. There was a lot of talk of how Mtv made a lot of money off of their videos and didn't share any with them. He also talked about how Toni Basil spent a long time with them before going and choreographing the Talking Heads "Once In A Lifetime" tour. They all agreed that much of the dancing that is considered to be iconicly David Byrne were actually Mothersbaugh.
The other surprise for me was that during their Lollapalooza appearances Devo had become close with the members of Nine Inch Nails and one of the current members of Devo is also a member of NiN. That is a nice blending of old style with not quite as old style.
I had to leave Devo a little before the end to make my meeting which went quick.
After the meeting I still had a while before my first assignment. I headed to Elysium to meet up with Haleigh. She was already in line waiting to see Peter Murphy and I joined her. We were in the badge line and by the time they started letting people in the line had gotten huge. Even the line for people with badges stretched a long way down the street and the line of people wanting to pay the cover charge stretched into the distance in the other direction.
The doors opened a little late which worried me that I might have to leave to make it to my assignment before he even went on. Fortunately SXSW runs a tight ship and he hit the stage within a few minutes of the crowd being let in.
Peter Murphy was lead singer for the band Bauhaus. They are widely thought to have started the entire goth movement and their song "Bela Lugosi's Dead" is the stereotypical goth song played on South Park or SNL when they do a skit about goths. Back during the eighties I saw Peter Murphy in concert at "The Moon" in Tallahassee Florida. To this day that is still one of my all time favorite shows. Murphy is an extremely charismatic performer that knows how to play to the audience and make each person feel as though he is performing specifically for them.
This year while Haleigh was working registration she checked in one of Peter Murphy's people. She mentioned to them that she was a big fan of his and a few minutes later he came over to meet her. That ended up being the highlight of her SXSW experience this year.
later
With this performance it was obvious that while he had a few more years under his belt Murphy still had his charisma. Unless they are headlining at Stubb's or Auditorium Shores, every performer at SXSW gets fourty minutes and the same was true for Peter Murphy. Because of that he stuck strictly to his new material leaving his classics for his more traditional concerts.
I got off a few shots but sadly used flash on all of them to make sure they would come out with the eyes lit. I had intended to switch lenses after a few shots but it was too crowded to be able to get into my camera bag.
Because of the late start time I only got to stay for a couple of songs before having to make my way out of the club to my assignment. I later found out that during one of the songs after I left he reached down and touched Haleigh on the cheek. She really had an amazing time and I'm glad she got to see the whole show.
My assignment was to spend the whole night at Lattitude 30 shooting every band that was performing. For SXSW Lattitude 30 had been transformed into "The British Embassy." For the length of the festival it would exclusively host British bands and they had even repainted the front of the club to showcase that fact.
The club had a decent layout and the lighting wasn't amazing but it wasn't horrible either. It was in a nice location just off of Sixth Street which was much nicer than the way Scoot Inn was located far from all the other clubs.
The first band on the lineup was "Frank Turner." His music wasn't a style that I go for but he and his band were charismatic and fun. I later found out that the band he was with was one that he had hired specifically for SXSW and not the people he normally performs with.
After Frank was a band called "Wild Beasts." They did a fun show and had some fairly catch tunes.
When they finished, "Hatcham Social" hit the stage. Haleigh dropped by and caught their show. She really enjoyed them a lot and has talked about how much she enjoyed the show a good number of times since then. They had a nice sound with strong percussion. The one thing that really stood out about them to me was that the drummer stood up while he was playing the drums.
The next peformance was by Jay Jay Pistoleta. I had heard of him before and thought it was going to be a good performance but I was disappointed. I didn't care much for it but maybe it just wasn't my style. It seemed to be something that would appeal more to girls in their teens or early twenties. He was a male singer/song writer with the music not being very beat heavy or energetic.
Here is a clip of his performance...
Haleigh headed on to her next show and I stayed waiting to shoot the next band. I am sitting on a bench to the side of the stage and while I am changing out my lens a girl comes over and sits next to me and starts up a conversation. She was Puerto Rican but living in New York City. She came to SXSW with her boyfriend and they were at the club because he was looking forward to seeing the next band. It was a nice conversation but it was obvious that her boyfriend who was standing in front of the stage was getting increasingly jealous. He kept glaring over in our direction and even though nothing was going on it was starting to worry me. It was late enough that there were many drunk people and the last thing I needed was a drunk boyfriend thinking I was trying to hit on his girlfriend. Fortunately the next band took to the stage and I was able to excuse myself to do my photography.
The band was called "We Have Band" and they were my favorite performance of the night. They had a fun dancey sound with a synth that had a nice rock edge to it. The club was packed for their performance and there was a lot of dancing going on.
Here is the video for what I felt was their best song of the night.
The night ended with the band "Temper Trap." They put on a high energy show and the audience was rally into it dancing and singing along.
It had been a long but fun night and Haleigh showed back up while the last band was playing. They finished and we headed to the car to make the long drive home. It was close to five a.m. before I got to sleep but SXSW was slowly drawing to a close so I didn't mind too much. There would be time to sleep next week.
As a bonus here is a clip of Devo performing their new song "Don't Shoot I'm A Man!" The sound isn't perfect and the band doesn't show up and start singing in the video until about two minutes in but if you would like to hear their new material this is it.
We started out in the afternoon with the Japan Nite preview party. The club it was being held at was small and dark.It was already packed wall to wall with people when we got there. Maki Rinka was on stage and I made my way to the front to get a couple of shots of them. I had seen them the previous year and enjoy their look. They are a fourties style japanese band so there performances tend to be fairly photogenic.
When they ended the crowd shifted with a good number of people leaving while others came in. Peelander-Z was up next so I shifted to a better spot and Haleigh joined me. They did a great show as usual but the crowds and darkness made it difficult to get many shots. Since I have shot them several times in the last year I instead just focused on enjoying their performance.
At this point Haleigh and I split up for a bit. I had to work in the evening so I had a photography staff meeting to go to before heading to my assignment. I went to the convention center and right next to where our meeting was going to be taking place, Devo was doing a panel discussion. I got to see a good bit of the panel and get some shots of the band.
They started out the panel by premiering a video for a soon to be released song "Don't Shoot, I'm A Man!" The video was great and the song was catchy. It was really Devo on top of their game. It was obvious that even though it has been a good number of years since their last hit, they haven't lost their touch. The band then came out with their signature hats in their hands which they kept on the tables in front of them throughout the panel.
I enjoyed their talk, it gave me a new appreciation for how talented every member of the band turned out to be. I had heard of Mothersbaugh's work on television and in the movies but I hadn't realized how much other members of the band had done.
The one disappointment of the panel was that Mothersbaugh came off as a bit of a grumpy older guy. There was a lot of talk of how Mtv made a lot of money off of their videos and didn't share any with them. He also talked about how Toni Basil spent a long time with them before going and choreographing the Talking Heads "Once In A Lifetime" tour. They all agreed that much of the dancing that is considered to be iconicly David Byrne were actually Mothersbaugh.
The other surprise for me was that during their Lollapalooza appearances Devo had become close with the members of Nine Inch Nails and one of the current members of Devo is also a member of NiN. That is a nice blending of old style with not quite as old style.
I had to leave Devo a little before the end to make my meeting which went quick.
After the meeting I still had a while before my first assignment. I headed to Elysium to meet up with Haleigh. She was already in line waiting to see Peter Murphy and I joined her. We were in the badge line and by the time they started letting people in the line had gotten huge. Even the line for people with badges stretched a long way down the street and the line of people wanting to pay the cover charge stretched into the distance in the other direction.
The doors opened a little late which worried me that I might have to leave to make it to my assignment before he even went on. Fortunately SXSW runs a tight ship and he hit the stage within a few minutes of the crowd being let in.
Peter Murphy was lead singer for the band Bauhaus. They are widely thought to have started the entire goth movement and their song "Bela Lugosi's Dead" is the stereotypical goth song played on South Park or SNL when they do a skit about goths. Back during the eighties I saw Peter Murphy in concert at "The Moon" in Tallahassee Florida. To this day that is still one of my all time favorite shows. Murphy is an extremely charismatic performer that knows how to play to the audience and make each person feel as though he is performing specifically for them.
This year while Haleigh was working registration she checked in one of Peter Murphy's people. She mentioned to them that she was a big fan of his and a few minutes later he came over to meet her. That ended up being the highlight of her SXSW experience this year.
later
With this performance it was obvious that while he had a few more years under his belt Murphy still had his charisma. Unless they are headlining at Stubb's or Auditorium Shores, every performer at SXSW gets fourty minutes and the same was true for Peter Murphy. Because of that he stuck strictly to his new material leaving his classics for his more traditional concerts.
I got off a few shots but sadly used flash on all of them to make sure they would come out with the eyes lit. I had intended to switch lenses after a few shots but it was too crowded to be able to get into my camera bag.
Because of the late start time I only got to stay for a couple of songs before having to make my way out of the club to my assignment. I later found out that during one of the songs after I left he reached down and touched Haleigh on the cheek. She really had an amazing time and I'm glad she got to see the whole show.
My assignment was to spend the whole night at Lattitude 30 shooting every band that was performing. For SXSW Lattitude 30 had been transformed into "The British Embassy." For the length of the festival it would exclusively host British bands and they had even repainted the front of the club to showcase that fact.
The club had a decent layout and the lighting wasn't amazing but it wasn't horrible either. It was in a nice location just off of Sixth Street which was much nicer than the way Scoot Inn was located far from all the other clubs.
The first band on the lineup was "Frank Turner." His music wasn't a style that I go for but he and his band were charismatic and fun. I later found out that the band he was with was one that he had hired specifically for SXSW and not the people he normally performs with.
After Frank was a band called "Wild Beasts." They did a fun show and had some fairly catch tunes.
Click to viewWhen they finished, "Hatcham Social" hit the stage. Haleigh dropped by and caught their show. She really enjoyed them a lot and has talked about how much she enjoyed the show a good number of times since then. They had a nice sound with strong percussion. The one thing that really stood out about them to me was that the drummer stood up while he was playing the drums.
The next peformance was by Jay Jay Pistoleta. I had heard of him before and thought it was going to be a good performance but I was disappointed. I didn't care much for it but maybe it just wasn't my style. It seemed to be something that would appeal more to girls in their teens or early twenties. He was a male singer/song writer with the music not being very beat heavy or energetic.
Here is a clip of his performance...
Haleigh headed on to her next show and I stayed waiting to shoot the next band. I am sitting on a bench to the side of the stage and while I am changing out my lens a girl comes over and sits next to me and starts up a conversation. She was Puerto Rican but living in New York City. She came to SXSW with her boyfriend and they were at the club because he was looking forward to seeing the next band. It was a nice conversation but it was obvious that her boyfriend who was standing in front of the stage was getting increasingly jealous. He kept glaring over in our direction and even though nothing was going on it was starting to worry me. It was late enough that there were many drunk people and the last thing I needed was a drunk boyfriend thinking I was trying to hit on his girlfriend. Fortunately the next band took to the stage and I was able to excuse myself to do my photography.
The band was called "We Have Band" and they were my favorite performance of the night. They had a fun dancey sound with a synth that had a nice rock edge to it. The club was packed for their performance and there was a lot of dancing going on.
Here is the video for what I felt was their best song of the night.
The night ended with the band "Temper Trap." They put on a high energy show and the audience was rally into it dancing and singing along.
It had been a long but fun night and Haleigh showed back up while the last band was playing. They finished and we headed to the car to make the long drive home. It was close to five a.m. before I got to sleep but SXSW was slowly drawing to a close so I didn't mind too much. There would be time to sleep next week.
As a bonus here is a clip of Devo performing their new song "Don't Shoot I'm A Man!" The sound isn't perfect and the band doesn't show up and start singing in the video until about two minutes in but if you would like to hear their new material this is it.