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South By Southwest 2009 Recap

Includes pictures, video and notes from Ben, Chris, Luke, Johnny Mac and Andrew

Many thanks to Luke Garro, Jay Anderson, Chris Holdridge, Andrew McLellan, Johnny Mac, Jaimi Meuse; and the numerous others who made this all possible, as well as our sponsors at Choice Magazine, Ardon Vinyl, and Indie Ambassador. Their devotion to supporting creative companies is what separates them from the rest and really drives innovation forward.

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South By Southwest Recap

by Luke Garro

The Street Attack bio-projection bus was a pinnacle player in delivering the Sidehatch field team from Boston to Austin. Besides bringing everybody on multiple trips to Taco Cabana (which you must try out if you are ever in TX), the bus served as the perfect hub for promoting the show on the street level.

The vehicle is so bad-ass, that it even drove from TX back to Boston with a flat tire, still making the 2,000+ mile trip in under 2 days. The Sidehatch SXSW showcase was also a great forum to introduce the latest issue of CHOICE (www.wearechoice.com) to the music loving audience.

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South By Southwest Recap

by Johnny Mac

Ah,Texas. Everything is bigger here, right? It’s America’s “heartland,” the great southwest. Well, after about 44 hours of driving a veggie bus and arriving in Austin around 7 pm on the 19th, one thing was certainly clear: we were as giddy and excited to be at SXSW as anyone there. We made the drive strictly for business, as the Sidehatch showcase was on Saturday evening.

As Austin virgins, we got our bearings on Thursday night. We showered off two days of grime, changed, and jetted to the bus that we just lived in for 2 days, this time for a quick 15 minute drive to downtown Austin. Not one of us knew what to expect upon arrival.  We hit downtown with flyers, stickers, megaphones and a bus full of pent up energy!

It was time to start our promotion for the showcase on Saturday night. For those of you who have never been, SXSW is far different then any other “festival”. It consumes you from the moment you drive into downtown. If you like music, even if you’re pretentious about it and a self proclaimed “music snob,” you will find something you love here, I promise.  Every building, bar, window, house- they all have music, all day every day, Wednesday through Sunday. Even under bridges! (talk about DIY).

We had a ton of work to do for the next 40 hours. Preparing for the Creekside Lounge showcase, while trying to get our own personal experience, that Thursday night was spent driving around interacting with the crowds on the streets, and looking for a parking space. Once we parked it was really about just looking around.

We walked up Red River Road and eventually got to the Creekside Lounge. At first glance the place seemed like a stray puppy. We walked in to the bar side of the building. I couldn’t really figure out the layout as I was tired and wasn’t using my brain properly!  I went outside looking for the stages and saw the second stage.  Awesome set up!  This led me over to the “venue” side of the building. Again, this was awesome. It reminded me of all those punk clubs you read about from the 80’s and even early 90’s. It was small, but not tiny. It had a bar that was fairly cheap, and it had staff that was just as smelly as we were! So here we were, Austin, Texas.

The next day was rather eventful and included picking up an additional crew member. The first thing we do when we wake up in the morning (noon) is drive to the Austin airport to pick up Luke Garro from Street Attack.  It was Friday, the day before our showcase, and what a busy day it was going to be.  Promoting, meeting up with friends and chance encounters with old friends.  Man, this place has everything! We parked the bus and pitched camp across the street from the best BBQ joint in Austin. Lawn chairs, beer, music and flyering.

If I learned one thing down here, it’s networking and communication is everything. If you can have a one-on-one experience with a random stranger, it’s more effective than just handing people a flyer on the street. Those people remember you, and you remember them. The next day at the showcase I saw just about everyone I had a conversation with. They may not have stayed the whole night, but they stopped by to say hi and see what was going on.

The showcase was a success, with a line out the door. The bands rocked, and Sidehatch Entertainment took SXSW by storm.  The experience was so meaningful to me, personally, that I will definitely make an attempt to attend each spring.  My little story on south by southwest does it no justice.

And if you’re in a band, I strongly suggest that you start your planning for next year now.  Make it happen, because it will be everything you want in starting or building your band: recognition, great crowds, partying, music from every genre and every part of the world. South by Southwest, the experience of a lifetime!

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