Ian MacLagan & Pete Townshend

(photo: Daryl P. Brothers)

The last couple years I was starting to feel like I might have had enough of the annual Austin, Texas music festival SXSW, a massive global gathering of thousands of bands and tens of thousands of music industry folk and fans to see them. The sprawl of Sixth Street and Red River was getting to me. All the people and music and booze was too much to take. I would come home each year and need three weeks to recover from one week away.

And how was I ever going to top past years, when I caught a reunited Big Star (and even got to hang with Alex Chilton), saw Franz Ferdinand at the moment they exploded onto the scene or the time I chatted with Elvis Costello, while watching legendary blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin?

Besides, the music industry is nothing much to believe in these days. There’s so little new and nothing to get excited about.

Thus, I declared 2007 would be my last year at SXSW…and I rescinded that after just a couple days last week.

Not only did I see new, marvelous acts from all over the planet to get excited about but also reconnected with some of my greatest heroes, people who made music something to believe in long ago. Here’s my report from the front lines of SXSW 2007, retold in the royal “we.” Next year, you ought to join us…

Can you see the real Pete?

When legendary leader of the Who Pete Townshend was locked in as the festival’s keynote speaker, there was little doubt he would turn up around the festival performing.

At his keynote speech on the fest’s opening day, he talked at length and engagingly about his successes and failures. He admitted that he sees Quadrophenia as the Who’s masterpiece—a fact we all knew—and he announced his latest project, which ties in strains of his fabled Lifehouse project and the Who’s 2006 record Endless Wire.

“The Method” is an online musical endeavor that allows each person signing up a unique musical composition of their own based on facets of their personality and beyond.

“You go to a computer, enter data about yourself, share some stuff about how you feel, put in a photo of yourself, and you get back music. Like sitting for a painting,” Townshend said.

We were tipped that later that night at the Austin Music Awards Ian “Mac” MacLagan and his Bump Band would be doing a tribute set to his Small Faces/Faces mate Ronnie Lane. Townshend, a close friend of Lane and MacLagan, just might be joining in. Indeed, after Mac and his band played fine versions of “Glad and Sorry” and slowed down “Itchycoo Park,” Townshend joined for “Kutschy Rye” and a bombastic take on the Small Faces’ “What’cha Gonna Do About It?” which Mac introduced as having a solo that Steve Marriott ripped from Townshend in the first place. Pete tore into it and made it his own.

Two days later, touted punked-up Scot trio the Fratellis were doing an early slot at Spin magazine’s invitation-only party, but when they went on the big, backyard venue at Stubb’s was virtually empty. Sources had said they were due to have a special guest and, sure enough, there was Townshend’s guitar tech off to the side with the red Strat. Not many of the already scarce crowd were watching, instead scarfing down free BBQ and drinks. As Townshend joined during the set, they all came rushing toward the stage. We had already staked out the exact spot where he’d be and were within a few feet of the guy who is undoubtedly our guitar god. They closed out with a seering version of “The Seeker.” Townshend also appeared on an Attic Jam showcase, an online music show he’s been taking part in, alongside girlfriend Rachel Fuller, but we missed that.

Iggy Pop

(photo: Daryl P. Brothers)

Boris! Boris! Boris!

Pink by Boris was an album we didn’t even hear until mid-December 2006, otherwise it would have made our “best of the year” list. They were high on the list of “must see” acts at SXSW. This Japanese trio is capable of spellbinding things. They are like mysterious rock conjurers who are ultimately unclassifiable and fluidly able to move into varied, uncharted sonic territory—one of those bands that sincerely makes us believe again. While they manage to be visceral and direct at one turn but chancey and art-minded at the next, they are always inspiring and satisfying. Looking at their well plotted, exquisite album packaging—which they do entirely themselves—makes you realize that they are for real.

Female guitarist Wata looks perfect playing loud and powerful through an Orange Amp stack that towers over her. Atsuo is a monster on the drums, including pounding a giant gong behind him. Takeshi’s dual guitar/bass and vocals bring it all together. Is it prog? Is it doom? Is it noise? Is it hardcore punk free jazz? It doesn’t matter cause it’s ultimately just amazing…and we got to experience them twice.

Friday night’s set in a tiny-ish courtyard venue was unreal. It was a jawdropping hour of doom-drone-shoegaze-avant rock that was wildly nuanced—loud and thick at times and quiet and spacious at others—but always magnificent. Completely different than the night before but every bit as great was the next day: Playing out on the big stage in the sun, Boris brought out a more straight-ahead (for them, at least) spikier set of punked up, math-thrash with more of their actual songs with vocals and such. Still it was out there, psychedelic and wild-eyed. We were standing next to noted rock scribe and Ramones look-alike David Fricke after the set and asked if he liked them.

He smiled as he started plunking down money at the band’s merch table. “How could you not?”

“1969” and “1970” in 2007

The last show of the week didn’t disappoint for us. It was Iggy Pop and his legendary original outfit the Stooges reunited—the original dynamic duo Scott and Ron Asheton supplemented by mighty bassist Mike Watt. The Stooges are the Stooges! Forget the negatives you’ve heard or preconceptions you might have about their new album, The Weirdness, and just remember this is the band that more or less invented punk. They are not high art. They are raunchy gutter shit and they pretty good at being that. They are masters of fucked-up, simplistic, noisy trash that just bores into yer skull. Those new songs from The Weirdness totally worked live and fit the bill. Of course the highlights were classics like “Loose,” “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” “TV Eye,” “1970” and “Funhouse.” “Loose” indeed. Beer and margaritas and other distilled sundries had been flowing all day. We were feeling it. It was a great night to be in Austin.

They even had it on the news (don’t believe the hype)

While a free show with Public Enemy at the Town Lake Shores stage was possibly the most disappointing of the week for us, it wasn’t for most of Austin. The show was free and open to the public, so everybody in Austin without a festival wristband or badge was there. Every TV station was there filming. It wasn’t a Public Enemy crowd, however; it was a free show crowd. Imagine tens of thousands in a 99-percent white, non-hip-hop crowd inexplicably bopping up and down to the crew’s message of black radicalism and you get why this wasn’t working for us. We loved the fact that there was a band behind Public Enemy—though it was still a “tracked” show with a lot of rapping over the old recordings—but it didn’t save this show. Still, we are true PE fanatics. We saw them kill in their prime and Chuck D is still our greatest hip-hop hero. Believe that. Yeah, boyeee!

Next week: Amy Winehouse, other Brits, Jandek, Midlake and more…