Review: SXSW Day 3

British bands go down a storm

29 Feb 08 - It was a good night for British bands at the South By South West festival last night (14th March) on what was the 3rd day of the event in Austin Texas.

The Pigeon Detectives kicked off events yesterday at the Cedar Street Courtyard venue. They played new material from their forthcoming second album including the track 'I'm Not Gonna Take This.'

They also urged fans to stay to watch felow indie rockers the Wombats, who were playing later on the same bill.

It’s been a busy week for the Pigeon Detectives who, only the day before, played live with the Clash's Mick Jones.

They summed up the event saying, “It’s like an 18- 30's holiday but all the kids are wearing converse and skinny jeans.”

They also gave 6music details of their forthcoming second album,

"The new record is called Emergency and the new single from that record is called, This Is An Emergency, just to confuse people." They said.

"Its by no means rushed but we gave ourselves a goal. Sat in the studio for 3 weeks, wrote 20 songs, picked the best 13 and that’s what you'll be hearing in May."

“As a band you’d be under a tremendous amount of stress if you were here at South by South West with some sort of goal in mind like finding a label or a publisher."

Last year the Pigeon Detectives only managed one show due to visa problems but this year the band were hoping to tap into a new audience with their new material.

"We kind of bypassed the US last year because we were so committed to getting two albums out in 12 months and we didn’t stop to think about it," they said.

"But if the American public look like they’re taking an interest in Pigeon Detectives then it would be pretty sensible to take a year off between albums this time round and have a good crack at it.”

Elsewhere, British Sea Power, Make Model and The Rascals also played to packed out venues last night.
And, the Cribs played their biggest show of the event to date. Members of The Kings of Leon, The Von Bondies and Kate Nash turned out to support their gig at the Stubbs BBQ venue.

Only weeks after the release of their debut album, Vampire Weekend were also enjoying the festival and told 6music they felt for the younger bands who were starting out.

“As a band you’d be under a tremendous amount of stress if you were here at South by South West with some sort of goal in mind like finding a label or a publisher or something like that  - and you had to play 10 shows or more in as many days”

They were glad not be feeling the pressure,

“We released our album five weeks ago so we feel we’re at a different kind of stage and we can just enjoy it,” they said.

“In one sense we’re on tour so we’re just coming through Austin on our way to the West Coast.”

There’s more tonight as Tiny Masters of Today, Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong, The Ting Tings and Duffy all play at venues across the city.



Elizabeth Alker