Southeast by Southwest: SE Engine at SXSW
March 17, 2008
Southeast Engine, an up-and-coming indie-rock band from Athens, was in Austin, Texas, for much of the past week, participating in and enjoying the South by Southwest Music Conference.
Before leaving for this immense celebration of independent and alternative rock and other genres, Southeast Engine agreed to provide a daily log of their adventures to The Athens NEWS.
Not surprisingly, the band got wrapped up in this road trip of all road trips, and didn’t post the diary till 2:30 a.m. on Saturday. They started for home Saturday morning, but might be coaxed into posting a wrapup of their adventures.
(Different band members contributed to the SXSW diary below.)
SXSW – From Wednesday, March 12
SXSW is in full bloom. Southeast Engine pulled into Austin on Tuesday night, and you could tell the town had been swelling for days. It felt similar to Athens in the days leading up to Halloween (only on a much larger scale). Drunks filed through the streets, folks were costumed (only, in the latest hipster gear), and music could be heard from every corner.
The Misra Showcase (SE Engine is in the Misra Records stable) went very well. Jim James (My Morning Jacket), David Bazan (Pedro the Lion) and a lot of beady-eyed industry folks were there. I was nervous. The show kicked off at 10 p.m. with The Low Lows, a haunting, quirk-country band from Athens, Ga., that just hooked up with the label. They were my favorite of the evening. Hallelujah the Hills, a horn-infused pop-rock band from Boston, followed in the second slot, Southeast Engine was third, and the label's flagship indie-country troubadours, Centro-matic, closed down the evening. It was wild. — Leo DeLuca
SXSW – From Wednesday, March 12
A good friend of ours recently moved to Austin and provided us a place to stay during our time at SXSW. We woke up early Wednesday morning anticipating our showcase set in the evening and a day-party show in the afternoon. We started the day with a local Mexican restaurant. Walking around Austin, you could tell the town was filling up. During SXSW, every bar in town becomes a music venue. Looking at the schedule for the festival can be a bit overwhelming because there are over 1,200 bands playing, most of them under the radar and relatively unknown.
After breakfast, we went to the Austin Convention Center to check in and pick up our badges and wristbands. The center was a zoo with musicians, panelists, booking agents and press securing their badges.
Our day show was low key and a great way to settle into the festival. We caught up with some friends from other bands sharing the bill, including the former Athens band, The Story Of, who transplanted themselves in Austin a few years back.
The day show was at a place called The Victory Grill, which is renowned for being the club where B.B. King got his start. They serve great barbeque as well. Our set was fun and well received by the 30 to 40 people there, which made us all feel more confident going into our evening showcase set. — Adam Remnant
SXSW – From Thursday, March 13
This was our day off, meaning a day to soak up as much music as humanly possible. Three of us caught early-afternoon performances by David Bazan, Deer Tick — friends from Providence, R.I. — and Free Corn on the Cob (I can't recall the band's actual name, but the corn was darn good!). Martha Wainwright played a pristine show for an army of TV cameras at the Austin Convention Center, and in the evening we headed over to the Secretly Canadian/Dead Oceans/Jagjaguwar showcase, where the line at the door took up half a block. After an inspiring set from Brooklyn folk-rockers Phosphorescent, I took off sight-seeing and nearly didn't make it back into the showcase. Those with badges trump us folk with mere wristbands, and I was nabbed for accidentally standing in the badge line, but the words "my band's in there" are apparently SXSW's version of "Open Sesame" – a kindly staffer let me right back in. Apparently not every show was as crowded, since some friends in a bluegrass band scored easy front-row seats to hear Bela Fleck play! We ended the night early at around 4 a.m. — Michael Lachman
SXSW – From Friday, March 14
The festival continues through Saturday, but today was our last at SXSW. We played on a bill with Athenians-turned-Austinites The Story Of at a bookstore specializing in conspiracy theories of all stripes. To round out the night, a few of us headed back to the center of the madness, where Fleet Foxes, Sub Pop's newest act, bathed us in haunting four-part harmony. My legs are shot from three straight days of walking and standing. South by Southwest has been a great ride: tomorrow Southeast Engine starts the long drive home. — Michael Lachman
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