Southeast by Southwest: After SXSW
March 20, 2008
Editor’s note: Before leaving for the South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin early last week, Athens band Southeast Engine promised to provide a daily log of their adventures to The Athens NEWS. Though they were a bit tardy, the band did submit a “catch-up” log early Saturday. Then, when they got back to Athens Sunday, weary and burned out, drummer Leo DeLuca provided the following wrap-up of the band’s time in Austin. — TS
South By Southwest was unbelievable. Southeast Engine just pulled into Athens after a 20-plus-hour drive and we are all a bit delirious (hopefully I can get it together enough to write this). We had no idea of the breadth of the festival and were a bit overwhelmed.
The band would like to apologize to Athens NEWS readers for not getting our journal entries in on time. We had a breach in communication, and certain band members didn't realize the journal needed to be posted every day. This, combined with the sheer craziness of the festival, deterred us from getting the diary to you all in a prompt fashion.
We are so thankful to have the continued support of the A-NEWS and the Athens community and sincerely apologize for this.
SXSW 2008 was a huge success for Southeast Engine. We pulled into Austin on Tuesday night and left Saturday morning. Along with playing an official SXSW Showcase and two day parties, the band gained a lot of fans and forged some nice relationships with folks in the industry.
Namely, we caught the attention of Quest Management. Quest manages Paul McCartney, Arcade Fire, Bjork and The Black Kids, and a fellow who works there is apparently a fan of Southeast Engine. He listened to the new record, really dug what he heard, and requested to meet up with Adam Remnant and me for a "breakfast chat." Although Quest plans to keep its roster streamlined to the aforementioned artists, the rep did express interest in working with the band in some capacity. He has a lot of connections within the industry and is going to hook us up with some of his friends (A&R folks, booking agents, bands, publicity folks, etc.). Hopefully, this pans out in a nice way. We'll make sure to keep you posted.
Other highlights of the festival were the Sub Pop Records' Showcase, meeting Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and David Bazan (Pedro the Lion), the Secretly Canadian Records' Showcase, the sunshine, buying cheap sunglasses, wearing short shorts, Texas BBQ, cartwheels in the streets, ten-gallon hats, big belt buckles, hearing countless amazing up-and-coming artists, etc.
Some of our favorite shows were Fleet Foxes, Blitzen Trapper, Centro-matic, David Bazan, Yo La Tengo, Deer Tick, Glossary, Phosphorescent and Frontier Ruckus.
Some down-sides of the festival were lack of sleep, over-stimulation, sunburns, miscommunication, lack of Internet access, stomach aches, bad gas, dehydration, ten-gallon hats, big belt buckles, an overly packed van, Texas outside of Austin proper, snarky industry people, lack of hipster control, etc.
Southeast Engine is happy to be back home, and we're really looking forward to springtime in Athens. Thanks again to The Athens NEWS and the folks of Athens, OH for your continued support.The band is so fortunate to be based in such a wonderfully creative and supportive town. Thank you. — Leo DeLuca | Southeast Engine
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