Nick is from Portland, Oregon. He played guitar into looping pedals and read to us from his book.
It was a small, intimate show. My favorite piece was about “How to write a song.”
His work and tour dates are at nickJaina.com
And his book is available here.
Here are five female fronted bands I saw at SXSW in 2013!
The Coathangers are from Atlanta, Georgia and are signed to Suicide Squeeze records. They play Punk rock and people were moshing around me; so I made my drawing fast and loose. I think they had four members at this show but there are only three permanent members. I don’t know who I drew several times, they all have dark hair and wild haircuts. I saw them once in Brooklyn too.
Thao is one of my favorite musicians/songwriters. This show was delightful. I was shocked when I heard an instrumental version of one of her songs advertising Ford trucks.
Look at this promotional photo and tell me I didn’t absolutely nail that bass player.
I was going to leave after Thao was finished playing, but was oddly intrigued by the instrumentation that was getting onstage, banjo? clarinet? hmmm. I stayed and I’m glad i did. I was blown away by this ensemble from Madison, Wisconsin. They went on tour with Dr. Dog and with Deer Tick. Their album is great, and they made a complete album long music video, which is a great introduction to them and shows the house they all live in and the messes they make. Check them out online and don’t confuse them for Fleet Foxes or Foxygen.
Charan Po Rantan play balkan circus klezmer polka, from JAPAN! They dressed in adorable costumes and danced around the stage. I saw them as a three-piece with a drummer, but on their record, and at some shows in Japan, they are joined by a full band and horn section. This is very fun, energetic music, and maybe not what you’d expect from a pair of young Japanese sisters. On Youtube, you can find videos of them singing American hit song covers. This site is in Japanese, but you can read a little more about them here.
I’ll be posting some drawings I made at SXSW 2013. I found an old notebook and really liked some of the drawings, so I started inking them and coloring them. If this turns my followers on to new, exciting bands: fantastic.
This is Chihiro Yamazaki and Route 14. I’m excited by young bands playing fusion and bringing jazz elements to rock clubs.
I found an interview with them here. I thought this response was cute.
Chihiro: The reaction of the audience abroad is very straightforward and direct, and we are always able to catch their expressions. It is really different from Japan. In the US, the audience would say like, “Wow, that’s cool!” and get hyper right on the spot, or dance when they feel like dancing. It’s a lot of fun! We get a lot of energy from them.
Satoshi: I am a drummer, so I am always watching calmly at the back and able to catch expressions from the audience when they really liked our song or when we didn’t play well. Also, sometimes the audience reacts differently even to the same song. The audience from a region that has cold weather reacts calmly while the audience from a hot region heats up really quickly…this is our biggest observation during this tour.
Hey, they should come visit Alaska and see how quickly we react and “get hyper.”
Caught the band at Foodstock, but they also played at the downtown fair.
Ezza Rose is from Portland, they picked up Tony in Denali park and did a few gigs on their tour with him.
Sabe is from Fairbanks she kicks ass. Both she and Travis played on my record.
A Fairbanks band that plays some prog influenced indie rock, with female vocals and violin!
Annual fundraiser for AYP: the Hot Mess! I did a stand up comedy set and I drew these lovely dancers. The photos are by Ronan guillou. You can judge how accurate my drawings are, and I’m grateful to him because I used them for reference.
I got to see Katee Sackhoff at the Portland comic con. She talked about Battle Star Galactica and had a real sense of humor. What a charmer! I must look up her work on robot chicken and the Big Bang theory.
Rock and roll with some fretboard tapping.
Granddad call themselves an emo punk party band. They have some charming affectionate lyrics, “you are all my very best friends!” They use a vocal pedal that ads harmonies for choruses, which sounds pretty good with the bare bones guitar and drums combination. I think both members were once in ” Eating for Two.”
This heavy band played Danzig covers… I think. I didn’t color it to be more punk rawk.
Isaac and the Awkward Situations 