SxSW 2016: ATX Showdown @ Hotel Vegas

Let’s get the artist notes and pics kicked off with our first party of the week. It was an all day affair, oh the huge manatees. So many great locals with some true talent from overseas. We were thrilled to get this SxSW started with so many friends. If you were there, you have probably told your friends about how rad the night was. I mean, Bushwick Bill was there to hang with the locals and talk about the biz. Only South By…

Click through for some thoughts from the team and plenty of pics…

Nathan: I got lucky putting this show together. I got to partake in the true spirit of SXSW by booking a show with our friend John from Side One Track One. Honestly, this show was filled with so many great local bands that I just ran around from one room to another falling in love. It doesn’t hurt that a great deal of the ATH Records crew were there to play too. And yes, while I’ve loved Spook School from afar, this was my first encounter of the band, which led me to follow them around the city like a puppy dog. Saw close to 30 bands, and not a single one of them was bad…not a one. The added bonus was that Thee Oh Sees dropped out of the bill, so Vegas was not quite as crowded as it would be later in the week. Double bonus goes to Big Bill who may have wowed Bushwick Bill in to recording a track together late into the night…or so the story goes.

RayRay:You will find the theme for many of our SXSW recaps to be that we put on some pretty kick ass shows this week. Call me bias if you want, but I had the most fun and saw the best music at all three of our showcases last week. Sunday was all about the locals for me and reaffirmation that we have the best local music scene in the world. I was rather impressed by Bull Durham and old friends Harvest Thieves bringing an alt-country twist to the lineup. Big Bill was also killer as they always are. My conversation with Bushwick Bill was also really incredible. He identified, broke down and gave suggestions to BGray and I’s relationship as photographer/editor/writer in the future. Fun had by all.

BGray: I mean, we had a full on thirty minute, maybe an hour conversation with Bushwick Bill about the industry, their recording process, photography, editing and being edited, genuine thing. And for real, The Spook School is amazing. It was the best good thing about SxSW 2016. Aside from those two amazings, Plantation Band was a level set for the rest of the week. They were genuine music for a genuine moment. I also want to shout out Rain Collectors over at the SOTO side of the house.