SxSW 2015: Converse Rubber Tracks

Rubber TracksBrand. Branding. Brand awareness.

Forget all of that. SxSW has been a bastion of branding experiments. From giant Doritos to McDonald’s trying to be cool, we are inundated by branding and usually, it has been quite unsuccessful. Twitter campaigns hijacked in the name of comedy, new product as a punch line for your snarly friend’s quips. #flatizza

But one brand has been kind of quietly been doing something very cool for musicians. Converse set up Rubber Tracks four years ago giving Texas bands, mostly Austin locals, the chance to get some studio time on the brand’s dime. I was invited to take a tour of the studio compound taken over during SxSW and turned into Converse Rubber Tracks home base, Big Orange and Shine Studio.

A few thoughts, pics of Tele Novella and Hard Proof Afrobeat, and a little Q&A action with the bands after the jump…

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Great Nostalgic @ Hole In The Wall 5/1

greatnostalgicGreat Nostalgic is a band we’ve been following closely since we first discovered them so we were of course excited to hear about their CD release party at Hole in the Wall on Friday.  Joining in the party fun will be fellow locals Sunset and The Sour Notes.  The show should be a unique and new twist on your usual Great Nostalgic set because the band has invited the horn section from Hard Proof Afrobeat to play on a few songs.  Show starts at 10pm with door charge being $3.  The band will also be selling copies of their debut LP for $8 which includes a  bonus disc of remixes done by local DJs.  Here’s one of those new remixes available exclusively on ATH done by local DJ Business Man.

[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/01_house_of_my_father_re-mix.mp3]