This is fine.
As promised, here is our very first SXSW interview of 2026 featuring an artist we are super pumped about seeing – Grrrl Gang. We won’t provide much information on the band, as they can surely inform you better than we can. They provide some great insight into touring, what is currently bumping in the tour van, and why they chose to come in for the festival. See all of that, plus current dates after the jump.
Hard to believe, but it’s that SXSW time again in just a short 10 or so days. While we hear many grumblings from pals about the changing landscape of the festival, we still plan to be out in full force checking out as many bands as we can. Sure, things will be a touch different this year as we maneuver new dates and downtown construction, but we’re planning to roll with it and provide our usual coverage. In the next few days we’ll be dropping some new show announcements, a few of our interviews, and of course, my annual SXSW artist playlist. This thing takes some time people, and I’ve combed the 700+ bands on the official list, to narrow this down to about 60 or so. Please keep in mind – this is tailored to my tastes, so no shade on any artists not on the list. It’s also highly likely that I just missed something… So here ya go, an Apple version and a damn Spotify one too in case you’re still doing that. Seriously, you can just transfer all your tunes out of there…. Stay tuned.
It’s only a few weeks away at this point, so we’re going to start churning out (I hope) lots of solid content around one of my favorite festivals, SXSW. Luckily, sharing the single below allows us to shine a light on a new signing for Winspear, plus give you a new name on your list of acts to catch if you happen to be in town: Swapmeet. The Aussie outfit only have a handful of tunes available, but they’re already making waves, and this latest tune should be a warning that they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with. I love that they balance a brash bit of noise with a pop sensibility, using the verses to draw you in before the release of walls of feedback that blast in your face. Folks want songs that are loud and fun, and you won’t hear one better than this today. Expect an LP later in the year.
Some things have been announced, y’all, though we have no clue what SXSW will be with the convention center as the epicenter. This link will give you the full rundown of artists, but the first big announcement is that The All American Rejects will be headlining the SXSW Music Opening Party on (assuming) the 12th of March presented by Rivian.
Cool.
Anyway, plenty of locals already named and more importantly the list of showcase presenters is pretty consistent year over year.
We are still standing after a full week of tunes with one, maybe two, more days left to go amongst the craziness in Austin. The ATH crew was once again spread out all over town yesterday and into the night, so expect a huge variety of bands on our highlight’s list. Hopefully we will catch ya’ll out there today if we’ve missed you so far! Full highlights, thoughts and fancy photos from Friday can be found after the jump.
We are still standing and still ready to rock. Most of us had a long one yesterday and into the evening, so yeah we saw a ton of bands on Thursday. We were mostly split up, all over town, and maybe hit a high note for the amount of unique bands our team saw during one day. It was a big one and we of course have some thoughts about what went down. After the jump, you can find our top bands of the day along with thoughts and of course, fancy photos.
Yesterday was a long one folks, and felt like the first REAL day for SXSW to get going with all the crew out and about covering whatnot. We covered a lot of ground, mostly around Red River and on the east side, and of course we have some thoughts to share this morning. For any haters out there, go out and give it a shot, bands are still playing, hungry, and put on some great sets. If you’re out and about, some say hi to the crew and we’ll buy you a drink or give ya s sticker. After the jump we have some thoughts, photos and various other hot things.
As you may have heard, SXSW kicked off this past weekend with some great local shows, especially our lil shindig over at Hotel Vegas with SOTO. Things continued into the early part of the week with most of us venturing out all over town to catch some bands before Austin gets truly wild closer to next weekend. We some bands, we took some photos, and as always, we have things to say. After the jump, you can check out some of our band highlights so far, along with fancy photos from our crew. Hit it.
Maybe you thought we were done previewing bands for SXSW this week? Well maybe you thought wrong! We were not quite finished with all of our previews and have one more for you today coming from Australian based upstarts Hachiku. These are some great and thoughtful responses, and we super appreciate these and all of the responses we’ve received so far. See ya out there! Hit the jump for interview from Hachiku along with tunes and set times.
It is upon us and here people. SXSW music officially kicks off TODAY and while most of the ATH staff is stuck at work, you should be out and about or at least prepping for the week ahead. We are super pumped today to finish off our preview interview series with possibly our favorite band coming in to town this week, Australian buddies Delivery. They smashed it out of the park with these responses and we hope you’ll enjoy them as much as we did. Full responses along with set times and music can be found after the jump.
