SXSW Six Pack: A Giant Dog
Picked by the British music press as a band to watch, and tirelessly championed by Spoon’s Britt Daniels –who picked them as openers for a two-week tour in late 2014– beloved East Austin riot-starters A Giant Dog is poised to finally break its chain in 2015, run amok and lick the rest of the country’s face with the release of their third album.
Formed in 2008, the UK’s New Music Express (NME) tipped the Austin five-piece as one of fifty new bands to watch in 2015, following a 2014 that saw the band establish its presence once and for all as one of Austin’s most promising cultural exports following a five-week residency at Hotel Vegas.
The fact that the band can start a mosh pit and air a song on CBS’ The Good Wife –All I wanted– testifies to the band’s energetic and infectious appeal.
Set in the classic themes of sex, drugs and rock and roll, the energy, punch lines and emotional honesty make the songs so much more than that. Think Stooges or X with just the right amount of Guided by Voices bravado.
The combined wattage produced by the band in service of the songs crafted by songwriter/guitarist Andrew Cashen and driven home by frontwoman Sabrina Ellis … it’s enough to make you forsake interest in the national music scene.
Add to that, soaring vocals that would make anyone on a Broadway stage or heavy metal band green with envy and you’ve got a band that must be seen to be believed and fully appreciated.
It’s enough to make you wonder why there isn’t a swarm of labels around the block to sign these guys/put out their record.
That’s what you get for not being legendary barbecue or a trendy burger on South Congress, I guess.
Steel cage, no-holds barred, brass knuckles in the tights, folding-chair-usage encouraged, last label standing, pay-per view. Jonathon Poneman vs. Mac McCaughan vs. Seymour Stein. Or something.
Recorded in 2014 by Austin local Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Trail of Dead, Patty Griffin) and set to come out sometime in 2015, the songs of imploding inner torment and exploding affection a la “Creep” and “Jizz Me” read like salutations from a box of fractured Valentine’s Day candied-hearts –hooky, vibrant and to-the-point anthems of the terminally talented.
“I’m a creep and a liar/you don’t mind at all/you’re a freak and … and that can take its toll/but I love you honey/stay away from me/tenderness is not for me.”
Stay away and live a life riddled with regret.
You can find A Giant Dog here during SXSW:
Mon, 3/16 – 1 a.m. – Strange Brew @ Hotel Vegas (1500 E 6th St)
Tue, 3/17 – 11 p.m. @ Hole in the Wall (2538 Guadalupe St)
Fri, 3/20 – 11 p.m. @ ABGB (1305 W Oltorf St)
Sat, 3/21 – 4 p.m. – Peelander Fest @ The Grackle (1700 E 6th St)
Sat, 3/21 – 10:30 p.m. –The Panache Rager @ Spiderhouse (2906 Fruth St)
Sun, 3/22 – 8:00 p.m. – Uncle Doug’s Chili Dog Fest @ Side Bar (602 E 7th St)
More SXSW Six Pack 2015
SXSW Six Pack 2014