SXSW Six Pack 2022: An Introduction
By Paul Stinson
Break out your box of earplugs and say goodbye to your personal space, SXSW is back in all its music-marathon glory.
Following two years in the pandemic wilderness, many of Austin’s best bands will be on display in the Texas capital, fighting to stand out from the tsunami of visiting acts.
Gone are the easy laments about advertising being affixed to every last stationary and moving object, instead replaced by a sense of gratitude that a city defined by music and crowds, is a carnival once more —a signal of hope that touring bands can get back on the road.
Complaints about corporate branding are easy. 2014’s five-story Doritos’ stage made for an easy target. If a towering snack chip bag promoting a giant salt lick for the herd of humanity was ever going to be a site for sore eyes, this is the year.
If there was ever a year to complain a little less loudly about the price of beer almost doubling at venues, it would be now. Small price to pay to keep the venues (and hopefully the festival) in good stead.
Although fears of massive venue closures wrought by the pandemic didn’t quite come to fruition, Austin’s music scene lost a handful of staples (Barracuda, the original location of The Parish) to covid and music-incubator Beerland for reasons too enervating to get into here but easily found with a simple search.
Some things haven’t changed. Taco joints and space-age bourgeoise condos pop up like weeds. Local food joint Bird Bird Biscuit defies all superlatives with their deliciousness. Local talents A Giant Dog (pictured above) and Sweet Spirit still grab you by the heart and guts. Either of them could jumpstart a major city on a winter night or put the defibrillator industry out of business.
Rather than rehash enthusing from years past, suffice it to say this: songs that stir by musicians of the highest order and the unstoppable vocal lifeforce of Sabrina Ellis are just the thing for today. Or any day. Miss them at your own peril, and lead a life filled with regret.
The 2022 launch of the NadaMucho.com SXSW Six Pack is a humble ploy to do our part to shine a light on a handful of Austin bands even if the soup de jour social media influencer of the day/random music legend doesn’t step up out of their hospitality hovel just in time to be wowed and urp up a Tweet to change a band’s trajectory forever more. In the days and weeks ahead, I will introduce you to some of Austin’s finest bringers of sound and vision.
Austin is awash in bands killing it every night, sometimes to capacity crowds sometimes to a handful. With any luck, visitors will get a window into the magic locals are lucky enough to enjoy almost as a matter of routine. Fortune favors those in circulation, bands and SXSW visitors alike.
Paul Stinson is Nada Mucho’s Austin Music Correspondent. Formerly a Texas and Oklahoma statehouse correspondent for a major news organization, Stinson is plotting his next move and can be found lurking in Austin’s music shadows and Casino El Camino burger joint. Or playing with his cats Olive and Piko.
A GIANT DOG
3/14 Hotel Vegas –Spring Break Boogie
3/15 Valhalla (official SXSW showcase) Rocky Road Touring
3/19 Hotel San Jose –SX San Jose
SWEET SPIRIT
3/13 Preacher (6PM)
3/19 Creek and The Cave
A Giant Dog/Sweet Spirit’s ANDREW CASHEN
3/20 Sidebar @Chili Dog Festival (8PM)
SXSW SixPack is a yearly series of unapologetic enthusings/profiles on bands that need to be seen and heard by more people.
Paul Stinson is Nada Mucho’s Austin Music Correspondent. Formerly a Texas and Oklahoma statehouse correspondent for a major news organization, Stinson is plotting his next move and can be found lurking in Austin’s music shadows and Casino El Camino burger joint. Or playing with his cats Olive and Piko.
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