High On Fire
For the next few days, I’m going to attempt to sum up SXSW. I say attempt, because trying to talk about the annual rite of passage for bands, journalists and the music industry at large is like taking a camera phone picture of the Grand Canyon. My trip started with Motorhead, well, Lemmy, actually. With his film having debuted earlier that week, Lemmy gave a keynote interview. The interview was candid and funny, with the frontman speaking about scoring acid for Jimi Hendrix as a roadie (“he’d take 7 tabs and give me 3, which I thought was liberal”), and whether he gave advice to up and coming bands (“the mistakes I made don’t exist any more. Make your own mistakes, motherfucker.”)
Then it was off to a Wacken Records party, where Orphaned Land and Suidakra hung out. Watch this space for an interview with Suidakra. From then, it was on to the Prosthetic/Action PR/Metal Sucks showcase at Mohawk. The instrumental sounds of Mondo Drag led off Action PR’s showcase, where we found out they were tapped to replace Nebula for the following night’s Tee Pee Records showcase because Nebula broke up last night. Other highlights included The Funeral Pyre and Bison BC.
When you’re told you have VIP passes to Motorhead, that’s something you can’t pass up, so Rob from Metal Injection and I made it over to the Austin Music Hall as quickly as we could (it involved a pedicab). It was worth it to see Motorhead from onstage. From there, it was back to Mohawk to see High On Fire, and we can report that the new material sounds even better live. There’s stuff I’m leaving out, but that’s because I have to run off to Full Metal Texas. Check in soon!
