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It's SRO for punk band at music fest
from: cleveland.com
by John Soeder, Plain Dealer Pop Music Critic
Austin, Texas- Leave it to JOAN JETT to get a crowd's attention. "All right!" she shouted. "From Cleveland, Ohio, please give a warm welcome to . . . THE VACANCIES!"
The punk quintet's high-octane set Friday night at Emo's, a Lone Star State institution with poster-plastered walls, rushed past in a blur of heart-attack drums, locomotive bass and chugging guitars, while frontman Billy Crooked split the difference between crooning and caterwauling. No wonder Jett signed these guys to her BLACKHEART RECORDS label a few years ago.
She proudly showed them off at the 21st annual South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference and festival, on a bill with two other Blackheart groups: Girl in a Coma (from San Antonio) and the Dollyrots (from Los Angeles).
The Vacancies bashed out anthems from their 2005 Blackheart debut, "A Beat Missing or a Silence Added," as well as "Pride," a hard-hitting new song off their upcoming album, "Tantrum," in stores May 29.
To top it off, Jett had the band accompany her on several tunes, including "Change the World" (co-written by Crooked) and the No. 1 oldie "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," which turned into one big singalong.
"I can tell my grandkids about it someday," Crooked said afterward, happy to run into a fellow Clevelander on the sidewalk outside the club. His red-white-and-blue vest was sleeveless, revealing an impressive gallery of tattoos on his arms.
The Vacancies are veteran road warriors, although this was their first appearance at SXSW, which gave 11,000 record company executives, talent scouts, cyberspace entrepreneurs and others a great excuse to get out of the office. The event wound down Sunday, after four nights of performances by more than 1,500 acts from around the world. By day, there were panel discussions and parties.
"It's good exposure," Crooked said. "It's a good way to start a buzz for our new album."
With CD sales in freefall over the past few years, these are not happy days for many record companies, struggling to find a place in the new digital world order.
During a panel discussion provocatively titled "Why Does Today's Music Sound Like (Expletive)?" veteran record producer Sandy Pearlman predicted the imminent demise of the traditional recording industry. "In two more years, it will be gone as we recognize it," he said.
Nonetheless, there was cause for rejoicing at SXSW. The music business may be in a state of upheaval, but in the jam-packed venues along Austin's bustling Sixth Street, the good news was clear: Music itself is thriving.
Grupo Fantasma, a local ensemble with a regular engagement at Prince's Las Vegas club, got SXSW attendees dancing with a kinetic mix of salsas and merengues. New York City's Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings served up funky soul, including a down-and-dirty rendition of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." And Andrew Bird of Chicago revealed a flair for chamber pop, complete with plucked violin and otherworldly whistling.
Alongside up-and-coming artists hoping to get their first break, veteran performers also made the scene.
Iggy Pop and the Stooges were the talk of the town, here to launch a tour on the heels of "The Weirdness," their just-released comeback album.
"Nobody really knew where to put us when we started," Pop said during a public interview session. He recalled playing church socials with the Stooges in the 1960s.
"We became artists by default," Pop said. "We weren't thinking about anything else."
Blur's Damon Albarn and the Clash's Paul Simonon unveiled their new group, the Good, the Bad & the Queen, specializing in vaudevillian Britpop. And Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction resurfaced with Satellite Party, a groove-oriented band at times reminiscent of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
At least a half-dozen Northeast Ohio acts had lined up official or unofficial showcases as part of the festivities, including the retro-rocking Alarm Clocks, the ethereal alt-rock group Lovedrug and the mood-setting instrumental outfit Six Parts Seven.
"It's very exciting," said South American songbird Luca Mundaca, who was born in Chile, was raised in Brazil and now resides in Cleveland.
This Moment in Black History, another Cleveland punk band, unleashed its edgy sound and fury in a cramped dive, up a flight of rickety stairs off Austin's main drag. The "stage" was a tiny corner of the space, which proved ill-suited to containing frontman Chris Kulcsar. He bounced around the club like a hyperactive monkey.
Drummer Lamont "Bim" Thomas came on strong, too.
"Buy our record!" he told the audience. "Stop being so cheap!"
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