SxSW Day One: Mongrel tries to avoid the indie boy bands...(!)

Let’s get something straight here – it’s dangerous sending this kind of Mongrel into Texas unaccompanied. You see, with a love for alt.country and Americana which goes way beyond a mere passion, you’re only going to get a rundown of music that features slide guitar and lyrics about having a broken heart. We’re meant to be chasing the ‘next big thing’ (what happened to the star-bound trajectory of Tapes N Tapes and Be Your Own Pet?), but when this Mongrel passes a bar full of plaid shirts and Stetsons, it has to go inside. The day started well: straight to Mohawks on Red River (great name for a street, don’t you think?) for A Place To Bury Strangers, followed by The Forms. Neither were alt.country. Place To Bury Strangers will be releasing material in the UK in the next couple of months, and to Mongrel’s ears sounded like a more scuzzed up, epic, but less melodic Primal Scream in their dirty era (XTMNTR etc) – only three of them, the noise was pretty impressive. The Forms came next: a New York four-piece, indie outfit with more melodic tunes, on the Threespheres label. They covered a Nirvana song (Mongrel can’t remember which one it was right now), which seemed a little strange, but after giving them a quick whirl on MySpace, the influence is actually pretty clear. After too many boys with indie guitars (enough now please!), it was off to Flamingo Cantina to see a few tunes by Akron/Family. Mongrel has long been a fan of this Pennsylvania, blues/gospel gang and they didn’t let us down. Sure, we’re probably telling you nothing new here, but they were fantastic. With mere seconds to spare, Mongrel ran like the dog it is to catch a few songs by New Zealand artist Liam Finn. Mongrel had heard a couple of people mention him back home, and was glad to have made the effort. He’s a great new discovery. Then came the onslaught of Americana – had to be done. Blue Mountain at Mother Egan’s were spot on, as too were The Silos, who have been around for years and years. The band has just released a new album, Come On Like The Fast Lane, on Bloodshot and Mongrel will be downloading it as soon as possible. Lastly, Mongrel finally saw Andy Davis play live (see below for loads of chat about him) for the first time: my, he’s a star. As of today (it’s early morning as we write this), there will be two new Mongrels in town. We’re going to hand the lead over to them for a bit…maybe you can expect less alt.country worshipping, but maybe not if this Mongrel gets her way. Yee-ha!