Frank Kimenai is present at the yearly SXSW festival, he will give us live blog updates from Austin! This is the third part in the series, more to follow over the next days.

Friday, the third day of this insane festival, kicked off with a show of Scorpion Child, my friend Shawn’s new 70′s hardrock band, featuring members of Young Heart Attack, a band thaty had some buzz a few years back. It was a nice sunny garden show, quite busy, and a good band if you are in to bands such as Rainbow, Thin Lizzy etc. Nothing new, but just good honest rock.

I went downtown after that to meet up with some friends, and I noticed once more how busy it was with people, most of them that have nothing to do with the business end of the festival anyways. Apperantly, there was an expected attendence of 250.000 people this year, 20% more than last year. The total economic impact of the festival on the city is an estimated $100.000.000,- …. The thing is however, that the enormous amount of people is beginning to affect the business end of the festival. I have never qued as much as this year. Ques for simple things like restrooms or pizza, but also a LOT of ques for showcases.

What I basically come here to do, is check out a lot of music, talk to a lot of people, and see a lot of shows. With the fringe of the festival becoming bigger and bigger, I think for a lot of “professionals” the festival is beginning to get a bit of a hassle, and they might decide to do otherwise next year.

Another thing wich is weird, is the big ques for almost empty venues, by the way. And there’s quite a few empty venues here anyways. Lots of bands that play for half or less capacity…

Anyways, I did manage to see a shitload of bands, here’s a list of the highlights:
- Pentagram I legendary doomband, really strong performance, playing at Scoot Inn on the East Side. Really cool outdoor venue with skate ramp and lots of familiar faces.
- She Keeps Bees – on the 18th floor of the Hilton, the venue with the nicest view. Nice duo with strong female vocalist, but nothing really special.
- Gallops – heavy but danceable Holy Roar bad. Definitally Incubate material.
- Weedeater – personal favorite, ultra heavy doom / stoner / southern rock
- Papercuts – somewhat boring Sub Pop band
- Dum Dum Girls – hype band of the moment, 4 really cute girls, good harmonies and stage presence. Will be big soon, I think.
- Lecherous Gaze – Annihilation Time with new singer. High energy punk rock n roll with the Greg Ginn of the 21st century, Graham on guitar. Also plays with J. Mascis nowadays. On TeePee records, and hopefully around during Incubate.
- Saint Vitus – Born too late / I Bleed Black. Fantastic show, but not busy at all. I expected a full venue, it was packed during Helmet, who played before Vitus, but everybody left afterwards.
- A Place To Bury Strangers – another personal favorite. Loud and heavy, and quite a few familiar faces. Nothing new. Just good music.
- The Sheep Dogs – Total Allman Brothers worship, good thoug. At the Canadian Blast showcase. Incubate will be coorporating with Canadian Blast this year as well.

That’s about it for friday. More tomorrow!