Deep In The Heart Of Texas

Day 1
We got into Austin late on Monday night; as good a time as any. On Tuesday, we just had one early gig at noon, in a place called the Blind Pig on Sixth Street. We’d had the foresight to bring our acoustic guitars with us, so we decided to go busking. We soon discovered that our songs didn’t work in a busking set-up, so we started to play some Beatles and Crosby, Stills & Nash covers. A crowd started to form and a CNN Live @5 news crew happened to stop to listen. For reasons best known to themselves, they decided to broadcast one of our hairy covers of ‘Please Please Me’ by The Beatles...
Later that night, we went to check out the Pitchfork stage on which Surfer Blood were playing. The scenester level was full to the brim. Beards, Raybans and iPhones. I smirked and proudly reflected, “Now I have officially become a dickhead!”
After Surfer Blood finished (they were very impressive, by the way) we decided to get another different slice of Austin nightlife, so went to The Duelling Piano Bar. It’s a bar where two guys play any audience requests on two pianos. We requested George Michael’s ‘Jesus To A Child’ — that made my night!

Day 2
Today was the day of our first official gig. We had to borrow backline off a lovely band from Austin called Love Inks. My guitar amp, unfortunately, was a Pevey, which sounded like a trapped bee in a can. Apart from that the gig went extremely well, and was attended by a great crowd. One gentleman got very excited about Alan’s guitar solo and made fanning gestures at his knees for most of the gig.

Day 3
Today was St. Patrick’s Day at SXSW. It was like being in Ireland, only more so. Everyone was wearing green. Even the beer was coloured green by a horrendous assortment of artificial colouring. Green beer... hmm! Brendan bravely tried some, but soon stopped drinking it for fear of blindness.
Our first gig of the day was a day-long event called the Fleadh at the Kung Fu bar. It went very well. We felt a little more relaxed than we had done the previous night; the set-up wasn’t as hectic and the backline was a little better. On the amp front, I had upgraded from a bee in a can to a cat being scalded (progress in the right direction). It had a nice pop and crunch to it. I managed to nail what I’d like to think was a similar tone to the guitar in George Michael’s synonymous hit ‘Fast Love’. Needless to say, that made my day.
After this gig, we raced across town to our next venue, which was called the Aussie Bar and Grill. The stage was outside and the weather was incredible, but tragically a little too much for an Irish male. We played to very few people, but we didn’t care, as the stage was right in front of a beach volleyball pitch. So we played our set as a soundtrack to all the lovely girls playing volleyball. (This could never happen at home). Needless to say, that made my day too...
Following the gig, we happily discovered that The Strokes were playing a free gig in the park beside us. So once we’d finished (politely, discreetly and subtly) ogling the volleyball girls, we strolled down towards said park. Afterwards, we were delighted to discover that there was a free beer tent downtown for artists. Beer... mmm! We strolled down there and got horribly drunk until we were asked to leave. Needless to say...

Day 4
“The CBS channel is the most God-hating, Satan-worshiping network I have ever watched”. No, these are not the views of O Emperor — it was the delightful topic of conversation I woke up to on my radio this morning.
All in all, the entire trip has been amazing. This part of America is incredible and I feel privileged to have seen it. All the people have been so friendly and helpful. All the Deep South clichés are here too; pickup trucks, country music, hard-line Christians, deep-fried everything. Without any hesitation, I’d highly recommend anyone to come and visit. The festival too really has to be seen to be believed, with bands playing in literally every nook and cranny.
Who knows what will come from it, but just to get to play here has been a dream come true. Sadly, we must go now back to where we belong: the free beer tent, where people treat each other right.
Y’all have a good day now!