Lone Star Beer is a hell of a Drug, Or, Can you believe people actually read this Sh*t?

A year has quickly flown by and we are back. SXSW 08 is fast approaching and the BTY crew will be in Austin covering all those bands that you don't care about. Amazingly enough some people did pay attention to us last year, even quoting some of our thoughts. Our thoughts this year may be harder to quote since the lure of Lone Star Beer and Texas Tea is stronger then ever, foreshadowing some hard core inebriation. Here are some things we are looking forward to.

Motorhead @ the Scion Day Party
Harvey Milk @ the Hydrahead Showcase
Mess with Texas 2
British Sea Power
MGMT
Relaspe Showcase @ Emo's Annex
Flatstock

And Hopefully another Fader Fort

Plus more

donewaiting.com seems to have the best info so go there to stay updated

sxsw.com has the day by day schedule up so start planning

Almost there

BTY 4 Life

speakeasy...or how i learned to love the balpeen hammer

first off, why the fuck isn't jarvis cocker playing chicago on his u.s. tour? ridiculous...

anyway, you got most of the sxsw skinny from the HP, and seeing as you'll have to pay various publications for my sxsw recaps, i thought i'd throw y'all a bone and at least give you the 5 best bands you didn't see at sxsw '07:

1. hot cross
even the kids waiting to see circa survive looked on at them with something resembling disbelief. a bunch of 30-something dudes tearing it up, spitting and spewing vitriol from every pore and knocking the shit out of the tunes from their newest long-players, Risk Revival.

2. walter meego
two chicago dudes and a fuckload of synths and drum machines = a wicked depeche mode/pet shop boys rucks that had the whole place shimmying just like their trousers were on fire.

3. rwake
absolutely titanic sludge-metal from a gaggle of alabama wastoids. their dirge is equal parts melvins and mastodon with jugular-slicing riffs and a thunderous bottom-end squall that'll have you scrambling for the depends in a matter of seconds.

4. the oohlas
utterly charming female-fronted noise-pop from these l.a. scene darlings. delirious pink-noise pop and heart-breaking harmonies. plus, if ollie stone's not the absolute cutest girl frontperson around, then i don't know who is.

5. foals
the best uk import since, god, lord knows when. they fuse the taut, revved-up fire of early franz with the glo-paint indie-techno snottiness of the klaxons and add some stuttering incantantions a la the fall for good measure. the best live band of the festival, hands down. investigate now or pretend like you knew them later...

Hope - The Apostle 1: 2-24 04:46

The following is the first call to The High Priest from TheApostle on Sat. 2/24 @ 04:46.
Some parts of the call have been changed for reasons you don't need to know.

" XXXXX. Right now I'm looking at my uh XXXXXXX jersey. How I wrote Hope on top of it. And ya know what? That, uh, that summarizes what we're about man. Ya know what, and as small as it is.

One jersey. One man
One figure.
One Deity.
A XXXXXXX jersey with Hope on it.
One Deity.
That, uh, that sums it up man.
Hope Hope, XXXXXXX XXXXXXX.

I'm looking at it with the signature and ya know what, that one man is responsible for so much joy in my life, and ya know what? You deserve it too. You deserve that joy."

(A few moments of non-sensical mumbling)

"I will properly punch them in the face.

XXXXXXX.
Hope.

Uhhh, you might have felt it with XXXX, maybe a little bit ... and..."

(More mumbling)

"You've never really felt this love but I'm gonna tell ya something...There is love, there is true love involved when your team wins it all. And it is sooo beautiful. And I pray to God, I pray to God for two things:

One, that I can feel it again, and ..."

(Angry rambling)

"Uhhh...I'm sorry, I'm sorry that had to happen, but at the same time now you know how I feel. Now you know my pain and it f#cking hurts, don't it.

Oh My God."

(Escalating angry rambling)

"Who was the one guy saying Not Now! Not Now!
This Guy!
Who didn't give up?
This Guy!

And ya know what? I want to be there when we...
Ya know what? Hopefully one day we will both get our just rewards. Hopefully one day...

I love ya brother.
You're a great man and I look up to ya.

Talk to you soon."

BTY 4 Life

The High Priest.

Goodbye...Goodbye...Goodbye! - SXSW THE END

I am going to make this brief.

I am tired.

SXSW is done and home is calling.

Mew were amazing. They should be playing stadiums.
If they are coming to your town go see them.
They are THE SXSW BTY BAND of Day 4.

Bad Wizard were a good time. What a great party time metal band.
They play in such a unified front that it is like taking on football lineman.

Midlake were good but brief. It was like a small tease.
I still say "Young Bride" perfectly channels ELO.

The SXSW portion of the BTY Blog is done for now.
Stay tuned for more music and culture goodness.

The wait starts. 365 Days.

BTY 4 Life

The High Priest

Are You There Boris? It's Me, The High Priest - SXSW Day 3 and half of 4

Aaron Horkey says that too much Boris might just make one's head explode.

I believe him.

It was a bittersweet moment today as I watched Boris for the third and final time at this year's SXSW.
And even though there is still tonight to go, I can safely congratulate Boris as being THE BTY BAND OF THE ENTIRE SXSW 2007!
We salute you.

Day 3 was another successful day at the festival. A brief appearence was made at Flatstock 12 and here are my thoughts:

It is always great to see Jared Connor. He is one of the coolest guys around and makes some of the best posters for the greatest bands. He has started doing some wood prints that are coming out amazing. Please visit his site www.mexicanchocolatedesign.com to peruse and buy. If you are a Mars Volta fan, there is no better poster artist.

I love Jay Ryan. It is rare when you get to sit and have a conversation with such an influential artist in the rock poster medium as I did yesterday. A super cool guy, an amazing artist, and a rock n roller are just a few of the adjectives involved with this guy. I still believe his mistake books are the best thing going today. They are totally BTY.

Aaron Horkey continues to kill it day in and day out. And that's just for being Aaron Horkey. His new posters for Converge and Red Sparowes are genius. Stayed tuned to www.burlesquedesign.com for on sale info.

Finally for Flatstock, it was an absolute joy to meet the fellas from Jamungo: FERG and TVM. Their toys are the BEST on the market today. I heard a little bit about what they have planned for this year, and you are not going to want to miss it. Watch out Kidrobot, cause Jamungo is BTY. Watch out for BUD Series 2 very soon. Find out more at www.jamungo.com.

The Vice Saves Texas Party was ok. It had several things going against it:

1) IT WAS TOO F&CKING FAR!
2) THEY BUMPED BORIS!
3) THE BEER LINE WAS A MILE LONG!

I did get to see Turbonegro, which was a real treat. These guys rock out with their cock out.
I can't wait to see them again.

The night was spread out among Lava Lounge, Spiro's, and Emos Annex.

The Heart Break Beat Records showcase at Lava Lounge was CRAZY.

Literally.

The club shut down The New Flesh after about five songs, and they came real close to doing the same to Vincent Black Shadow. The lead singers for both bands were mostly to blame for the trouble as they spent most of their sets in the crowd pushing and punching people while occasionally pouring drinks on the crowd and themselves.
Vincent Black Shadow is a great band waiting to happen. They sounded great. They would sound better if they lost the lead singer and went strictly instrumental. Just my opinion.

I was lucky enough to catch Zoroaster at Spiro's. They kick ass. Check them out.

boris needs no description. I was as close to Wata as you are to your computer.

Jealous?

The Walkmen finished my night very nicely along with a gyro and a hot dog.

I also started my morning dealing with that gyro and hot dog.

Along with seeing Boris today we saw The Good, The Bad, and The Queen.

They were good. Good-Bye Fader Party. You treated us well.

I gotta go eat. Mew, Bad Wizard, and Midlake are calling.

BTY 4 Life

The High Priest

A Day of Metal - SXSW Day 2 or ATSUO!

It is hard to put into words the greatness that was Day 2.

Literally.

I am hoarse from screaming.
My neck is sore from headbanging like a monster.
My hearing was reduced another notch.

Does it sound like the metal kicked my ass? Yeah. But I kept coming back for more.

I salute EVERY METAL BAND we saw yesterday as our BTY bands of Day 2.

As it stands right now, the Scion day party featuring Pelican, BORIS, and the Melvins goes down as the greatest day party of all time.

Pelican kicked it in the ass as usual playing mostly new material.
xtheprophetx got to hear "Dead Between the Walls" off the upcoming City of Echoes, but I was denied "March to the Sea".
So be it.

BORIS were simply amazing. They played some vicious tracks off of Pink and Akuma. Needless to say I was headbanging like a champion. They also had some great merch including new shirts for Pink and Dronevil Final and a beautiful piece of HydraHead vinyl for some tracks they did with Merzbow. It is a beautiful green gatefold featuring art by FangsAnalSatan with green/blue/white marble wax. One down for BORIS, three to go.

The Melvins came on and did something I could never imagine anyone doing: They blew BORIS out of the water. I have never seen Melvins before and I was totally impressed. It also gave me a sneak peek into Big Business, who I will speak of later. This is one band that I will try very hard not to miss when they come to town.

For you poster people out there, there is an amazing poster Justin Hampton did for this showcase that I suggest you buy when it goes onsale at www.justinhampton.com 3/20 at 12 noon pacific.

The evening was spent mostly at Emos Annex at the HydraHead showcase, with a quick late night jaunt to Red Eye Fly for The Horrors.

The HydraHead showcase was brilliant with the exception of Oxbow, who sucked balls. The lead singer stripped down to his underwear and spent most of the set fondling himself. NOT COOL.

Daughters were great. That lead singer is crazy. They played mostly off of Hell Songs, which is an album I am very fond of. They had a SXSW only vinyl edition of it with a cover screenprinted by our friends from Burlesque of North America.

It felt like Big Business was ripping a whole in the earth. Then again, I WAS standing in front of the speakers. You wanna talk about some hardcore rock, well here you go. They played Here Comes the Waterworks from front ot back and it was an amazing experience. I was also lucky to snag the Japanese Daymare edition of the record for only ten bucks. Sorry Inoxia.

I was very glad the American authorities let Jesu into the country, because they sounded great. They actually are heavier live, which was something I was a little worried about after hearing the metal-pop sound of the Silver Ep. I cannot wait to see them again next week when they open for ISIS.

So, it was a successful showcase. It was great to be there as I had always hoped that my first SXSW would include a HydraHead showcase. I think the best part about it is the accessibility of the bands. I was able to have conversations with Sam of Daughters, Trevor of Pelican, and Atsuo of Boris, which was a metal head's dream come true. I will remember this night for a long time.

The Horrors were everything I expected them to be. They are a committed band with their look, their energy, and their sound, which was, to my pleasant surprise, very heavy. The lead singer did not disappoint with several stage jumps and pulling people up onto the stage only to push them off into the crowd. In one sequence he jumped from the stage to the middle of the crowd, jumped up on the bar, starting swinging from a hanging light, and then ripped a blue tarp off a tree as he was trying to swing himself back onto stage. Brilliant. Plus, I got to hear "Sheena is a Parasite", which is a great song and an even better video.

I gotta go. More day parties are calling. Vice, Filter, Fader. boris, Big Business, Turbo, Zoroaster, Cheeseburger.

And that's just this afternoon.

So, F*ck you, buddy.

BTY 4 Life

The High Priest

Killing It - SXSW Day 1 or That Spicy Sausage was a Bad Choice

We have survived Day 1.
Actually we didn't just survive, we thrived.

It was an exciting day with great bands, great parties, and Lone Star Beer.

I'd like to start to by saluting our BTY bands of Day 1 in no particular order:

Kenna
Foals
Kinski

Nice job gentlemen, and one lady, on playing the most inspired sets of the day.

Now a full breakdown:

Nothing says BTY like the Fader Party at The Fort. This place is going to kick ass every day. Great bands, free booze, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force make this THE day party of the day and possibly the week.

Kenna kicked it in the ass. You may or may not have heard of them, but I know you've heard their music. They provide the soundtrack to the PSP commercial where that douchebag kid is looking for the awful tease of a girl. These guys have a new album coming out in June and I highly suggest you check it out.

The Foals might just be the next big thing out of the UK. A very tight, kind of heavy punk sound that should be seeing its way to a label very soon.

Vandervelde was ok. The last two songs delivered the dirty old rock he is capable of, but I believe xtheprophetx put it the best when he said it sounding like they were warming up for most of the set.

The rest of the night was spread among Emos, Exodus, Stubbs, and Emos IV.

Wolf and Cub were good. They rocked it pretty hard. xtheprophetx thought they were sloppy, but said they will get to where they need to be.

Automatica's first US performance was a Brit-Punk Tour De Force. Catchy songs, great stage presence, and an amazing cover of the Talking Heads made this a good choice. Be on the look for "Monster Coming Over the Hill". It will be big.

Cody Chesnut is a weird dude. He sounded fine and looked great in a Curtis Mayfield motif complete with a flowing robe, but it was a little boring. When I saw him much later that night at Saul Williams he was sitting in the back of the hall completely covered with his robe with a crazy look in his eye. It was creepy.

Oxford Collapse SUCK BALLS! xtheprophetx would like to sacrifice them as they have angered the BTY Gods.

Kinski KICKED ASS. Totally hard core head banging music. They played a few off of Alpine Static including "Wives of Artie Shaw" and "Hot Stenographer", but the highlight for me was the new stuff. That album is going to be good. Chris was good enough to talk with me after the show. He is a cool dude. Interesting note: The disc they did for Three Lobed's Modern Containment Series was suppose to be a third side to Alpine Static.

Saul Williams was cool. I applaud his very enthusiatic crowd.

I gotta go. Scion Party is calling. Pelican, Boris, Melvins.

Jealous?

BTY 4 Life

The High Priest

Deep in the Heart of Wet Texas or God Bless You, John Wonder

So, we're here.
We're wet.
We're drunk.

It is raining to beat the band. We almost didn't land in Austin due to the weather, but our co-captain John Wonder plowed us through the dark clouds at break-neck speeds. It was not pleasant. Children were sobbing.

We then were refused alcohol sales at grocery establishments because of our out-of-town I.D.s.

Things were not BTY.

But then we arrived at the beautiful Hyatt Regency Austin.
Great Service.
Quick check-in.
Free vodka AND cheese AND fruit brought right up to the room.

We salute you Hyatt Regency Austin. The ONLY BTY sponsored hotel in the greater Austin area.

Our Badges are in hand. We ate at Stubbs. We walked 6th St. We are waiting.

xtheprophetx's gonna go get tatted up. The booze in our blood stream is getting low. Stay tuned.

BTY 4 Life

The High Priest

Ruling so hard...

yeah, you know you wish you were us right the fuck about now...