It’s always nice to get into Austin a day before all of the real SXSW music fun starts. Nothing was happening last night of the magnitude of 2006’s Sleater-Kinney concert, but it was still a chance to catch a few bands before the beginning of the official festivities. I stopped into Beerland and enjoyed the opening set by Michael Dean Damron (formerly of I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the Room, now playing… either solo or with a new band name – I’m not totally sure). Damron looks like a refugee from Molly Hatchet or some other 1970s hard-rock outfit, and he sings rootsy Southern-style rock, not that far off from the Drive-By Truckers and bands like that. He has a great sense of humor, introducing one song as being about the most evil person who ever lived – Andy Gibb.
Columbus, Ohio’s Two Cow Garage were up next at Beerland, playing a typical set of their loud and slightly twangy bar-band rock, and they were joined by Tim Easton for a few songs, which made for an unexpectedly cool combination of their sounds. Great energy.
Before calling it a night, I caught some of the show by Quien es BOOM! at Emo’s. At least, that’s who I think it was, assuming that they were sticking to their original schedule. I couldn’t really make out what the dude from this band was saying on the stage. Sounded pretty good, though, interesting indie pop. One of the musicians apologized for boring the audience, but I didn’t think it was boring. The crowd was just a little sparse and lethargic.
PHOTOS OF MICHAEL DEAN DAMRON, TWO COW GARAGE AND QUIEN ES BOOM!
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READ MY OTHER SXSW 2007 BLOG ENTRIES:
DAY ONE
DAY TWO
DAY THREE
DAY FOUR