SXSW Day Four: The Fratellis Are The Real Deal

ChartAttack News Editor Steve McLean is in the midst of his annual pilgrimage to the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. Here's his report from day four:

I walked down to the Cedar Street Courtyard at 2 p.m. and caught the last song from Norway's Kate Havnevik, which was dull enough to drive me inside to start indulging in free and potent Dewar's scotch and ginger ales and wait for a second helping of The Pipettes. You can read my review of their Friday show to find out more about their Shangri-Las-meets-The Go! Team sound.

They were running late, so Mando Diao didn't come on until 3:40 p.m. The Swedish band mostly played songs from their forthcoming album and, while they still have their raw sound, they seemed poppier than the last time I saw them in Toronto. They kept building and started playing harder and faster with each song and were terrific.

I don't know much about Mew, but I wasn't into the few songs that I had heard online. They weren't as proggy or psychedelic or as Radiohead-influenced as I was expecting, but the male singer sounded like a woman. I didn't get into it at all, but I enjoyed laughing at a young Japanese woman behind me who was totally spacing out along to it.

But the band I had been looking forward to seeing the most, Scotland's The Fratellis, made sitting through Mew worth it. Their Costello Music album is one of my favourites so far this year, and the band punk up their catchy songs on stage. The singer's accent was much thicker when he talked than when he sang and I had trouble understanding him, but the trio's irresistible music should have universal appeal. They won the breakthrough act prize at this year's Brit Awards and you may have heard their "Flathead" single in ads for iTunes and iPods. They played that song, "Nina," which had the large crowd singing along, and a cover of The Who's "The Seeker," before they ended with "Ooh La La." Pete Townshend didn't join them on stage like he did the previous day, but their songs get stuck in your head and you can't help but smile and nod along to them. I promised someone, whose friend insisted that I refer to as "the fat guy," that I would use his quote: "This is so good that it's ridiculous."

I was torn between staying at Cedar Street for Thurston Moore "and friends," which could have been either magic or a bunch of guitar wanking, but I wasn't willing to stand for another 45-minute sound check to find out. Instead I opted for the Central Presbyterian Church. I asked where the washroom was and they must have taken a look at me and figured that I was too much of a heathen to pee inside, so I was told to go the outhouse around the corner.

I was allowed back in and sat in the back row of pews to wait for the arrival of the mysterious and reclusive Jandek. Three friends who saw him at one of his ultra-rare shows when he came to Toronto last year advised me to see him. Even though I'm not a big fan, they said it was something that I should experience. He came on stage dressed in black and wearing a black cowboy hat. He played guitar and was accompanied by a drummer, bassist and someone playing something that seemed to be some sort of a hybrid of a keyboard, accordion and a theremin. The first song started slowly and experimentally and the first words from Jandek's mouth were, "Can I come into your house and be there with you?" It was a really long and dull song and, when the second one started the same way, I bailed.

Needing something to wake me up, I went to the Dirty Dog Bar to see the 7 Shot Screamers, a punkabilly band with a singer who sounded British. He spent a lot of time on his knees throughout the set, which included a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black." The group weren't as good as I was hoping for, but were OK, especially in comparison to Jandek.

While I have a lot of Meat Puppets albums, I'd never seen them live in their first incarnation before bassist Cris Kirkwood's legal and lifestyle problems helped derail them. The pioneering punk/psychedelic/country genre-benders have reformed with a new drummer and, while singer/guitarist Curt Kirkwood still looks good, Cris looks like a guy who used to a have a serious drug problem. The simple little Television-like guitar lick for "Up On The Sun" thrills me every time I hear it, but the set was a bit short on what I would call "classic" Meat Puppets until near the end. "Backwater," the closest the band ever came to having a radio hit, was followed by rousing set closer "Lake Of Fire."

I was in the mood for something a little mellower next, and L'il Captain Travis' roots rock set fit that bill. That's not to say that they're mellow, they just write good songs that don't have to be played loud to be appreciated. They covered the Glen Campbell hit, "Wichita Lineman," which was followed by the bassist trying to start a chant of "Fuck Condoleezza, fuck Dick Cheney," which he said he'd heard at Thursday's Public Enemy showcase. You wouldn't expect an alt.country band bassist to be hanging out at rap shows, but I found that endearing.

I went inside the Mohawk and saw the last song by Lymbyc Systym, a Tempe, Ariz. experimental duo who I'm sure will be well-faded from my memory before any of you read this.

Moonlight Towers were next outside at The Mohawk. Their first song was fairly slow and while the second one definitely picked up the pace, I could tell they weren't going to blow me away.

I left to go to Beerland to see another country/punk band, The Goodnight Loving. They played short, fast songs and the guitarist impressed me with his Milwaukee Beer Festival T-shirt.

I then went to Flamingo Cantina to see the Mau Mau Chaplains, some old, white Austin dudes who lay down some serious reggae rhythms. But they were taking too long with their soundcheck and I walked out, sadly knowing that it meant I wouldn't be able to get back in to the small club again at 1 a.m. to see Jamaican reggae legend, Lee "Scratch" Perry.

I like The Figgs on record, but friends have told me that they're amazing live, so I had to find out for myself at the Red 7 Patio. And the verdict is that I do like them a lot more live. Their crunchy power pop was quite infectious, and they showed their appreciation to their dedicated fans by jumping into the crowd to perform "Blame It All Senseless."

While The Figgs were great, I also wanted to catch some of the Detroit Cobras since I like their back catalogue and enjoy their forthcoming Bloodshot Records album, Tied & True. And since some band members have border issues and had to cancel their Canadian shows last fall, I figured that I might never see them in Toronto. Their Red Eyed Fly set list included the classic "Leave My Kitten Alone" and a number of '50s and '60s-influenced originals.

While they were right on my wavelength musically, singer Rachel Nagy seemed to have voice problems and wasn't belting out the numbers with the punch that she should have. Her voice sounded strong, however, when she closed their set by saying, "Thank you, Austin. Now let's go out and get drunk and fuck."

While there were other acts that I was interested in seeing at 1 a.m., there was nothing I totally had my heart set on. Since I was talking to a bunch of friends at Red Eyed Fly, I decided to stick around to see the Waco Brothers again. I talked to Wacos steel player Marc Durante about his drunken Friday afternoon performance, and he told me that he didn't remember any of it, but that he somehow drove back to his hotel afterward.

The Wacos changed their set list somewhat from the previous day, and they were once again in high spirits as shots of tequila kept arriving for them onstage. They tore through their songs with a sort of controlled recklessness. Former Chumbawamba member Danbert Nobacon jumped on stage wearing an Elvis jumpsuit and joined the band for a rousing cover of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues." The sound person said the band had to stop at 2 a.m., but the large crowd would have none of that and demanded an encore, so the boys returned for a ripping run-through of The Who's "Baba O'Riley."

Jeff Cohen, who owns Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern and Lee's Palace, flew the Wacos in to play his wedding in Halifax in 2004. There's obviously a close relationship, and for the past few years we've hosted an after-hours party for the band and some other friends in our hotel suite. So we stocked up on food, beer and wine for this one, and there was much drinking and carousing.