SXSW Day Two: Les Savy Fav Frontman Nearly Kills Self

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

AUSTIN, Texas — I arrived at the Rhapsody Rocks Austin party at The Mohawk at 2 p.m., just in time to catch the last song by Loney, Dear, who impressed me with their semi-acoustic indie pop sound. The free fajitas were delicious and the free beer was consumable, so I took them to the top deck to enjoy the sun and 28-degree temperature while looking down at the band playing the New West party at Club De Ville. It was like attending two parties in one, and when the New West band finished, I went back downstairs to see Oxford Collapse.

Though the rock trio were in no danger of making the stage collapse, it looked like they were trying their best to make it happen as they punished their instruments and yelped with fervour. They brought a saxophonist on stage for a song just before I left to get some Canadian content at Headhunter's with the Mint/Six Shooter hootenanny.

Novillero and a woman from Winnipeg named Joanne, who had a really powerful, voice did a version of "Tainted Love" that had more guitar than Mark Almond could ever imagine. The ever-gracious Mint publicity queen, Yvette Ray, gave me a couple of drink tickets that I promptly converted into margaritas in time for a three-song acoustic set by Jon Langford and Sally Timms. They covered Alejandro Escovedo and The Handsome Family. Timms had some trouble whistling, which she said was due to not being drunk yet.

Serena Ryder came next. She covered Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" and sang an original called "Sing Sing Sing." Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet were performing as I left.

I walked to the well-hidden Speakeasy for the CMJ party, where free and potent Dewar's scotch and Cokes were my drink of choice. Apples In Stereo were supposed to be starting just when I got there, but started 40 minutes late. But I passed time talking to Outside Music's Stephanie Hardman and Maureen Spillane, people from Yep Roc Records and The Moaners, a cute female swampy blues-rock duo who invited me to their show that night at the Continental Club. While I like their new Blackwing Yalobusha album, the Continental is too far out of the way from everything else that I planned on seeing, so I respectfully declined. All the free scotch helped pass the time, too.

When Apples In Stereo finally took the stage, their set was largely comprised of songs from their recently released New Magnetic Wonder, highlighted by "Can You Feel It" and "Energy." I talked to singer Robert Schneider after the set and he's the nicest guy you could ever meet, as you might expect from his effervescent, good-time, make-you-smile pop.

Les Savy Fav's members had a tray of Purple Nurple shooters and Dos Equis beers delivered onstage before their set. Somewhat portly, bearded, balding frontman Tim Harrington's tie-dye T-shirt didn't really fit in with the band's aggressive and angular rock, but that made me appreciate him even more — until he started spitting and pouring beer on the crowd. You'll always be docked points, in my book, for wasting booze. But what points he lost for that, he regained by accessing the second floor balcony and leaning fully over the railing, held only by the equilibrium of his belly and someone holding his ankles, while singing.

I walked over to the Cedar Street Courtyard for the Filter Magazine party to see Youth Group. They were running behind, so I saw the last two songs by a pretty non-descript artist called Kenna. Australia's Youth Group made up for their tardiness with a blistering set of rockers from both of their albums. Badly Drawn Boy Damon Gough, wearing his little knit cap, was taking things in at the outdoor courtyard from the balcony above the stage before his set, which I didn't stay for.

Instead I went to La Zona Rosa for the In The Attic Jam, hosted by Rachel Fuller, though everyone was there to see her boyfriend, Pete Townshend. At a similar show in New York City a few weeks ago, Lou Reed, Dinosaur Jr. and other cool acts took part and, since there are more than a few "cool" acts in Austin this week, I figured that there could be some magic happening.

I'll close it, I'll open it and in the middle I'll ruin it all for everyone," Townshend said of the show before his first song, a solo acoustic version of Quadrophenia's "Drowned." I sat on the bar at the back of the stage so that I was high enough to have a great sightline and easy access to beer. Willy Mason came on next and said that it was his first performance with this band, which included Townshend on acoustic guitar. Mika came on next and did "Grace Kelly" and another song, but Townshend's acoustic guitar overshadowed everything else, and I'm sure that I heard shades of "Baba O'Riley" in there.

Fuller did a few songs that I didn't particularly enjoy, but if you possess the charm that will make Townshend fall in love with you, you're still OK with me. Still, she went on too long and then teased us with a bit of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights," without taking it all the way, which pissed me off. Fuller introduced the next performer, but I didn't catch his name, and it doesn't matter because he was just plain dull. My interest wasn't piqued until Townshend joined him onstage and sang "Let My Love Open The Door," which was awesome.

By this time I had moved to the side of the stage, where I got a good view of Martha Wainwright. Her legs looked incredibly long in her mini-skirt. Robyn Hitchcock was standing in front of me getting into Wainwright's performance with a woman whom he had been touching intimately. I was hoping that Hitchcock would take the stage, but instead we got a solo acoustic set from Alexei Murdoch, which I really didn't need. But things ended on a high note when Townshend closed the show with "I Can't Reach You."

I ran into my friends Jeff and Sonja waiting in line for Bob Mould and, when I realized that they weren't going to get in, I invited them to join me at the Blender Bar to see some Detroit garage rock courtesy of The Sights. Unfortunately, they were poppier than I expected and they didn't live up to the hype built up by a friend who had seen them before. The keyboardist was at the front of the stage, but facing backward and not looking at the audience, which was weird.

We walked to the Lava Lounge Patio to see Reading, England's SixNationState, a punk-based band that exuded enthusiasm and energy and had a ton of hooks in their material. They even pulled off a reggae song very well. They were my favourite band of Thursday and I need to get a copy of their eponymous debut album when it comes out this summer.

After that, it was back to the hotel for Shiner Bock, meat and a discussion of the day's events until 4:30 a.m., when sleep beckoned.