SXSW 2009: We Are Devo On Day Four

I'm on a quest to hear great music until the first few days of spring at the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, and I intend to do it without spending a penny on food.

Here's the report from my fourth day in the live music capital of the world:

I arrived at Maggie Mae's for the Sonicbids party, and received a shoulder bag full of swag. The beer was free, but the promised food was nowhere in sight. I caught The Gay Blades' last song. Their loud, bluesy kind of alt.rock did nothing for me. I left.

I went to The Parish Room for the SXSW Musical Stimulus Party, and was given another goodie bag before catching Chicago's Josh & The Empty Pockets. Their rootsy rock was nice, but largely unoriginal, though the male and female vocals added a bit. I passed on the free drinks, but took advantage of the free and delicious chicken quesadillas.

I moved on to the Scottish party at Latitude 30 and saw Come On Gang!. They were much better than when I saw them on Wednesday night.

Singer/drummer Sarah Tanat Jones has a truly great voice (a bit like Kate Bush if she did rock songs), and her two bandmates seemed to be more into it as well. The fine performance was made even better by the free meal comprised of a much welcomed salad, Mexican rice, and steak and chicken fajitas. I washed it down with a rum and Coke. Austin bartenders certainly don't cheat you with their free pours.

My RSVP for the great talent lineup at the Spin party at Stubb's Bar-B-Q apparently didn't go through, so I couldn't get in. I went up to The Mohawk for the last part of These United States. I enjoyed a shambolic rocker, and then the lap steel took a starring role on a much slower and mellower second song. They kicked things up several notches for the last number; I would have liked to have heard more.

I went outside and heard Port O'Brien's first song. It was excellent, but since I'd seen them already and their cute banjo player wasn't with them this time, I headed down to Headhunters for the Six Shooter Records party. My thirst for banjo wasn't quenched there either, as Elliott Brood had just finished. Six Shooter head Shauna De Cartier consoled me with a free shot of tequila, and told me to keep the company-branded shot glass.

I made my annual appearance at the Australian party at Brush Square Park in time to hear the last two songs by The Grates. I've seen them before, and they're fun and energetic and the female singer hops more than a bunny, but I find it wears thin quickly, so two songs were enough. There was no free Coopers Sparkling Ale this year, but there was Barons Lemon Myrtle Witbier. I've never had it before and it hit the spot nicely on another hot, sunny day.

I moved west of Congress Avenue for first time this week to go to Little Steven's Underground Garage Party at Antone's. I had a Real Ale Brewing Company Rio Blanco Pale Ale while I waited for Rochester, N.Y. band The Chesterfield Kings, who are considered the kings of the early '80s garage rock revival. The DJ spun lots of great vintage rock 'n' roll between bands. Little Steven came up to me and said "Hi" before the longtime Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band guitarist went on stage to introduce the group.

The songs were all good, but I found something was missing, which disappointed me since I've never seen The Chesterfield Kings and was looking forward to them. "Up And Down" was a brilliant way to start, but no other song matched it.

Singer Greg Prevost looked like he could have been in the New York Dolls 35 years ago. He occasionally played harmonica and maracas and had all the rock star moves you can imagine (including jumping into the crowd, going to the back bar and throwing plastic cups and napkins around to end the show), but it didn't look like he was having fun. That turned me off a bit.

I took advantage of the beautiful weather, and crossed the river and walked down South Congress to the Yard Dog gallery for the Bloodshot Records party, which has become an annual tradition for me.

Chicago's deceivingly named The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, an eclectic seven-piece group who have a new album on the way featuring guest appearances from Public Image Ltd.'s Martin Atkins and the Waco Brothers' Jon Langford. Both were in attendance, but didn't join the band on stage.

I liked The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir when I saw them here last year, but they were even better this time in previewing songs from the forthcoming album. There are few better break-up lyrics than: "I hope you catch syphilis and die alone."

I had a couple of free beers in advance of the Waco Brothers' annual party-closing set. The lads seemed buzzed, but not nearly as drunk as they've been for these shindigs in the past. Steel player Marc Durante has been bounced from the band, bassist Alan Doughty is back, violinist Jean Cook joined them again, and Joe Camarillo was sitting in for Steve Goulding on drums.

The rousing and funny — but relatively antic-free — show featured a mix of originals and covers, including "Nothing At All," "Blink Of An Eye," "Too Sweet To Die," "Harm's Way," "Plenty Tough — Union Made," "White Lightning," "I Fought The Law" and "Do You Think About Me."

Austin resident and killer guitarist Rosie Flores joined the Wacos for covers of "Bo Diddley" and Johnny Cash's "Big River" to end the set. But the enthusiastic crowd demanded an encore and the band and Flores obliged with covers of T. Rex's "20th Century Boy" and The Who's "Baba O'Riley."

Prints of my friend Mira Macrae's painting of the Wacos' show at the Yard Dog gallery received an on-stage plug from Langford and were on sale at the merch table. It's a fine piece of art, and I'm not just saying that because I'm in it and because she gave me one for my birthday on Saturday.

William Mapother, the guy who apparently plays Ethan on Lost, which I've never seen, was in the audience. He's also supposed to be Tom Cruise's cousin. Those things must have been an attraction for a couple of people who went up and talked to him after the show.

Time was too tight to partake of the North By Northeast/Manitoba party's hospitality because I had to line up at 7:45 p.m. for the eight o'clock Sonics show at Emo's.

The '60s godfathers of garage punk reformed last year and have done a handful of performances since. A lot of people don't know them, but those of us who do were very excited about hearing such classics as "The Witch," "Keep A-Knockin'," "Psycho," "Shot Down," "Cinderella," "Louie Louie," "Dirty Robber," "Money," "Lucille/Slippin' And Slidin'" and "Strychnine." The vocals and playing were surprisingly sharp and the crowd danced and sang along and gave the band a huge ovation at the end. It was a historic occasion.

New York City's The Postelles were on Maggie Mae's rooftop and played songs from their self-titled EP and debut album, which is still apparently a few months away. They're a power-pop band with a lot of balls as well as hooks. There were shouted requests for "Stella," which got people dancing. The irresistible "123 Stop" capped off a blissful set.

The Breakers were supposed to be on at Red Eyed Fly, but the set times had changed and Magic Christian were on stage. I loved them when they played Toronto earlier this year, but I didn't want to stick around and moved on.

The Ettes were on stage at the Mohawk patio doing their "beat-punk." Singer Coco has a slightly high-pitched but edgy voice and reminded me a bit of X-Ray Spex's Poly Styrene. Drummer Poni was phenomenal. People were dancing and having a good time, but I wanted to move on again.

The Habana Bar featured San Antonio's Mitch Webb And The Swindles, who were covering Jim Stafford's "Spiders And Snakes" when I walked in. I hadn't seen a Tex-Mex country band since I've been here, and these guys are masters of the genre and should be caught live rather than on record.

There was a much bigger crowd out back on the patio for The Felice Brothers, and the three songs I caught showed the roots band's versatility. There was an up-tempo gospel-style song, a ballad and an upbeat number that ended with the drummer kicking over his kit. This was also the only band I saw this week with a washboard player.

I went around the corner to the Red 7 patio to see Seattle's The Cute Lepers, a power-pop/punk/garage rock band that was pure entertainment, especially with the addition of their two women back-up singers and dancers. Every song was great, but "Terminal Boredom" and "Fall To Pieces" were particularly outstanding.

The Cute Lepers' set ended in time for me to walk across town to the large Austin Music Hall, where Tricky was doing his last stoned-out space dub rock thing when I arrived at 11:35 p.m. I wasn't impressed at all, but a lot of people seemed to be into it.

I've been told the venue holds about 5,000 people, and it was pretty full for the band I was most looking forward to seeing this week: Devo. A number of folks forked out $30 for the red flower pot-looking hats known as "Energy Domes." Gentleman Reg wasn't among them, but he was there.

A video montage on the large screen at the back of the stage started the show, and then the band members came out wearing grey coveralls with orange industrial vests. The pacing of the show was rather odd, as they started with three less popular late period songs before doing "Going Under."

There was lots of choreography throughout the set, which picked up again with a great run of "Girl U Want," "Whip It," "Secret Agent Man," "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "Uncontrollable Urge." "Gates Of Steel" sounded huge and ended the initial 50-minute set.

The band returned to the stage wearing black shorts, knee pads and Devo T-shirts for "Freedom Of Choice." The enthusiastic crowd chanted "We are Devo" during "Jocko Homo." Singer/keyboardist Mark Mothersbaugh left the stage after "Gut Feeling" and returned dressed as the band's Booji Boy character with a Donald Duck keytar slung over his shoulder. The interesting version of "Beautiful World" ended with Booji Boy bouncing dozens of super balls off the stage into the crowd.

Devo's 1978 Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo debut was one of the first albums I bought as a kid, and I still think their first four records are great. When the band stuck to material from them, it was wonderful. Some of their later songs were still entertaining, but weren't at the same level. Seeing Devo for the first time didn't blow my mind, but it was definitely worth the walk to get there.

I made my way back to our hotel at 1:45 a.m. and stopped by the Cedar Street Courtyard to see the end of Dinosaur Jr.'s performance. Guitarist/singer J Mascis was surrounded by three stacks of amplifiers and bassist Lou Barlow had two of his own. Mascis' voice was drowned out by the wall of sound coming from his instrument. It was loud at the back where I was standing; I'm not sure how Mascis' ears didn't explode.

I returned to the hotel to do some stuff on my computer and have a couple of nightcaps. I hit the couch at 4:30 a.m.

Amount spent on food (booze doesn't count) after four days: $0.