Welcome to Texas - Pt 1

I MADE IT TO TEXAS!!!!! WOOOWEEE!!!

So today I was thinking, and realised.. I was in Texas a month ago! Where did the last four weeks go, and why havn't I posted anything about the whole point I went to the States.

That point was an invitation to the amazing South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, TX!

I ummed and ahhed about this for months. In the end I realised it was the coolest thing in the world that we were be invited, and something I will most likely never ever do again. It was on, band set, we booked our tickets and went through the gruelling and expensive P1 visa process!

Despite the ups and downs of the previous couple of weeks, arriving in Austin was one of the most exciting things ever! The vibe on the streets is like nothing I have ever seen before.. it was a buzz with live music coming from every venue, cafe, restaurant, shop, house, carpark!! Anything and everything becomes a venue.

Accomodation is very expensive during SXSW, as one might imagine, so I was delighted to be offered my American friend, William's, house in the Austin Hills. William is a man who wants for nothing.. he's currently living in Mexico, so this house goes un-lived in. It's smack bang in the Beverly Hills of Austin, surrounded by Celebrities (Sandra Bullock) and dot com millionaires.

It's a technicolour adventure walking in! He's emassed an impressive collection of super bright, Mexican art. I noticed a minimum of ten new pieces a day.


My room:

The day after we arrived we played our first show. It was at a venue called Emos, at a Showcase run by Ioda. There was a tent set up, and I was immediately nervous. So- I hit the booze!

We played our show, and it was a bit of a blur. I was quite nervous, and my kick pedal seemed to be disconnecting from the kit. The pace was such that I didn't have much time for adjustment, so I lumped it.

Straight after the show I did three radio tags, then Little Scott, Id and I did an interview for Limewire! (although watching it back was rather embarrassing! I said "So exciting!" A LOT!)

Here I am doing some LimeWire Product placement

Get used to Port a Pottys kids cause that's all we're getting for the next week! I have a newfound respect for the use of Hand Sanitiser!
We ended up having a really fun day. Full of drinks and High Fives, and relief we'd made it all the way to Texas. For the first time on the tour a proper sense of commeraderie was back, for a boozey afternoon at least! Sorry for the cheese.

Little Scott's hat... how is his head bigger than mine!?

Backstage, at this point Hugh is dying of a bronchial infection!

Oh wristband, you make life (at SXSW) so easy, and so free!

We ended up going to the Canadian Showcase.. the bands were terrible! (sorry Canada). it was here, but we hung out at the back, enjoying the sunshine.

So drunk @ Canadian Showcase.

We decided to embark on a "20 minute" mission to Wholefoods. Nobody mentioned that Wholefoods was A LONG LONG LONG way away... 20 minutes in a car maybe! We walked and walked, and perhaps my boozey wooziness is getting in the way here of reality!?

Anyways i didn't notice that my feet were starting to BLISTER... blister like total F@ckers! When I got home and took off my shoes.. my right pinkie toe was a catastrophe! Throbbing, blistery and infected! OUUUCHHHIEEEES!!!

What better way to cheer up than with an evening of NEXT TOP MODEL!!

nigh nigh!