Carnage!
But first we walk out into the first weird phenomenon of the day: it’s FREEZING COLD.
A freak cold snap has descended on Austin leaving the British/non Austin contingent a wee bit screwed because of course nobody has packed Winter clothes. As we head over to the grounds of the historic French Legation for the Domino Publishing party we run into Geoff (our jailbird from the earlier blog), and are stunned when he tells us to throw all our gear into the back of his pick up to take us to the venue. If this is Texan hospitality then I don´t want to go back to London, but alas, the fine Texan spring now seems like a distant memory as we are battered by a bitterly cold cross wind for our outdoor showcase. Nice.
The gig goes well though, despite being almost too cold to perform but we are left feeling deeply sorry for the Domino Publishing crew who, as currators of this event must stay outside for almost the entire day. I can´t emphasise this enough: Austin was colder than the U.K by a long way on Saturday but soon enough Villagers warms the crowd with his great vocals and enchanting songs from the Emerald Isle.
Drinking and dancing helps everyone get through the ordeal however as we move to the Pop Frenzy party to watch Beaches, a female drone rock five piece who pummel the crowd with wave after wave of groovy guitar noise and chanted vocals.
We head back over to French Legation and Yacht have got things well under control with some frenzied dancing, and the bitter weather doesn’t seem so bad. They don´t play ‘Don´t Stay in Bed’ though, but that’s a minor point in what was otherwise a storming gig in terrible weather.
Now, what happened next is extremely hazy, hence the haziness of this blog. We went to a house party and did a gig in a barn, in what seemed like the most perfectly Texan environment to me. That much I know. But as the night progresses, my voice is fucked and Martin is drunk out of his head, I introduce our band with “Hi we are drunk and shit” but suprisingly the set goes down really well. One of the girls at the party has lost her purse, so the first thing we do is sing a mournful lament for the its return, which was a good start. The crowd get involved on percussion although there is nothing for them to beat their buckets with, so I reach for a pile of animal bones and hand them out to the around. One unfortunate girl is showered with fragments of bone as it shatters on a drum- I feel like we are a metal band.
After our set we are followed by an incredible band called Treasure Mammal who are leotard and lycra clad and mad as hell, and seem to have the catch phrase “On your marks, get set, GAY!” We dance the night away drinking some really weird high percentage energy drink, and realise we are in the midst of an absolutely incredible party.
Right, I need to get a coffee, because nothing much is really making any sense anymore. Stay tuned…
Photo by Scott Chasserot
