Mar Sellars is a music journalist and former CBC Radio 3 producer. She is traveling to SXSW along with Toronto band Absolutely Free, and documenting the whole thing.
I’ve been to SXSW a few times before, but never have I decided to drive down with a band. There are five of us squished into a soccer mom’s minivan. The van is like a Tetris puzzle of equipment, sleeping bags, merch, backpacks and people. The last time I travelled like this I was 19 years old in my mom’s minivan, embarking on my first three-week tour across Canada. And let’s just say things didn’t end well (the singer in my band at the time quit somewhere midway through Ontario).
Toronto band Absolutely Free formed out of the ashes of DD/MM/YYYY just over a year ago. They are road veterans already from numerous tours in their previous incarnation, having travelled to all 48 continental states. Driving from Toronto to Austin is a piece of cake for these guys, but one of the longest drives I’ve done in a long while.
The band has one EP out on One Big Silence, the label that launched Diamond Rings and Austra’s careers. They spent the last few weeks in the studio with producer Mike Haliechuk (of the band F--ked Up) and are geared up to play six shows at SXSW.
We left Toronto at the crack of dawn Tuesday morning (the band’s first show in Austin is Wednesday night). At the border I felt a bit bad for the American border guard. He had a really tough time with a few of our legal names, especially the band’s drummer, Moshe, which he pronounced "Mos" (as in Mos Def) and then asked how it was pronounced. We said “Mo-sh-e.” After clearly looking at Moshe’s passport (which does say he was born in Israel) he declared, “Sorry, I don’t speak a word of French.” Us funny Canadians and our weird French ways. Oh well.
The band was smart and booked a show halfway to Austin (to break up the drive) in Evansville, Ind. It turned out to be a potluck party. We all tried “taco soup” for the first time, which was basically like a watered-down chili. And someone brought “donuts,” because we were Canadian. Except that they weren’t called donuts, they were called “yeast rings.” Only in Indiana would they decide to call a donut the most unappetizing name imaginable. Still, despite the gross name we managed to eat three packs.
The next day was brutal. We drove 16 hours straight, driving through six states (Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas and finally Texas). We were rushing to get to Austin in time for the band to make their first appearance, which was to be at SXSWendy’s, an unofficial show in a Wendy’s parking lot. Their set was at 1 a.m. and we got there at midnight with plenty of time only to find lots of Wendy’s customers and no bands or music fans. A quick text back and forth with the promoter and we found out the generator had broken and the police got worried and cancelled the event. Oh well.
First SXSW night down, and all we saw was the Wendy’s parking lot and many scantily clad drunk people on the street. The band almost seemed relieved as they drove to the hotel to get some much needed sleep and showers.
Check CBC Music in a few days for the next update from SXSW.
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