When you think of the best music scenes, two cities usually come to mind: LA and New York. Chicago probably comes in as a close second; maybe London as well. Austin, Texas, on the other hand, doesn’t usually occur to people. Yet Austin is supposedly the “Live Music Capitol of the World.” Sure, we may not be as fancy as LA, as cultured as New York, as raw as Chicago, or have awesome accents like you Londoners; but we sure can fill a room night after night, at one of our many venues, with the best up and coming and well-known bands.
You see, Austin really only gets its glory one week a year: the famed music industry conference/festival South By Southwest (a.k.a. SXSW). But if you come down for SXSW, you don’t really get to see Austin. Besides the fact that you’re spending all day long in dark venues, and never really get to explore, you also only get to see the more industry-centered side of our music scene.
Whereas popular clubs like Emo’s and Stubb’s (an old style Texan BBQ joint that’s also one of the best venues in town for punk, gospel, and rock’n’roll – more on that in future columns) are usually packed with an excited and energetic all-ages crowd, SXSW means that the crowd will mostly consist of record label suits desperately trying to be hip and buying drinks for every random young woman in a tight top.
Now don’t get me wrong, I do love South By Southwest; it brings some of the best bands to town, plus industry folk from around the globe. It’s like one big, weeklong, party that fills Austin’s streets with a variety of labels, managers, artists, PR people, and everyone in between. Even this music fan and writer loves talking industry with the people from record companies. Of course, the CEOs tend to be a little out of touch, but most of the people who work in the music industry are pretty cool and really quite nice. But during SXSW, it’s harder to find the real Austin, where our laid-back attitude and famous Mexican food are what really keep bands coming back tour after tour.
Our nonchalant, “whatever goes” vibe is probably my favorite part of the Austin scene. While Austin has its fair share of bands that rise to indie fame (Spoon, Okkervil River, Voxtrot), we don’t really have any residents who have made it into the Top 40, and we kind of pride ourselves on that. Our music scene is fairly devoid of hierarchy; even frequent Austin presence and longtime country musician Willie Nelson has to stand in line next to your average Texas resident when he goes to the grocery store.
Austin is filled with music and musicians; you just need to know where to look. Small but state-of-the-art studios are hidden in strip malls and basements, venues cover most downtown city streets, clothing stores are filled with rock star styles, and everyone’s got a band. Seriously. Just ask your restaurant server, lawyer, gas station attendant, or dentist, and they’ll be happy to tell you all about their band and how they just opened for David Garza at Beerland or La Zona Rosa.
I could write a novel about the Austin music scene, and how vibrant and fun it is. I don’t understand why Austin gets the short stick every time, so I decided it was high time someone picked up a pen (or, ok, a laptop) and started documenting the untold story of what I like to call the most musical place in the wild wild West. This piece is just the beginning of what will be a series of columns about what’s up in Austin. I plan to review the best venues and live shows, highlight some of the greatest local bands, and just give you a flavor of Austin life. I suppose living here makes it hard to be impartial, but I’ll try my best to be honest about whether a venue actually has bum sound, or whether our hometown heroes are one of those bands that always makes you buy the beers. Oh wait...isn’t that every band?
Until next time, this has been your faithful correspondent from the Live Music Capitol of the World, the state capitol of Texas, a stop on the Chisholm Trail, and old cowboy stomping grounds.
Yee haw!
Zoe Cordes Selbin is a radio personality on 91.7FM Koop Austin and has contributed articles to multiple publications, including Substream Magazine . She’s also been spotted quoting Avril Lavigne’s attempt at rap, “Nobody’s Fool”, as she knows it word for word. Yes, really.
