NOISE

Three Vegas acts hit Austin with label dreams and party plans

Psychedelic rock band The Pandas and jazz pianist Mike Jones will be the first Vegas representatives on SxSW's mammoth bill of more than 1,400 acts since The Day After... in 2005 and The Killers in 2004, while punk rockers The Objex will perform in four of the many side showcases augmenting the festival proper.

For Jones, a 44-year-old jazz lifer who opens nightly for Penn & Teller at the Rio, it's a chance to secure a new label as longtime home Chiaroscuro Records—which released Jones' previous six albums—winds down operations. "Every big label is gonna be there, and I believe I can get the right people to my show," says Jones, who will jet in and out of Austin for a solo performance at the Elephant Room on Friday, Penn & Teller's lone dark night. "I think Concord would be a good fit, or Blue Note, one of those labels that has a jazz history and exists for jazz more than pop. And I think that being with Penn & Teller will have a label more interested in me than if I was playing in a local bar—I play for 250,000 people a year, which is more than most jazz acts are getting."

The Pandas also hope to draw label interest while in Austin, but frontman Bobby Martinez is mostly looking at the five-day extravaganza as a chance to check out some good music, interact with other musicians and have some serious fun. "I'm gonna go watch Iggy [Pop], and we're gonna go up to Gram Parsons' ranch—his daughter likes The Pandas, so we're gonna go up there and have a big party," Martinez says. He and bassist Louise Le Hir are en route to Texas by car, their schedule putting them there in time to meet up with the band's other four members for Thursday night's Molotov Lounge showcase.

Martinez has pressed 100 copies of a five-song EP to hand out at SxSW, with two of those tracks drawn from the group's in-the-works first full-length album, thus far entirely self-funded. "If somebody from a label wants to talk to us, we're definitely interested, but at the same time we've been doing all this stuff already, so we don't mind pitching in and doing things ourselves," he explains.

The Objex got their chance to join the SxSW festivities when they successfully applied to take part in Thursday night's "Invasion of the GoGirls" showcase at Trophy's, an event open only to bands with female members (The Objex feature two: Felony Melanie on vocals and Aly Two Times on bass). From there, the quartet scheduled two additional performances on Saturday (at Bikinis and the Texas Rock Fest barbecue), along with a Sunday in-store at Cheapo Discs. The more opportunities, the band figures, the better the chance of making the right contacts.

"It's a chance for exposure to the people who could make a difference," says drummer Joe Perv, formerly of The Pervz. "Anywhere you go, any bar you hang out at, there's people that could be somebody, so we're going loaded with press kits and CDs to give away and sell while we're down there."

The English Beat's "Mirror in the Bathroom"—perhaps the best lavatory tune of all time—got us touring the rest of our musical household for goodies.

1 Superchunk, "Driveway to Driveway" (Foolish, 1993)


2 Pearl Jam, "Porch" (Ten, 1991)


3 R. Kelly, "Sex in the Kitchen" (TP.3 Reloaded, 2005)


4 John Hiatt, "Pink Bedroom" (Two Bit Monsters, 1980)


5 Basement Jaxx, "Living Room" (Kish Kash, 2003)


6 Adam Ant, "Human Bondage Den" (B-Side Babies, 1994)


7 Etta James, "In the Basement" (Various artists, The Chess Story: 1947-1975, 2000)


8 Grateful Dead, "Attics of My Life" (American Beauty, 1970)


9 The Feelies, "On the Roof" (The Good Earth, 1986)


10 Weezer, "In the Garage" (Weezer, 1994)


11 Minnie Riperton, "Come to My Garden" (Come to My Garden, 1970)


12 Nick Drake, "Man in a Shed" (Five Leaves Left, 1969)

– Julie Seabaugh/Spencer Patterson

On the eve of the first Pearl concert

What are your emotions like now that the venue is set to open?

It's pretty cool. Out of everything I've had the lucky opportunity of creating I'm more excited about this than anything. I can finally stay home to see great shows.

Tool was scheduled to open the Pearl before postponing due to injury, so now Evanescence is the first-ever act. Is that disappointing at all?

As long as Tool reschedules I'm fine. Stuff like that's gonna happen—it's part of the whole business. And Evanescence is perfect. I just have so much respect for that band. I'm a huge fan. Huge.

Do you think you'll be working out some kinks that first night?

We're gonna try like hell to make it perfect, but employees have to get used to it, so we anticipate some of that. But at the same time I don't take excuses very well.

How involved will you be in selecting acts?

I'm very in tune with what's happening, so yeah, I'm gonna be involved in picking the bands. That's the fun part of this job.

Who would be some of your dream bookings?

I really like the All-American Rejects. I've always loved Pearl Jam. I'd like to see Pink play here. The Killers, of course. Panic! [At the Disco]. Rascal Flatts. I'd love to see Van Halen. And I'm a big Kelly Clarkson fan.

Boys Night Out


Trainwreck

(4 stars)

Forget Green Day and My Chemical Romance; you'd be hard-pressed to find a grittier (or gorier) post-punk opera than the second full-length from this oft-rotating Canadian collective. The only thing more intense than the guitar work is the haunting exploration of death, psychosis and unmitigated regret.

The Sadies


In Concert Vol. 1

(3 1/2 stars)

It's tough to gauge the Toronto alt-country vets' true live prowess from this sprawling two-disc affair, since most of its finest moments come when guests join the core quartet, from The Jayhawks' Gary Louris (Barrett-era Floyd cover "Lucifer Sam") to Jon Langford (his Mekons' "Memphis, Egypt") to Neko Case (her own "Hold On, Hold On"). Then again, The Sadies' surfy, space-twang home brew is the rollicking backdrop to it all, so the advice here is catch them when you can.