After a short tour in Canada we made our way due south from Winnipeg to Austin. After a few hectic days of icy driving through South Dakota and Nebraska we'd soon crossed the border into Texas and all was forgotten! My crew and I were ready for some warm sunny days at SXSW in Austin.
Day one gave us all a chance to either work, relax, or check out some of our favorite bands. I personally stayed in to work on my DJ set, but my crew checked out Divine Fits at the Austin City Limits Moody Theatre, Blue Hawaii at Mohawk, and Nicholas Jaar at The North Door.
Day two was all press and started off at the Driskill Hotel for an interview with Stereogum. From there it was Yahoo! House at Brazos Hall for an acoustic session, which was really great because I got to do an interview with Dave Dimartino, former editor of Creem Magazine. I also got to chat with Lyndsay from Yahoo! Music who has been a really great supporter of mine this past year. Brazos Hall was a cool place with exposed brick and a huge chandelier over the bar. It was one of my first times performing Day and Night acoustic!
We also stopped in at Fader Fort for an interview with Sirius XMU and picked up some swag from the awesome folks at Beats by Dre. They were promoting their new bluetooth speaker called "The Pill" which meant everything and everyone were rocking the Doctor theme. Reps were dressed as nurses and doctors and the green room was decked out like a hospital. I had just a few hours to chill out before DJing at Rachel Ray's BBQ party. Choice cuts included Duke Dumont ("Need U 100%"), Tensnake ("Mainline") and Depeche Mode ("Personal Jesus" Stargate Remix).
Day three was my big day with the band as we had three back to back showcases. The day started at Waterloo Records, which is totally our favorite Austin record store. They set up a full stage in their parking lot out front, complete with vintage airstream trailers for the bands. Even though it was early afternoon the lot was full and the crowd was great. Next we headed over to the Lustre Pearl for the Filter/Dickies party where we packed the tent and actually got everyone dancing. I was able to climb to the top of the stage left PA for the rap in (I Know) What I'm Made Of, which I think surprised everyone (including me) as I'm not especially fond of heights! Our last show of the day was at the Austin Music Hall for Express. Even though we were all pretty wiped out, everyone put in an awesome effort and pulled it off like true pros. My final performance was a solo acoustic session for Vevo TV, which I was really nervous about. Thankfully, I didn't make too many mistakes (almost none!) and the crowd was awesome. The whole day my crew was taking photos and Instagraming for Spinner.com which you can check out here.
Day four had us playing a daytime party for BrooklynVegan in the afternoon, which was followed by a DJ set for Austin Pride. It was probably the hottest day of the five days we were in Austin. The BrooklynVegan show was great and I was surprised again by how many amazing fans got up early to have fun with us at Old Emo's on 6th St. I had more time off in the afternoon to practice for another DJ set, and was fortunate to have been on the same bill as DENA, Yo! Majesty, and Cherie Lilly with Andrew WK.
Now I'm back in Toronto, getting in a few days rest before heading out on tour again in April for a run of shows with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD). So psyched! Talk to you soon!