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Music & Film Thu Mar 15 2007
SXSW Tour Diary - Catfish Haven (including music by Langhorne Slim, Thunderbirds Are Now!, Rahim, and The M's)
There's a good chance that'd you'll find Catfish Haven on any decent list of new, buzz-worthy bands from Chicago. There's also a good chance that they'd be the only trio on that list that specializes in a soulful brand of lively, old-school rock 'n' roll. The band's name comes from the trailor park where lead singer George Hunter grew up. The great American trailer park is a pretty representative symbol of the band's earnest, blue-collar sound.
So needless to say we're psyched that the band will contribute to our SXSW Tour Diary series over the next couple of days. Their four official SXSW showcases are the cream of the crop; on Wednesday they played the Chicago Metro Party with the Smoking Popes; on the 15th they play the RXRW Party; on the 16th they play at arguably the hottest party all week, being put on by Gorilla vs. Bear, at Mohawk; they'll end their stay in Austin with a bbq on the 17th playing with Saturday Looks Good To Me.
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Random SXSW photo:
"We arrived in Austin around 4am on Wednesday morning. Tired but excited we all stumbled into the house we're crashing at for the week and each picked out our sleeping spots on the floor. We started our day fighting the lines at the SXSW convention center picking up our wristbands and then racing to our first show of the week at Emo's for the Chicago Metro Party. We arrive in time to see our friends in the Chicago band The M's and after we were done with our set we got to chill out, drink free beer, and watch The Smoking Popes. We all grew up going to see the Smoking Popes when we were teenagers so it was awesome to be able to share the stage with them.
After the day parties end there's kind of a gap in time before the official SXSW showcases start. We were able to fill that gap however with the help of a limousine service that was giving free ride escorted some members of Catfish Haven and some members of our Chicago allies Sybris to a Camel Cigarette sponsored party where we chowed down on free food drank more
free beer and even got free Cigarettes! SXSW has tons of free stuff up for grabs if you know where to look.
Next we headed to the Red Eyed Fly to check out the band Rahim at the Frenchkiss Showcase and we had some beers with our Detroit pals Thunderbirds Are Now! who we're playing the same showcase later in the night. Next we split up and I ended up at the Beauty Bar Patio and caught Langhorne Slim. The rest of the night I spent drinking at Side Bar with friends. Then I rounded up the intoxicated members of the Catfish Haven crew and we crashed at our home for the week.
All in all it was a classic SXSW night and we all had a great time."
The band's full length debut, Tell Me, came out on September 12 on Secretly Canadian, the "little label that could" based out of Bloomington, Indiana. Here's a song off it, plus a demo version of the track "Please Come Back".
[mp3]: Crazy For Leaving - Catfish Haven
[mp3]: Please Come Back - Catfish Haven
Sounds from their busy night out:
[mp3]: Plan Of The Man - The M's
[mp3]: The Best Day In History Ever - Sybris
[mp3]: 10,000 Horses - Rahim
[mp3]: Eat This City - Thunderbirds Are Now!
[mp3]: Faces All Blast Off - Langhorne Slim