Music & Film Sat Mar 17 2007

SXSW Tour Diary - Catfish Haven (Booze, Badasses, and Blogs)

By Craig Bonnell

Catfish Haven is running neck and neck with Office for heaviest partying band from Chicago at this years SXSW. They also happen to have seen some amazing music and a couple of celebrities to boot. Here's their most recent tour diary entry:

"Thursday night we played our official SXSW showcase, it was the Secretly Canadian/Jagjaguwar party at Mohawks on Red River. We partied all night with some of our favorite SC/Jag bands like Ladyhawk, David Vandervelde, Okkervill River, and I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness. Luckly our show at noon on Friday was at the same venue so we were able to leave our equipment there overnight (and luckly when we showed back up about 5 hours after leaving it was all still there!)

[mp3]: War - Ladyhawk
[mp3]: Jacket - David Vandervelde
[mp3]: Black - Okkervil River
[mp3]: According To Plan - I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness

So on Friday somehow the 9 of us all made it to the venue with just enough time to soundcheck and play. The show was hosted by some of our favorite blogs we met over the last year like My Old Kentucky Blog, and Gorrila Vs Bear, and our friends Thunder Birds Are Now! played right after us so we had a great time seeing everyone again.

The fire marshalls have been coming down hard on the clubs out here during SXSW and we left our equipment next to the stage (blocking a fire exit) while we did a quick video interview for Indie911. After the interview we found out a fire marshall had shown up and wanted us to move our equipment immediately. He said there wasn't enough time to pull the van up so instead we all got our workout for the day carrying our amps and drums up one of Austins many hills.

As soon as we loaded the van David (one of our crew) and I walked to Soho on 6th street to see my friend's band from Boston called Age Rings. I hadn't seen them play a show for years so it was cool to watch them rock again. They had interviews to do as soon as they got done so we finished our whisky and headed over to the Spin party (we walked past the Pitchfork party at Emos but there was a line down the block we didnt feel like waiting in).

The Spin party is always a good time and this year instead of just having free beer they also had free tequila (did i mention none of us had eaten anything since about noon the day before). We showed up in time to watch Kings Of Leon play and to see Jamey Kennedy get dissed on stage (he made a suprise appearance but i don't think a single person there clapped for him - it was pretty funny). For the second year in a row the Spin party was the place were we had our favorite star meet and greet of the trip. Last year it was Matt Pinfield who hosted 120 minutes back in the 90's, but this year it was "Maybe" from a catfish favorite show Arrested Development who just happens to be dating our friend Jack from the band Steel Train (good work dude).

[mp3]: Alone On The Sea - Steel Train

We watched the Buzzcocks, did a quick Spin interview, grabbed a slice, and then went to see our friend Sean who runs Daytrotter (another one of our favorite blogs). Daytrotter is a unique blog because they record live sessions instead of just interviewing bands. The band the Sound Team was kind enough to let them use their practice space to record this week. Our friends from LA, Dios Malos were there when we showed up so we listen to them and helped Sean finish his beer.

[mp3]: All Said And Done - Dios Malos

Then we headed back over to Red River were we ran into Phil from Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. While we were talking to him I bumped into the girl that interviewed us earlier for Indie911 and she told me about a party right up the street. So I rounded up the troops and somehow we scammed our way passed the door guy. The party was pretty crazy, it was at this house owned by the guys that do everything from book Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits to manage Lance Armstrong. We spent most the rest of the night there drinking Crown Royal and hanging with badasses like Robert Randolph and Perry Ferrel.

[mp3]: Oregon Girl - SSLYBY

Around 3am we ditched the party, found the van, and headed back to Carolyn's for the night. Friday was fun."