sxsw2012 Fri Mar 16 2012

SXSW 2012 Tour Diary: JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound, Day 4

The boys have been busy busy busy! This update came in during the wee hours of the morning from Billy Bungeroth (oop) bassist, Ben Taylor of JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound from down in Austin at SXSW. They've got another couple full days of shows to go! Power through it, fellas! Photos are courtesy of the band.
—
Day 4

Sweet merciful crap, I'm exhausted. It's 3am and I finally made it back to the hotel and it sounds like an angry bear is sawing logs in the bed next to me. But no worries, since as soon as I finish writing this, I'm going to collapse. We rocked the outdoor stage at the Paste Magazine party this afternoon, right after the indoor set by our LA doppelgangers, Vintage Trouble; ran into their guitarist and drummer on 6th street a few hours ago, nice folks.

It was our first show down in the heart of the madness on 6th street, but once we got out of there, we trucked up the hill to Google's Live from the Lot, on top of a parking garage. Cults sounded great as we loaded in, and the sun finally broke through. We hit the stage definitely feeling like we had something to prove, it was so random that we were there to fill in for the Ting Tings, a recent Best New Artist Grammy nominee.

The show was streamed live on YouTube and our friends, family, and record label told us it looked great and there was a lot of positive comments going on. Can't find it archived, so I guess we'll just have to believe them. [Editor's note: We're working on finding an archived version of the show. I watched almost all of it, and it was really well produced and the band sounded (and looked) great! UPDATE: YUP! See this post for the stream.]

After a few hands of cribbage in the green room, was totally rocked by Beth Ditto and the Gossip. It was a great evening with the sun slowly going down, clouds all cleared away, and a cool breeze blowing through. Fun to watch JC watch Beth from the side of the stage.

I was ready to crash and call it a night, but since we had to coordinate five dudes and one van, we elected to power through, check out the action on 6th and meet up later. After a few Shiner Bocks, we found the Pinstripes busking in the middle of 6th and Neches. Our main man in Philadelphia, Mr. Andrew Miller from the North Star Bar showed up, so we had some more Shiners and figured that it was better for him to crash with us than on the floor of a friend of a friend of a friend with a bunch of Swedish metal dudes. That's what friends are for. To restrain you from strangling your snoring band mates. Good times - BT

PS: so glad that we only have one show Friday, the Bloodshot Records day party at Yard Dog Gallery on South Congress. Excited to finally meet some of our label mates. 6 down, 5 to go, over the hump.

PPS: celebrating six months since I quit my day job to hit the road with the band. Onwards and upwards.

-BT

See JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound's full SXSW schedule below:

Monday 3/12/12
8pm
Flamingo Cantina
515 E. 6th St, Austin, TX

Wednesday 3/14/12
4pm
Presented by: Dog Fish Head & Blurt Magazine
Gingerman Pub
301 Lavaca St. (at 4th), Austin, TX

5pm
Presented by: Brooklyn Vegan
Hotel Vegas
1500 E. 6th St., Austin, TX

Thursday 3/15/12
1:30pm
Presented by: Paste Magazine
Stage on Sixth
508 East 6th St., Austin, TX

4:30pm
Presented by: Let's Get Messy
The 512
408 E. 6th St., Austin, TX

5:10pm
Presented by: YouTube/Google
Live At The Lot
Parking lot at 9th & Trinity St., Austin, TX

Friday 3/16/12
Noon-7pm (band plays around 5pm)
Presented by: Bloodshot Records
Yard Dog Gallery
1510 S. Congress Ave., Austin, TX

3pm
Presented by: Bloodshot Records
Jovita's
1619 S. 1st St., Austin, TX

Saturday 3/17/12
TBA (around 1pm)
Presented by: Ryan's Smashing Life
Rusty's
405 East 7th., Austin, TX

[Just added!]
3:00pm KDHX party @ Jovita's

[Just added!]
4:30 pm Knuckle Rumbler party @ Beauty Bar

7pm-2am (band to play at 1am)
Presented by: Bloodshot Records
Red Eyed Fly
715 Red River, Austin, TX