sxsw2013 Fri Mar 15 2013

SXSW 2013 Tour Diary, JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound, Day 1

By Anne Holub

As they hit the ground running in Austin, we're just now catching up with neo-soul crooners JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound down at SXSW. Here's their recap from lead singer Jayson about their journey down south and first few hours in the fray.

Wednesday

Two days ago I was time traveling. I started just outside of Chicago. I closed my eyes for just a moment and when I opened them it was five hours later and I was thirty miles outside of St. Louis in the parking lot of a Schnucks where the mostly older patrons gave me raised eyebrows as if to ask "who is this stylish n-word*, and why am I uneasily at ease?"

I should have told them it's because I'm a herald of change, but I wasn't there to blow minds -I just wanted a salad...

After some light conversation I closed my eyes again, and this time when I opened them we were somewhere in Oklahoma and it was night. To the outside world hours had crept by, for me it was mere moments. At some point I took over driving -about ten miles before we passed a terrordome called "The Eatin' Hole". I stopped for a large coffee and after downing it promptly began having trouble keeping my eyes open. We made it to Motel Whogivesafuck without dying and the next day we were ready to be in Austin.

"Andy n Kevin" (Photos courtesy JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound)

After a bit of time jumping (facilitated) by a cup of Starbucks we were at SXSW, we stopped for some Korean/Soul food fusion and checked in (which was far smoother and quicker than last year) and began hunting for the free drink tent. Blah, blah, blah disconap in the van; blah, blah, bourbon and pizza at Viceland; blah, trip to a Texas Walmart at 3am (which was less soul-crushing than it sounds); blah, dismantling, cleaning, and reassembling a Red Bull-soaked piece of electronic equipment. 6am. Sleep.

The band performs at a Brooklyn Vegan show at BarBarella in Austin

11am. Wake under duress. First day of shows. We shot a video with the guys (and gal) from Five Second Films. The premise was that we were all in a bed after a roofie-tastic night, so it ought to be amusing. Our first show of the festival was for Getty Images at a bar on 6th street called Bourbon Girl. The band before us totally fucked up the backline setup and we went on late because the sound guy had to rewire the whole shebang. It was and almost perfect show, the only thing were missing was the bass — we had it for about a third of the set but the rest of the time it was either crackling or entirely absent. We soldiered on. The next show was at a nifty little backyard patio called BarBarella for Brooklyn Vegan. This one was considerably better — sound was great, the crowd was thick and engaged, and people wanted to move. My job is considerably easier (and far less job-y) when people are already open to the connection and the energy, I can still work a crown that needs to be pried open but it often puts me in my head during a show — I prefer to be spread out on the crowd, utterly absent of myself except for the little spaces between songs...

The band recording for BeatsTV

After that we headed over to Viceland to do an interview and some photos with the BeatsTV to promote their new Pills speakers. It was a metric-ton of fun and they fed us booze and pork and gave us Pills to take home. Swag is good. After that, we came back to our home base -a HoJo off I-35, rested up and then headed down to the Continental Club for our Bloodshot showcase.

The show went well and we stayed around to watch John Langford and the Waco Brothers tear it up after us. There was a late night trip to Denny's where we were bombarded with notices of the most wonderful time of the year: Baconalia!, then it was off to bed for the night. Fight fought, day one.

JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound in Austin, TX at SXSW 2013:

3/13/13
Getty Images party
Bourbon Girl
212 E. 6th St.
3pm

3/13/13
Brooklyn Vegan Chicago/Epitonic party

Barbarella patio
615 Red River St.
5:15pm

3/14/13
Pandora/Americana Music Assoc. party

Antone's Porch Stage
213 W. 5th St.
2:30pm

3/14/13
Mighty Deadly/Chicago Mixtape/Wine from the Moon/AudioTree/do312 party

Papi Tino's
1306 E. 6th St.
5:30pm

3/15/13
Rolling Stone Rock Room party

La Zona Rosa
612 W. 4th St.
11:30am

3/15/13
Bloodshot Records/Lagunitas Brewing party

Yard Dog Gallery
1510 S. Congress Ave.
4pm

3/15/13
JamBase SXSW showcase

Tap Room @ Six
311 Colorado St.
1am

3/16/13
KDHX Twangfest party

Broken Spoke
3201 S. Lamar Blvd
2pm

3/16/13
MillerCoors Third Shift Amber Lager party

Holy Mountain
617 E. 7th St.
5pm