Our own Tom Williams is at SXSW this year and he’ll be checking in regularly with updates. Here is his recap from Day One! But first, a note:

Shawn –

This needs editing. I’m drunk.

I mean really, this needs editing.

Okay.

It’s only my first day at my first SXSW but I think I’ve already received the best advice I will ever receive: “watch out for that ass sweat!”. That was courtesy of Michael, the lead singer/drummer of Telekinesis [MySpace]. Telekinesis, by the way, are a) a completely awesome band out of Seattle and b) were so kind to be my first interview of SXSW (which will be posted *just* as soon as I can find a SD card reader….anybody in Austin out there have one?? I need help).

But back to the ass sweat. It’s hot here in Austin. It was 80+ degrees today. I think I’m sunburned…in March. This is amazing. I love Austin. But the ass sweat is a definitely problem as both Telekinesis and I can attest to. And now you know.

More SXSW: Day One Coverage “after the jump”

My day started off with Telekinesis at 11:45am at Mohawk. My first beer was at noon. It was a Lone Star. It was delicious. Almost as good as Telekinesis. Really a great, poppy, hooky, indie rock band. These guys should be on TV, scoring melodramatic teen television programs. Check back with my interview with them, where you will find out if they think George W. Bush is a great president or if he was the GREATEST president.

After Telekinesis I saw New York’s own, Here We Go Magic [MySpace]. Not amazing but thoroughly enjoyable. They feel like your average singer-songwriter started to take drugs. Serious drugs, like acid or something. They’re better for it, that’s for sure. I hate the use the word “vibes” but these guys gave off “vibes”. Good ones, too.

From Mohawk I made my way to Red 7 where I caught the last song by the Shout Out Out Out Outs [MySpace]. They were electronically with heavily processed vocals and they were really energetic. I really enjoyed them; I wish I’d seen more. It is worth nothing that even their lead singer seemed confused by the amount of “Outs” in their name. He almost forgot one but then he quickly recovered and added the last “Out”. Nice recovery, sir.

From there I went to Red 7′s outdoor stage where I caught the last several songs by Loney, Dear [MySpace]. I’d never actually heard this band before but I came away really impressed – the lead singer, Emil Svanängen has a really great voice and the songs were just plain really good. I can’t wait to hear them on record.

After Loney, Dear was The Thermals [MySpace]. Now, The Thermals are a band that I should love but I’ve been ornery about and have managed to avoid. No longer, this was probably the best show I saw all day. I am now in love with this band. I love guitar punk. They were just so satisfying.

I want to be in this band. I also love their bass player.

I suffer from what I call “Kim Deal Syndrome”. This is wear you find a female bass player to be the hottest thing on earth. I would like to take this public forum to ask the bassist from The Thermals to marry me. Please?

From Red 7 I made my way over to Peckerhead‘s to Matt Music Slut’s party. My main goal here was to see The Proclaimers (as a child of the late 80′s, i adore “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”. However, I managed to catch the Casiokids [Video Hook-Up] beforehand. First song I didn’t much like but after that they got awesome. They remind me of a twee LCD Soundsystem. Later in the night I ran into one of their casio players and I told him that and he agreed with me. So there you go. Twee LCD Soundsystem from Norway.

The Proclaimers have beautiful voice but they seemed out of place at SXSW. For some odd reason they reminded me of Flight Of The Conchords. Perhaps it was the British Empire accent, perhaps it was because there were two of them, plus their manager, and they were sort of awkward and out of place. It sort of felt as if they were slumming by being here. And they didn’t play “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” but they did play a Kings of Leon cover (which kinda sucked….). But other than that, they were really good and enjoyable.

From there, after a lovely dinner from the awesome folks at eMusic, I headed over to my own company’s (Absolute Pitch PR) showcase. Dynasty Electric [MySpace] were the highlight of the night. Bridges and Powerlines [MySpace] were pretty awesome as well.

After the 2am Austin shut down time, me and several friends made our way over to the Red Bull Tower in a completely random part of town. Their guest list policy (you had to have RSVP’d) was absolutely retarded and they were being retarded. It took far too long to get in. Boo Red Bull, boo! That said, all the free alcohol almost made up for it, as did awesome sets from Monotonic and Casiokids (again). Which brings us to now, 7 a.m. central time, where I am still rather drunk. I must catch several hours of sleep before tomorrow, so I can update you all on the events of Thursday.

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