SXSW: Day #3

Friday, March 14, 2008 | 7:10 PM

BREAKING WEATHER REPORT:
For the first time all week, the sun came out in full force. Temperatures are nearing the 90's--alas, warm weather in Austin, TX!

Ah, a good night's sleep, it's first time I logged more than five hours the whole trip. This morning I also got to eat breakfast and sort through my SXSW goodie bag for the first time. I've got my second wind!

On the bummer-end of things, Nada Surf and Billy Bragg had to cancel our interviews scheduled this week. No hard feelings though, since I'm sure their schedules are pretty packed at this point in time. Bands are playing more day-shows now than ever. Today I met up with Tim Fite, Tapes 'N Tapes, and Murs...

Tim Fite
My first meet-up of the day was with Tim Fite and his sideman, Dr. Leisure, who is toying around with the idea of changing his name to The Artist Formerly Known As Little Prince. In person Tim Fite is not much different than his on-stage persona. If you don't listen to him closely enough, you'll fail to realize that he's completely bullshitting you. I mentioned that I hadn't heard his new album yet (coming out in May), and without cracking a smile, Tim matter-of-factly replied, "I haven't heard it either. I sent it out to China and India and I'm waiting to get it back. It's cheaper that way. I hope it doesn't have any lead in it. That stuff's dangerous."

Tim also mentioned that he just performs with Dr. Leisure, because he can't afford to assemble a touring band. Tim's performing duties are finished at this year's SXSW, but he is hosting a couple of showcases. To make things lively, he has been creating homemade giant postcards--one was from Mick Jagger to Keith Richards wishing he was at SXSW, while another one was sent to Roy Orbison (in heaven) from Tom Petty, his former bandmate, who misses playing in the Traveling Wilburys. Welcome to the world of Tim Fite.

Tapes N' Tapes
An hour later I got to meet Tapes 'N Tapes for the first time. They're a couple weeks away from releasing their Dave Fridman produced sophomore album, Walk It Off. They are also performing tonight at Cedar Door (12AM) and have a matinee show tomorrow. Because they became "blog" darlings a couple years ago, one might expect them to walk around with an air of I'm-better-than-you confidence. That couldn't be further from the truth. They're down-to-earth, very approachable guys, who would probably rather talk about sports than indie music. They mentioned that their first trip to SXSW coincided with the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. They ended up missing a lot of music that year because they came down with a case of March Madness.

Murs
Just got done hanging out with Murs. He's playing a handful of shows here in Austin, but is also scooting over to San Antonio to play a show there tonight. Besides being a fan of his unique approach to hip-hop music, I also love Murs' sheer candidness. Ask him what's wrong with hip-hop, he'll tell you--he won't side step any issue and will always give you an unfiltered answer. He even realizes his opinion could get him "beat up", but according to Murs, "Getting beat up is fun, it's like UFC. Sure I'll get my ass kick, but afterwards we can all be friends." Murs' forthcoming album is called Murs For President, but according to Murs he doesn't want to be President of The United States of America, "There's already a great rock band that holds that title."

By Jim Shearer in SXSW 2008 | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (2)

Tags: Murs, SXSW, Tapes 'N Tapes, Tim Fite