Pete & the Pirates - Forum

Unfortunately, work circumstances prevent me from attending any day parties during the weekdays of SXSW this year. Hopefully I can spread the word and get my friends to go. Maybe they'll finally understand why I keep going on and on about them

I've been doing my best to spread the word in Austin about PATP since I saw them at SXSW in 2009 .

I hope I can make it to at least 1 PATP performance during SXSW this year (stupid work schedule...grrrr). I've volunteered for the festival the past few years and earned my music badge or wristband (an advantage when it comes to official SXSW events and events reserved for SXSW registered attendees).

When it comes to day parties, it depends on the party. Some day parties are invite only and/or require an RSVP. Other day parties and unofficial showcases are usually open to the public. The band is pretty good at updating their gig schedule and its pertinent details so keep an eye on the official website as well as their Facebook page and Twitter (@petepirates).

I picked up the latest Austin Chronicle (local free weekly paper) and it included a SXSW schedule. Of course, it's subject to change and additional updates, etc.
But I found one showcase. It's March 16th at the Red Eyed Fly as part of the Transgressive/Rockfeedback showcase. Other artists on this showcase included Dry The River, Liam Finn, Pulled Apart By Horses, and a couple of others I don't recall at the moment.
Caffeine will be needed since PATP are listed as playing last at 1 am. I know I'm also going to need caffeine the next day since I have to be at work at 8 am. The sleep deprivation is going to be worth, right, lads ?

http://www.rockfeedback.com/gig/283/roc … case-2011/

http://www.clashmusic.com/news/clashs-sxsw-twin-attack

Clash wraps up its Austin Action with a stunning 'day time' line-up full of weekend wonder on March 19th at the Dot Com Day Stage at the Austin Convention Center with three diverse talents and one bona-fide legend.

Live from the city’s cultural epicentre, Clash is on hand for some afternoon delights. Entry is again free to SXSW delegates.

12:00 - 12:40pm Mystery Guest

Expect something special from our mystery guest. Clash is honour bound not to reveal their identity, but we can promise you something hotter than red hot Texas chilli!

1:00 - 1:40pm Pete And The Pirates

Indie charmers Pete And The Pirates hit Texas just as their second album is about to drop. Adept with chipped guitar hooks and perfect pop choruses, this Reading quintet turn suburban dramas into three-minute anthemic gems that make real life so much more bearable.

2:00 - 2:40pm Edwyn Collins

The second-best thing to come out of Scotland besides Clash (though a far superior song writer), Edwyn Collins formed the much-loved ’80s post-punk group Orange Juice, then pursued a solo career in the ’90s. Feted by artists such as The Cribs, Franz Ferdinand, The Drums and The Maccabees, Edwyn is a giant of indie, who won’t let even a brain haemorrhage halt his almighty career.

Here's another day party for Thurs March 17th :

THURSDAY, MARCH 17TH

BROOKLYNVEGAN FREE DAY PARTY
SWAN DIVE & BARBARELLA – 615 Red River St
Noon – 6 PM

STAGE 1 (SWAN DIVE)
12:00 PM Josh T. Pearson
1:00 PM Pujol
2:00 PM The Rural Alberta Advantage
3:00 PM Damien Jurado
4:00 PM Memoryhouse
5:00 PM Menomena

STAGE 2 (Barbarella Patio)
12:00 PM Savoir Adore
1:00 PM Alex Winston
2:00 PM Dom
3:00 PM Obits
4:00 PM Dominique Young Unique
5:00 PM Mellowhype (Odd Future)

STAGE 3 (Barbarella Inside)
12:00 PM Shannon & The Clams
12:30 PM Hunx & His Punx
1:15 PM Gentleman Jesse & His Men
2:00 PM Pete & The Pirates
3:00 PM Fergus & Geronimo
4:00 PM Yuck
5:00 PM Screaming Females

I really like Pulled Apart By Horses, but you do have to be into that kind of thing.

I'd like to state my fondest wish for PATP to play every St Patrick's Day in Austin .

Thursday was a warm, gorgeous day. It was the kind of day you hope for during SXSW.
A stage and large tent was set up in the car park in front of the Dog and Duck Pub. I survived rush hour traffic and arrived just as the band was being introduced. Lucky for me, things were running about 15 min late.
The crowd was very receptive and I think a bunch of new fans were made yesterday . Planting the seeds for a future, non-SXSW gig perhaps ? Just wishing aloud here...
Incredibly fun gig and it felt more relaxed and laidback then the late night official showcase the night before. I took tons of pics and I'll try to get them up in the near future after the festival madness subsides. It was one of those gigs where I wish I had a video camera so I could share it with you. It was *that* special .

To the band : Make sure you send Dog and Duck Pub some CDs. You belong on the pub jukebox !

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/lu … om-death/#

There have been good and bad parts to my foray into Texan life this week. I’m here for SXSW, the biggest new music festival in the world. A total of 2,000 bands from all over the world will play by the end of the weekend; everything’s bigger in Texas.

First, the good news. It’s boiling hot, beautiful and the streets are filled with the brilliant, the bad and the bananas. Tattoo parlours rub shoulders with hot sauce stands, the streets are filled with a mist of turkey legs, gumbo and sweetcorn smells, and there’s wonderful music at every corner.

Music highlights so far have been The Strokes and Duran Duran. The former played a set at twilight in a park bursting at the seams with people. Set against a backdrop of Austin’s sci-fi skyline, and, later, fireworks, the band deserved a perfect setting. There’s a plethora of Strokes-inspired guitar rock here – I’ve almost reached saturation point if I’m honest – but the godfathers of the garage rock revival sounded even fresher and crisper than their progeny.

You can’t move for synths in Austin so it was fun to see Duran Duran, the architects of synthpop, show the city how it’s done. Listening to the Girls on Film amongst a crowd of tattooed Texans was a deliciously surreal moment only bettered by what I’d eaten for supper.

The food in Austin is exceptional. At a restaurant called The Boiling Pot, I had a dish called The Cajun Combo. Bibbed and salivating, you wait while the waitresses arrive with red baskets piled high with shrimp, crawfish, blue crab, sausage and potato. They then roll the bounty on to the middle of the table and you tuck in from there. Juicy crab meat, big fat shrimps, creamy oysters, spicy sausage… We polished it off like a bunch of hyenas.

One other memorable dish I need to mention is The Notorious P.I.G. It’s a hot dog from a place called Frank’s made from jackelope (an evil-looking rabbit) stuffed with macaroni cheese. Sounds gross? It was. If gross means delicious!

Now on to the not so good. I almost died on Wednesday evening. Soaking in the tub, I spotted a spider running around on the floor. I’m not scared of bugs and almost picked it up because it looked quite sweet. But it had a red hourglass on its rump which set off alarm bells. We nonchalantly looked up the creature on the internet, just to check if it was poisonous, and, indeed, to see if Texas was home to lethal spiders. It was a BLACK WIDOW. I smashed it and schmeared it against the bath with my Zora Neale Hurston collection of short stories. Job done.

But let’s get back to the music. Representing Blighty, Pete and the Pirates and Mount Kimbie played excellent sets. Brother, representing, erm, Slough, were OK. Braids, the most over-hyped band of 2011, were intensely annoying and self-indulgent. Das Racist were chaotic but impressive. You can read more about the music in my main review this weekend.

Right, I’m off to get a FrankCookie (a milkshake topped with bits of bacon). Someone get me a defibrillator.

I’m also tempted to get a tattoo. Should I?
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The only mention of the band is that actor, Jon Hamm (from Mad Men TV series) was at the venue with his girlfriend. Great music journalism there (insert eyeroll).

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/immaculate- … d-jon-hamm

(article excerpt)
The line in was egregious and crowd skewed older, unsurprisingly, though at least one particular attendee brought some more esteem. Mad Man Jon Hamm was in queue in front of me after I dipped out of Stubb's, and he and girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt headed next door to Red Eyed Fly (for Pulled Apart By Horses or Pete and the Pirates?). The Bangles were in the house as well.

Comments on the Telegraph article

It has been nice and warm this month but it is not "boiling hot". Come back to Texas in a few months - *that's* boiling hot.

The jackalope is a mythical creature and no foods are made from it : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackalope

Frank is a fun place to eat. Many variations on hot dogs and sausages : http://hotdogscoldbeer.com/eats/
The Jackalope item at Frank is made from antelope, rabbit, and pork sausage - not evil rabbits

I had a couple of food conversations with the guys. My guess is they would like to spend more time in Austin just for eating purposes .

More SXSW press snippets :

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/blogs/nonstop … 25919.html

Pete and the Pirates: Wait, you’ve never heard of these guys? C’mon now, stop resting on your laurels and start discovering some new music. I managed to see them at one of the 132 showcases hosted by the BrooklynVegan. Their brand of UK rock is recalls the elements that made Weezer a chart topping band in the 90’s and they do it with a tongue and cheek style that makes me want to dance around like a teenager whose biggest worry is whether or not I'll get my physics lab turned in on time.

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http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2011/0 … _southwest

The next day was awesome, I always have a great time at the Dog and Duck Pub's St. Patricks Day party, they always have a big tent with a good sound system and being off the beaten downtown path near the UT campus it's a much less chaotic atmosphere. A couple of bands I saw that day were awesome. There was a band from England called Pete and the Pirates that were really good. My buddy being the cynic stated "the Proclaimers called and said they want their career back" which I didn't agree with other than they did a really good job of harmonizing 3 vocals at once.

My photos from the Dot Com Day Stage gig : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 … e597acbac4