The sheer volume of SXSW's music festival can be daunting for anyone. This March the Texas capital hosted more than 2,200 bands in over 100 venues, spanning five days. In recent years theyâve added a tech conference, music-poster showcase, comedy summits, and a film festival. From the PG prerogative, our 2015 coverage thus far has included a performance gallery, gear expo report, and a call-out for SXSW bands to watch this year. And those items are only spotlighting a sliver of what happens in Austin every year.
The Live Music Capital of the World has been taking hits recently about the gentrification of the downtown district that has hosted many of SXSWâs shows and events since its inception. Plus, the NASCAR-looking marketing and in-your-face corporate sponsors are a glaring opposition of the festivalâs DIY roots. But the bands and artists still treat the booming event all the sameâitâs about performing.
SXSW is unlike any other music-based festival in the world. Thousands of bands flood 6th Street and the surrounding grounds as many of them perform not just several times during the week, but numerous times a day. Youâll often spot bands sprinting down the sidewalk with gigbags and pedalboard cases in hand frantically trying to get to their next show. Itâs safe to say that nearly every SXSW performer has a few things in common, like hungerânutritionally and artisticallyâdedication and appreciation to play music for unsuspecting future fans, and for the interest of this piece, their love of gear.
We talked to 20+ bands from all different genres about their setups including the stoner-metal Elder, indie-darling Courtney Barnett, sun-soaked shoe-gazers Best Coast, hometown pysch-rockers The Bright Light Social Hour, and even the good-time-having masked luchadores of El Conjunto Nueva Ola. Click through to see and learn about the rigsâand the playersâ rationalesâbehind some of the bands that were showcased in Austin during SXSW 2015.
1. Elderâs Nick DiSalvo
âI finally caved after almost a decade of refusing to get a pedalboard. The allure of being able to have all of my usual pedals at the ready without setting up and breaking down finally won me over. My setup now has become more diverse than in previous yearsâI try to let my amp and guitar do most of the talking without anything too over-the-top effect wise. I have a few fuzzes (one for rhythm, one for leads) that are my main tools. I love to use the Pharaoh fuzz for heavy, chunky riffing and my (beloved and very limited) Grim Reefer for squealing bends and weird phase-shifty grime. The Dispatch Master is a great pedal for helping recreate some of the lusher soundscapes fromLore, while my Carbon Copy is my go-to for simple slapback delay sounds. My most recent addition would be the TC Electronic Ditto LooperâI donât use it much, probably only twice per set, but it really opens up possibilities to play studio songs more accurately live.â
2. The London Soulsâ Tash Neal
âI donât use much in terms of equipment and right now my go-to guitar is a Gibson ES-335. Iâve always loved Gibson semi-hollows and I figured Iâd take it with me for SXSW and our other Texas dates. Other guitars I use regularly are a Fender Telecaster and a Gibson Les Paul.
Right now I have a Vox AC30 because itâs a reliable amp that you can pick up at any guitar store. Itâs off-the-shelf and it sounds great. Iâm not like most guys you probably cover in that I donât shop a lotâonly when I need to. I donât have a pedalboard and the only time I use a pedal other than a Boss TU-2 tuner is a clean boost to make the AC30 break up just a tad earlier. I just use an input boost to boost my signal and not cut it: I like for the sound to be from my playing, and the amp.â
3. The Stone Foxes
4. Made Violent
Pedals are a huge part of my rig. Being the only guitar player in Made Violent, I need to have a lot of different sounds to keep the live show interesting. Iâve been using JHS Pedals for overdrive both in the studio and onstage since the band started. The SuperBolt has been the sound of the band since the beginning. Iâve also been messing around with the Your Face by Wren and Cuffâitâs an old-school fuzz with a lot of versatility. Iâve always had the classic Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Nano for spring reverb because I like the idiot-proof single knob. One of my favorite effects is the Caroline Guitar Company Kilobyte delay. Itâs set to a quick slapback for a double-track effect and has an infinite repeat soft switch. Iâm always looking for something to help the creative process, especially for writing. The right effect can sometimes bring an idea out of thin air. Other pedals I have for additional flavoring would be the EarthQuaker Devices Tone Job and the JHS Emperor.â
Joe Whiteâs Gear5. Lazyeyes
6. Badflower
7. Happynessâ Benji Compston
âMy favorite thing on my pedalboard has to be the Danelectro Cool Cat distortion pedalâthe red one. Theyâre super cheap and have an awesome, tacky distortion sound thatâs really compressed and kind of harsh. Weâve run vocals through itâthink: Satan-shouting-through-a-supermarket-PAâand we used it for loads of the distortion sounds on the album. The orange pedal on the board is a JHS Pulp âNâ Peel Compressor thatâs awesome. I keep it on throughout the set and it just softens everything a bit and warms stuff upâlike a microwave. Other stomps I have on my board include Electro-Harmonixâs Holy Grail Plus, a Line 6 DL4, TC Electronicâs Vintage Tube Primer and PolyTune, and a Pro Co Rat.â
8. Downtown Boys
âFor the first years of this band we had the cheapest possible guitars and amps because thatâs what we could afford. At this point Iâve been able to save up for this lower-end Fender American Standard Telecaster and a used Fender Hot Rod DeVille combo. This is the first nice gear Iâve ever had, but theyâre both quality pieces of gear, comparatively lightweight, and they can be loud as hellâplus they fit nicely in our minivan without a problem. I firmly believe you donât need really expensive or huge stuff to sound professional. Iâve tried using pedals before but I find they just break a lot and get in the way so I just go right into the amp.â
âAs a true suburban high-school kid, I loved to play this basic little short-scale bass I got for Christmas from Guitar Center, but when I went to college my parents sold it while I was gone! So when Downtown Boys asked me to play bass for them only a few weeks before tour, I had to pick up this full-sized Peavey bass that Victoria happened to have on hand. Itâs solid, but its high action is definitely making me stronger and helps me to be able to mute the notes I donât want to be ringing out [laughs]! We had another amp that blew out the first few days of tour so this Fender Rumble 200 V3 combo was the best small-and-cheap-but-still-good thing we could find at the random Guitar Center.â
9. Ryan Corn
10. Best Coast
11. Courtney Barnett
12. Mise en Sceneâs Stefanie Blondal Johnson
13. KEN Mode
14. The Bros. Landreth
"My go-to amp for the better part of the last decade has been an Aguilar DB 750 through an Ampeg 610. Itâs a solid combo and has survived almost without incident or breaking down over hundreds of thousands of miles of touring. Itâs a brick and itâs got tone and headroom for days.â
Joey Landrethâs Gear15. Ex Copsâ Brian Harding
16. Cody Brooks
17. El Conjunto Nueva Olaâs Luzio Nava
18. Buffalo Sunn
âFor pedals, I really only use a Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb, an Ibanez AD9 Analog Delay, and an old Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer. Iâm a simple kind of guitar man.â
Patrick McHughâs Gear19. Victorian Halls
20. Ruby the Hatchetâs Johnny Scarps
21. Peopleâs Blues of Richmondâs Tim Beavers
âI am very appreciative of all the use and abuse my equipment has put up with from me. My gear is my family. I love, respect, and appreciate all of it ... and sometimes I have to beg it for forgiveness when I fuck it up.â
22. Speedy Ortizâs Devin McKnight
âMy No. 1 guitar is generally a Fender Standard Fat Strat, but that was broken during our recent tour, so Iâve been using an Epiphone Limited Edition Les Paul Standard. Either one works though. I generally like a guitar that can take absurd amounts of gain and still sound good. Taking that amount of gain is especially important in Speedy because I need to get really loud and quiet in a split second.