Road to SXSW - Errors / The Hedrons / The Twilight Sad

The South by South west festival in Texas is a pretty big deal for bands trying to break into the American mainstream market. Going down well here could mean taking the jump from undervalued obscurity to mind blowing success leading to record signings, fame and fortune. If your performance goes tits up well at least you get a holiday in Texas.

	"At first we had the slow moving folk angst of The Twilight Zone Sad, followed by the raging pop-punk stylings of The Hedrons and last on were the band that I was most looking forward to see, Errors"

So when I went to the BBC endorsed showcase on Monday at King Tuts I was looking forward to hear what Scotland had to offer. Up first were the musical meanderings of a group called The Twilight Sad. Hmmmm, sad indeed. These fellows looked as though they were about to fall down at any given second due to the enormous weight of the chips they were carrying on their shoulders. I don’t mean to sound so negative, I mean these guys are obviously talented musicians and songwriters, the melodies of their songs are truly haunting and their lyrics bitter sweet, especially in the song 'That summer at home,' its just their performance lacked that vital spark that stops the audience from wishing they were somewhere else and makes them want to keep watching.

I know arty self-deprecating bands twinged with a hint of melancholy are the norm nowadays but please don’t let your performance get dragged down by this. Their folk rock style is a hot sound at the moment and they do carry the genre off well enough but judging from the crowd’s reaction they still need to add that integral crowd pleasing ingredient if they want to appeal to their Texan audience.

Now the next band couldn’t be more different. I’m not going to lie, when I heard that The Hedrons were an all girl pop punk band illusions of Avril Lavigne clones wearing ties and too much black eye liner sprang to mind.

There is a note of excitement in the air and impatient shuffling as the audience wait for Glasgow based Hedrons to begin their set. They emerge onto the stage greeted by a tremendous amount of clapping and wolf whistling and immediately let rip their first song for the night with an infectious energy. After the previous band this sudden dose of musical red bull is just what I needed.

	"all of which were a mix of power pop, rock and with a bit of anti-establishment punk thrown in for good measure."

Lead singer Tippi has an almost ADHD-esque supply of energy that would put even Jim Carrey to shame. There was something almost unnatural in the way she controlled the audience making sure that all eyes were on her the whole time, she even jumped into the crowd at one point to serenade a couple of front row fans.

The bands set was made up of songs from their current album ‘One More Won’t Kill Us’, all of which were a mix of power pop, rock and with a bit of anti-establishment punk thrown in for good measure. I found it impossible not to tap my foot along to 'Heat seeker' and by the time their debut single, 'Be my friend' comes on all dignity had gone and I found myself gyrating like a pre-adolescent Mosher and letting the occasional "ahhh ahhh ahhh" escape from my lips.

With a band with such catchy tunes I defy anyone to resist. Ok so their lyrics are all pretty whimsical and inconsequential and there is nothing particularly ground braking about their songs or image but why the hell not? And judging by the audience’s enthusiastic reaction to their performance I feel I'm not alone in thinking this.

I think tonight the aim by the gig organizers was the theme of contrast. At first we had the slow moving folk angst of The Twilight Zone Sad, followed by the raging pop-punk stylings of The Hedrons and last on were the band that I was most looking forward to see, Errors.

Errors are a fantastic band. They’ve taken the genre of electronica and managed to effortlessly mix this with indie guitar riffs producing some quite frankly amazing material. When they begin their set the audience is still recovering from the last bands performance so there seems to be a more subdued kind of atmosphere. However when the lights go down and the Apple Mac (that’s right) is fired up the audience is immediately woken, all with their ears pricked up.

The four piece Glaswegian group nervously begin, their first song immediately setting the tone for the rest of the music that is set to follow, a combination of electro harmonies with an under flowing funky beat that has everyone’s heads nodding.

As they troop on with their new single 'Salut France' you can obviously tell that they are growing in confidence. Electronic music is not everybody’s cup of tea but like it or not one can not deny the effort and thought that has gone in to each track produced by Errors. The highlight of their set was their most famous and downright funky song 'Mr. Milk', the song they chose to end their most interesting and electrifying set with.

So as myself and the rest of the punters trundle out of King Tuts we walk past a table of all the bands merchandise being sold to the crowd, I cant help thinking to myself that apart from selling their 5 track CD’s and Taiwanese produced t-shirts, in reality the only thing that each band has been flogging is themselves in the hope that this pre-Texas warm up will prove to them that they have what it takes to please an audience, thus hopefully taking that jump to stardom.

FUTURE GIGS

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