We’re back… SXSW Tour Part 2

After the Northeast gigs in NYC, Philly, Baltimore and DC we worked our way down the East Coast with great shows in Lexington, Asheville and Charlotte. Below is a video of The Yes Way performing “Handless” at the famous Milestone in Charlotte where greats such as Nirvana, Black Flag and The Violent Femmes have all thrashed.

Once deep in the South it was time to work our way West with a stop in New Orleans for The Foburg Festival. The Yes Way opened up for the amazing Sun Hotel (Park the Van Records) at Maison on Friday night. Quite a nice crowd considering Ra Ra Riot and Givers were down the street.

Now, we must admit that New Orleans did get the best of us…

until our detox patron saints Katie and Tommy came to the rescue. Tommy, who is an exceptional muralist decided that our self spray-painted t-shirts needed a little tweaking and the following is the result:

New Orleans is a strange town full of artists who refuse to do the whole “social media” thing. Don’t know if there is longevity in that, but it was refreshing compared to the whorish online activities of most “artists” in NYC.

Words can’t even begin to express how thankful we are to have met such amazing people who brought us back from the frazzled road warriors we had become. And just in time too, as SXSW was just around the corner.

The Vanguard is a Top 15 Indie Pop band – The Deli Magazine

RethinkPopMusic’s artist The Vanguard are listed in the Top 20 indie pop bands by Deli Magazine. They are in good company with artists such as Santigold, Islands, MGMT, Vampire Weekend, Chairlift and Ra Ra Riot. Check out the full list here: The Deli on the left side of the page.

Catch the Vanguard on Sept 17th at the RethinkPopMusic Launch at Crash Mansion: RSVP at http://RPM-RSVP.com

About the Vanguard:
In order to create the Vanguard, Zeus pinned a gigantic map of the world to the wall in his office. He picked up four golden darts. Blindfolded, he reached for the first dart, drew his hand back and flung it to the map. “Ah I see, the singer shall be from the mountains of Virginia,” and so, Aaron Barr was born. Flying through the air, the second dart dropped down in Przemysl, Poland. “How cute, a potato baby will be the guitarist.” The next was raised and thrown, descending upon the spot of earth called Serbia. “This little guy will witness the partition of his country. This will make him very good on the keys and bass guitar.” The creator reached for the final dart, but stopped before throwing it.” I need someone steady and dependable, unlike those other kookie kids. A drummer to hold the beat to the music.” He let it fly and it touched down in Buenos Aires, Argentina. “Young man you will be the drummer,” the creator told the tango baby who had yet to be born. And, my friends, the rest is history. Since then, The Vanguard was featured on Matt Pinfield’s Morning Show on 101.9 RXP. The boys also just returned from playing five shows in four days at SXSW 2009 in Austin, Texas. SPIN.com named them a buzzworthy up-and-coming band because of their “bubbling melting pot of sounds, influences, and ethnic backgrounds.” They have pre-released two songs off their forthcoming LP to be fully released later this year. Make sure to look out for their music video directed by Patryk Rebisz for their song “Rio.” – Maria Clark

One year ago…

Despite sounding like one of those “back in my day” types I must take issue with the show I attended last night. A year ago I saw Ra Ra Riot at Bowery Ballroom which, like last night, was sold out. Unlike last night however, the band had recently lost their drummer/co-writer, John Pike, to a tragic drowning accident. And adding irony to tragedy, their first single, written by Pike, was “Dying is Fine.”

Ra Ra Riot occupied the Bowery stage like petrified children. The moment they started their set it was obvious that this band was destined for greatness. As they played every song  they had ever written the band members playfully smiled, mouthed the lyrics to every song and bounced around in such a way that you knew they were taking in a special moment in their lives. However, the truly astonishing moment came when the music stopped.

At this point I have attended more shows than I can count and I know the feeling of a contrived encore. But at the end of the set the crowd went into a frenzy DEMANDING more music. Wes, along with the rest of Ra Ra Riot, gingerly came back onstage baffled. There was no encore. Ra Ra Riot held nothing back. Every song, every emotion and everything that John would have wanted was accomplished. Then something incredible happened.

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