SXSW 2010- Music, Day 2: Full Metal!

It’s a pretty clear indicator that you’re a) busy and b) having a good time when your goal to update the blog daily with SXSW updates falls by the wayside your second day in. We did make a valiant effort to write about the annual music and tech conference, and did a pretty bang-up job on day one. But we know that most of Metal Insider’s readers are people with jobs, so we figured we’d wait until you were back at work/school/jail and bring you up to date then. So without any further ado, for those of you that didn’t  make it to Austin, here’s a recap after the point of what you missed out on! Days three and four coming later today.

Next year, I think Metal Insider will be making a road trip to Austin. The MI banner made its way to Texas in style in a truck/RV hybrid nicknamed both “The Beast” and the “SlayRV.” The vehicle sleeps eight, and served as a hotel room for some of the Metal Sucks crew, Amarna Reign (and a bunch of other bands) manager Mark Lafay and friend of 1,000 Knives’ Rich Hall. Somehow from Indianapolis to Austin, the banner made it intact, even though there was liberal meat products consumed, bourbon drank, and metal listened to. I’m damn jealous of our banner. Read more »

SXSW 2010 – Music, Day 1

For the next few days, I’m going to attempt to sum up SXSW. I say attempt, because trying to talk about the annual rite of passage for bands, journalists and the music industry at large is like taking a camera phone picture of the Grand Canyon. My trip started with Motorhead, well, Lemmy, actually. With his film having debuted earlier that week, Lemmy gave a keynote interview. The interview was candid and funny, with the frontman speaking about scoring acid for Jimi Hendrix as a roadie (“he’d take 7 tabs and give me 3, which I thought was liberal”), and whether he gave advice to up and coming bands (“the mistakes I made don’t exist any more. Make your own mistakes, motherfucker.”)

Then it was off to a Wacken Records party, where Orphaned Land and Suidakra hung out. Watch this space for an interview with Suidakra. From then, it was on to the Prosthetic/Action PR/Metal Sucks showcase at Mohawk. The instrumental sounds of Mondo Drag led off Action PR’s showcase, where we found out they were tapped to replace Nebula for the following night’s Tee Pee Records showcase because Nebula broke up last night. Other highlights included The Funeral Pyre and Bison BC.

When you’re told you have VIP passes to Motorhead, that’s something you can’t pass up, so Rob from Metal Injection and I made it over to the Austin Music Hall as quickly as we could (it involved a pedicab). It was worth it to see Motorhead from onstage. From there, it was back to Mohawk to see High On Fire, and we can report that the new material sounds even better live. There’s stuff I’m leaving out, but that’s because I have to run off to Full Metal Texas. Check in soon!

SXSW 2010 – The Sword Live At Stubbs

Marc Meltzer reports in from Austin on The Sword performance…

The Sword is from Austin and seeing them open for Motorhead at Stubbs BBQ was going to be perfect. There was no way it couldn’t be. It was raining all day, but the skies opened up in time for The Sword to take the stage. What’s better than drinking beer outside listen to some heavy as balls metal? The band played about 45 minutes and sprinkled in 3 new jams from the upcoming album to go along with songs from catalogue as well as a cover of Thin Lizzy’s “Cold Sweat.”

Check out a video clip below.

Lemmy Movie Co-Directors Discuss High Points Of Their Three Years Of Filming

If there’s one person more iconic than anyone in the world of punk, metal and rock and roll, that person is Lemmy Kilmister. The Jimi Hendrix roadie turned Hawkwind member turned Motorhead bassist/frontman has forged his own path for the last 40 or so years. Now Lemmy is the subject of a documentary, making its world premiere tonight at SXSW. We caught up with co-directors Wes Orshoski and Greg Olliver to talk to them about what making the film was like, what would surprise us about Lemmy, and their plans for the film.

What led you to make a film about Lemmy?

Wes: In the fall of 2006, I had gotten a hold of Fool’s Paradise, the record by The Head Cat, Lemmy’s rockabilly band, which also features Danny B. Harvey on guitar and Slim Jim from the Stray Cats on drums. I was addicted to it, and sort of fascinated by it. These are the songs that Lemmy grew up on, stuff by Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, etc., and they were all delivered with a noticeable sort of affection for the material. I had just interviewed him shortly before that, and had had a great chat with him. So when Greg and I sat down to brainstorm about the next documentary we were gonna start, Lemmy was the first thought I had. And of course, it was perfect. He’s a perfect subject.

Greg:  Wes had the idea and I said ‘hell yeah!”  The hardest part of good ideas is seeing them through to the end. Three years later and I’m damn proud that we pulled it off.

Was there an instant rapport between you and him, or did it take a while for him to let you in, so to speak?

Greg: He was very open in our interviews from day one.  It was surprising at first, but then you realize that’s just how he is.  He’s the exact opposite of a politician where you can see the wheels spinning in their head as they force out the most ridiculous non-response to an answer in an interview.  Lemmy shocks you faster than most people can even think of what to say,  so it has to be genuine

Was it hard to get him to focus?

Wes: Not really. If he didn’t want to be filmed, he let us know. If he’s gonna take the time to do something, he’s gonna do it right.

Greg: When we could pull him away from the video game at the Rainbow Bar & Grill he would focus for sure.  The hard part is communicating with him when he’s playing the game or his fruit machine backstage. Its actually awesome to see how focused he gets on his games.

How much access did he give you?

Wes: Pretty much full access. Read more »