News SXSW: Tigers That Talked Tour Diary (Part One)

Austin Time: 4pm, Tuesday 15th March

Helloooo UK…

First off, let us introduce ourselves. We’re Tigers That Talked, a four-piece band from Leeds, who sound a lot, but not exactly, like this. We’ve made it out to SXSW this year and we’re gonna be filling you in on all the happenings whilst in the heart of the insanity that is downtown Austin all week.

The first thing to note is that we’re here. Finally. After a supposed 14hr journey that took closer to 26, at this moment we’re sat in the Austin Convention Centre; the buzzing hub of the festival. And we’re realizing that whilst we thought our travel story, which included delayed British trains (of course), broken American planes (they seriously tried to fix it by turning it off and on again), cars that are too small for everything (who thought a car made by Dodge would be too small for anything), and two hours of stab-in-the-dark navigation around Houston’s Spaghetti Bowl (which we finally got out of by following a compass west. No joke. We’re like the indie Magellan…), we’re actually very lucky.

We heard that there had been Visa issues, with the USCIS starting to turn away visas with a week or so left to go, but as we already had ours we weren’t too worried. However, it turns out that quite a few bands, including Young Legionnaire and Frankie and the Heartstrings, who also had visas, were turned away at their respective American airports, which is awful, and we feel so bad for them. Like I say, today we feel very lucky…

But we’re here, and we’ve registered, so all that’s left to do is enjoy ourselves and play some music! Earlier we wandered in to the city, and the epicenter of SXSW seems to be the corner of 6th and Trinity, which is like nothing we’ve ever seen. People always tell you it’s crazy, but when you’re actually here it’s much crazier than that… Literally every shop front, bar and street corner downtown has someone playing something to someone, and the streets are heaving with so many people it makes London rush hour look like a weekend walk in the Dales – the difference being that they’re all here to meet people and have fun, not to avoid eye-contact by any means necessary…

The heart of things for us Brits seems to be the British Music Embassy at Latitude 30, where we’ve already bumped into Huw Stevens, Pulled Apart By Horses, Beardriver and The Travelling Band. As always, there’s a great UK contingent here, and it’s nice to see some familiar faces. Tonight we’re supposed to meet up with the Beardriver boys to go see Esben & the Witch and Pulled Apart By Horses play, but first, we’re off for some beers and BBQ Ribs. Yes sir. Although what’s been making us laugh all day is that Glenna’s a vegetarian. In Texas. I’m not sure they’ve heard of such a thing…

More tomorrow!

Much Love, Tigers xxx

Top tip for the day : Denny’s is a much better roadside diner than Little Chef. But never, NEVER order ‘grits’. Trust us…

Corner of 6th and Trinity. The festival hasn’t even started yet.

Welcome to Houston Airport. They love Rodeo, apparently.

Trying to work out what the hell we’re doing. Over several afternoon beers. Productive.