SXSW 2017 The Japanese House buckles up for SXSW 2017

As she explains, this isn’t the first time The Japanese House has had an eventful trip to America’s super-sized state. On tour last summer with best pals The 1975, Amber Bain and her bandmates went out to digest the nightlife of Austin while heavily intoxicated, and made quite the splash.

“My band mate was really drunk, and he walked into this club and didn’t realise there was a swimming pool directly in front of the entrance,” Amber remembers, laughing. “He fell straight in. He immediately got thrown out. I got a mood with him because he was all soggy, and the night ended with me waiting for an Uber, and him appearing with a full size cardboard cut-out of a basketball player. It was me in a mood, him, and this cardboard cut out in the back of an Uber.” As you do.

Given her blurry memories of the city, Amber’s got few specific tips for any visitors to Austin, bar one. “I heard this really cool band is playing…” she tips off. “They’re called The Japanese House. You should go and see them. It’s the classic thing to do when you’re in Texas.”

The Japanese House is planning on linking up with a fair few pals while she’s at SXSW – notably The Big Moon and Marika Hackman (who feature elsewhere in this very paper!) “I’m really good friends with The Big Moon and I’m verrrrrrrry good friends with Marika,” Amber quips, cackling. “I might explode with happiness. A lot of babes in music at the moment. Potential squad babes, imagine! We could call ourselves The John Waynes. I’m going to walk around holding my belt all the time, and carry some tumbleweed. Every time someone says something boring, I’m going to throw it at their face. ”

Before whizzing off to resume work on her debut album, The Japanese House issues a quick disclaimer. “All the people from Texas who read this are gonna be like, for god’s sake,” she adds in apology for her repeated cowboy references. “I’ll be there, like. ‘Howdy, guys!’ and they’ll be like “we don’t just do that, jeez!”