South by Southwest Festival

The Lovely Bad Things

Unit B Studio

OC Creator of Vela App Preps For a Coming Out Party at SXSW

On a warm, sunny day in Aliso Viejo, things are looking just the way Justin Mason had always envisioned. The soft-spoken, former Air Force Intelligence Officer--now a group administrator at a Santa Ana dialysis center--has never been one to be told what he can and can't accomplish. After the opportu ... More >>

Burgerama This Weekend: Not Bill Murray-fied, But You Can Still Pogo Til You Puke With Wavves, OFF!, Strange Boys and More

​There's a very special moment in a musical career that happens only to the luckiest and generally most righteous people--the kind of thing that confirms not only that you've arrived, but that you're headed to even better places in the future. This is called the Bill Murray moment, because it's wh ... More >>

Local Record Review: 'Spare Parts for Broken Hearts' by Spare Parts for Broken Hearts

Spare Parts for Broken HeartsSpare Parts for Broken Heartshttps://www.facebook.com/sparepartsforbrokenheartsA little late with this review, perhaps -- the EP's been out for nearly a year, for a start.  But Long Beach's Spare Parts for Broken Hearts have been revving up a bit for the journey to ... More >>

Le Castle Vania

Yost Theater

Odd Future Gives Pitchfork an Interview Guaranteed to Make You Feel Old

​ No act since Odd Future has gotten audiences this legitimately excited--in awe of their music as well as their stage antics and Internet popularity--in a really long time. Music journalists love them because they their songs are well-crafted, flow-driven, hook-laden hits. They're incredibly prol ... More >>

OMD's Andy McCluskey Talks About SXSW Accident

​Last Friday, electro-pop duo OMD played a show at Stubbs in Austin during SXSW where a camera boom fell into the crowd. Four people were injured, but after the band was told that the injuries were minor, the band went onstage to play a shortened set. Today OMD lead singer Andy McCluskey released ... More >>

What You Missed: Disney-Inspired Burlesque, Girl Talk, Pet Days, SXSW Round-Up, Huy Pham Vigil

Christopher Victorio/OC WeeklyWhoa, Tink. Whoa.​Another year, another Disney-inspired burlesque show put on by Peepshow Menagerie. What year would be complete without watching Minnie Mouse strip down to her nipple tassels? Girl Talk performed at the Fox Pomona Theater, while the OC Fairgrounds in ... More >>

Missives from SXSW: Exene Cervenka (of X) Sings With Old 97s, Thinks of Japan

Most famous as a punk rock icon and artist, Exene Cervenka (front woman for X, Knitters and Original Sinners) is documenting her adventures for Heard Mentality on the way to Austin's South By Southwest, the country's biggest music festival. Check out her complete tour diary archive here.Raven Lo ... More >>

The Steelwells Eliminated From the 'Choose the Cover of Rolling Stone' Contest

Christopher Victorio/OC Weekly​ Unfortunately, The Steelwells will not get to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. The magazine today announced the eight finalists who go on to the next round: Empires, Fictionist, Lelia Broussard, Mod Sun, The Romany Rye, The Sheepdogs, Skyler Stonestreet and Tha Boo ... More >>

Announcing: the 2011 Village Voice and Frank 151 SXSW Party, With the Wu-Tang Clan, Yelawolf, Wild Flag, Fishbone, and More

Ian S. Port/SF WeeklyWild Flag in San Francisco last November​If you're one of the lucky few heading over to Austin in three weeks, it would behoove you to make an appearance at the 2011 Village Voice SXSW party, presented in concert with Frank 151. Who's going to be there? The Wu-Tang Clan, Fi ... More >>

The Thing About the North Park Music Thing

​The thing about the North Park Music Thing, explains founder Kevin Hellman, is that he wants the two-day festival in San Diego to be as regional as SXSW. And some day, maybe bigger.  "The first year it was called North by North Park, but the folks in Austin (home of SXSW) threatened to su ... More >>

Local Natives: Going Places

[Coachella 2010] Buzz band soars from OC squalor to the Coachella stage, with stops in Silver Lake, Austin and the U.K.

Watch: Local Natives Perform for Pitchfork

Pitchfork's love for OC-turned-LA quartet Local Natives has been well-documented around here. So, too, has been the clutch of local bands who ventured to Austin last week for the South by Southwest festival. Here's a late-breaking melding of those two themes: Local Natives performing in some ru ... More >>

Universal Drops CD Prices to $10, Lady Gaga Sued for $30 Million, 'Runaways' Interviews, Alex Chilton Tribute at SXSW

Will you start buying CDs again if they're priced at $10 or less? Universal Music Group hopes so.Producer, self-proclaimed ex-lover, files lawsuit against Lady Gaga for $30 million--claims he basically created the Fame Monster.

Ice Cream Man Matt Allen Okay--Baby Ice Cream Truck Not So Much

icecreamman.comThe Ice Cream Man: Matt Allen.​Since 2004, Long Beach's Ice Cream Man Matt Allen has made a career of giving away ice cream for free at music events nationwide. But news of a possible Ice Cream Man benefit this April at Alex's Bar suggested an emergency meaning it's time to give som ... More >>

Q&A: Alex Knost on Tomorrows Tulips Signs with Papermade; Future of Japanese Motors and their Unreleased Album

Costa Mesa garage rockers Japanese Motors shocked the local scene when they informed OC Weekly last Tuesday that they were ditching their Jan. 20 gig with Vice label mates the Black Lips at Detroit Bar, canceling all upcoming shows including SXSW dates and going on "indefinite hiatus." Alex Knost ... More >>

Show Announcement: Junior Brown and Cowboy Mouth, Galaxy Concert Theatre, Santa Ana

Country singer-songwriter and guitar whiz Junior Brown will share the stage with New Orleans rockers Cowboy Mouth at Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana on Friday, January 8. Brown blew me away at SXSW in 2002 when he closed a solid set at Stubb's with an amazingly medley of rock and surf covers ... More >>

TONIGHT: Local Natives, The Growlers, The Union Line Invade LA

The Growlers​Los Angeles! What's with that city? It claims to be all original and shiz, but look at LA's Oh My Rockness rundown for tonight. Four shows get billing. Two of them are dominated by OC bands. That's 50%!OC in LA option one: Local Natives, The Union Line, The Outline, and We Barbarians ... More >>

Guest Blogger: Sameer Gadhia of the Jakes Shares Thoughts on First Night of eVocal Residency

Keith MayEach Tuesday in May, Newport Beach's the Jakes will be playing--along with a rotating cast of bands from OC and beyond--at eVocal. And also each week this month, Sameer Gadhia, lead singer of the Jakes (pictured) will be sharing his thoughts on the shows. Here's the first installment:BY SAM ... More >>

Slideshow: Autolux at Detroit Bar

I am lame. Among the lamest, really. I didn't go to Autolux at Detroit Bar last night, even though I had been planning on it for a while. The reasons aren't that interesting (I worked late and was really sleepy--see, told you, not interesting), but at least some people were cool enough to go, like p ... More >>

TONIGHT: Iglu & Hartly at Detroit Bar

Rarely do albums get savaged the way Echo Park's Iglu & Hartly's debut, & Then Boom, has. Take a look at what NME wrote, in their glowing 2/10 review:"Until then, one thing is very clear: these bare-chested electro-funksters have birthed an abomination of a debut album, informed by all the m ... More >>

TONIGHT: Eugene & the 1914 at the Prospector

There's not a lot going on around town these next few days, show-wise. Is it spring fever? The fact that everybody is at SXSW? Camping out to see Duplicity (OMG! Julia Roberts Clive Owen = Adorable!)? But there are a few shows here and there worth going to, like LA's Eugene & the 1914 at the P ... More >>

Richard Swift

OC Bands hit SXSW

For those of you with cash to burn, there is no better excuse for a pre-summer sonic excursion than the arrival of South by Southwest. The ability to stumble around the Austin bar scene with a new noise at every turn has turned this Spring music festival into the beast that it is today after 22 year ... More >>

Japanese Motors, Crystal Antlers Among OC/LB Bands Playing SXSW

Today is a day to very much live in the present, what with a historic event of some kind going on in Washington DC, but since we're obstinate like that, let's look a couple months into the future--specifically March 13-17 in Austin, TX, for South by Southwest.We wrote a couple weeks back about the l ... More >>

The Juan Maclean at Continental Room April 10

The Bizarre Love Triangle crew has booked DFA Records producer the Juan Maclean for a DJ set at Fullerton's Continental Room Thursday April 10. This New York musician—who used to play guitar in Six Finger Satellite—has great taste as a selector, if his set at SXSW I caught in 2006 is any ind ... More >>

SXSW Day 4: Seeking the Elusive Black Moth Super Rainbow

What you missed over the weekend: Part XIII

Patrick Chavis got a taste of Pinoy pop culture at UCI Friday night, where he caught Bambu, Rhythm Natives and the Fighting Cocks. Pat also ran into a tagger who dreams of letters. Read his review and see some photos here. Rich Kane spent his Saturday morning reviewing the past week in the Orange C ... More >>

Crystal Antlers' Van, Gear Stolen

How many times have we heard this same exact story? Too many. Rising Long Beach rock group Crystal Antlers' vehicle, containing all of their equipment, was stolen last night. This always sucks, of course, but what's worse is that Crystal Antlers are slated to play the South by Southwest fest in Au ... More >>

Letters

'How DARE you call the film phony. This is a war against the Vietnamese community. We will organize a major protest against OC Weekly'

SXSW: OC Weekly Cover Boys dios Tear it Up

Just returned from the dios set (see Chris Ziegler's 2004 cover story here) at the Chuggin' Monkey (located a few blocks from Mooseknuckle's and Uncle Flirty's Loft...seriously). Despite undergoing some lineup changes over the past few years, the band continues to amaze me with how ferociously they ... More >>

The Awful Truth in Austin, Texas

The case against Michael Moore and for B-list celebs at SXSW

Crash Course

Asteroid #4 speed toward your stereo

Omar in Qatar

Last year Omar Chatriwala moved from Austin, Texas to Orange County to help get Squeeze OC off the ground. Recently he decided to move again, this time from Orange County to Qatar to help get Al Jazeera's English-language channel off the ground. Chatriwala's blog, OC in OC, is among the most popular ... More >>

Name Dropping

Be Your Own Pet

SXSW Report

Live Reviews from Austin's annual music fest

Give Him Some Water so He Wont Die

South By Southwest by OC Weekly

Where Dank Lives

ASRs little bro, Agenda, does just fine hawking board-sports gear in a chilly warehouse

Hater of Love

The joy and pain of discovering Grandaddy

Stay Warm

The Starvations

Punk rock parking lot

Buchanan

Its all a big crapshoot

Accidentally Legit

Inside Americas most ostentatious, alternative music fest

Whooooooooooooo!!

We get our ass kicked at the SXSW schmoozapalooza!

Cashed Out

Supernova

Earache My Eye!

DIY or Die

The BellRays maximum rock

Beach Fest 99, with a whole bunch of bands and a good, bloody fistfight