LIKE A RAZORBLADE IN A KNIFE FIGHT

(photos from the second annual Skull By Skull Now hosted by the Skidmarxxx in Austin at the Shitpit, more carnage here WARNING: a fair bit of nudity, mainly dudes)

Skull By Skull Now II:

- Jumping over the junk car on bikes, only one guy made it.
- Jumping on a trampoline where the windshield should be, until one girl misses and cuts her leg to the bone.
- Mad Dog challenge = Six-pack-attack relay race with Mad Dog booze (equals more colorful puking).
- Obstacle course along the side of the house, complete with flying folding tables.
- A car drove dangerously and aggressively through the slowly dispersing crowd in the street in front of the house, resulting in someone knocking their rear view mirror off. The driver then came back with his mom who was yelling at everyone and calling the cops. One guy's response was to pull out his dick and pour beer on it. Everyone shuffles to the back when the cops come.
- Mosh pit and metal bands in the backyard, this time with flying cans of yellow and white house paint.
- Nothing is complete without roman candles into the crowd.
- Junk mattress catches fire next to the shack, pee and water put it out (three times).
- The strange band Funderstorm that ran around in the crowd on a megaphone yelling at people to tear his clothes off. He ended up naked (even the fishnets and purple undies came off) and then lit microphones on fire and swung them at people.
- Mud wrestling commences, this year with more friendly mud (less broken glass and rocks, more smell of manure) and mostly mixed (boy/girl) matches.
- Neighborhood kids hammering forever on the car with bats and pipes.
- One dude who was there on crutches had been clocking people when they bumped into him throughout the night. One majorly drunk dude really pissed him off and received a few decent whacks, prompting him to complain, cry, and call the cops (again). Four cars roll up this time, and people either take off or chill in the backyard to wait for them to leave.
- Once the cops disperse, bike-jousting gets rolling.
- After bike-jousting, the grand finale: blowing up the car. It's done with some sort of explosive device detonated by gunfire. A healthy fireball erupts and the car burns for a while before being put out and re-lit a handful of times.
- Before taking off, the guys from Chief Mag set off a barrage of fireworks inside the car, causing them to ricochet off the ceiling and out the windows in all different directions.
- For myself only very minor injuries sustained: banged up shins, a cut open knee, ripped pants, decent covering of paint and manure.

Kind of goes without saying, but this one day is way more fun than all of SXSW. You can read about it on the Vice blog too.



MP3:

• The Casualties - Criminal Class

A band's place in myspace.

MORE OF THE SAME

(photos from SXSW: ecstatic crowd at Matt & Kim; Matt & Kim; Pre; Valient Thorr; The Mae Shi; Team Robespierre (x2); Cerebral Ballzy; Team Robespierre; Golden Error; She Rides; Annihilation Time (x2); The Vivian Girls (x2); Trash Talk; Dark Meat; Pre; Popo; Japanther; Ponytail; The Homosexuals; Mika Miko; Todd P; Mic on mat; Aids Wolf; Finally Punk; Gabe's head wound; Monotonix (x4); passed out at the Vice party; and if that wasn't too much, there's more here)

The tail-end of the Newmore Switchblades tour into SXSW 2009:

- When someone hits on you with their opening line being how you look too old to be at this show too... You know that you're looking a little too tour-weary.
- Meeting the friendly (and mildly toothless) $10 prostitute working at Saturn Bar.
- Having the owner of the Saturn Bar threaten to do bodily harm to more than one person in our group on several occasions. And no one thought he was kidding.
- While some of us catch a couple hours of sleep before the 9 hour drive to Austin, some of Cerebral Ballzy head out to Bourbon St. In the morning there are reports of alternately getting flashed and attacked on the street by different(?) women.
- While leaving New Orleans headed to Austin, I realize my camera has totally crapped out. Nothing works on it, no buttons, no focusing, no LCD screen. I'm on my way to SXSW with no camera. Great.
- Getting splashed in the face with horse piss.
- Finally, after four years of SXSW, finding real free BBQ.
- Going to see Annihilation Time, The Vivian Girls and Trash Talk play a late night show on the Lamar Pedestrian Bridge. Right before the first band starts, they toss dozens of free pairs of Converse shoes into the crowd. And the deluge of flying shoes starts promptly during the first song.
- About two songs in to The Vivian Girls set, Cassie hints that it's okay to dance to their music. A girl sticks her head through the crowd and shrilly asks "You really want us to dance?" For the rest of their set there is a mosh pit frothing to their music, getting to the point that the band gets knocked down a couple times. Guess that means that The Vivian Girls are officially punk, huh?
- Gabe (the drummer from Cerebral Ballzy) getting his forehead split open by a flying traffic cone, spending the entire night waiting in the ER for stitches, and then going straight to an early day show and rocking the f*ck out.
- Total Abuse having to cancel the one show I planned to see them at after one of their members gets arrested.
- Going to Black Label's first Austin bike event over at the Amtrak station, until some workers show up and kick everyone out. Tall bike jousting on the Lamar pedestrian bridge follows.
- Thank you to Dustin (Best Fwends/Total Abuse) for letting Ballzy and myself crash on his floor.
- The kid who brought his BMX into the crowd with him during Black Lips at Mess With Texas, which resulted in a steady stream of people tumbling over it in the dark.
- Realizing that I only took photos of about half the bands I saw, which was pretty unusual for me.
- Annihilation Time's singer taking a soupy shit on stage at the Vice party.
- The sadistic genius of putting cacti as decorations in a dark space full of drunk people.
- Sneaking into the hot tub at the Hyatt (scenically located on the Austin River).
- Cleaning up the yard where MyOpenBar.com had their festival in exchange for a place to sleep, even when that meant getting up at 6am after going to sleep at 3am.
- Stumbling sick to the airport in paint-splattered clothing caked with mud so thick you can't tell what kind of shoes I was wearing (more about why in the next post).

- Best show: a tie between MyOpenBar's Four Square Punk and Timmy's Lamar bridge show.
- Worst show: FMLY at Hi-Lo, rough sets and rough crowd.
- Best new band: B.o.B. (if Kanye was less cheezy, maybe)
- Most difficult band to shoot: Trash Talk, too many flying elbows/feet/bodies to even get close.
- Most intimidating: the Fader Fort.
- Least intimidating: Todd P's festival at Ms. Bea's.
- Best (and only) free thing: BBQ at the Battle of the Bands.
- Most valuable asset: Progress Coffee.
- Worst venue: Ballet Austin.
- Best food: East Side Pies (who knew pizza could be that good?).
- Biggest let down: the Vice party, partially because last year it was so good.
- Best way to end SXSW: sneaking into a fancy hotel's hot tub.



MP3:

• Royalchord - I'd Rather Go Blind

A band's place in myspace.