From March 15 to 20, legions of musicians and industry professionals will descend upon Austin, Texas, for the music portion of SXSW, the annual festival that hosts interactive events and panels on a variety topics and screens indie films.
Not just anyone can perform at SXSW; artists have to complete an application in June with hopes of standing out against all the other acts that apply. But two Virginia bands managed to catch the eye of the event’s organizers.
Charlottesville’s David Wax Museum and Virginia Beach’s Turnover will play the festival this spring.
“It’s kind of big mess, but I think there is something beautiful about that. Every type of band is crammed into this relatively modest-sized city, and you just see everybody else who does exactly what you do every day … [It’s] helpful to kind of see that you’re not alone,” says David Wax from the band that shares his name.
The band is made up of Wax and his wife, Suz. The two met while attending college in Boston. After a fellowship in Mexico, Wax fell in love with Mexican folk music. He describes the band’s early sound as “Mexo-Americana,” a fusion of Mexican and American folk music, though it “probably [has] a stronger foot in rock than Americana these days,” he says.
This will be David Wax Museum’s third time playing the festival. The band first played SXSW in 2011 and again in 2013.
Initially, Wax wasn’t sure if the festival was worth the time and money required to attend. Although SXSW is a prime opportunity to get exposure and network with others in the industry, playing the festival isn’t cheap: In addition to application fees, bands have to consider the costs of lodging and transportation. Featured acts can opt to receive a small cash payment or a free pass to the rest of the festival.
“We were not sure if we wanted to go or not. We’d heard so many mixed things about it … [But] we decided to go for it, and we had a very positive experience the first time. We’ve tried to go back every year that we’ve had a new record come out,” Wax says.
Danny Dempsey of Turnover said the decision to apply for SXSW was easy.
“I think for this year, it made the most sense because our tour was going to be in that area anyways, and if we played anywhere else in that area, our show would suffer if it’s not playing SXSW,” he says.
Dempsey and Co. have been playing together since high school. Since then, they’ve toured with bands like Citizen, Major League and New Found Glory.
“[SXSW will be] a good experience. We’ll be able to network with other people in the music industry, other bands, play for new people, play for new bands, just to get experience,” he says. This is the band’s first time playing the festival.
RED of Reston’s own RDGLDGRN, who played the festival in 2009 and again in 2012, had a few words of advice for bands playing this year:
“Make it worth your while so that you feel good about the experience more so than you feel overwhelmed by it all …[You] don’t want to be down there and [have] your dreams get crushed. You don’t want to come out of the experience feeling any type of negativity. Just be optimistic and make it worth your while,” he says.
David Wax Museum will play the Swan Dive Wednesday, March 16, at 11 p.m. and various other locations from March 17-19 Turnover’s schedule has not been determined.
