Yr. (Belated) Weekend: St. Patty’s at Fitz + Southern Backtones + Andrew W.K. + Dana Buoy (MP3!) + Emmure + More

What can I say, y’all? It’s been a hell of a month over here, and this weekend’s just another to add to the pile…sigh. I’d planned to post this weekend’s writeups, plus a heartfelt post about today’s KTRU Outdoor Show (you can still catch Lower Dens & {Slim Thug}, btw, if you hurry), while I was hanging with the fam on a little mini-vacation down in Surfside.

Sadly, when I got down there last night, the local free wifi connection was down — either too weak to reach the beach house or not functioning at all. No biggie, I thought; so I’d miss Friday, yeah, but I’d get back in the early afternoon, w/time to post about tonight’s shows & the Outdoor Fest, right?

Nope. Turns out Surfside goes freaking nuts for St. Patrick’s Day, with a parade and everything. And sure, the kids loved the parade — except that it never ended. It passed where we were staying, down on the island’s west end, and so we packed up our stuff and headed back out…and immediately ran smack into gridlock caused by the parade reaching the east end of the island and looping back around. Holy crap. The whole thing went on for nearly two hours, by which time Munchkin #2 was down for his nap (we’d given up and gotten back to the beach house to ride out the rest of the parade).

All of which means that, yes, this is way late. Sorry, folks…there’s still time to head out, though, and there’s good stuff tomorrow, too, though, so here goes:

Sat., March 17:
21st Annual KTRU Outdoor Show, featuring Slim Thug, Titus Andronicus, The Thermals, Chairlift, Lower Dens, The Wild Moccasins, Roky Moon & BOLT!, The Energy, Demonic Hen, SwaraRagaLaya, & Jesus, the Crazy, and the Bad Kids @ Rice University Central Quad
sigh. I still can’t believe I dropped the ball on this one, and when they had such an awesome lineup. Apologies, KTRUvians…

St. Patty’s Day at Fitz, featuring Crocodiles, Miniature Tigers, The Chain Gang Of 1974, The Watermarks, Geographer, Pretty & Nice, New York City Queens, Wails, Vipers, Pelviq Thrust, & DJ G-Wizz @ Fitzgerald’s
This one’s a darn good consolation prize, though — I freaking love Miniature Tigers, and locals {The Watermarks}, {Wails}, and {New York City Queens} are all very, very cool themselves. (Wails, glad to see you’re still alive & kicking, btw.) Heck, our own Jason Smith interviewed the Queens earlier this week — check it out here.

Pale/Southern Backtones @ Fox & Hound Pub & Grille (11470 Westheimer)
I am sorely, sorely behind when it comes to {Pale}, I cringingly admit. I loved ’em back in the day, when emo was king, and I’ve meant to keep up with ’em over the years (I believe they even moved out to California & back in the meantime) but haven’t gotten the time just yet. Damn. {Southern Backtones}, on the other hand, I have heard recently, and their new album La Vie En Noir is pretty awesome.

SXSW Overflow Fest, featuring Caustic Casanova, The Prescription, Moonlight Bride, Kali Mutsa, & Hillfolk Noir @ Super Happy Fun Land
Yep, the SXSW Overflow Fest rolls on — see over here for my writeup on that…

Neon Indian/Purity Ring @ House of Blues
Beans Barton & The Bi-Peds @ Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar
St. Patricks Day Drunk, featuring The Recently Deceased, Candy, The Ghost Storys, & Elyse @ Mango’s
World Music 4 World Peace Festival, featuring LAGITAGIDA, Japanese Gum, Mr. Bleat, Panorama, The Freakouts, Daphne, I Am the Architect, Sunday Never Came, Peloton, & more @ The Cornerstone (1819 FM 565; Baytown)
2nd Annual Spring Break Music Unity Freedom Festival, featuring Bellhound, Soulfiya & The Black Lung Crew, Cassette Tape, Chris Hardy, Doug Blank and the Violent Man, Elbodo, Footpie, Idiginis, Johnny Love and the Dankadelics, Mama Tried, Nicole Saxton, Original General Smiley, Shark Attack, SunDrunk, The Crew, Thread Belly, WeakDayBoyz, Scooby Doo Crew, & more @ Porretto Beach (Galveston)

Sun., March 18:
Andrew W.K./Math The Band @ Fitzgerald’s
Oh. Hell. Yes. Try as I might, I can’t help but love Andrew W.K. — there’s just something about the over-the-top, wide-eyed, super-sincere vibe he throws off that I can’t resist. The man may indeed be playing a manufactured role, it’s true — that’s one of the rumors, at least — but fuck, who cares? At this point, he’s living it, and I have to admire that.

Besides, I Get Wet is still and probably always will be one of the best CDs to blast from your car on a bright, sunny day with the windows down. And his contribution to the Masters of Horror soundtrack, “You Will Remember Tonight,” is like the theme to the prom right before the class misfits reveal themselves to be superhuman half-breed beings prepared to take their vengeance on their tormentors. (And yes, that means it’s awesome.)

Deafheaven/Odessa/Sleeping Ancient/Defending the Kingdom @ Mango’s
Of course, if you like your metal less goofy and more cerebral, hey, hit up Mango’s. I’ve heard good things about Deafheaven, and when I saw Odessa a while back, I thought my skull was going to implode from the sheer, overpowering weight of the music. Then there’s doomy/sludgy guys {Sleeping Ancient}, and one of my personal faves, {Defending the Kingdom}, whose proggy, Rush-gone-Mastodon thing gets me every time.

Youth Lagoon/Dana Buoy @ Fitzgerald’s
I’m not familiar with Youth Lagoon at all, I’m afraid, but I have heard Dana Buoy, the percussionist from Akron/Family who’s jumped out on his own with a solo album, Summer Bodies, which is sweet and warm and electronic and addictive as hell, like a less-melancholy Say Hi or The Postal Service minus the mopeyness. Check out a track right here:

Dana Buoy – “Call To Be”

Asking Alexandria/We Came As Romans/Emmure/Dir En Grey/For Today/A Skylit Drive/blessthefall/Motionless In White/Trivium/I See Stars/The Amity Affliction @ Verizon Wireless Theater
Frankly, I don’t give a good goddamn about most of these bands; just not my thing. I was utterly destroyed by Emmure‘s latest, however, Speaker of the Dead, which takes the whole deathcore thing and cranks it down to ridiculous levels. I’m talking to the point where the guitars and drums sound less like instruments and more like titanic machines hard at work destroying a fucking planet or something. Oh, and Frank Palmeri‘s growled/rapped vocals are what all those godawful nu-metal bands like Limp Bizkit should have sounded like in the first place.

HotChaCha/Electric Eel Shock @ Walter’s (1120 Naylor)
SXSW Overflow Fest, featuring The Photo Atlas, The Shivas, The Gallery, Tamarin, Vio/Miré, Fenster, Eric Jennings, Glory Days, & Marvin and the Cloud Wall @ Super Happy Fun Land
The Violet Lights @ Mango’s