Perception vs Reality: Before & After SXSW with Yautja

You always remember your first time. It’s awkward, it’s probably a little messy, and weird parts of your body are going to be sore afterwards. There’s a lot of strange stuff going on, a lot of unfamiliar sweat and niggling worries lurking beneath the ostensible “fun” of it. It’s not something you know how to discuss with your mom, and part of you still thinks, “That was it?!” Maybe it was worth it and beautiful magical things will follow, or maybe it was just a decent way to waste some time, but no matter how it all goes down, you’ll never forget your first SXSW.

We caught up with a handful of SXSW bands before and after the madness to see how their expectations of Austin’s yearly media orgy stacked up to the cruel reality of navigating a drunk-choked Red River at 2am. Did they “make it”? Did a shiny-suited A&R guy from some major label dinosaur ooze by their showcases and make all their dreams come true? Did they start drawing up blueprints for a Doritos temple of their very own? Maybe. From bar crawls to swimming basses, our willing subjects came, they saw, and best of all, they got the fuck out in one piece.

Nashville’s Yautja came roaring out of the Bible Belt belching fire and brimstone (and sporting an impressive hard-on for Neurosis, EyeHateGod, and Napalm Death). As we’ve written here before, the genre-bending trio is heavy as a church tower and have been setting eardrums alight all over the damn place with their debut recording, ‘Songs of Descent’ (grab it here). They churn out a sonic maelstrom of crust, grind, noise and oppressive sludge that positively decimates all comers live, and this month saw ’em take their hellish sideshow on the road down to SXSW. We grabbed the fellas before and after the fact to talk technical difficulties, busy drummers, and the glory of free Vans.

The expectation…

Noisey: This is Yautja’s first time playing SXSW, and you’ve got a few killer gigs lined up. Are you excited?
Tyler Coburn: Absolutely. We’re beyond stoked to be playing with so many incredible bands. It’s going to be wild to play the same city for 4 days.

Have you been to SXSW before as an attendee or with another band, or is this your full­ on first experience walking into the belly of the beast?
This is Shibby and Kayhan’s first time ever at SXSW and the first time any of us have played it. I went to SXSW as an attendee back in 2007 with my parents and it was absolutely incredible. I saw so many of my favorite bands at that time and so many bands that I wouldn’t ever have had the opportunity to see otherwise. I imagine the festival has only grown in size and insanity since then.

What kind of stories have you heard about the SXSW experience from other bands? Are you nervous?
We’ve definitely heard our fair share of crushing horror stories, but we know a lot of folkswho have played amazing shows and had killer times. We’re just trying to go into it with open minds and minimal expectations.

How do you think your performances are going to go?
We’re hoping for the best. We’ve been on the road a lot lately playing most of the new record so we’re feeling pretty lubed up for the upcoming shows.

Are you sharing gear? The parking situation in Austin can get real dark real fast during SXSW.
That’s a little unsettling to hear but I’m not terribly surprised. We haven’t really made arrangements to share much gear but I’m sure it’ll end up happening quite a bit. Our drummer is playing at least a show a day with his other band in addition to a Yautja set every day we’re there, so things are definitely going to get weird as hell.

Are you touring down, or just rolling through for the festival? Where are you crashing?
We’ve got a few shows booked on the way to Austin and back. We played a tour kickoff in Nashville last night with Psalm Zero and Pyrrhon, with whom we’re also playing in Little Rock tonight and a showcase with each while in Austin. We’re thrilled to have a show booked every day for the next 10 days. In Austin we’re renting an apartment near downtown for the first couple days and crashing with friends after that. Might squeeze in a hotel party on the way home.

What bands are you hoping to see while you’re down there?
Obliteration, Kayo Dot, Primitive Man, Pile, Guerilla Toss, Krill, Zorch, Speedy Ortiz, Blondie, Lady Gaga, 50 Cent, Psalm Zero, Windhand, Gnaw, lots more I hope

Are you interested in any of the other aspects ­ film, tech, music industry panels­ or just trying to rage?
We’re all very interested in everything that’s going on. We’re all trying to go see Buzz Osborne speak and maybe Blondie too. We all get pretty excited about movies too so it’d be great to catch something at the festival. We’re trying to absorb about as much of the whole thing as we can in 4 days with these artist wristband things.

Are you planning to hit up any of the sponsored day parties? There are a million free drinks to be had and useless business cards to be handed!
The last answer applies here too. We haven’t made a whole lot of plans but we’ll be wandering around lookin for the free­ness. I love business cards.

…and the aftermath.

Overall, how was it? Was it as ridiculous as you expected it to be?
It was definitely pretty wild. I didn’t realize how much of the city it dominated. We all expected absolute chaos, but being face to face with it was something none of us could fully anticipate. Some of it was totally stupid, but we all had a lot of fun and we’re glad we did it.

How did the Pitchfork showcase go?
Our set was a little wonky (technical difficulties and such), but the showcase itself was awesome. Primitive Man, Psalm Zero, Gnaw, and Indian were incredible. Windhand sounded massive. And it ran surprisingly smoothly considering how many bands were involved. Getting free Vans was cool too.

What was the best thing that you saw, did, or witnessed (or all three) during this year’sSXSW?
Getting to see and play with some incredible bands: Obliteration, Primitive Man, Psalm Zero, Kayo Dot, Indian, Krill, Grass Is Green, Gnaw and others. We got to meet/hang with DJ Paul from Three 6 Mafia for a few minutes outside of Spider House Ballroom, which was hilarious/surreal.

How did the rest of your shows go? How many did you end up playing, and where?
We played 4 shows total, 2 official and 2 uh, unofficial. The Pitchfork showcase at the Mohawk, a Stereofly showcase at Javelina, Invisible Oranges at Quantum Lounge, and some other thing at Spiderhouse Ballroom. They were all pretty great, more or less. If there’s anything we learned from SXSW; if you’re asked to play any unofficial shows, do some research, and see if they’re worth the trouble of racing around Austin to make it in time.

How’d your drummer survive playing SXSW with two bands?
Very barely. He played 3 shows one of the days. Yikes. He thrashed his arms and legs into jelly but we gave him a ripe massage that night and his HP was restored.

Did you ever run into Buzz Osborne?
We didn’t run into him but Tyler and I went to the Buzz/James Williamson panel. Though it was pretty cool to hear James Williamson talk about the Stooges and stuff, we were both pretty bummed how little Buzz got to speak during the whole thing. It almost seemed like they only invited him on the panel for comic relief. He was killin it with jokes throughout, but he didn’t get to say anything at all about the Melvins or his own career at all. Just found out we missed him playing a surprise in­ store at Grimey’s in Nashville last night. And he played Boris! Total bummer.

What other mischief did ya’ll get into? Spill some stories!
Not a lot really. We had a weird altercation with a parking guy that got pretty dark real fast. Someone from our group grabbed a 20 pound bag of what he thought were oranges from a grocery store. They were grapefruits. We still have probably 10 pounds worth. Kayhan took a shit in a half­built house early Thursday morning after getting locked out of the place we were staying.

Between parking, playing, and sweating, did you get a chance to catch any bands while you were down there?
I think one of the only shows that we got to see that we weren’t playing was the Relapse showcase. Obliteration were fucking awesome and everything I wanted them to be live. Krill and Grass Is Green and a lot of the other Exploding In Sound bands we got to see throughout the week were great too. And I got to see Guerilla Toss for the 10th time. We’re honored to have shared the (oddly shaped) stage with Kayo Dot at the IO show.

What was the worst band you saw (or walked by) all week?
Any bar rock band attempting to disguise themselves as ‘stoner metal.’ It was unreal how much of that shit was everywhere.

What was the absolute worst ‘tear my hair out fuck this band’ moment of SXSW?
The worst moment wasn’t really a “fuck this band” moment, it was more of a parking/driving thing. Our bassist, Kayhan, was very close to being in a physical altercation with a security guard/parking guy. We somehow lost our street­ access pass and Gnarwhal (Tyler’s other band) was running late for a show. The security guard at the roadblock was being an irrational asshole. Kayhan accelerated past him to get out of the way for another van and the guy punched our van. Kayhan hopped out and things got pretty heated for a minute before a cop diffused the whole situation.

Do you think the organizers were right to carry on the festival after the car accident?
I don’t think they were necessarily right or wrong for carrying on but to shut everything down because of the fucked up actions of one asshole would have been lame.

Now that you’ve survived your first SXSW, do you think you’ll go back next year?
If we get invited back I think we will. I think we’ll be a little bit more prepared for round 2! And we’ll have to put a little more emphasis on the fooooooood.

We talked to Perfect Pussy and Eagulls, too.

Kim Kelly is not your friend, but she is on Twitter. – @GrimKim