A Punk's Guide to SXSW

I originally wrote this for Dying Scene.

So you’ve decided to go to Austin (or already live there). And you want to enjoy yourself among the myriad indie rock, folk and acoustic acts that dominate the hipster pilgrimage that is SXSW.

Believe it or not, there are punk bands playing the festival, so you can find something more entertaining to do than, say, Photoshopping anarchy symbols on top of the festival’s logo. Anyway, here’s a guide to the punk bands and showcases gracing this year’s South by Southwest festival.

We’ve already reported that Fat Wreck Chords and Shirts for a Cure will host showcases on March 18 and Bridge Nine will host shows from March 16 through 19. We also thought we’d break it down day by day so you can get a handle on when the punks are playing.

Of course, half the fun of big music festivals is discovering bands you’ve never heard before. So we tried to include some of the lesser-known punk bands on the list, and the size of the fest means we can’t by any stretch pretend this is an exhaustive roster of who will be playing. The full festival schedule is here.

But we put together a short list of shows that we’d be sure to check out if we were going down there. Check it out here.

March 15:

Weekend – 10 PM, Emo’s Main Room

March 16:

Trash Talk – 9 PM, Emo’s Main Room

OFF! – 9:50 PM, Emo’s Main Room

Chapter 24 – 10 PM, Habana Bar

Ted Leo – 10 PM, Swan Dive

Bad Brains – 10:40 PM, Emo’s Main Room

March 17:

Punk in Africa (film) – 2:30 PM, Carver Museum Boyd Vance Theater

Overflow – 8:25 PM, Prague

OFF! – 10 PM, Club de Ville

Japanther - 11 PM, Habana Bar

Weekend – 11 PM, Beauty Bar/Palm Door

The Rubber City Rebels – 11:10 PM, Skinny’s Ballroom

Ignorance Park – 12:05 AM, Skinny’s Ballroom

Evergreen Terrace – 1:05 AM, Prague

March 18:

Banner Pilot – 8:45 PM, Scoot Inn

The Flatliners – 9:30 PM, Scoot Inn

Fever Fever – 10 PM, The Parish Underground

Dead to Me – 10:15 PM, Scoot Inn

Screeching Weasel – 11 PM, Scoot Inn

March 19:

Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour (film) – 2:30 PM, Vimeo Theater

Touche Amore – 8:40 PM, Headhunters

Spermbirds – 9:30 PM, Headhunters

The Creamers – 10 PM, BD Riley’s

Defeater – 12 AM, Dirty Dog Bar

Peelander-Z – 1:05 AM, Headhunters