The Cool Kids at the Red Bull Moontower:

Every year you have your SXSW moment - that one when you stumble on that thing you didn’t even know existed. Team Facelift at the Red Bull Moontower was that moment for me. I mean - the dude came out in a red onesie and goes by the name of “Fat Jew”. Plus according to their Myspace page they’re influenced by:

Our moms. Hasidic Jews. wizards. machine gun rap. getting drunk and alienating loved ones. shitting in bathtubs. trashing japanese motel rooms. cocaine buffets. box socials. wigs. fighting. watercolor still-lifes.

It’s like The Bloodhound Gang meets your mom.
Here’s the first of a few tracks I drunkenly recorded on SXSW 2008’s last night:

We arrived at the undisclosed location of the Red Bull Moontower around 2am for our tattooing and entry into what’s probably the most exclusive invite only event at SXSW 2008. Red Bull does things right which is one of the reasons why we love them - no company throws a party like Red Bull throws a party and the Moontower is yet another example of how to do things the right way. Wide open space, big stage, huge visuals, lotsa drinks and great music.
The first act we caught was Austin’s own Black Joe Lewis - they killed it - between the level of energy they brought and the talent of the entire band I was blown away and I’m going to try and catch them again this week - if you’re in Austin I’d suggest you’d do the same. They’re playing again at 2:00pm at Club Deville for the Insound SXSW Party on the 14th and again at the Hotel San Jose on the 15th at 4pm. There’s a great piece on them in the Austin Cronicle here.

Next up I watched an EPIC set by Lions (another Austin band) who completely blew me away. They fucking crushed the moontower and I think they’re now my favorite band I’ve seen in Austin for this years SXSW 2008 (so far at least - they are fucking incredible). It was everything that you’d hope to see with some crushing 70’s style rock/metal - domination.

After having my skull crushed by metal we hit the bar and ended up meeting Darlen from The Bad Girls Club and had a shot of vodka and then decided to find a cab and get back to my hotel.

SXSW is without question both the busiest and best week of the year. We arrived late afternoon today (Tuesday) ready to start drinking Lone Stars, eating BBQ and working our collective asses off getting tons of content and meeting virtually everyone there is to meet.

SXSW 2008 looks to be better than 2007 (not that SXSW 2007 sucked or anything) since Red Bull is back this year with the Red Bull Moontower (at SXSW 2006 the Red Bull House stole the entire show). Now we really don’t know what’s going to be going down over there (we’ll let you know after we find out) but we are certain of one thing - the Red Bull Moontower will be the place to be for SXSW 2008. What we do know is this:

Anchored by the Red Bull Energy Station, the Alamo Draft House Rolling Road Show and a solar stage, the Red Bull Moon Tower will be a mix of a musician compound and a high-end party where anything can happen.

More on all that throughout the next few days especially since I know we’ll be there until the 4am mark nightly for the next four nights. The first thing we had to do after a drink at the hotel bar was hit up Ironworks BBQ for a completely amazing dinner. I think I want to move into that place and just spend my day eating, at the least I think I need to eat there at least once a day for the next week.