Live music review: Four Daze of Clash thrilled Hard Luck Lounge on Day Three at SXSW – The Cosmic Clash
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All photos: Brandon Sandler
Guest contributor: Heather Forrester
Day three of The Cosmic Clash’s Four Daze of Clash took place Friday March 16 back at East Austin music dive, Hard Luck Lounge for the third consecutive night of SXSW unofficial showcases produced by the fledgling booking and promotions company.
Fans were coming and going all night as bands played set after set with a variety of genres represented. During daylight hours fans shopped vendors while sipping cold-brewed, High Brew Coffee as the stage was graced by bands representing Australia, England and Scotland. The Elliots (Melbourne), Jonny 8Track (Bristol, UK) and Tijuana Bibles (Glasgow, Scotland) in addition to local favorites Hard Proof with guest guitarist and Austin Latin music impresario, Adrian Quesada (Brownout, Echocentrics, Black Pumas). By evening, it was full-fledged fun as the backyard venue filled with music fans.
Coattails took the stage right as the night turned black with their psych-fuzz anthems (they call it fuzzy blues), as lead guitarist Damien Howard jammed with a dangling stage light overhead that burned crimson red. The audience moved closer to the stage, moving to the music and swaying lights, creating a psychedelic, sunset tableau that enhanced an already groovy, smooth vibe: The kind of sound that teleports you to another time and place. The Austin upstarts turned in a stellar performance following Hard Proof’s Afrobeat-infused grooves.
Things got more tantalizing and jammy when Kev Bev and the Woodland Creatures took to the stage following The Coattails. Would there be animatronic forest creatures joining the band? No, but there were bongos, keyboards, cow bells and belly dancers that enhanced the performance. As the band started playing, belly dancers swayed and moved from the crowd onto the stage.
At one point there was a rapid solo set on bongos signaling the belly dancers to get as close to the ground as possible so that the audience could get a better look at the magic being created on the instruments. Before the set was done there would be a guest saxophone player joining the already crowded stage of talented musicians.
The night capped off with three-piece psych-surf-rock geniuses, The Rotten Mangoes. The Hard Luck crowd, already warmed up from great performances earlier in the evening, were ready to loose themselves in Ramiro Verdooren’s amazing music.
The opening songs resulted in a few couples two-stepping. Unusual for a psych-rock show but hey, it’s Austin right? Anything goes in the Live Music Capital. By the time the band cut to a 1950s throwback cover of Elvis’ “All Shook Up” fans had moved even in closer to the stage, surrounding The Rotten Mangos with a wall of people. Musicians who played earlier in the day joined the crowd to support the band during their all-instrumental, epic, crowd-pleasing set-closer. The dying chords, cheering and audience response was impressive. This is how you SXSW.
