Jazz Graduates Perform at SXSW
Monday, April 5th, 2010
PC Worship officially started in 2009 when Frye finished recording *NYC Stone Age*, an LP culled from songs and improvisations on which various other New School artists appear, including those in the current PC Worship lineup, Dayyan Armstrong, Michael Etten, Mario Maggio, Pat Spadine, and Jordan Bernstein, who was replaced during this tour by Taylor Potter. After the release, the band began playing live at DIY shows throughout Brooklyn. Next week they release *Live Reduxion*, a seven-inch, and they will perform May 14 at Zebulon in Brooklyn.
Despite PC Worship’s local success, they might have had a hard time getting to SXSW were it not for Jesse Hodges, a booking agent for Panache booking company.
Jesse, a fellow musician and acquaintance to the group, “was entrusted with a curatorial position," Frye said, "and we were one of the bands that he selected to have play an official gig [at SXSW]."
Unfortunately, Frye found SXSW overwhelmingly commercialized and over-hyped to the point of being detrimental to the lesser-known bands.
“While it was fun, filled with free alcohol, people trying to unload crap swag, there were meanwhile bands playing in every corner of the city, in some cases to nobody. The focus is always on the money with SXSW," he said.
“The best part about SXSW was its being an excuse to tour. After the harsh winter, playing with old friends, traveling, getting to warm weather sounded great and that show helped us fund the trip. Getting there was simple. Gas wasn’t. I borrowed my father’s construction van, which has a ladder rack and a lofted trunk space, so it was perfect for touring. This way we made perfect time. It was the first time, thanks to 5-Hour Energy drinks, that I drove through a full tank of gas without stopping, from Nashville to Austin.”
For PC Worship, it was back in Nashville, not Austin, that they had the most endearing and interesting experience of the trip. After performing at Little Hamilton, a DIY community center, a young teen approached them and explained that he’d driven three hours from Alabama with his stepbrother to watch his third favorite band of all time, PC Worship, perform.
“That,” Frye said, “is why I went on tour, not so I could get some backpack with a patch on it that says ‘Official SXSW Performer.’”
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