Jimmy Eat World, Tokyo Police Club & more played Dine Alone/Buzz SXSW show
Toronto labels Buzz Records and Dine Alone Records have a new partnership, and they celebrated it with a SXSW showcase at Bungalow on Rainey St last night (3/15). Here's more:
“This is a merger of two like-minded companies at different stages in their life cycles,” says Dine Alone founder Joel Carriere. “Both Buzz and Dine Alone bring unique and exciting opportunities to the table, allowing each company to tap into that collective success and ever growing resources. It’s a chance to assist each other as we grow our companies on a global scale, with the end result of creating more value for our artists.”
“We were fans of Buzz bands before we got to know the people involved in the label,” adds Dine Alone’s VP Lisa Logutenkow. “Once we did, we quickly realized we were coming from the same place, and in the little time we have started working together, we’ve already seen our labels combine for 10 Juno nominations. It’s a really encouraging start that I think validates our belief in what we can accomplish together.”
These sentiments are shared by Buzz Records co-founder Ian Chai, who feels the partnership will allow the label to further its central goal of fostering successful and sustainable careers for its artists.
“Aside from a roster that we grew up admiring, it was the nuance of Dine Alone’s ethos that convinced us we had similar origins and motivations,” he says. “They’re a family and one that’s passionate about doing right by their artists; a mantra that mirrors our own. Being part of a collective that uncompromisingly blazed an independent trail from basements to stadiums can’t help but inspire everyone at Buzz. We’re excited about what the future holds for our family of sonic mutants.”
It's a pretty cool pairing. Buzz has helped launch the careers of some of the key bands of the 2010 loud-rock revival, like Dilly Dally and Greys, and Dine Alone has had a diverse, high-quality roster for over a decade now. In recent years, they've done everything from help revitalize Vanessa Carlton's career to releasing the heaviest Walter Schreifels album in years.
At the SXSW showcase, they had representation from rising bands like Weaves, as well as veterans like Jimmy Eat World, Tokyo Police Club, and ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. I got to the show just as Matthew Logan Vasquez -- the Delta Spirit frontman who's currently focusing on his solo career -- was playing. MLV's live show is great -- super rocking, high energy, high (delta) spirited. He and his backing band played like pros but also like they still had something to prove.
Jimmy Eat World were up next. Needless to say, it was very cool to see this long-running, highly influential, and still-popular band in a tiny venue like Bungalow, but it was even cooler since Jimmy Eat World are coming off their best album in over a decade. They played a couple songs off that album ("Get Right" and "Sure and Certain"), but this was mostly a greatest hits set. They packed "Bleed American," "A Praise Chorus," "The Middle," "Sweetness," "Pain," "Work," "Big Casino," "Lucky Denver Mint" and more into their 45-ish minute set. They sounded tight as could be, and the crowd ate up just about every second of it.
Weaves followed with a set as impressive as always, driven by their dissonant, post-punky riffs and singer Jasmyn Burke's powerful stage presence. Her voice soars, and she has a level of command on stage that is impossible to ignore. After them, Tokyo Police Club played, and they focused the bulk of their set on their great debut EP A Lesson In Crime, which they've been doing on tour this year for its tenth anniversary. For longtime fans, it was a nice dose of nostalgia.
Trail of Dead wrapped up the show, but I had headed home by then. More pictures of the Dine Alone/Buzz showcase in the gallery above.
Trail of Dead played day 1 of BrooklynVegan's free day parties at Cheer Up Charlies, and Weaves and Dave Monks of TPC played day 2
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photos by Nick Rad
