pics: BV Austin stage @ Hotel Vegan (Ume, Ringo Deathstarr, Love Inks, Silent Diane, Feathers The Young, Gashcat & more)

photos by Amanda Hatfield & Tim Griffin

Ringo Deathstarr @ Hotel Vegan (by Amanda Hatfield)
BrooklynVegan @ SXSW 2012 - Hotel Vegas and the Volstead Lounge

"One of my favorite Austin bands, Ringo Deathstarr, do the shoegaze thing better just about any current band. Good and loud!" - Bill Pearis

The BV Austin stage was located inside Volstead Lounge at Hotel Vegan on Thursday, 3/15, during SXSW, and though the schedule looked like this: 12:15 Love Inks, 1:00 Feathers, 1:45 Gashcat, 2:30 Ringo Deathstarr, 3:15 Silent Diane, 4:00 The Young, and 5:00 Ume, we actually moved Ume on to the Hotel Vegas inside stage to accomodate more people and a certain TV camera crew for their set. It was still intimate though, or to quote, Anthony Bourdain, it was "A shitload of rawk in a tiny little room!"

Galexy Gehring of Ringo Deathstarr, who PACKED the room at 2:30, was a trooper and played two sets during the day. The first was with Feathers at 1:00. Bill Pearis wrote:

Feathers have barely been together six months but they have clearly spent that time practicing. They have it together and this was one of my favorite sets of the week. Most of their material is of the gothy electro variety, they opened with a Norman Greenbaum-style glammy stomper that I really dug. A lot of instrument switching showcased most of the members of the band.

Special thanks to Love Inks for starting the day off so early. A noon slot is never easy, but they handled it with grace. Catch them during the evening hours on April 17 at Mohawk after Chairlift.

Gaschat played a great set of Neutral Milk Hotel-like jams, much like they did later that day at the Sub Pop official SXSW showcase. NPR likes them too, but not their name.

With three stages running at the same time at 'Hotel Vegan', I would miss a band or two, and sadly Silent Diane was one of them, but Tim, Amanda and a SPIN photographer made sure to catch them though. I also missed Silent Diane's set later that night at Neon Indian's label showcase, but hope to see them on their upcoming massive tour.

At 4:00, The Young rocked a BrooklynVegan party for the 2nd day in a row. Their first BV set was the night before at Bar 96. Catch them when they open for Frankie Rose & DIVE (both artists who also played Hotel Vegan) at Red 7 on April 14.

Special thanks to a Sailor Jerry, HobNob Wines, and Honest Tea for providing refreshments. Thanks also to our backline partners Korg, Vox, and Blackstar Amplification for helping make the sound happen.

Check out more pictures from the whole BV Austin portion of the day, below...

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Hotel Vegas/Volstead Lounge (by Amanda Hatfield)

BrooklynVegan @ SXSW 2012 - Hotel Vegas and the Volstead Lounge