March 21st, 2009
SXSW: Juliette And The Village Voices
“I like to push it to the limits. I’m attending nine parties today. Will I enjoy them? No. I won’t have time. But will I be networking, meeting people that I need to meet and building my brand? Yes.”
That’s the sort of thing someone will just say to you at SXSW. If you’re lucky you’ll overhear tons of conversations just like it throughout the week. And that type of convo was legion at the Village Voice Media day party held at La Zona Rosa yesterday. The Voice party, like it is every year, is an exercise in brand building in its own right. Giant, blown up covers of music issues from their 17 papers across the country are hung up around the venue, letting the throng of people who pass through the doors of the open-to-the-public show know, “When it comes to music in your town, we got that shit covered.” They hand out tiny blue Voice totes packed with goodies—condoms, Terra chips, something called “extra juicy blunts”— when you walk in to boot, and if you’ve RSVP’d and are on the list you have access to an open bar and free food back stage. Branding ain’t easy. Or cheap—the party’s headliner: M. Ward.
Backstage I ran into Voice music editor and 15 time winner (an exaggeration, but not by much) of AAN’s Best Music Writing Award Rob Harvilla. We talked about the breakout star that is Asher Roth and he wondered aloud just how bad Juliette Lewis’ new band, the Romantiques, must be. Having seen them just hours earlier, I tried to explain, but couldn’t really. Well Rob, here’s your answer:
Juliette Lewis & the New Romantiques from Make Major Moves on Vimeo.
