The South by Southwest festival, staged in Austin Texas, has reached a level of revered infamy since its maiden show in 1987. The event's goal to create an outlet for creative people and companies to come together and share ideas holds true today, as it has for an impressive span of years. Lucky for us Tucson “starving artist”types who can't possibly ride their bike all the way out to expansive Texas, Tucson is on the trail to Austin for many bands. Burger Records, based in FULLERTON, CA, didn't stand a chance of missing us on their glory filled route to one of the most anticipated festivals in the country. Could there be a better venue for Burger Records in Tucson other than La Cocina? Burgers? Kitchen? I think not.

The caravan to Sxsw was made up of over ten bands, performing two showcases at La Cocina on Friday and Saturday. Saturday night was my first trip down to the magical ambiance of the restaurant/venue/old west style cantina. La Cocina is like this melting pot of diverse ages and walks of life, blended together with great food, tasty drinks, and some fantastic music. As much as I would have loved to go to SxSW, the intimacy of this show was something I could not have experienced at such a large festival. Packed inside, in front of the cozy performance space, the crowd all shared a free glimpse into the talent gathering in Austin.

The show kicked off with local favorite, Acorn Bcorn's, bluesy garage rock. Sisters Marina and Leann Cornelius posess a synchronicity with one another that is not only admirable and entertaining but also necessary for the labor intensive set they perform. While Marina is busy on the guitar and vocals, with Leann playing bass, the two share the task of the percussion section. Their mastery of the stage is one that must be seen to get the full experience of their music.

The first of the touring bands, Sam Flax, took the stage next, filling it with a variety of pedals and aggressive blush makeup. Their glam rock duds couldn't have fit better for their synthy new wave tunes. Armed with two keyboards, a drum machine, and a couple guitars, the band borrows the best parts of 80's pop and forces you to dance to it.

The next of Burger's bands was Tomorrows Tulips. The band brought that reverby lo-fi that fills up your garage on a hot summer day with friends and lemonade(probably the spiked variety). The boyfriend/girlfriend duo's beach mentality hazily broke over the audience like a small wave carrying with it the distant smell of the ocean on muted guitar strings.

Also on the tour were the doomy teenagers behind, Feeding People. Combing elements of punk, heavy psychedelic, and garage rock, the youthful talents prove they are musically wise beyond their years. The energy of the band and the 18 year old female's powerful voice threw me into that nostalgic dance from the past when someone's older brother had to buy you beer.


Taking the fuzzy psychedelic sound that seemed to resonate the whole evening and amplifying it's volume, The Cosmonauts, rocked their short set. Their gritty, repetitive, music manages to supply catchy hooks and long twisted melodies, despite the ringing that has to be pounding in their heads. The sound is reminiscent of the bands who started the garage rock movement but has this brand new shiny aesthetic. Hard to lump into the new psych genre, the band is clearly creating songs by their own rules.

Following The Cosmonauts was one of my favorite performers of the night, King Tuff. Kyle Thomas(King Tuff) is a truly multi talented, multi project man, playing in Feathers, Happy Birthday, and stoner metal band, Witch. This king of fuzz visits us from the past, leaving a relic of groovy 70's rock behind him. Although, the influence is drawn from another era, the songs retain an exciting and unique quality.


The last band of the evening was another of Tucson's own, The Resonars. The band, formed in 1991, had a bit of a jump and stop start, playing one year, breaking up, playing two years and breaking up again, leaving talented musician, Matt Rendon, to peruse recording on his own. “I have been playing since I was 11, a long, long time. I was always listening to music and always loved music but my folks got me a drum kit for Christmas and that was it. I was pretty sure that's what I was gonna do. Up until that point I was gonna be a pro football player,” Matt reminisces.

Resurrected in 2001, The Resonars are joining the numerous Austin bound at SxSW this year. “ If you can imagine what this scene is with the 4 bands yesterday and the 7 bands who are here today, there's gonna be 75 at this event were playing. It's at this place called the Spider House. There's gonna be 75 bands all over the freaking place, on 5 stages. It's just gonna be nuts. All these people playing with Burger really admire each other. We have 3 shows within a 20 hour period. We drive there, do that, finish and ya know drive back, cause we all work.”


The band draws it's inspiration from the rock giants of the 60's in their pop infused, psych rock. Though Matt attributes any of his “country shuffle” to Tucson, he finds lyrical inspiration in what's around him and in the music he admires. “You’re influenced by other bands you see. It sparks a competitive spirit in you and you’re like, that's a great fucking song. I gotta try to do something as good as that.”

You can get yourself out to South by Southwest when youre broke. Countless bands and hippsters have done it and you can probably find a blog or youtube video all about it. If not, I mean someone should get on that. I want to know. If you missed the festival this year or the Burger Records showcase, fear not. Many of the bands will be stopping back in Tucson on their way home.