SXSW

Next week, Oh Pep! kick off their Australian east coast tour starting in Adelaide, before winding down with a show in Sydney in mid-April! The first few months of 2016 have already been busy ones for the Melbourne group, who have been readying their debut album Stadium Cake for release and refining what’s become an excellent and endearing…

Let me set the scene and take you back to the Aussie BBQ at SXSW this year; like last year, I arrived at Brush Square Park looking up at the overcast skies that threatened to unleash torrent upon torrent of rain on the event. Thankfully, unlike last year, the Aussie BBQ escaped and enjoyed a…

Seeing The Gooch Palms take to the Aussie BBQ stage at SXSW this year was a treat; especially after seeing how well the Novocastrian duo was received at the venue last year. Both Leroy and Kat bring such an eccentric and brilliant charm to their live shows that, when they mention they locked around 130 live gigs under their belt in…

There’s a good chance you haven’t heard of V. Bozeman. The Californian R&B soul singer hasn’t had much exposure in Australia, but if you’re a fan of hip hop drama Empire, you’ll recognise this lady’s voice for sure. Bozeman has garnered much attention since her attention-snatching appearance in the show’s pilot episode and recently has been working…

With a surprise appearance from J.J. Abrams helping get the crowd in the mood, the premiere of Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey – an insightful, feature length documentary about the 7th Star Wars film, The Force Awakens – attracted a massive crowd at SXSW earlier this month, keen to learn the secrets behind…

DZ Deathrays had SXSW in the bag this year. In Austin for their fourth time at the festival, Shane and Simon may not have gone done the 50 shows in 4 days type route this year, but the gigs they did fit into their time in town were as high octane as you’d expect from the band by this…

SXSW can be an overwhelming, sometimes unforgiving beast to anyone attending the Texan music festival for the first time or for the umpteenth time. For US-based Aussie musician Lo Carmen, the programme saw her performing her own showcases as well as connecting with some important industry individuals and of course, seeing some of her favourite musicians do…

It’s a sweaty Thursday afternoon and SXSW Music is entering its last corner for another year. I find myself standing out the front of Barracuda, listening to White Lung belt out their last five or so minutes of live show chaos on stage inside. Shortly after, Mish Barber-Way and Kenneth ‘Kenny’ William join me outside for a chat on the…

At the Sounds Australia Aussie BBQ at SXSW this year, Larry sat down with Zach and Billy of Hockey Dad notoriety to find out how the Texan festival had been treating the lads from Wollongong! Playing multiple shows crammed into a short period of time, SXSW proved to be yet another learning experience in developing their craft as a live act…

The Aussie BBQ brought many a new audience to some great local artists who’d made the trip out to Austin for SXSW this year; packed in to Brush Square Park on the Friday of SXSW Music, you had rock, shoegaze, punk, indie pop, folk and more on show. One such artist who was garnering much…

Easily drawing in one of the most enthusiastic crowds at Sounds Australia’s Aussie BBQ at SXSW this year was Harts. Bringing some wicked guitar skills through to Brush Square Park, the guitarist killed it on stage and following his set, Harts came and sat down to have a chat with Sose. Addressing the amount of hype…

San Franciscan rock band Thao & The Get Down Stay Down are no strangers to SXSW. This year, they visited Austin with their new album (number four, no less) A Man Alive, and although their tour schedule for the record is already starting to ramp up, the band’s front woman and songwriter Thao Nguyen remains remarkably cool, calm and…

Earlier in the month at SXSW, I had the chance to sit down with the cast and crew behind the first Pee Wee movie in almost 30 years (you can read these chats HERE). One thing that was universal with all the interviews I conducted was that this now classic – yet still bizarre in all…

Pee-Wee Herman returned to the big (and small) screen last week with the Netflix debut of Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday. At SXSW, we caught up with stars Jessica Pohly and Alia Shawkat to talk butt pads, bank robberies and their role in the Pee-Wee revival. Well, congratulations on the film. I’m curious as to when you first received…

Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, released on March 18 on Netflix, stars Paul Reuben’s Pee-Wee Herman alongside Joe Meganiello as himself in an adventure written by Reubens and Paul Rust. The Iris caught up with director John Lee (Wonder Showzen, Inside Amy Schumer, The Heart, and She Holler) at SXSW to talk about the challenges of re-imagining such a well-known and…

Joe Manganiello recently sat down with The Iris’s Larry Heath to talk about the reprisal of his childhood icon in Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday. When you got offered this role and you knew that essentially, it was kind of for you how was it feeling you were going to be playing a version of yourself? Well, when…

The Iris found themselves locked in a room with screenwriter Paul Rust last week to talk about his role in bringing Pee-Wee to new audiences without losing the sentiments of the Tim Burton original. Congratulations on the film, it seems like you’re doing so much on Netflix right now, do you find it affords you…

Royal Canoe‘s Matt Peters caught up with Larry at SXSW to have a chat about the Canadian six-piece’s new album, Today We are Believers. The indie pop group have played in over 350 shows around North America and Europe, and supported Bombay Bicycle Club on their ‘So Long, See You Tomorrow‘ tour. Their new album, produced by Animal Collective…

DIY multi-instrumentalist Alex G released his first recorded album Beach Music, with Domino Records last October. Following six self-recorded LPs, including hit album DSU that featured as Best Album of 2014 by Noisey, Time Out, The Washington Post and Consequence of Sound, the Philadelphian singer-songwriter has kicked off his full-time music career with new singles “bug” and “Kicker”. The rock/pop indie melody reproduces…

We caught up with The Zolas at SXSW and we chatted about their new record, which they sum up as a weird pop album with something say, and the band even talked politics, specifically, ‘that Abbott guy’ and Rupert Murdoch’s ‘prune-y’ hands. Check out the full interview below. Welcome back to the SXSW, it’s been…

Another year at SXSW is behind us once more. From March 15th through until March 20th, we’ve seen Australian bands take their international profiles up another notch with impressive showcase performances. We’ve fallen in love with new artists and bands, and old favourites even more. We’ve participated in the classic SXSW traditions of waiting stupidly long in…

David isn’t here any more and we’re still processing that… but after some weeks of grief I now feel incredible fortunate to work with him. – Jonathan Barnbrook On Saturday – the final day of the SXSW Music Conference in Austin, Texas – The Blackstar visual piece “UNBOUND: A★INSTAMINISERIES” was shown in full for the first time, accompanied…

It’s currently encroaching on Wednesday evening and I find myself seated at the desk in my hotel room, coming in and out of blank stares out the window and an email inbox count that is slowly eating away at my soul. It’s my first day back in Australia in two weeks and I’m struggling to stay awake,…

Over some 30 years, Smart Studios, founded by Garbage members Butch Vig and Steve Marker, helped changed the landscape of music. Six years after it closed, director Wendy Schneider has brought the story of the studio to the big screen with her film The Smart Studios Story. At its premiere at SXSW, Larry talked to Wendy  about her…

Joe Gilgun is set to play the Irish vampire Cassidy in AMC’s upcoming Preacher adaptation. Larry caught up with former Misfits star at SXSW to talk about what attracted him to the role. Watch the interview below: Preacher premieres on ABC on 22nd May 2016. ———- This content has recently been ported from its original home on…

AMC’s upcoming adaptation of Garth Ennis‘ comic series Preacher went through so many failed attempts before making it successfully to AMC it’s easy to lose track. Larry caught up with Ennis at SXSW to chat about this and more ahead of the pilot’s premiere. Check our interview below: Preacher premieres on AMC on 22nd May 2016. ———- This…

Pee-Wee Herman revival flick Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday hit Netflix last week. In honor of the occasion, we caught up with Paul Rubens to talk about returning to the character for the Netflix movie at this year’s SXSW. Congratulations on the film Did [you] see the film? Twice actually, I watched it again this morning on Netflix. Oh…..

This year’s SXSW was filled with lots of fascinating and original films, but Logan Kibens‘ Operator was one that stuck out among the crowd. A romantic dramedy following Joe (Martin Starr), a programmer working on cutting-edge digital customer service software and his wife Emily (Mae Whitman), a hotel concierge who moonlights in a local comedy troupe, the film really impressed us…

This week, I sat down with Daniel Cross, the Director and Producer of the music documentary I Am the Blues here at SXSW, in Austin, Texas. The film takes us on a journey through the American South, led by the great Bluesmen who have provided a Soundtrack to the region over the last century. One of those men,…

Today, SXSW has announced the winners of this year’s Audience Awards for film. It was an impressive year for the film conference and festival that was 143 features and 114 shorts screened to Austin audiences over nine days. The big winners here are Greg Kwedar‘s Transpecos which won best narrative feature and Keith Maitland‘s Tower. Check…