Band Bio: Audic Empire was formed in late 2010. Since then they have been turning heads in the Austin music scene with their psychedelic, Reggae/rock and feel good tunes. They have a high intensity performance and an astonishing sound with the contrast of two singers, their Red Hot solo Guitarist, and rock solid rhythm section. Audic Empire has played with numerous great artists and festivals. Audic’s first album Sativa SunRise will be debuted at the end of February the show is yet to be announced. You can listen and download songs from reverbnation.com/audicempire. With the rapid growth of their reggae/rock sound, Audic Empire is on the rise with their journey to produce a unifying sound wave of love and music.

“One soulution through a creative bind.”

Third Eye Blind, who dropped classic tunes such as “Semi-Charmed Life”, “Jumper” and “Never Let You Go,” will be back as one of the main attractions of SXSW 2013.

Frontman, Stephan Jenkins, and company are working on their fifth studio album to follow up 2009’s “Ursa Major” which debuted No. 1 on the digital charts that rocked capacity crowds in Austin in 2010. Third Eye Blind have quietly kept a pulse as a cult favorite selling out venues wherever they go and it’s sure to be a hot spot when they hit the stage.

The lineup has change since their last appearance with Kryz Reid taking over at lead guitar for Tony Fredianelli, and Alex Cavalier its latest addition on bass. Third Eye Blind’s core still remains with Jenkins and drummer, Brad Hargreaves.

This late addition to the already stellar 2013 lineup will be a crowd favorite. Jenkins took time to talk with ATX Music Mag about what fans can expect to hear at the show and what lies on the horizon for Third Eye Blind.

You guys played at SXSW in 2010 and now coming back again. How was the experience last time around?

“Oh, God. Last time in Austin it was kind of off the chain. We were very much in the same situation that we had a new album but we hadn’t played it before. Here we are with a new album and we’re doing it again. Doing a similar type thing.”

Your last album Ursa Major debuted at No. 1 on the charts and you’ve been selling out venues wherever you go. What do you attribute that to?

“I was really surprised about the culture that developed around Third Eye Blind. I think it’s about some combination that happens at live shows and what people find with each other and the connection they make. I think with the lyrics [the fans] feel the need to come back. They find a lot of joy in each other at concerts.”

Third Eye Blind fans are not only fans of the sound but a big part of the following is because of the lyrics. How is the new album coming along and when we might see it?

“All we’re doing at SXSW is playing new songs. If someone calls out “Jumper” they won’t because they are kind of experts, they’ll want to hear new songs too. We look at ourselves as a new band that wants to go out there and gun for the gig. That’s the mind set we get into.”

You’ve mentioned in a prior interview that Kryz (Reid) has reinvigorated the band and also the new addition with Alex (Cavalier). Could you talk about the new members.

“It’s always been me and Brad Hargreaves. I really enjoy the energy of these people. They have this kind of excitement that is really adhesive and that I get out of them. We haven’t taken many keyboards with us, sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t but that seems to be happening more so. [Reid] got a lot of energy and mischief, which he’s just looking for trouble. He’s kind of a prankster and I like that.”

In Out of the Vein, you brought to life a demo favorite of many fans “Wake for Young Souls” is there a chance any previous tracks or b-sides make the new album or is it all fresh?

“It’s totally fresh. There won’t be any old songs on it. Part of what I really wanted to do on this album was get a hold of my state of presence at these times. So, after we put this album out we’re going to release lots of old songs. This album is going to one complete Side A and Side B of new material.”

I know you’ve recorded in London and San Francisco but remember seeing on the Ursa Major video that you used playing live shows as a tool in the making of the album? Are you implementing that on this album?

“No, I’m really not (and) I wish I could. The problem with it is you play a song and you refine it and refine it, then everybody gets upset because they get attached to something else. So, if I change a lyric for whatever my internal logic is then it just turns into all kinds of stuff. We play new songs all time but we’ll probably have not it recorded on this round.”

You’ve mentioned before that this will be your last traditional album, but URSA MAJOR went No. 1, so why hang it up?

“I’m not actually hanging it up per-say. What I really mean to say is making an album for me is so painful and difficult for me. I find it really difficult and I’ve made eight LP’s and two EPs, five with Third Eye Blind, and the rest with other bands. I’ve got 50 songs for this record. After this, I’m going to put them all out. I’m going to put every single song out. The exact way we might do that is we might have our own YouTube channel or our website. However, whenever I have a song ready I’m just going to release it. I’m not going to have to over think it; I’m just going to put it out to the universe. And, when we have a collection of those songs that really work then we’ll put out an EP or do an LP after the fact. I’m going to stop saying I have one cohesive album.”

So, it’ll end the process having decided what songs do or do not make the cut on future work.

“Absolutely. Even though people don’t really listen to records anymore I still want it to be one cohesive piece that you can listen to all the way through. Very few people try to do that anymore. I think Frank Ocean’s Orange album has a real cohesiveness to it. But a lot of albums to me have a lot of just songs.”

Where do you see the music industry going and Third Eye Blind in the future?

“For us, I can see more of gearing towards the needs of connecting towards the audience. Using the elements that are available to have a direct exchange with the audience. I think people are going to continue to innovate with direct impact. So, we can talk to people through Twitter, Facebook and have YouTube channels. What I really want to do on the next album is I want my own channel and develop my own content, to have people enjoy and touch in with.”

Staying power is a rare commodity found in bands today, but its something that Sacramento-based alt-metal band, the Deftones, have unequivocally proven they still possess.   The band is still reeling from having replaced bassist Chi Cheng in 2009 after an auto accident, and went on hiatus while lead singer, Chino Moreno, pursued a witch-house influenced side project called, Crosses.   On tour for their seventh studio album, Koi No Yokan, the Deftones have consistently been one of the most unique and electrifying live acts for almost 25 years now, and Friday night’s show at ACL Live in the Moody Theater would be no deviation from their usual epic showcase.

Going to concerts at ACL Live, I’m always skeptical of the crowd.  Austin crowds can be fairly static to begin with, but with pricey $40 tickets and no real pit area in ACL Live, it isn’t exactly metal friendly.  Since it’s the crowd’s primal energy that fuels most Deftones shows, I began to think this show might be at risk of losing its visceral vibe if the crowd became aloof.  Luckily, Chino Moreno isn’t the type of frontman to let his environment dictate the potency of his band’s performance.

Looking a few shades short of sharp, Chino was few pounds heavier since I saw the Deftones play last year, and sporting a Joy Division shirt that wasn’t exactly ‘hardcore’.  Yet it is exactly this fusion of emo qualities with hard metal that is the appeal of the Deftones.  Their music has the ability to appease metal head’s appetite for adrenalined, home-wrecking riffs and double bass drum while simultaneously opening themselves up for raw, emotional, and tortured songs that appeal to a more emo crowd.  Labeled as alternative metal, the Deftones have a niche spot in the metal scene that has set them apart from every other major act today.

I first came across the Deftones in 8^th grade, when my friend Trey introduced me to the  seminal album, White Pony, from which we would go home to my house and cover songs like “Bored” and “Seven Words”, playing with as much vitriol and musical precision as we could muster as 14-year olds.  Rebelling against our boring, suburban, buttoned-up private school lives by playing those raw and unhinged songs was a way for us to channel our angsty, white-boy, aggression.  So when the Deftones began to play songs off of early records like Adrenaline and Around the Fur - my 8^th grade-self began to get excited in his undersized Pac Sun shirt and  little ‘Soaps’ shoes – knowing this set list would definitely be a crowd-pleaser.

Roaring through hits like “Be Quiet and Drive” and “My Own Summer” early on in their set, the Deftones grabbed the hearts of the crowd  and never loosened their grip.  The highlight of the set came in the lusty and sanguine  “I’ve Seen the Butcher”, where Moreno’s acerbic grumblings  suddenly erupt into soaring vocals with crashing guitars and drums, evoking what might be the sexiest metal song ever written.

As one of my favorite drummers of all time, seeing Abe Cunningham “smack the tubs” as he calls it, is a show unto itself.  Throttling through fan favorites such as “Sextape”, “Headup”, and “Around the Fur”, the sheer power coming out of each band member’s  instrument was skull-shaking and the Austin crowd succeeded in not embarrassing itself, as at least a couple of mosh pits formed, although  nowhere near the magnitude or ruthlessness that you might witness at a San Antonio or Houston show.

Chino and crew finished their set with “Change” and “Bloody Cape”, but they were only softening up the crowd for the wrecking ball of an encore that was up next. The next four songs – “Root”, “Bored”, “Engine No. 9”, and “7 Words” – became a maelstrom of pulsing metal that set the crowd into a testosteroned rage that swirled into a giant mosh circle absorbing everything in its path, including me.  As the lights finally came up, I emerged sweaty, with a torn shirt, but completely and utterly content that the 14-year old rebel could enjoy this show as much as the same guy there to review it.

Setlist:
Rocket Skates
Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)
My Own Summer (Shove It)
Lhabia
Minerva
Rosemary
Diamond Eyes
You’ve Seen the Butcher
Sextape
Feiticeira
Digital Bath
Poltergeist
Tempest
Swerve City
Around the Fur
Headup
Rivière
Change (In the House of Flies)
Bloody Cape
Encore:
Bored
Root
Engine No. 9
7 Words

Is this your first time at SXSW?

Filip: I came back in 2002.

Are you guys playing a lot of shows? Or is it more of a laid back time here.

Michael:  It’s not laid back at all.

Jeff:  We will have played 8 shows in 6 days and one DJ gig by the time we are done.

Are there other bands you would like to catch while you’re here?

Filip: We saw a couple of bands yesterday.  We saw Bonde De Role and it was amazing, and we saw the Black Lips. And then we went to a weird rave, and that was just weird.

Michael: Yeah it was really bad.

Filip: I don’t know if it was bad but it was not what we needed at the time.

Where was the rave?

Filip: It was in some weird vacant house.  The story goes that there is a crackhead who lives there and he just rented out his huge ass roof. I don’t know it was really weird.

You guys are described as ‘Daytime Disco’, is that something you embrace?

Jeff: It was how we described our music when we first made it, and it hadn’t been used before, so at the time, it was exactly what our music was.  Since then a lot of people have been using it for themselves, so it’s a little different, but I think we’re comfortable with it.

Where are you guys originally from?

Filip: I am Danish, Half-Yugoslavian.

Michael: I’m from L.A.

Jeff:  I’ve lived in San Francisco for the last 11 years, but I just moved to LA.

How did you guys meet?

Jeff:  In San Francisco. We met when Filip was in Denmark and I was in San Francisco he was touring with Junior Senior. They DJ’ed my party, and we met.

Was it frustrating being in the other bands leading up to Poolside that ma

ybe didn’t get much exposure?

Filip: I think[with Poolside] it came way too fast. We were kind of amazed that everything was going so well. We didn’t push the album really hard, so the odds weren’t very good, but I think it went well.

Jeff: Yeah within twelve hours of releasing our first song it was bigger than we thought it would get.

Michael: Yeah as far as bands I’ve been in.  We’ve spent the least maount of time paying our dues.

What would be your ideal concert venue for Poolside?

Jeff:  I’d like to play at Red Rock.

Michael: Yeah.

Jeff: I’ve never played there, and I’ve always liked to do that.  The Greek Theater in Berklee too.  They’re kind of similar.

Filip: Or just beaches, we’ve been DJing around on beach parties, but we’ve never played live at a beach though.

Michael: The Pacific Festival though.

Filip: Oh Yeah that was on a beach.

Jeff: Yeah we played live on a beach once, but that was in Orange County so that doesn’t count.

So what was the experience recording Pacific Standard Time?

Filip: My studio is literally next to a pool, when we made the first couple of songs, we were in the pool listening to them on the boombox, and that’s how it literally worked out.  It makes sense.

Do you think you needed to record in LA to get that specific sound on the album?

Filip: If we were in a Winter house, I don’t know, the environment wouldn’t be there.

Jeff: The environment totally influenced the music so it’s hard to say what it

would be like in a different environment.  It probably wouldn’t have been the same.

Maybe a Central Standard Time recorded in Austin is coming out next.  One of my favorite songs on the album is Harvest Moon, was that just a favorite song of yours that you decided to cover?

Filip: We were working on the album and we wanted to give our fans a song, while waiting for the album, so it wasn’t even meant to be on the album. We decided to do a cover song and Jeff suggested that we do a Neil Young song maybe. I had just learned ‘Harvest Moon’ on Youtube, on guitar. We looked at it and it made sense because there’s not too many chords and it was simple enough for a dancy rendition.  So we did it, our manager didn’t like it. So I put it out on Soundcloud, just to put it out, and then it blew up.

The people spoke.

Jeff: The people of Soundcloud spoke.

What is your favorite drink while you are poolside?

Jeff: Mezcal.

Do you like it straight, or mixed with anything?

Jeff: If it is good Mezcal, you don’t need to mix it with anything.

Are you guys writing a new album right now?

Filip: We are trying to have an album done by the summer. We have 10-12 roughs, and 4-5 almost finished songs.

So we should expect an album every Summer?

Filip: That’s the plan, it turned out a little harder than what we thought, but that’s our deadline.

Michael: I think we’re all excited about the new album.

Do you see the album going in another direction than

PST?

Filip: It’s branching out a little bit, but it’s still the same.  There is something that connects the songs but it is definitely more varied.  But we’ll see when we add more songs, if it all makes sense.

A fun question to end it on, what would be your ideal swimming pool?

Jeff: The Hearst Castle swimming pools are amazing.

Michael: Oh the indoor one with the gold.

Jeff: Yeah, so I would probably replicate the Hearst Castle swimming pool.

Filip: I had a question in an interview about music equipment once a

sking , if I had an endless amount of money what I would make?

Michael: Waterproof everything!

Filip: No actually, remember, we were in San Francisco at the Natural museum of something and we were in a tunnel of glass – it had giant fish swimming above us. The studio would be in a dome of glass – but actually in an aquarium.  So there are two layers, you have giant fish swimming in front of you, but to add to that you have a swimming pool – with shrimps swimming around while you’re making beats in the dome.

Michael: That’s badass.

Not even Lars Ulrich would imagine that.

Michael: I love that South Park episode.

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The Dirty Panties! Can you really argue with that? I wish I came up with that name for my band. Anyways, this all female punk rock quartet hails from sunny Las Vegas and has been playing for give or take 10 years. I’m not their biographer, but I can tell you that listening to this album, I Am A Robot, is like hitting on a chick, taking a shot of jager, then getting kicked in the balls. Fucking loved it! The first studio album debuts on SquidHat Records, and has everything you want in a great record.

Creativity, energy, and precision all reflect this long overdue answer to corporate punk and other assholes. “Confighted” starts the album with a solid driving riff that definitely catches your attention. The third track “Wet” totally just takes the party to shot mode with its high-pulse tempo and ass kicking breakdowns. It’s definitely one of many favorites of the record.

The title track, “I Am A Robot”, was the standout to me. It has this psychedelic intro, that then just further escalates into a full on mosh pit! Then there’s the classic “Pretty In Pink” that blends a flawless mix of melody and ferocity. A fucking sing-along for sure.

Listen, I could further elaborate on each track, but I’ll wrap it up so you can check it out yourself. The band is genuine, talented, incomparable and original. Unforgettable vocals, impeccable baselines, shredding riffs, and delivers ridiculous technicality on the drums, so it pretty much has something for everyone.

They’ll also be playing Punk Rock Bowling in their hometown of Las Vegas this year along with our homies and local Austin favorites, Lower Class Brats, and they’ll be supporting headliners like, Bad Religion, Devo, and Black Flag.

Stay tuned for more updates and Dirty Panty info on their website, www.thedirtypanties.com. And believe me, if you ever see them on a bill near you, you best go check them out or you’re fucking up. Ya heard!!!

Writer: Lupi G 3

Yeah Yeah Yeahs will join Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at Stubb’s BBQ on Wednesday, March 13th for the NPR Party this year during SXSW.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs will be playing in support of their new album, Mosquito. Later that week, they will be playing two dates in Mexico and then two consecutive weekend spots at Coachella on April 12th and 19th.

You can check out the new teaser for Mosquito here.

To attend this official SXSW Show, visit their site here or follow @sxsw on twitter for other opportunities.