By Rya Backer
South by Southwest is a landmark event around these parts. Every year, we head down for some BBQ and sunshine and to check out some of the year's most buzzed-about emerging bands. This year, we decided to start the festivities a little early by talking to some of our favorite SXSW acts from years past.
We're (OK, I am) pretty obsessed with Marnie Stern here. She's fun and funny, her songs are really catchy, and she's so incredibly incredible at playing guitar! Marnie has shredded all over two albums — 2007's In Advance of the Broken Arm and last year's This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That — and we saw that as more than enough training for hosting our SXSW primer. So we met up with her before a show (at her alma mater, NYU — how full circle), as well as some other groups on the evening's lineup.
She talked to two bands about the mid-March festival down in Austin: first, A Place to Bury Strangers, a band composed of a drummer, a bassist, a guitarist and a gigantic wall of noise and feedback. Then, she chatted with one-half of Ra Ra Riot, a six-member group that features strings and catchy melodies. They offered up what they're excited about (mostly free stuff), who they're excited to see and what not to pack.
MTV News will be all over the South by Southwest festival this week, with blogs, articles and video on all the gigs, the artists and the scene!