The key buzzword for SXSW 2015 is retrenchment. Following an escalating period of peaking drama and crowd management issues over the past few years, the final straw came in 2014 when Rashad Owens – an aspiring rapper from Killeen, TX – killed four people and injured 21 others when he plowed through a crowd gathered outside the X show at Mohawk attempting to drunkenly evade a police stop.
While the SXSW organizers were found not responsible, the tragedy seemed a fitting end cap to mounting concerns in recent years that the crowds that flocked to the downtown Austin area every March were getting far too out of hand. While largely unspoken, there seemed to be a sense that such an event was almost inevitable given the increasing tensions of boxing in more and more rowdy revelers into a few square miles every year. Legal liability aside, maybe it was time for SXSW to deliberately and methodically scale back.
The City of Austin listened: event permits have been reduced this year by 25%, Dorito's and iTunes among other big name sponsors are out, the ever-popular Fader Fort will be invite only, police presence will be ramped up and curfews for outdoor events will be less onerous than in previous years (brick-and-mortar club shows are not effected unless they're within 600 feet of a residential property).
What this means for metalheads: probably not much in the long run. There was already a sharp dip in the number of 2014 metal showcases compared to recent years (although one could argue that the last 5-7 years had been kind of a fluke anyway, heavy metal never historically having had a strong presence at the festival in the 90s or early 00s). 2015 merely sees a continuation of that belt tightening, not necessarily a further slashing of heavy bookings. While some will decry these developments as a sign that SXSW is "over", for many others – local Austinites especially – it's a welcome step back toward the old days, when shows were about the bands and not hawking products, when beer was still regular price and you could usually find an empty barstool to drink it from…
Keep in mind that the below is as accurate as possible at the time of publication. There are a few of the usual suspects that haven't announced anything yet (ie. Hoeks Death Metal Pizza), but it's unclear at this point whether they're just late on the draw or victims of the city's more restrictive permitting process.
Click on any of the posters below to go to the official event page.
The Metal Movies at SXSW
Deathgasm, an excellent metal-themed horror film, which we've covered before will be making it's premiere at the festival. Here are the showings:
World Premiere | Saturday, March 14, 11:45pm @ Alamo Ritz
Public Screening #2 | Sunday, March 15, 11:30pm @ Alamo Lamar A
Public Screening #3 | Friday, March 20, 9:30pm @ Alamo Ritz
The Metal Panels at SXSW
- The Art of the Interview – Friday, March 20: 5 – 6 PM, Room 18D (featuring Godless and Chuck of the MetalSucks podcast)
- Be Hear Now: Hearing Protection Is Music's Future – Wednesday, March 18: 3:30 – 4:30 PM, Room 10A
- Breaking a Monster: Unlocking the Truth – Wednesday, March 18: 11 AM – 12 PM, Room 16AB
- A Conversation with Henry Rollins – Tuesday, March 17: 12:30 – 1:30 PM, Room 18ABCD
- Should Music Mags Survive or Get Killed Off? – Friday, March 20: 12:30 – 1:30 PM, Room 12AB
Pregaming: Saturday, March 14
Metal Monsters of Texas
Saturday March 14th
Dirty Dog Bar –
505 E. 6th St.
Austin, Tx 78701
FREE Showcase
BAND – TIME
Critical Assembly 12:15 AM
Memories in Broken Glass 11:30 PM
Dead Earth Politics 10:45 PM
Course of Ruin 10:00 PM
Carry the Storm 9:15 PM
Casket of Cassandra 8:30 PM
Myra Maybelle 7:45 PM
Green as Emerald 7:00 PM
Cerebral Desecration 6:15 PM
Fear Control 5:30 PM
Doors 4:00 PM
$5
9:15 Manifest Insanity
10:00 Dead Now Evil
10:45 Black Thorn Halo
11:30 Southern Front
12:15 All Opposed
Pregaming: Monday, March 16
American Icon presents HEAVY METAL CAGE MATCH
AMERICAN SHARKS
EAGLE CLAW
SWEAT LODGE
WHITE MYSTERY
CLOWNS (Australia)
FROM BEYOND
DUEL
THE SHRINE
ELDER
GREEN BEARD
Doors at 4pm. $12
Pregaming: Tuesday, March 17
Wounded Earth brings you a night of the heaviest metal from Texas and beyond!
DUEL – 8:00-8:30
FOGG (DFW) – 8:40-9:10
PROJECT ARMAGEDDON (HOUSTON) – 9:20-9:50
CRIMSON DEVILS – 10:00-10:30
THE HOUSE HARKONNEN (DFW) – 10:40-11:20
MOS GENERATOR (WASHINGTON) – 11:30-12:10
SABBATH CROW – 12:20-1:00
THE BLOOD ROYALE – 1:10-CLOSE
$10 21+ ONLY
8:00PM Excessum
9:00PM Venomous Maximus
10:00PM Unlocking The Truth
11:00PM Dead Earth Politics
12:00AM Royal Thunder
1:00AM Betrayal
Wednesday, March 18
MYRONE 8:00PM – 8:30PM
Archspire 8:45PM – 9:15PM
Elder 9:30PM – 10:00PM
Allegaeon 10:15PM – 10:45PM
Byzantine 11:00PM – 11:40PM
Fallujah 11:55PM – 12:35AM
Norma Jean 12:50AM – 1:50AM
3:00pm- Theurgist (Lafayette,LA)
3:45pm- Drood (Lafayette, LA)
4:30pm- Deguello (San Antonio, TX)
5:15pm- Skan (Austin, TX)
6:00pm- Voidstrider (Austin, TX)
6:45pm- Dirty Seeds (Houston, TX)
7:30pm- Severer (Lafayette, LA)
8:15pm- Grail (Austin, TX)
9:00pm- Mountain of Smoke (Dallas, TX)
9:45pm- RUST (Austin, TX)
10:30pm- In the Company of Serpents (Denver, CO)
11:30pm- Destroyer of Light (Austin, TX)
12:15am- Solid Giant (New Orleans, LA)
1:15am- Bearded Ox (Austin, Tx)
Doors at 2pm. There will be food available, If you choose to drink your dinner, there will be beer. There is a $5 cover for this show.
Thursday, March 19
Moon Tooth 7:30PM – 8:00PM
MANTAR 8:20PM – 8:50PM
Full Of Hell 9:10PM – 9:40PM
KEN mode 10:00PM – 10:30PM
Felix Martin 10:50PM – 11:20PM
Cancer Bats 11:40PM – 12:30AM
Veil of Maya 12:50AM – 1:50AM
Friday, March 20
Stinking Lizaveta 8:00PM – 8:40PM
The Skull 9:00PM – 9:40PM
Lazer/Wulf 10:00PM – 10:40PM
FOH NOISE 11:00PM – 11:40PM
King Parrot 12:00AM – 12:40AM
Weedeater 1:00AM – 1:50AM
08:00p-08:40p: Ruby the Hatchet
09:00p-09:40p: Castle
10:00p-10:40p: Heat
11:00p-11:40p: Elder
12:00a-12:40a: The Shrine
01:00a-01:50a: Kadavar
New England Metal and Hardcore Festival Takes Over Austin Texas
Des Moines Embassy
FRIDAY MARCH 20th @6PM – Free Show / All Ages
(corner of Red River & 6th)
ETERNAL SLEEP 6:10 – 6:30
OUTLINE IN COLOR 6:40 – 7:00
PHINEHAS 7:10 – 7:30
EXALT 7:40 – 8:05
LORNA SHORE 8:15 – 8:40
FALLUJAH 8:50 – 9:15
CANCER BATS 9:25 – 9:55
HARMS WAY 10:05 – 10:35
CODE ORANGE 10:50 – 11:20
BAT SABBATH 11:30 – 12:00
Saturday, March 21
OM! GOATSNAKE! DILLINGER! Fuck!
2pm-12am
Goatsnake 10:45pm
Eagle Twin 9:45pm
The Roller 8:45pm
Coliseum 7:45pm
Pinkish Black 6:20pm
Publicist UK 5:15pm
Mantar 4:45pm
Bellringer 4:00pm
Mutilation Rites 3:15pm
Sores 2:35pm
Blasting Concept 2:00pm
American Icon presents
HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT 2…..$15 Entry/$20 Dos
WEEDEATER
THE SKULL
SPECIAL GUESTS
KING PARROT
BLOOD OF THE SUN
SPECIAL GUESTS
MOTHERSHIP
SPECIAL GUESTS
FULL OF HELL
EAGLE CLAW
FOGG
DUEL
OLD & ILL
DESTROYER OF LIGHT
RUST
THUNDERKIEF
DOORS AT Noon….$15 Pre Sale/$20 Dos
TICKET LINK <>$15
https://
There are also a handful of one off gigs booked in the middle of otherwise non-metal events:
Ditch Witch @ Hotel Vegas, 8 – 8:30 PM
The Well @ Holy Mountain, 9 – 9:40 PM
Massive Scar Era @ 720 Club, 1:00 – 1:50 AM
Afterparty: Sunday, March 22
FREE w/ RSVP – wickedbad.eventbrite.com
11:30 – Destroyer of Light
10:45pm – Amplified Heat
10pm – DUEL
9:15pm – FOGG
8:30pm – Crypt Trip
7:45pm – DITCH WITCH THE BAND
7pm – Greenbeard
6:15 – Mothership
5:30pm Slow Motion Rider
4:45pm – Foxmoor Express
4pm – Way of the Buffalo
The COME AND TAKE IT PRODUCTIONS SHOWCASE 2015 featuring…
He Is Legend
Famous Last Words
Tear Out The Heart
For ALL I AM
Adaliah
Like Monroe
Left Behind
Betrayal
Fire From the Gods
Dark Horse Darling
Brink of Disaster
Beard The Lion
Audrey Rose
Against The Archaic
Taking On Poseidon
Neverbloom
Dirty Dog Bar
505 E 6th St
Austin, TX 78701
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Doors open at 12:00 PM
** The event is FREE to the public and NO SXSW WRISTBANDS OR BADGES ARE REQUIRED TO ENTER. There will, however, be a $5 minor surcharge for those that are under the age of 21. Everyone must have a valid I.D. to enter the venue. **
And that's that, fuckers. If you see any of us out just keep this in mind: we're more likely to remember your name if that introduction comes with a free shot.
