Fender Consumer Relations Specialist Scott Marceau checks in with a report from SXSW! Scott’s band, The Breakup Society, played the festival and had a blast:
Armed with my new John Mayer Stratocaster and a vintage Bassman 50 amplifier, I got to rock Austin, TX to the ground with my band The Breakup Society at SXSW this past weekend. For the second year in a row we had the opportunity to play the showcase put on by Get Hip, which is our record label and home to some of the greatest Garage Rock bands in the country. Even though we’re more Elvis Costello on steroids than Garage, we’re still are a good match with legendary bands like The Cynics and other label mates who are out there spreading the gospel of Rock n’ Roll.
The drive to Austin from Phoenix is about 18 hours, which is rough in any condition let alone cramped in van with 4 other grown men. Before the show I reminded myself that we had driven all this way for a 10 song, 35 minute set, so we better be good. After being introduced on stage by the legendary music super-fan Beatle Bob, we kicked into the rockin’ title track off our new record, “Nobody Likes a Winner,” and from there the sweat and energy started flowing. The crowd cheered louder and louder with each song and my Strat held up to all the abuse I could throw at it. When we were done I felt a little sad because I was having such a good time playing, but hey, I had an 18 hour drive home ahead of me to bask in the memory of those 35 minutes.
It’s truly a proud day for the Fender web team: our very own Steven Crouch (Fender Interactive Designer and borderline obsessive Star Wars fan) is in the running in the latest installment of lifehacker’s Coolest Cubicle Contest. Check out detailed pics and descriptions of Steven’s cube (look for the one entitled “Star Wars and Guitars”) and send in a vote for Steven’s cube!
Fender clinician Gary Hoey stopped by this morning and wanted to give everyone here in Fender.com-land a quick hello! I’ll step aside and turn the keyboard over to Gary now:
Hey everyone in Fender world … this is Gary Hoey. I just wanted to take this opportunity, while I’m visiting the Fender folks in Scottsdale, to say hello to everyone in the Fender Community. I had a blast today trying out some of the new American Standard guitars through the EVH amp…wow, what a rockin’ tone! I can’t wait to get these instruments out on the road…hope to see you out there!
Look for a new profile for Gary in the Fender.com Artists section soon!
SXSW stands for South By Southwest, where 1500 bands come from all over the world to converge in Austin, Texas to play several shows in the span of a matter of days. ‘Sensory overload’ takes on new meaning. My ears are still ringing and I need to sleep since I only averaged about 3 hours per night, so rather than try to craft any clever prose, here are some photos hot off the camera…just some general location stuff to give you the vibe of the place…
6th Street is the heart of the action:
Ready to Rock:
Heading off to play:
Inside a Daytime Showcase:
Tour Buses Galore:
More to come…
A run of John Mayer Strat guitars in final inspection:
Unplated American Standard Tele bridge plates…
Fred-Dog a.k.a. ‘Fred-Ex’ taking care of business in the Custom Shop…
Next Stop on the tour- Research and Development…Stay Tuned….
