great news here, folks. mayer hawthorne’s shows are a shit ton of fun, and i’m glad to know that he’ll be stopping by a handful of texas cities for some good old times. no openers announced yet, but the dates are below the jump.
-grizzly
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photos by a.j. gutierrez; above: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
Day Three of Fun Fun Fun Fest wraps up one of it’s biggest years in its six-year existence with one of the most exceptional and legendary bands to grace our presence: Slayer. But not before Auditorium Shores is filled with electronic, indie, and punk acts to help stifle the brutal blow. Hit the jump to catch write-ups on everyone from Grimes, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Mates of State and of course, Slayer.
- sunbear
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photos by a.j. gutierrez; above: Ra Ra Riot
With day one of Fun Fun Fun Fest in the can, Austinites once again braved the dust bowl that was Auditorium Shores, faces wrapped with bandanas to guard from the elements and with a hunger for more live music. From Swedish import Lykke Li to Austin backyarders Spoon, Saturday boasted one of the strongest lineups the festival has ever seen.
Hit the jump for the full recap.
- sunbear
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photos by a.j. gutierrez; above: Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Austin, Texas’s Fun Fun Fun Fest has come quite a long way from its humble beginnings six years ago. From its first year at Waterloo Park with a bill comprised heavily of local acts like Black Angels, Spoon and Ghostland Observatory, the festival has ballooned into a nationally recognized music-fest capable of reuniting acts like The Descendents, booking stadium sized bands like Slayer, and drawing crowds that would rival its big-brother festival Austin City Limits. Now with a new seaside home at Auditorium Shores, the sixth annual Fun Fun Fun Fest has its sights set higher than ever, with the most impressive bill its seen in years.
Hit the jump for the full recap.
- sunbear
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photo credit: 88 miles west
“Good evening, Woodlands. It’s good to be home.”
Okay, let’s stop right there. In the first words uttered by Win Butler, we had either breathed a collective sigh of relief, knowing that Arcade Fire, as begrudging as they can be toward their dusty Texan roots, were actually feeling pretty good about returning home (something they haven’t done since a headlining gig at Fat Cat’s – max capacity 130), or were directly lied to, by the straight-faced frontman of the band who took home the album of the year at this year’s Grammy’s.
Hit the jump for the recap.
- sunbear
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spitta came to texas for a handful of shows during the week of 4/20, and austin promotion company scoremore (who put on the shows) has a little video cataloging the shenanigans that went down.
-grizzly
This time of the year is always pretty hectic. Between not paying for badges and getting into half of the shows we wanted to, getting drunk and finding free shit, SXSW can be a pretty pressing time. Luckily, we don’t complain that much. We threw up a mixtape prior to the event, but in any case, this recap will be quick and to the point. You’ll find each day broken down into who and what we saw, accompanied by blurbs written by Sunbear and I — all will be marked for your convenience.
You’ll also find some photos we took, many from Sunbear’s Instagram binge and some from my shitty point and shoot. Enjoy!
-grizzly & sunbear
Fun Fun Fun Fest once again descended upon Austin, Texas for its 2010 edition, corralling the best of crust-punk, pretentious indie, left field hip-hop, stoner-metal, and whatever else kind of music would draw the mases to the ten acre Waterloo Park for a three-day marathon of live-music, mosh-pitting, and binge drinking. this year, the festival featured it’s widest array of artists than any previous, from weird al to gwar, there was something for everyone. weworemasks’ sunbear was on hand to partake of said festivities, and the following is his recollection, as best he remembers it, of Austin’s 5th annual Fun Fun Fun Fest.
editor’s note: sorry about the extreme late pass here people, i could tell you that i’ve been busy with other things, but truthfully i was recovering from the two day ordeal that was the fest.
- sunbear
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photo credit: 3680 photography.
the first nas song i ever heard was in the fourth grade – “if i ruled the world (imagine that).” it was unlike anything i had ever heard at the time, bridging the gap between the neo-soul leanings of ms. hill and nasir jones. since that point, nas became one of the staple emcees in my musical repertoire. god’s son and street’s disciple remain as his only disappointing albums up until this point, and everything in between (untitled was my AOTY in 2008) has fared well around these parts. all things considered, i had yet to see nas perform live. i missed all previous chances, including the 08 tour supporting untitled and this past year’s sxsw set with damian. needless to say, i was more than thrilled to find a houston date for the distant relatives tour.
-grizzly
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and now, the headliner. lupe’s live show was completely unexpected. having seen him twice before, nothing compared to this show. his glow in the dark tour set was matched with a crowd 2/3 empty and complete houston summer sun, and his bun b and friends set was a mere four songs, leaving much to be desired. accompanied by one of the best hip-hop drummers i’ve ever seen and a full band, lupe fiasco touched base on his entire discography, including a mixtape cut and five new joints. the encore provided us with the livest version of ‘swang on em’ with bun b you’ve ever heard, too.
enough chattin. tracklist beneath the jump.
download:
-grizzly
my homie jay came through once again with a bootleg. this time, he was on hand with us at the houston, tx stop of the steppin’ lasers tour to catch b.o.b. on the run to his first album release, which he’d see the day after this show. b.o.b. definitely went over well with the crowd, as he jammed through past and present b.o.b, using a full band to maximize the entire experience. i gotta say, i’ve yet to see a direct support act get more than 1/2 the love b.o.b. got during his one hour set. the tracklist is below the cut. enjoy.
this is mainly for the other 2/3 bears of this blog, who weren’t in attendance because they are both stupid and broke. and i’m the one who’s unemployed. luv yall.
download:
-grizzly
alright ya’ll, we’re headed to austin tomorrow morning. be sure you holler at your three favorite bears if you happen to be in austin for the weekend (hit up the contact page for email/aim/etc), and if you need a haircut on sunday, i’ll be cutting hair to make up for the income i’m missing by leaving work to get drunk and see some music with my two favorite bears in austin. you could also consider it preemptive bail money.
in the meantime, expect the posts to be more sparse than usual. however, we will be very much so updating any of our followers on the wwm twitter, so be sure you’re following us @weworemasks. also expect the usual videos, stories, embarrassing/incriminating photos to surface upon our triumphant returns to our respective homes.
since grizzly is an unemployed piece of shit again, he has all the time in the world. so he’s been nice/bored enough to put together another mix of sxsw hopefuls and probables. enjoy the tape while we’re gone. tracklist and download after the cut.
we love you and want to touch you in places,
- panda c/o the bears
you already know. we’re trying that whole ‘keeping busy’ thing going, and with that comes a brand new spotlight. we’ve got a tight-knit hip-hop crew out of houston, texas, the niceguys. they’ve definitely gotten their momentum moving, and we’re just a small piece of that puzzle. in the spotlight, you’ll find an informative interview that’ll get you all familiar with the group, along the typical weworemasks/multimedia experience that’ll be chock full of free music and videos for all of you to enjoy.
waste no time and check out the spotlight.
don’t act like we never told ya.
-grizzly
new wwm fave dustin cavazos gives us a small sneak peek at his upcoming live dvd during the editing process. you gotta love how personable and good at interacting with his fanbase homeboy is. other artists should take note. if you haven’t yet, be sure you download the handgun chronicles ep (free) here. dustin also moved his blog (where he posts photo & video updates like this one very regularly) from myspace to its own url, so be sure you check that as well.
visit the new dustin cavazos blog.
- panda
selahdor’s own returns with the follow up to the shelley ep with the handgun chronicles. if you didn’t give homeboy a chance on our previous post, make sure you don’t miss out this time around. this kid has talent for days and definitely gonna make a name for himself in the scene in years to come. sleep not. dtx up!
be sure you hit dustin up on myspace as well. he posts blog updates with video on the regular to keep his people in the know.
download the handgun chronicles ep:
- panda
it’s proper. i just spent the past weekend in port arthur and the timing couldn’t be better. bun steps on hov’s on to the next one and completely smashes murks any and everyone who will get on this beat. it hurts.
trill og coming march 2nd.
download:
-grizzly
dustin cavazos is a new face to wwm. i’m loving the concept here. simple and fresh. dustin is putting down some positive-minded hip hop from right here in the dtx. if you like what you’re hearing, you’re in for a treat because he’s dropping a free EP tomorrow, the shelly EP. we’ll be sure to fill you in as soon as it drops.
also, hit the cut for a promo clip for the shelly ep.
- panda
this lineup is looking something mean. much more cohesive and entertaining than last year’s lineup. looking forward to a lot of things this year and i’m sure you can figure out which bear is stoked out about which band. panda probably won’t attend because he doesn’t do the sun and anything that doesn’t have the all-day availability of vodka.
more info at the official website.
see you in austin on november 8+9.
-grizzly
yeah, yeah, old poster. but i used it anyway. halloween in houston will host two of my favorite bands on the same night, so to say that ‘i’m very excited’ is still a bit of an understatement. as much as i don’t mind seeing thrice for the 18th time (seriously.), i wish glassjaw could’ve opened up the texas dates. however, video footage from their northeastern dates will suffice as long as i get that god-forsaken EP.
weworemasks will see you at:
october 30th the palladium ballroom // dallas, tx
october 31st verizon wireless theater // houston, tx
rest of the dates after the jump.
-grizzly
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grizzly and the sun bear (along with mona, the grizz’s lady and our photojournalist) have joined me in dallas for the weekend, so expect minimal updates. we’ll try to update in between shots of everclear and meth binges (jay kay). we’ll be back full force early next week with all the new new you’ve grown to love us for. until then..
- panda c/o the bears
sxsw showcase lists are officially up. make your plans. hopefully your favorite shows have open bars. that’s the business. i’ll be there. anybody going?
-gxsw
