Boston Band Crush Archived Article: Festival Crush: Magic Magic at SXSW

This article originally appeared on Boston Band Crush ). I’ve asked over 20 Boston bands the same set of tough questions regarding SXSW, asking them to describe their awesome showcases and what they hope to accomplish in Austin.  I’ll be posting a new interview every day. First up: Magic Magic, who have been making waves in Boston and the U.K. You’ll be able to catch them before they make the trek to Austin at our Boston Band Crush sponsored (you’ll be hearing more details soon)  show March 11th at TT the Bears.
SXSW Interview Questions:
1. Where/When are you playing?
03/18/2009 08:00 PM – Spiro’s w/Miniature Tigers (SXSW) 615 Red River St (21+)
Miniature Tigers 11:00 p.m.
Magic Magic 12:00 a.m.
Dear and the Headlights 1:00 a.m

2. How did you get your SXSW gig?

Earth Calling Management, they manage us out of the UK.

3. Is this your first time at SXSW?

No, we played last year at Love Joy’s, which was great. It was in the afternoon and they made omelette’s for everyone in the club. It was pretty awesome. We also played another spot, but I honestly don’t know where it was. I think The Slits were headliners on that bill. There were so many tech problems that day that I remember those more clearly then the show itself.

4. How important do you think it is to have an official showcase?

Not really. There’s so much music happening everywhere, that it doesn’t seem to matter when it comes down to it. We played an unofficial show last year, and it was better than the official one we played two days later. I suppose the only difference would just be the information thats readily available, like show dates and times, to the people attending the conference.

6. What do you hope to achieve by playing at SXSW?

We want to have a nice vacation. We want to meet nice people and drink beers with them. I personally want to achieve maximum BBQ burnout. I’m prepared to bring antacids. Musically, I think we all wish to achieve nothing other than a fun show for ourselves and for the people in attendance.

7. How do you plan to use the conference (beyond your show)
to promote yourself?

Last year we brought demo copies of our record with us and gave them out one afternoon while we were trekking through the city. We might bring some music to hand out, it depends on how prepared we feel like being.

8. Are you attending any of the actual conference? Are you
attending other shows, what shows/bands are you looking forward to?

I haven’t been able to wrap my head around all the bands playing this year. I know we’re collectively excited to share a bill with Miniature Tigers (AZ) We’ve all been fans of them for some time and it was by coincidence we are sharing a bill. We usually individually do our show investigations and share who’s going to see who. We plan on seeking out our Boston friends, but I’m not even sure how many of us there are. We’ll follow our tastes to as many places as we can. [note, they wrote us back later with an extensive list of bands they would like to see: Abe Vigoda, Beach House, Eat Skull, HEALTH, Maps & Atlases, No Age, Ponytail, Pre, Vivian Girls, Wavves, White Mice, WILDILDLIFE] 
9. Do you expect that Boston will have a strong showing
this year?

As far as audience? Most likely. We’ve run into plenty of people who have told us they are coming out for their spring break. More than I initially suspected. So, there will definitely be some kind of community presence in Austin. Last year we spotted people from the city we recognized. I think this trip is going to go well, we’ll see how everything pans out.

Thanks for seeking us out!

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& Thanks to Magic Magic for answering our grueling questions, I think we’ll all be learning a lot as the next few weeks of interviews go up.