Animal Collective's Panda Bear Avoids SXSW After Equipment 'Disaster'

Despite having a new album poised for release this spring, Panda Bear has no plans for any SXSW performances this year. The annual Austin, Texas, music business bash is usually the first stop for bands pushing new records, but Panda Bear, aka Noah Lennox, doesn't think he'll do a promotional stop there for 'Tomboy,' which is due out April 12 and marks the 32-year-old's fourth album outside of his main squeeze, Animal Collective.

"I don't have any plans to do SXSW as of yet. It's been a while since we were there. The last time I was there it was a disaster," Panda Bear tells Spinner. That "disaster" he's talking about is clearly fresh in his mind, even though it happened five or so years ago when Animal Collective performed there.

"We've only done one show there ever. It was outside at this ... there was like a bar. For whatever reason I thought it was a good idea to set up my electronics on a bar stool next to where I was drumming. In those days, I used to stand up when I drummed. The stage was one of those bouncy stages and a song or two into it everything fell over and my sampler was totally broken."

Lennox thinks that was back in 2005 when Animal Collective were starting to gain wider notice outside of the psych folk underground. "There were like 500 people at the show. For us, it felt really really big. It still feels big now," says Lennox.

Which brings Lennox to the other reason he's not eager to play SXSW. It's not just the memory of a somewhat disastrous performance and the loss of some gear that haunts Lennox.

"I'm not super big on being at places with thousands of people," he admits. That includes when Animal Collective plays big festivals elsewhere, too. "I usually just stay in a backstage tent or trailer," he says. And do what, hide? "Yep, pretty much."

Panda Bear's 'Tomboy'