Small Sins Start Day Off With a Bang at SXSW -- Road Report

For Spinner's SXSW Road Report we wanted to find a band that wasn't afraid to get down and dirty, and, of course, tell us all about it, which is why we've teamed up with Toronto's Small Sins. No stranger to the madhouse that is Austin mid-March, the enterprising indie rockers are seasoned pros at making the most of the five-day blitz (March 16-20), taking in the sights and sounds and BBQ of SXSW at all hours (and we do mean ALL hours). Stay tuned for faithful updates from keyboardist Kevin Hilliard as he details Small Sins adventures (and misadventures) while in the good ol' Lone Star State this week.

Day Two:

Excuse me for the lateness of my post. My combo Smalls Sins had our official SXSW showcase late last Wednesday, which quickly turned into Thursday morning. I knew the day would end with a bang because it started at 'first call,' around 11:30AM with a tallboy of Busch.

With everyone in the band excited to end the tour off with a bang in Austin we had all forgotten about one major component of the SXSW experience: chaos.

Trying to registered for the fest: nuts. Trying to get to your venue with every street blocked off by cops: insane. Need to get all of your gear onstage, set up, check it, all the while another band is taking their gear off? Forget it. Pure chaos is the only way to describe it.

The other wild card we didn't count on? A sound guy that had absolutely no idea what he was doing. It's hard to really articulate the frustration you feel knowing that you have just driven thousands of kilometers to get to your showcase and it's running late because some stranger that you just met can't figure out how to properly plug a mic cable in.

All of the other bands before us sounded great. How could he all of the sudden forget how to do sound? Anyone's guess. I may have been seething (and by 'maybe' I mean 'was').

Either way we played a great show and anytime you have a posse of rappers up front for the whole show you know you are doing something right. I certainly took "Yo man, you da bomb" as a compliment. And the night was topped off with a quick hang with Kid In the Hall Dave Foley.
Today it's right back at 'er. I was awoken by my bandmates at the crack of noon who informed me of two things: "We're going for bar-b-que, RIGHT NOW" and "Way to go Kev -- you left the van key in the door all night."

Oh geez.

PS: Quote of the day: Steve Krecklo as we sit poolside for a pre-show beer at 8PM, "Is that a diaper in the pool?"