Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes met up with Music Connection's media team at SXSW to give some festival advice to artists and musicians and talk about what it's in store for the band.
Music Connection: How have you adapted to SXSW over the years?
Taylor Goldsmith: Uh yeah, when we first got here, we were ending each night trying to figure out where we were going to sleep. Some of those nights ended up on kitchen tile floors with no pillows, with all our clothes on – some nights in the back of vans.
Griffin Goldsmith: Yeah I’m pretty sure I remember showering with a hose outside.
Taylor: It’s a pretty wild experience for a new band. Now we rented a house pretty close to downtown, so after every show we go straight home. And I actually haven’t really been drinking this whole trip ‘cause there’s so many shows. So we’re growin’ up a new bunch of squares when it comes to SXSW.
Music Connection: What’s pre-production like for a festival this large?
Griffin: Not easy. We’re fortunate to have an awesome crew here. Just kinda makin’ it work depending on the show and like what you can do and what’s there and how important it is.
Taylor: Yeah, some shows, we have to have our big gear over at the later venue, so that for this earlier show we only have a limited keyboard rig, a smaller guitar ramp. So there’s, like, times like that. But it ends up inspiring a whole different kind of set. And we play differently according to what we have in front of us. So it’s always exciting to say the least.
Music Connection: Advice for up-and-coming artists looking to hit SXSW circuit?
Griffin: Play as many shows as you can. And get drunk really early.
Dawes' new album Stories Don't End is set for release on April 9th. “Stories Don’t End,” it’s called. For more information, visit www.dawestheband.com.
