This is year two for Punk Black representing at SXSW. For those who don’t know, it stands for South By Southwest. It’s held in Austin, TX every year and around 200,000 people are in attendance. It’s an interactive media, film, and music festival in short.
This year we decided to have a Femme Fatale show, which showcased an all Femme fronted line up, and it was so dope!
Mirror Lake from Houston kicked things off and got the venue right, primed, and ready! The crowd gathered closer to the stage as lead singer Avery hit em with soulful siren-like vocals over kick ass fucking metal instrumentalists!
Cinnamon Babe hit the stage next. By this time, the venue Latchkey was packed out. Cinnamon Babe has been making waves since the summer of 2022 with her single “Rock n Roll Is Black”. Upsetting white metal hands and alternative old heads, she put everything in gear and has been riding nonstop. To our surprise vocalist Taj from the Cali metal band Fused by Defiance was on bass, so that was a nice treat!
As people are coming and going, since SXSW is so busy, Atlanta power pop punk band Lesibu Grand hit the stage to a packed out audience as well. Lesibu holds it down most in and around the Atlanta area, but they through it down at South By. The crowd sung along with the “Rolling in the Deep” cover that was executed perfectly, but “Not Sweet Enough” and “Hot Glue Gun” were definitely crowd favorites.
South By vets Pussy Gillette gave everyone that grimey, sloshy punk rock that you can feel in your bones. Bassist and singer Masani, had amazing vocals, and the way they switched back and forth from English to Spanish so dope! They also played their latest song “Mala Noche” which grooves HARD.
Hometown heroes Bondbreakr brought that kick ass heaviness for the night! For fans of heavy metal crossing with punk, you can’t help but to move your body. Bondbreakr also was the first band to get the pit going. Then a mini circle pit sprouted up with singer Gerilyn in the middle swinging her chain mic.
To end the night off was We Don’t Ride Llamas, who cross alt rock, punk, new wave, and r&b with precision. All siblings, hold it down musically and technically like a family band should. They played one of our favorite singles titled “Venus and Mars” and it sounded awesome live! They had a kick ass 2022 touring with Willow Smith among other things. We Don’t Ride Llamas are surely on their way!
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