Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly battles bronchitis at SXSW

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly battled through bronchitis during his SXSW set at Stubb's Barbeque tonight (March 15).

Starting off with only an acoustic guitar, Sam Duckworth sounded surprisingly spry for someone who had just spent time in hospital.

"I've been holed up in the hospital down the street with bronchitis, so excuse me if my voice sounds like shit," he told the crowd. "This song is aptly titled 'Excuses'."

A drum kit rounded out the sound of this song, but also drowned out Duckworth's fragile voice. Still the singer soldiered on, playing songs including 'Whitewash Is Brainwash' and 'War Of The Worlds' for a fairly sizeable audience given his early-evening time slot.

Duckworth delivered several political messages during his set, urging the audience to "get out and vote".

"We're more disillusioned with our political systems than other generations, but we seem to be a nation of apathetic voters," he declared. "We need to make it to the fucking polling stations if we want to have a voice."

He also took the opportunity to point out some of the shortcomings of the American healthcare system.

"I paid four hundred dollars to be in the hospital today," he said. "In the UK we complain about the National Health Service, but we should be thankful because four hundred dollars is a fuckload of money if you're poor and sick."

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly ended the evening with the title track from his debut album, 'Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager', urging the audience to get out and see The Automatic and Gallows for him, since he was heading back to bed to recover.

For all the latest blogs, gossip and news live from SXSW, check out NME.COM/newmusic.