March 12, 2008 19:35

White Denim get things sweaty at SXSW 2008

Austin garage help launch the festival in Texas with raucous gig

Austin garage rockers White Denim got SXSW 2008 off to a kicking start this afternoon (March 12), playing a raucous set of psychedelia-twinged rock at the tiny Peacock Lounge in east Austin.

Following a set of chant-led trancey pop from solo artist El Guincho, the three-piece took the stage in the already-packed venue and played a seven-song set that got the crowd sweating by the bucket.

Opener ‘Shake Shake Shake’ showed off a Hives-meets-Hendrix racket that got the crowd cheering in approval, while ‘Don’t Look That Way At It’ showed off a more experimental edge to the band, being full of catchy bleep sound effects.

Before playing ‘Paint Silver Gold’ frontman James Petralli asked the crowd if they wanted to hear a “psychedelic song or a rock’n’roll song”. The crowd roared their preference for the latter back to him, before the band played the rollocking tune.

A huge queue had formed outside the venue during the band’s set, in scenes echoed at various other venues in Austin as SXSW kicks off.

White Denim played:

‘Shake Shake Shake’
‘All You Really Have To Do’
‘I Start To Run’
‘Don’t Look That Way At It’
‘Paint Silver Gold’
‘Migration’
‘Dark-sided Computer Mouth’

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