Blind Pets and Leopold and His Fiction SXSW Preview 2

Some days I get lucky and I literally fall into awesomeness; like this one random night I walked into a French restaurant right after happy hour. I just so happened to be a little more than buzzed that evening and I proceeded to fall off of my bar stool while I was hitting on the unbelievably cute bartender. I guess what I did was so impressive that she decided it would be a great idea to set me up with her equally cute best friend. Now the fact that she thought the two of us would make a great pair after seeing this display either means that this chick will end up slashing my tires or we'll be married within two weeks; either way I will not be doing anything stupid like purchasing a white Ford Bronco right  before our first date.

The point of that ridiculous story is that in this town you can have an unexpected life changing event by simply going to the taco trailer up the street! Now I know this isn't specific to Austin but I am also aware of the fact that there are far more places like the awful Victoria, Texas that make you want to kill yourself than there are Londons or San Fransiscos in this world. Thankfully I escaped that dump and I live in a city where I can walk into a random venue and hear a decent to pretty damn good band on any given night. And because the music scene has gotten so much better here lately, I think it has ruined me a bit when it comes to checking out new bands for festivals. Most of the "rock" bands I have encountered lately while researching new artists literally sound like the guys that live next door to me. I get it, you're a 3 piece garage band who has a lead singer that likes to scream; I was actually alive when Nirvana was around, what else you got?

So in honor of the improving Austin music scene, I will do something that I by rule never do; and that's recommend a local artist for you to check out during SXSW. Blind Pets are an Austin hard rock band whose guitar riffs are so frenetic that they make you want to punch your steering wheel while you're driving 80 mph ala Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. Hopefully you haven't just done blow while banging a groupie in the restroom of a restaurant which causes you to miss lunch with your daughter the next day. Or hopefully you have, it all depends on your life goals I guess. The point is, the energy of their music reminds you of the 80's when the lead singer of each band would smash his guitar at the end of every song. Thankfully though these don't actually look like a hair band, they just remind you of a time when rock was real! I rate these guys as FRESH and suggest that you check them out. They will be playing Headhunter's Patio Wednesday at midnight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRGBv1ZADes

Up next is Leopold and His Fiction. It appears that the only consistent member in the band is the lead Daniel James, who is alarmingly pale and has a stupid army haircut that makes him look like Borat. I do however have to give him props for always rockin a suit, so he at least have that going for himself. He mixes in his bluesy vocals and lyrics with stripped down guitars in a way that reminds you of something from the late 60's. He sounds similar to Hanni El Khatib but with less distortion. I can easily see Leopold blowing up like Awolnation did because it is a sound that scenesters will snatch up and claim as quickly as they can, just so they can sound cool to their friends when talking about music. I of course am never guilty of doing this. While I see these guys getting a lot of attention in the near future, I don't see much staying power, so I will give them a rating of kind of WEAK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akTTfAGSJwI