Article: SXSW Music Festival (AfterEllen)

When the internet left town, the music industry finished busting up Austin during SXSW Music. Any commercial space that had so much as two milk crates to push together hosted shows.

And while Interactive had the city bursting at the seams, the music fest was at least five times worse. Walking through the streets of Austin during the music fest is like listening to several radio stations that change every block. As soon as your ear recognizes the sound of one band, it’s quickly replaced by the echo of another.

The line for passes to get into the festival depressed me — until I realized that I could also watch the bands check in. Genderqueerness was in full effect as hordes of skinny, pasty boys in tight girls’ jeans pressed shoulder to shoulder with skinny, pasty girls in tight girls’ jeans. In the clear light of day — without the shelter of low lighting to take the edge off their overdone makeup or hair sculpted with far too much “product” — they all looked out of place.

Although most Austinites flee downtown during SXSW/Music, they will come out of the woodwork to see a band they like. And local lesbians came out to see Leisha Hailey and Camila Grey of Uh Huh Her during a band showcase at the Hilton Garden Inn on a balmy Thursday night.

Uh Huh Her was fourth of six bands playing in a small conference room at the hotel. Luckily for the bands, the room at least had a wall of windows, or else it would’ve been a pretty dismal place to play.

The conference room looked like it might be able to hold a hundred people, but when I arrived, there was just a smattering of folks who looked like the friends and family of the second band playing. I decided I’d wait outside and check my email until the UHH crowd arrived.

I sat down on some steps by a side door near a dude wearing a band wristband who was obviously drunk off his ass. Twenty minutes later I heard a group approach the door, but I was so deep into my email that I didn’t pay any attention until the sound of heels distracted me.

The first thing to catch my eye when I finally looked up from my computer screen was a pair of red pumps, followed by long, shapely legs, a black pleated yet puffy mini skirt, a matching short, fitted jacket, and finally the profile of Leisha Hailey. Leisha, Camila and the rest of the band tried to enter through the side door, but it was locked from the outside. They started banging on the door and yelling, “Can you let us in?” A few minutes later someone finally appeared on the other side of the glass door and let them in.

By the time the third band finished their set, the baby dykes started trickling in. A few even had UHH T-shirts. The young ones were followed by a more diverse cross-section of women, from college girls in head-to-toe Abercrombie & Fitch to a few women I’d seen at the Equality Texas party the week before.

When the band came onstage to set up, the cameras emerged and women started yelling out Leisha and Camila’s names and declarations of love. If this weren’t Austin, I would’ve been afraid for the band’s safety. A horde of women moved closer to the stage but kept a respectable distance because, you know, “We live in Austin, we see bands all the time so we’re just gonna chill while you play.”

Austinites can sometimes be standoffish in their “too cool for school” swagger, and yet the “no photography” sign at the entrance was blatantly ignored. Mid-show, someone from the festival staff started telling people they weren’t allowed to take photographs, including a woman I’m pretty sure was Camila’s mother, who told the guy, “That’s my daughter.” Yet she obliged and stopped taking photos.

UHH played several songs of angsty synth-pop. Even though their performance was tight, displaying the duo’s high-quality musicianship, the crowd was relatively quiet for most of the show save for enthusiastic applause after each song. Things did liven up quite a bit when the band performed “Say So,” a single from their digital EP I See Red.

Leisha, who announced that UHH’s first full-length album would be released May 20, mentioned that she thought some audience members might know the track, and indeed several people sang along.

Sticking to the strict SXSW schedule, the band ended their set after 45 minutes, even as women shouted for an encore. The audience then stood around for a while and watched UHH pack up their things. Leisha moved instrument cases and amps while still sporting those red pumps.

By the time the next band came onstage, almost every single fan of the band had disappeared into the Austin night. The next band was left with their friends and parents cheering in support.

(@AfterEllen)