SXSW Flashback

Music

. So droves of people travel to Austin from all over the world to attend South By Southwest every March. Why do they come here? What are they doing?

They're hitting the streets of Austin

It's where the world interacts with Texas, and where Texas interacts with the world.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. All right, we're Wolf Alice, and we're from England.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

.

Laughter

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. We're Wolf Alice, and we're here at SXSW 2015, and we've just played probably our fifth show. South By Southwest was the first time we ever played in America, so two years ago. I think you always remember the first show you play in America, and so it's got a place in our hearts forever.

South By Southwest is just nuts, you play a load of shows in a couple days. Like, literally, turn up, throw your

beep

They're hitting the streets of Austin

on stage, go, so it's kind of punk in a way, but more punk than a lot of other kinds of... Yeah, I think you just gotta roll with the punches at South By. It makes for some good gigs. Like, the spontaneity I guess.

Enthusiasm, the crowds are way more enthusiastic and vocal. Almost like, you'll be finished playing a song, and people will give you like a, 'yeah alright!' It's quite nice.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. Miley Cyrus. Oh yeah! We saw Miley.

That was a "Party in the USA" here.

Laughter

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. It's weird that we got to see the biggest pop star in the world. You hear the rumors but you'd never expect, one, to be true, and if it is true, to be able to watch it. And we actually managed to see that, which was pretty cool.

As I band I reckon we're a lot more confident with ourselves on stage and with our instruments, so it's been quite nice to come back, give it another shot when we're a little bit more rehearsed. Just better. Less

beep

They're hitting the streets of Austin

is what I'm looking to say. I think we're still kind of finding our feet in the US, and we've got a lot of plans to come back here a lot, so once we've got a few tours under our belt, we'll be able to compare, but so far everybody's been real nice, good reception.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. You wanna see something cool? Hello? You are dead center of the greatest scientific event in the history of man.

I've only been here for a day but it's pretty cool, it's like, the streets seem like they've been properly taken over. It seems like the town has given itself over to the festival for a while, and I really like that. It all seems very vibrant and involved. It's not just a festival and a city, the two seem to go hand-in-hand, which I like.

How do you feel about it? Her A.I. is beyond a doubt. No, nothing analytical.

Just, how do you feel? I feel that she's amazing. I've never seen it with an audience, and particularly this audience, who you know, not only is the tech and film world together, but there's just an excitement and an energy, and this movie in particular is going to really speak to the crowd.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. Apparently Australians like to party, and this seems to be the place to party. That's not why I come here, I come here because I get to sit in the window and play drums and spit water and people and throw sticks at people. Sorry, interview's over.

Okay. Well, I know we come here because we like Texas, and generally speaking, Texans do like rock 'n' roll music. That has been our experience here. Every time we come here, the crowd's been unbelievable.

So we'll keep coming back, while the crowd's getting into it, that's why we'll keep turning up. Basically in Australia, you can tour two weeks and you're done with the whole country, whereas in America, you tour for two weeks and you can still be in the same state. It's a huge market, there's so many great people and great little towns to explore and bring your music to, and it's just a lot of fun.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. You want it, you got it, you want it, you need it. You want it, you got it, you wanna believe it. There really is no other street like 6th Street in the world that I've experienced.

We've been lucky enough to tour throughout a lot of places, but this is complete insanity. But if you like music, and it's like a 24-hour orgasm going on at once, just nonstop. We've played other parts of Texas, but there really is nothing like Austin and just. The people are great, the people aren't scared to dance and get into the music here, and just enjoy themselves and have a good time, and that's why we love Austin.

Tomi Fujiyama, Japan's first country music superstar and the topic of the documentary "MADE IN JAPAN" came to the live music capital of the world for the premiere of the documentary. So what happened? You started singing country music in Japan, and then you got signed to Columbia Records. Yes.

And then you got invited to play in Las Vegas at the Mint Hotel. And then what happened? Grand Ole Opry. Please give a warm Nashville welcome to Tomi Fujiyama.

Applause

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. I'm dreaming, almost 30 years, dreaming, I wish I could sing at the Grand Ole Opry. So I listened to the radio every night thinking about it. And then she was invited on the Grand Ole Opry.

She was only 23 years old. Very young. Well we always kind of envisioned the film, I mean I always wanted it to premiere here. But of course it's not an easy festival to get into, so we were really thrilled whenever we found out that we got in.

It just, it's always just kind of made sense to have it here, it's an eclectic mix of different kinds of art and different kinds of people. It was just the perfect place. Audience is so wonderful to me. Ask if I could take pictures, autograph signing.

Any place I go, everybody is so nice to me. I am very very happy, excited too. She's going to a rodeo tomorrow. I saw many western movies in Japan.

I like to see Broadway shows very very much. And honky tonk bars too. I like to be there.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. So South By Southwest doesn't just draw actors and musicians. Your man JD here traveled all the way from Brazil just to experience the madness that is South By. We have a company in Brazil called You Judge.

It's a web application, and we are developing the US application. It is more like a second screen than an interaction app for viewers who are watching the fight, that they're not only receiving information. We wanted to create something that people could also reply to what they're looking at on the screen and interact with everything. We saw that there were going to be a couple panels on UFC here.

Dana White is in town, Ronda Rousey is in town, so we thought it was a good opportunity to show what we are doing in Brazil. I used to have a partner that would say, 'Oh you guys must come to SXSW, there's lots of things going on there, lots of big companies were launched over there.' I just got a message from a friend, he wanted to lunch at In-N-Out. He said get over here so we can have some hamburgers and fries, because we don't have In-N-Out.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. One of the international superstars we came across was this thing, the queen of Vietnamese hip hop, Suboi. She's also on Forbes Vietnam's 30 Under 30 - some achievement. I can't believe that this year I got accepted to the main showcase.

Being the first Vietnamese artist to play at SXSW is such a huge honor to me. I just love music. I listen to a lot of genres, like blues, jazz, rock, hip hop. And then I stay with hip hop, because I have a lot of message to say.

I like to do wordplay. I used to write poetry, poems, things. So I think rap is, you know, perfect for me. SXSW is artists from everywhere, and I get to see everyone.

And it's amazing, it's not just a place, it's the whole lifestyle, the whole city, and everybody coming to SXSW. It's amazing, the music scene is huge. Before I come to Texas, everybody is like, wow you know, 'Yee-haw!' And I'm like, 'That's so stereotype, guys!' But when I got here, everything, it's amazing.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. Snoop Doggy Dog... We're out here rescuing folks at South By Southwest who are low on battery, and we're also raising awareness for the National Saint Bernard Foundation.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. So this guy Siri here, she's going to save you because I hear you're low on battery. Yes, thank you! Oh my god!

Open up that special barrel and see what's inside, that's all yours and it'll power you for the rest of the week. Wow! Thank you! Yes I'm going to pet him.

Her! Thank you! You're welcome! Yeah so we've been interacting with a lot of people out here at South By from all over the world.

We met some people from Germany, we just rescued some folks from Poland. Some of these dogs are actually from Bulgaria originally, so they all live in Texas now, but it's become quite an international spectacle here at South By Southwest. We came here all the way from Poland, to be part of this festival. It was this big opening of the film part of the festival at the Marchesa Theatre.

We did some restoration stuff for Jonathan Demme that was presenting six Made in Texas shorts.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. I run a company called Fixafilm that has restored these shorts, and we just wanted to enjoy this beautiful city. This is our first time here in America really. I guess people here are just friendly.

Welcome to South By Southwest! People just come to you and say 'hello!' We're having lots of fun here. And the weather is amazing, because right now in Poland it's the middle of winter. Near freezing temperatures, snowing and raining.

I think it's more intense, every corner is happening something. Like here is one venue, another venue, just plenty of it. Like you might just get lost in it. Too much to comprehend.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. The Austin Convention Center holds hundred of artists from all over the globe. They're all here to display their poster art at the 52nd annual Flatstock exhibition. We have come to Austin, Texas, SXSW for the sixth or seventh year in a row.

We're part of a UK poster association and independent artists as well in their own right. That's why I've come. You come for the same reason. I come for the same reason, but it's my first time here.

It's pretty amazing, it's great. Compared to most festivals that take place in Europe, this is huge in comparison. We do poster festivals as part of the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Primavera Festival in Barcelona and Porto, and then various small festivals in the UK. They are a quarter of the size of this at best.

And so kind of the scope of the artwork and size and scope of the bands you can get here, it's like nothing you probably get back home. Everybody is saying this is the big party of the year for poster artists. It's just amazing to be here. In those first few years, we tried to really pick bands you want to see or find things you want to see, and now I've kind of given up all hope on that.

The fun things are stuff you kind of stumble across, those kind of little shows that you find that you wouldn't expect to or the kind of band that you've never heard of. Those are the exciting bits, for me it's like, no expectations. Mainly involves getting drunk and stumbling around. I'll second that.

Laughter

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. Over here it's been brilliant for alcohol. There's gluten-free alcohol everywhere, but just not the food. I've just been filling up on the alcohol instead.

We'll eat when we get home. Yeah. Actually, BBQ is a big thing we do. Every year on the Sunday, we go out to Salt Lick and have a big barbeque with all the poster artists.

Nothing's going to touch food in terms of that, so that's my excitement. But that's the best bit of being at South By Southwest, is Sunday barbeque at Salt Lick.

Lion King Theme Song

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. Oh Canada... Gloria Trevi. She's the supreme Diva of Mexican pop.

After selling 20 million albums and serving four years in prison Gloria Trevi's turbulent tale of fame is premiering on the big screen here in Austin.

Speaking in Spanish

They're hitting the streets of Austin

I think this movie is not just for the Latino audience, because everybody has dreams, everybody fights for their dreams.

Speaking in Spanish

They're hitting the streets of Austin

Almost everybody has some troubles.

Speaking in Spanish

They're hitting the streets of Austin

And everybody fights to go out of them. I'm Swiss, so I had never- I had no idea who Gloria Trevi was, but I read about her in the LA Times.

Speaking in Spanish

They're hitting the streets of Austin

But I was somehow moved by the story, and it seemed such an extreme story and so strange, when you could see the strength and really unique quality to her. They invited me to come here, and I'm so glad, I'm so happy, because I'm almost Tejana...

Speaking in Spanish

They're hitting the streets of Austin

And all my family has relations with Texas, so it's amazing to be here. Blame Canada, blame Canada It seems that everything's gone wrong since Canada came along. Blame Canada, blame Canada. Can you see it?

This is me, I yelled out, 'Hi, Mr. Gosling,' and he was like, 'Oh I'll take a picture with you.'. And I got a picture with him. And I'm super excited, because I love him.

A lot. A lot. That's the bottom line, really.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. They're not even a real country anyway.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. International showcases are happening all over the place during South By Southwest, and a great number of countries come to represent their current music scenes.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. 1, 2, 3... 9am, a long time. We've been in line since 9am, and our favorite act doesn't come on until 1am.

Korean

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. It's an honor to participate in this great festival, the world-renowned festival, and they're ecstatic to be a part of it. Korean bands' participation in SXSW actually started in 2004 with two bands, and it steadily grew to this point. And right now the situation is, the bands that experience this, they go back and they all want to come back.

So the number is just ever-growing, and now it's to the point where they actually have to select the bands that come here. So the Korean government is actually playing a very integral role in unique creative content that's being exported out of the country. So their intent is to keep this going as long as SXSW exists. The size of the venue, the condition of venue really doesn't matter.

The fact that they're participating in this worldwide stage is plenty enough incentive for them to be here, and from this point on, their hope is to expand this out to bigger and bigger space, even within SXSW. The Barberettes. They were really surprised to find out that they already have an established following here. The Barberettes, they're a trio, and they have a '60s throwback vibe.

If you ever ask any young musicians around the world, 'Don't you want to play at SXSW?' and everyone is going to say yes, and here we are.

Korean

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. We are here for Epik High, one of our favorite bands. They are from Korea visiting here, so this is a rare opportunity to see them and meet them. Since we've been here since 9am, I'm really praying and hoping that we do get in, because I've wanted to see Epik High for 11 years.

I would probably cry if we did not get in tonight.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. The Pan Americana Festival takes place at the Mexican American Cultural Center as part of South By. A number of international acts play the event. I'm El Comanche.

And I'm Larry Mon. And together, we are Los Master Plus Plus Plus.

Music

They're hitting the streets of Austin

. So we come from Guadalajara, Mexico. And well that's where we started playing, and we haven't stopped for five years now. People that live here that are Mexican, or sons of Mexicans, they kind of feel more attached to Mexican culture sometimes,

so they kind of feel both sides of the band

the original music and also hip hop electronic that is not really very Mexican, so it's really cool. Playing Pan Americana at SXSW is very special. Compared to other festivals, I guess here it is very mixed. There are all kinds of music.

The first day we were here, we went to eat in a food truck park, and there was a metal band playing, and then in the corner there was a hip hop show. And then we're going to play here, there's Cumbia, there's electronic, and it's just a mixture of so many different things. It's a very wide range of stuff that you see, and it's very enriching. Just looking at all the different styles of people, you feel like it's a global environment.

At the end, you know, the music is the universal language. It sounds very clich, but it's true. We hear there's two superfans dressed up as you guys walking around the streets.

Laughter

so they kind of feel both sides of the band

. Have you seen them yet? Have you run into anything like that? Two girls dressed as us in the streets?

That sounds crazy. We want to meet them. Yeah yeah. Maybe they can play instead of us.

Music

so they kind of feel both sides of the band

. And there you have it. Another year of South By Southwest has come and gone. For two weeks, the capital city became a big melting pot, stirring together countries and cultures from all over the world.

Hasta la vista, au revoir, sln abhaile. See ya later SXSW 2015.

Music

so they kind of feel both sides of the band

.