Publicity Manager for FLIP Publicity & Promotions Inc.

At the tender age of 11, Damien’s childhood dream of growing up to become She-Ra Warrior Princess was replaced after she attended her first concert—Aerosmith, no less—and a lifelong love of rock/punk culture was cemented. She knew where she wanted to take her career.

As Publicity Manager for FLIP, Damien works at the nexus of pop culture, music and media to help introduce artists and artforms to a larger audience. Since joining FLIP in 2006, Damien has managed accounts across a range of performing arts and culture, including NXNE Music and Film Festival, Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, Luminato World Music Programming, Toxic Avenger The Musical, The Fringe Theatre Festival, Ashkenaz Festival, David Clayton-Thomas with the TSO and Semi Precious Weapons.

We had a lot of TIMA sponsorship meetings set up on Friday, so we didn’t get to see as many bands as we would like, but we definitely got a chance to check out the NME showcase, The Sonics and a few others:

I saw The Airborne Toxic on The Late Show with David Letterman, so I thought I would skip over to the NME showcase to see what the buzz was about. You’ve probably heard  “Sometime Around Midnight” on the radio. They performed earlier in the week with Lily Allen and a few others. This band has a ton of  Sold Out shows in the UK, and I mean, they’re ok. They’re sometimes really solemn, delicate and beautiful, other times they sound like The Cure meets The Strokes . I’m not surprised that they‘re a NME endorsed band. The being said,  Cut Off Your Hands sound the same to me. Maybe it’s just my ear, or the fact that they were playing like 20 shows at SXSW and we had enough already of them.  Same with Boy Crisis and the others.

Dynamic  and flamboyant as always, Brooklyn natives Semi Precious Weapons hit the stage with their take on 80’s glam rock.  Let me tell you, they aren’t a The Darkness-style kitschy interpretation of what 80′s rock was. Justin has so much charisma and attitude that I enjoy the music every time I see them and i’m totally entertained as well. Semi Precious Weapons are show stoppers, regardless of who they’re lined up with. Think of genderfukt New York Dolls with 6” stilettos. Who else could hump Rachael Ray at SXSW and get away with it?

Primal Scream are probably one of my favourite new bands. See them on March 24th @ The Phoenix Concert Theater in Toronto, Ontario. Check out their Myspace.

I was most excited last night to see The Sonics. To me, the Sonics are one of those bands that embody everything great about music. The Sonics are a lot older then most of the bands playing SXSW, but you would have never known it. Saxophone, gritty organ intact and full-speed ahead for their entire set -they are a total ’60s anachronism. Their  punk rock cover, “Louie, Louie” ,  could have rivalled Patti Smith, and was one of the most intricate and sinister takes  on the song I’ve heard.  The Sonic’s aren’t the only band poised for a comeback. I heard the DEVO gig was extremely impressive gray jumpsuits and new songs in all, and they haven’t changed a bit. New studio album soon? We think so!

We packed it in and prepared ourselves for another day of interviews, and another night of shows!

DAY 4

I really enjoyed the Pop Montreal Showcase. Having never heard The Boats had a pretty respectable set.  The D’Urbervilles were simply sexy and Les Handclaps are that type of feel-good upbeat pop that just makes you want to dance, regardless of if you know what they’re saying  or not. Pop Montreal is still on the top of their game.

Silversun Pickups @ Antone’s, showed off their technical ability, literally ripping up the neck of a guitar with perfect ferocity. Silversun Pickups have that rare ability to extend the climax of a song to Mogwai-esque euphoria. They previewed some new material  for the crowd from their unreleased album entitled Swoon. From the sound of it. I think it’s going to be another mega hit.

Jesse from MSTRKRFT  seems to have lost the edge that was so apparent in Death From Above 1979, and now bores us with uninspired mixes.

We just wanted to let you know that Zaki Ibrahim is nominated for a Juno, and performed last night at  Buffalo Billiards around 9pm. Having seen her numerous times, we didn’t check out her set – but in the words of Empire Isis,  she is “gangstress”. Speaking of which we hope to have TIMA 2008 “Best Out-Of-Province” winner Empire Isis perform at the 2009-2010 TIMAs award ceremony. We also heard she was filming for her musiqueplus series during SXSW, check it out here:  http://www.musiqueplus.com/emissions/empireisis/videos.html

We also wanted to see Ra Ra Riot and Immaculate Machines but didn’t get a chance. If you saw them, comment and tell us how they were!

Having purchased tickets for Fader Fort ahead of time, we were able to get in to the Kanye suprise gig. That being said, tickets were selling for ridiculous prices on the streets of SXSW. The performance opened with Kid Cudi, who you will be seeing a lot of in the upcoming years, scroll down and check out our previous blogs, we included a video of a Kid Cudi performance for you to check out. Common then hit the stage later joined by Kanye West. Since the Grammys, Knaye cut his ridiculous 80s hair (thank God) and has ditched the Venitian blind glasses for the solid plastic variety.  Its ok, we can’t all be perfect… the duo spat insane lyrics for a few songs, and then were joined on stage by Erykah Badu (originally from Texas). The trio were impressive, In her own words, Erykah Badu was “hot like pussy in the sun” and it was apparent that Common “ain’t lil Wayne but [he] got a lollipop”.

My main issue with Kanye? The guy can rap and freestyle, obviously. When it comes to singing? He’s pretty much as good as Britney Spears lip-synching at the ACC. “Heartless” was OK, but his voice was so modified, it really took away from the performance for me.  I can give him props for putting in the effort though.  The performance(s) ended with Kid, Common and an all-star lineup joining Kanye on stage  to sing “Good Live” and “Love Lockdown”

Kanye, Metallica, on SXSW? WHY WHHYYY WHHYY? For me, SXSW is about showcasing indie bands and you damn well know that every photographer, A&R Rep, and writer was at Fader Fort tonight – hell, we had someone there. Why overshadow the independent artists when you have an international stage, anywhere/ anytime? It seems slightly ridiculous. I really do commiserate if you played at any other venue at SXSW this evening.

One More Day!!!

MGMT @ Playboy Rock The Rabbit Party SXSW

Playboy Rock the Rabbit Party was the party to TRY to get into last night, mind you it was private and impossible anyway.. Energy Drink and Burrito in hand, I almost spilled my Rockstar when finding out one of our friends got in. WTF?! This is what we could get out of him before he passed out:

Moby really got the crowd going….and playmates going (SERIOUSLY!), closed his set with “Paradise City” by Guns ‘n‘ Roses I did a lot of dancing.  Blah blah, honestly thought Moby was dead and gone… Centerfolds still like him… MGMT, last year’s SXSW darlings (they were EVERYWHERE in ‘08)…really solid set and were the highlight, only having seen them once before. Justice where Meh. Centerfolds. Never heard of the UK’s The Heavy or The Rub – but was most impressed with The Rub and the Centerfolds … (he then proceeded to sleep the rest of the day and we haven’t seen him since, sensory overload?)

MGMT Hangin

Look out for Playboy’s annual March music issue.  http://www.playboy.com/magazine/features/rock-the-rabbit/

Big Boi and K’naan were great, the crowd went crazy for Outkast hits and he said that a new album may drop in the near future. Andre 3000? Nowhere to be found.

Red Red Meat performed, who we haven’t seen for years - Is this a comeback with the re-issue of their 95 disc “Bunny Gets Paid”?

We really wanted to see Grizzly Bear – but they literally had a line as far as the eye could see. We heard that there was a delay for about 45 min.

Weirdest moments of the day:

Kris Kristofferson’s limo and the massive crowd of industry-types and god who surrounding him near the New West Party.

Seeing Semi-Precious Weapons and their HAIR. We caught them last year at the Cravefest International Video Awards @ Tattoo Rock Parlour, real show-stoppers. See them if you can.

The Handsome Furs blew us away at the Subpop Showcase, it felt like Dan almost shattered the mic with every lyric, and Alexei was barefoot – what’s with the barefoot thing? For some reason every time I see someone barefoot on stage it reminds me of K. D. Lang. Nonetheless, she is a nimble little thing who can play synth like the best of them.  Handsome Furs emphasis how many truly gifted bands we have coming out of Canada right now.

Also, be sure to check out TIMA 2009 “Best Out-Of-Province” winner Empire Isis @ 1pm

Tonight? The Plans?  NME Showcase @ Ace’s Lounge or Vice Records @ Emo’s Main Room

The big buzz for tomorrow night: Rap battle between Common and Kanye maybe? Where? Fader Fort at some industry party. When? We don’t know!! But when we do we’ll tell you!

Also tomorrow, TIMA 2006 “Best Live – Electric” and TIMA 2007 “Best Female-Fronted” Winners The Joys will be performing as part of the CMW Showcase @ SXSW! We will be catching up with them at the Cat Club in Los Angeles next Tuesday to see how the performance went!