Surreal Week

One of the things about El Paso that I can’t stand is the shoddy promoters who do a terrible job of promoting shows. Usually, they fall way behind and don’t get enough support or exposure to get a good crowd and often, they simply slack off. It’s the biggest confusion as to why a concert for a local band like The Royalty can get a packed Take II and then a show for Abe Vigoda and No Age gets like 40 people at an old Club 101 venue. The same attendees, these cool hipsters, should be at all the indie shows and yet, they show up in tiny margins. Personally and I hate to admit it but I’ve missed shows by bands Neon Indian and the first time Deerhunter came around because I didn’t even know about them.

So you wonder, “Then why don’t you promote shows?” Trust me, I think that if I had $10,000 in spare money to lure bands and connections with clubs and bars, I’d be doing that. Fortunately, every now and then, we get some decent shows to come by and a local promoter has put together Surreal Week. A spin off the South by Southwest ceremonies in Austin, they plan on having over 20 bands play at three different venues: The Black Market, Hideaway Lounge and The Percolator between March 14 – March 22.


Some of the bands I plan on seeing for sure are local band The DA (Nick mentioned them in a previous post) on Sunday, March 14; the St. Patty’s free show with Ty Segall which I have heard a lot about; and the March 21st show where Nice Nice, Pivot and Titus Andronicus will play. I think that, in my head, I might head out every night just to get some new music in my blood and to hear these great bands but that seems like a daunting task because I still work all week. But for those three shows, they will be for sure RSVPs.

If it’s anything like previous SXSW-inspired gigs then the stages will be set up to allow for bands to play simultaneously and that would be great. Titus Andronicus alone is a great band to check out because they are riding the tails of a successful sophomore album and are an awesome band – here is the review I wrote on DOA for their album and below is the ‘trailer’ for the new album, The Monitor. The flyers are there (click on them to see full size), check it out and support the music if you can go. – Bryan