Austin is America's live music capital.
If you were here in March for South by Southwest or you plan to be here for the Austin City Limits Festival in October, you probably already know that. But it's not the major festivals that merits Austin such high praise. In fact, Austin earns its designation as the mecca of live music in the U.S. because bands like Scorpion Child, T-Bird and the Breaks and The Always Already who play shows at places like Club DeVille, Beauty Bar and Emo's, venues that typically host local bands for local fans.
The Soldier Thread, perhaps more than any other band in Austin, represents why Austin beats out San Francisco, New York, Minneapolis and other cities with strong local music scenes. After moving back to Austin early this winter, I quicky hooked on to The Soldier Thread and now 10 to 12 shows later am convinced they are the most signable band in this city.
With influences such as Radiohead and Death Cab for Cutie, I'd be lying if I said their sound was entirely new. But new doesn't always mean better and The Soldier Thread's best qualities are the facts that a) you probably already like the kind of music they play and b) they aren't Radiohead or Death Cab so you don't have to pay $40-$200 to see them live. And, truth be told, they always leave me with the feeling that I'm going to see their next show no matter what the door price is.
The band consists of a female lead vocalist/violist Patricia Lynn, and four highly-talented musicians in Justin McHugh (piano, songwriting, vocals) and Todd Abels (lead guitar, vocals), Drew Van Diver (drums), and Chance Gilmore (bass). Outside of Scorpion Child, I'd be hard pressed to find a harder working band in Austin. They play often, they play their hearts out and they play better every time I see them. And they're using Facebook, MySpace and Twitter the way any smart local band should.
Seeing The Soldier Thread, as I did last night at The Parish, is seeing Austin's music scene unfold wonderfully not simply because they sound like some of the bands on your iPod, but because they sound destined to leave Austin and go on to bigger and better things in the music world. If there was one band I could put Bob Lefsetz up on, it would be this band.
On their album, Shapes, the sweet strength in Patricia's voice is matched only by the almost-orchestral breadth of the band's instrumentation. It's no wonder the band has been plucked for shows on MTV, been deemed an up-and-comer by Spin magazine, and left Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell saying, "Patient in the arrangement, yet still displaying strong emotions." The strongest track, "Run, Run", demonstrates the refined, yet boundless power exuded by the combination of Patricia's talents as a vocalist and violist and the guys' ability to merge within a record without breaking it. Maybe it's the sound guy, but that may be giving too little credit to the musicians on stage.
They are signed to local label Sea Change Records, but for all intensive purposes the band remains unsigned to the kind of major label that could take them to the levels that Vampire Weekend got to in '08 or Phoenix this year.
Although most of local bands like The Soldier Thread never break into the mainstream - for every Spoon there are three thousand indie bands here in Austin - many of them are every bit as good as the bands you hear on the radio or see at those major music festivals. Only they're like those now-popular bands when they were still on the cusp, rather than riding the crest.
Austin's latest music phenom, Black Joe Lewis, has caught fire and is primed to surge even further into the mainstream once he rocks ACL Fest. He's on a relatively small lable, so maybe major isn't the way to go, maybe the David Geffen's of the world will hear them virally.
Either way, The Soldier Thread is on the cusp of something much bigger than The Parish. And Austin. So for now it's a real treat to watch them get better with time and build their fan base one convincing show after another. Last night, some of my friends heard them for the first time and all I heard after was "I love this band!" and "I am sooo glad I came out tonight!"
A dozen or shows in, I feel the exact same way.
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