This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s spring editorial intern Henry Ryeder. Find him on Instagram at @. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
South by Southwest is one of American entertainment’s most treasured events. An industry mecca that’s attracted artists with the possibility of rapid career ascent, SXSW (as it’s commonly abbreviated) has a history as storied as its legendary record signings.
In 1986, organizers of New York’s New Music Seminar met with the Austin Chronicle about organizing a similar event in Texas. Though this failed to materialize, Chronicle writers Roland Swenson, Louis Black, and Nick Barbaro took matters into their own hands, creating their own festival. In 1987, along with booking agent Louis Meyers, the three men organized the first SXSW festival, named after the Hitchcock film North by Northwest.
The blurring of lines between spectator, artist, and industry professional has always been a staple of SXSW. In its first year, the festival had 172 acts across its 700 attendees. 1998 saw the festival cross a milestone with 1,043 performers.
As SXSW grew, it seemed to mirror larger conversations around entertainment, ultimately shaping creative industries themselves. In 1992, singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked (quite sloppily) used her platform to discuss cultural appropriation of Black American music. In 1994, Johnny Cash’s keynote address and performance coincided with the release of his Rick Rubin-produced American Recordings. This performance, along with the aforementioned album, is largely seen as influential in revitalizing Cash’s career.
1994 was momentous for SXSW. This marked the first year of the festival’s interactive and film events that would help define SX as a multimedia platform. This also was the year that Veruca Salt famously received a record contract with Geffen after having performed only 12 gigs as a group. This might be a bit of an apocryphal tall tale as some reporting contends that Salt’s deal with Geffen was in place before their SX appearance. Still, the band’s performance led to a major label bidding war that underscored the music industry’s growing appetite for alt-rock, as well as its appetite for all things SXSW.
By 2000, major labels were at the peak of their signing frenzy. This was the year John Mayer was signed to Columbia following a performance at SXSW. Just a few years later in 2004, James Blunt was signed to producer and artist Linda Perry’s new label after she saw him perform “You’re Beautiful.”
World events played a role in SX’s growing cultural credo as well. The September 11th Attacks in New York effectively dwindled New York festival CMJ’s good times aura, leaving a power vacuum that SX quickly filled.
Yet not all creative hubs can remain “innocent” forever. An amusing 2005 MTV clip describes Austin as a “college town with a bohemian vibe.” Austin’s transformation into a tech industry capital would coincide with SXSW’s evolution toward entertainment industry stamping ground.
In 2008, Mark Zuckerberg delivered a keynote speech on Facebook, cementing the festival’s technology credentials. The festival’s association with technology would only skyrocket from there, along with the festival’s size. In 2016, President Barack Obama spoke about the importance of regulating the internet. This was a few years after the number of musical performers at SX broke another watershed, reaching 2,098 in 2011. By 2019, nearly half a million people attended SXSW annually.
The COVID-19 pandemic was nearly fatal to SXSW. Though SX survived the turmoil that followed lockdowns and uncertainty, the moment proved to be another turning point for the festival. In 2021, Penske Media Companies, headed by billionaire Jay Penske, purchased a controlling stake in SXSW. Jay, the son of transportation mogul Roger Penske, has been gobbling up legacy media brands steadily over the past half decade, including Variety, Rolling Stone, and Billboard. Not so coincidentally, 2022, the first year of SX’s ownership under PMC, also marked the beginning of a relationship between SX and Billboard, allowing the two brands to cross-pollinate and strengthening SX’s industry importance.
Though Jay Penske’s top-down media strategy might make it seem like he’s pissing in the wind, his conglomerate approach to media is indicative of a global direction toward vertical integration. In SX’s early days, this whole-cloth mixer of producers and distributors was novel. Yet in the Penske era, it seems commensurate with broader trends. Austin might no longer be the college town with a bohemian vibe that MTV News boasted of in 2005, yet the annual music, film, and media technologies festival might be more important than ever. With that in mind, let’s take a look at what’s going on this year, and what to keep an eye out for.
Film
This year’s film and television category at SXSW shows some star-studded promise, as well as exciting debuts by up-and-coming filmmakers.
Michael Showalter’s The Idea of You will have its world premiere at the Paramount Theater on March 16th. The film for Amazon Prime, based on the novel of the same name, stars Anne Hathaway as Sophie, a divorced mother who begins a relationship with boy band sensation Hayes Campbell (played by Bottoms‘s Nicholas Galitzine), 14 years her junior. If Hathaway is reaching her Joan Crawford reigning-queen era with films like Eileen and The Witches, a film about her seducing a handsome fool feels perfectly in line. While it remains to be seen whether The Idea of You amounts to anything more than high-budget Harry Styles-fan fiction, you can rest assured that I’ll be watching it.
Perhaps the most highly anticipated film premiering at SXSW this year is Alex Garland’s Civil War. The Annihilation and Ex Machina director has upped the stakes with a bone-chilling tale of domestic insurgence that leads to…roll credits. While the trailer has been praised and derided in equal regard for its depictions of an event that feels likelier by the day, the film’s debut is sure to be a marquee event for the festival. The film will also screen at the Paramount Theater on March 14th, with star Kirsten Dunst in attendance.
One of the many works from up and coming filmmakers debuting at SXSW this year is We Strangers. The first-time feature by writer-director Anu Valia tells the story of Rayelle, a housekeeper whose lie to one of her clients snowballs into a horror-comedy of errors. Incorporating story elements as eclectic as Billy Wilder’s The Apartment and Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite, We Strangers will certainly cause some word-of-mouth.
Another potential sensation is We Were Dangerous, a tale of feminine rage from New Zealand writer-director Josephine Stewart Te-Whiu. Forced into remote isolation in 1950’s New Zealand, three girls must survive the increasingly cruel and terrifying punishments of their reform school overseers. Bound to be riveting, We Were Dangerous boasts an executive producer credit from Thor: Ragnarok and JoJo Rabbit auteur Taika Waititi.
From the mind of SNL cast-member and (more importantly) Good Neighbor comedy troupe-member Kyle Mooney comes Y2K. Starring Rachel Zegler, the talented one of the main pairing from Spielberg’s West Side Story, Y2K tells the zany period-piece of a group of teenagers who find themselves in a doomsday scenario on New Year’s Eve, 1999. While I can’t guarantee Y2K will be revelatory, I’m sure it’ll at least be fun. Y2K will have its only screening on March 9th at the Paramount Theater.
Fashion
With all the events under the Austin sun, you might be wondering what to wear at SXSW this year. While you’ll always want to make sure you have a jacket and long pants for any unexpected late-winter drops in temperature, there does seem to be a fashion-first vibe at SXSW this year. After all, an overwhelming number of the musical acts neatly fall into the exploding post-punk scene (more on that below.) Therefore, you might want to go as 90s-00’s as you can. From dirty band tees, studded belts and bracelets to leather and torn denim, you can rest assured you’ll fit right in with the exuberance displayed on stage.
Music
The legacy of Bikini Kill looms large this year, as a wave of American and international post-punk artists round out an exciting bill that would’ve made any 90’s SXSW act happy. Here are some of the standouts…
From London, political punk kings Dream Nails delivers rollicking anthems with justice-minded overtones. They’ll be playing the SXSW Day Party at the British Music Embassy at Sheraton on March 13th at 4:30 PM.
Italian lads from a small northern town known for its sock-knitting, Bee Bee Sea infuse their disenfranchised angst with lush shoe-gaze soundscapes. They’re among the more melodically-minded artists I’ve listened to so far on SX’s 2024 lineup, and their “fearsome live reputation” should be on full display at Chess Club at 1 AM on March 13th.
Hailing from Newcastle, Australia, dust concoct a grin-inducing skate-rock vibe. With sun-drenched distorted guitars and resolutely scrappy deliveries from vocalists Justin Teale and Gabriel Stove, dust are experts at knowing when to be generous and when to withhold. “Don’t idolize me,” Stove speak-sings on single “Joy (Guilt).” With any luck, they’ll be needing to spread that message to the audience at Lucille Backyard at 3 PM on March 13th.
BackDrop Cinderella are one of the most prodigious groups I’ve heard on the lineup. Avant-pop-punk wizards, the Tokyo group walk a stylistic tight-rope between virtuosic rock and angsty bubblegum to deliver SXSW something truly singular. I’ll certainly be at their show at the Elysium on March 12 at 1 AM.
On to my New York City creative comrades. The New Yorkers playing SXSW this year truly run the gamut: from the early aughts revival pop of Blaketheman1000 to the lo-fi vintage punk of Gnarcissists.
Strawberry Launch is another New York act playing SX. This Brooklyn outfit blends the indie-pop sound of MUNA with the Brooklyn indie rock rawness of Mary Shelley (also playing SXSW this year.) Strawberry Launch is known not just for their musical prowess, but also their social media savvy. Their slyly self-aware TikTok’s are a real treat that any musician to relate to, and match surprisingly well with their confessional power ballads. They’ll be playing Valhalla on March 16th at 9 PM.
Tami Hart is an artist from New York whose recent EP Thanks For Saying Hi contains some of the most infectious songwriting I’ve heard recently. They’ll be playing the 13th Floor on March 13th at 9:30 PM, and I’m sure it’ll be a standout of the Don Giovanni Records Showcase.
Oh, and then there’s Tempers. The Dark Wave/pop project of New York-based singer-songwriter Jasmine Golestaneh, Tempers combines the dance world with the afterworld to create some of the most eerily captivating pop songs of the decade. The electronic group open for Desire at Elysium on March 13th at 11 PM. Rumor also has it that their guitarist is a multi-faceted master of all trades who writes exceedingly well. I’ve never heard them get high marks for brevity, though…
So, what is SXSW known for? Are you going to SXSW this year? What/who are you excited to see? Leave a comment below!
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