Welcome to the first installment of our Presskit.to Bus Session videos from SXSW 2012! So yeah, it’s evident in the title that something is a little different about this round of IAtv Sessions—they took place on a bus! For those unaware, we picked up a BandWagon tour bus in Indiana and drove it to Austin for South by. It was our living quarters, a billboard for our new Presskit.to web app, and our mobile IAtv studio. We setup shop in a prime location across from Bandpage HQ on 7th and Sabine and hosted bands from around the world for Bus Sessions. As always, a big thanks to the generous tour support from Shure and the always stellar production services of Strewnshank Productions. These sessions wouldn't be possible without their help! Over the course of 3 days we recorded Bus Sessions with 13 bands, and probably used a BandWagon like it’s never been used before!
We were pretty pumped to be able to collaborate with some Boston friends while down south, one example of which can be seen in this video of Herra Terra playing their new tune “Buried Youth.” The guys had a pretty successful SXSW all in all, highlights including hanging out at various panels at the convention center, seeing Kimbra perform in all of her glory, playing an official showcase at Valhalla and with Bad Rabbits at the final Beauty Bar show to round out their week on Sunday.
You’ll notice pretty quickly that this video was not shot with musicians playing a stripped down tune as is the case in the rest of our Bus Sessions. What started as a joke about an acoustic Herra Terra shoot consisting of the band drinking whiskey and breaking things on the bus quickly turned into us realizing that we could probably squeeze Herra Terra’s entire live rig and light show into the bus. The temptation to have a band play totally electric with all gadgets plugged in grew irresistible in this case, and Strewnshank's Crickie Thomas made it happen. It was also our only session with a live audience. With five or six people crammed into our smelly bunks and countless more craining their necks on the street as they walked past, it was a pretty awesome experience.
Watch the guys play “Buried Youth” in the video above, and stay tuned throughout the rest of month for more Bus Session vids from South by Southwest 2012!
