Chicago Bands Headed Southbound

By Scott Smith on Feb 21, 2006 5:51PM

Attention music snobs: if your parents have been after you to come out to the ‘burbs for a visit, may we suggest the third week of March? The final roster for South by Southwest’s music conference is out, and since most of your favorite bands will be out of town at that time, Chicagoist thinks it’ll be a good time to bring home some laundry.

The full list of Chicago bands is here. We noticed a few groups that were initially confirmed aren’t on the schedule now (Pit Er Pat, Califone). A few others have been added recently like Ambulette, John Langford and Marty Casey and Lovehammers.

Looking over this list, we’re seeing bands that fall into three categories: establishing their name, rebuilding a buzz and cementing their reputation. Some bands like Sybris, Office, and Owen are making their first appearances at SXSW, while others are capitalizing on the momentum they’ve built up over the last year (Head of Femur, Chin Up Chin Up, Healthy White Baby).

Chicagoist is particularly interested to see how SXSW treats The Changes. A hype-heavy appearance at Lollapalooza last year, a well-received residency at Schuba’s, and some high-profile opening slots on tour with Ted Leo all seemed to point to big deals in the works. After some shuffling behind the scenes, they’ve landed at Missouri indie label Drama Club Records where they’ll be its inaugural release. The Changes seem to have created a tall hill to climb so a great set at SXSW seems crucial at this point.

We’re sure they’ll be more announcements of non-SXSW shows happening in Austin that week so we’ll be on the lookout for those as well as Chicago label showcases like this one from Bloodshot Records (second item).