UNH indie rock band, Goodman Brown, just recently returned from a tour to South by Southwest promoting their new album Moon Digby. When interviewed, they say they learned a lot of lessons from the tour. Some lessons included that in Texas, the Mexican food is going to be better than the Chinese food, a Waffle House is good anywhere, and that when you book a show in the south it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll have a PA waiting for you. They also learned from a local named JuBee that if you drink the water in Macon, Georgia you’ll never leave Macon, Georgia, and that South by Southwest might be the mustachioed hipster capital of the world.
The band’s road trip to South by Southwest began with a car-breakdown right over the Connecticut border. “We were driving to New Jersey headed towards the Tap and all of a sudden ‘bam!’ The check engine light goes on,” guitarist Peter Bistis described. Unwilling to cancel their gig in Washington D.C. the next night, the band drove a borrowed car to the district to play the show and immediately headed back up to NY to retrieve the repaired van. After an 11:00 p.m. convenience store run, it was off to drive through the night to reach Macon, GA by the next day. “It was awesome,” bassist Luke Saenz recalled, “We were listening to Best Coast as the sun was rising in North Carolina. Then we went to cracker barrel at like 6:00 a.m.”
Following a stop in Florida, to play for some spring breakers and a stop in New Orleans for lessons in beignets and voodoo, they reached Austin, TX for South by Southwest. With time before their showcase, the band bought mini amplifiers and played in the streets. They also were able to catch a couple of other cool artists at the festival. “We saw this one rapper there, Theophilus London, who threw money on the crowd during his set; we were thinking maybe we should incorporate that into our live show.”
On a shuttle from downtown Austin to where the band was staying, they even met a UNH graduate named Greg. “He works for the planetary group, and we were talking to him about doing PR for our next tour.”
After this successful tour, the band is obviously antsy to get back on the road. “Coming back here after being on the road,” Luke said upon his return to UNH with three midterms waiting for him, “definitely confirms that touring is what I should be doing.”
The band is already booking another tour for this summer and is excited to make it back to South by Southwest for next year. Moon Digby is available for $5 at goodmanbrown.bandcamp.com
