When your first gig outside of a 50-mile radius is the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, I guess you could say that’s a big deal. Because, well, SXSW is a big deal.
When you’re the only other Nebraska band playing outside of Bright Eyes, that is also a big deal. (Lincoln band Vibenhai will also be in Austin for a show Saturday, March 19 as a part of the ATX Wildfire Reggae & Arts Festival.)
The guys of Satchel Grande are just taking it as it comes. The nine musicians that make up this funk rock band haven’t strayed out of their usual Monday night practices to prepare for their festival set.
“We’re very familiar with the material,” Satchel head Chris Klemmensen says, “so it’s just a matter of maintaining our standard practice schedule and tightening the screws on things.”
There are also other Satchel standards, like tie-attire and aviator shades — all authenticated with the 70s ‘stache and institutionalized at the big-band performances. They're supplemented with trumpet, sax and many embodiments of percussion — guitars, bass, keys, of course, also included.
For Klemmensen — the lead vocalist, keyboardist, songwriter and all-around maestro — the band and any sort of festival-magnitude opportunity have been a long time coming.
“We played Ribfest once, I don’t know where that compares,” jokes keyboard/percussion/vocalist Andy Kammerer of a gig in Council Bluffs.
Before Satchel Grande formed in 2006, Klemmensen put together the album Plus One to convince his friends to turn his vision into a live band and the white-boy funk that it is today.
Other than accommodating the trip itself, the hardest part has been cutting down their normal two-hour groove set to 40 minutes, Klemmensen says.
After three weeks, 12 drafts of setlists and countless worried text messages at weird hours to bandmates, he’s got it figured out.
The situation is very comparable to putting together a follow-up to last year’s Dial ‘M’ For Moustache LP.
“Cutting down 25 songs to 10 is also a pain in the ass,” Klemmensen says.
But the guys are less consumed by their next release, and more with the 14-hour drive in a 15-passenger van. They plan to leave 8 a.m. Tuesday, March 15 and drive straight through to make their 8 p.m. show in Austin the following day. So maybe there won't be so many drinks for the guys the night before at their Waiting Room send-off show.
The Reader picked Satchel Grande for an all-proceeds-inclusive show Monday, March 14 at 8 p.m. The guys will be playing their SXSW set, followed by prize give-aways and more songs. For just $5 at the door, you can help the band make it to Austin, so they can really show ‘em how Nebraskans get down.
Klemmensen and Kammerer have more to say about the SXSW gig, including what’s being packed and who they’ve got on speed dial if they get stranded in Austin. Also, the guys play the SXSW trivia game: 'Is it a Band or Venue'?
