This is the first of a few posts about my experience at South By Southwest in Austin.

I saw a bunch of different bands at SXSW. Every make, model, genre, and permutation of what could be concievably be called a “band”. Everything from polished radio-rock outfits to some guys hurriedly set up in the middle of the street with battery-powered amps, whatever your flavor is, it’s at SXSW.

Some of the bands did a great job at marketing themselves to the crowds, but those were very few and far between. Most made some critical mistakes that I wanted to outline. If your band ever gets the chance to play a festival-type gig, keep these things in mind.

1. Say Your Name! Say It! – If you don’t do anything else, do this. When you’re playing, say your band’s name every chance you get. More often than not, you’re only getting a person’s attention for 2, MAYBE three songs at the most. I saw at least 10 bands that I had no idea who they were because they NEVER SAID ANYTHING. (This means you, Frank and Derol!)

2. Let Me Leave With Something More Than A Memory – Send people away with something small, but that you’ll be remembered by easily. Sure, demo CDs are great, but not for music festival situations. I’ve already got my hands full updating Foursquare and texting people to find out where the next stop is, so it needs to be something I can fit in my pocket. If you’re a member of the Band Management Guide mailing list, I’ve got some ideas coming up for you soon that will catch people’s attention when it comes to handouts.

3. Don’t Be A Diva – You aren’t special. Everyone else is in line to see bands millions of times bigger than you, so be thankful and appreciative for the people who are listening…even if they’re just here for the free Shiner. You never know who might be in the crowd. Someone’s cousin/brother/neighbor might be that connection you need or that fanatic fan that gets you noticed. Before and after (especially after) your set, get out there and talk to people. Have a couple of friends who can take down your equipment, and get out and start squeezing some palms. Thank people for staying to listen to you, engage them in conversation, and most of all, mean it.

Do these three things, and I can almost guarantee you will be remembered by those who catch your show. There is no one better to sell yourself than YOU! Get out there and do it!

This is one of those moments that, as a music journalist, I’ve been personally waiting on for a long time.

I’ve known the guys in CastleLights on a personal level for a while now, and have been a fan of various incarnations of bands that they’ve been in (Leeland and The Blinding, among others). So, when I found out that Aaron Eaves and Jeremiah Wood (a founding member of Leeland) were working together on this project, I knew that it would be something that would blow up in a big way for them.

And, in this line of thought, I’m not alone:

Everyone needs to follow CastleLights. They’re going to be huge! – Stephen Christian, Anberlin

Vocalist Tyler Susaras enlivens you with images of space and the fantastic, deftly drawing parallels to the realm of everyday experience. Soaring choruses collide with multifaceted harmonies in songs that are both driving and iridescent, with melodies that are memorable in their pop spirit. As guitarists, Wood and Susuras each bring a distinctive energy to their songs, playing off of one another in a way that, when coupled with the hard-hitting percussion by Grady Saxman and Aaron Eaves’s heavy basslines, pushes each song into new terrain of velocity and tone. Personally, I’ve found there to be a very European glimmer to the tracks I’ve heard. You can tell they are fans of stadium bands like Coldplay, Muse, and U2, but have kept the sound from being overly pretentious.

Recently, the guys have gotten the opportunity to co-write with some major players in the industry. Knowing (and hearing) the pedigree of songwriting and arrangement this band has, along with help from guys like Joshua Moore (Caedmon’s Call/Derek Webb), and Stephen Christian (Anberlin), it’s going to be one of those albums that gets talked about before it ever gets on the store shelves.

In the near future, you can catch CastleLights at the legendary South By Southwest music week, in a showcase hosted by Connect The Dots (www.ctheds.com) on March 18th, and then they’ll be taking the stage with a recent favorite of mine, Barcelona, in Denton, TX at Andy’s on March 20th.

To finish, I’ll leave you with two singles that, until today, have been previously unreleased. You heard it here first, folks.

Saint Era:

Paint The Stars:

The Dears is an indie rock band which formed in 1995 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The band consists of Murray Lightburn (vocals, guitar), Natalia Yanchak (vocals, keyboards), Jason Kent (guitar, vocals), Christopher McCarron (guitar), Lisa Smith (bass), Laura Willis (keyboards, vocals) and Yann Geoffroy (drums). Lightburn and Yanchak are the only original members remaining in the band.

The indie band formed in 1995 and released their first album, End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story, in 2000. Their orchestral, dark pop sound and dramatic live shows cemented The Dears at the foundation of the then-emerging Canadian indie rock renaissance. In 2001 and 2002, they released two independant albums, EPs Orchestral Pop Noir Romantique and Protest, respectively, as well as a collection of unreleased songs, Nor the Dahlias. In 2003 they released their second full-length album No Cities Left, and a string of highly anticipated shows at SXSW ’04 launched their international career.

The latest album, Missiles, was released on October 20, 2008 on Dangerbird Records.