Day 2:
As we walked around in the presence of media outlets like Rolling Stone and Fuse, Tim and Steve, armed with a mobile digital audio recorder, and me and Jordan, armed with a camera and notepad, began schmoozing. Our first interaction was with Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown from Nashville. Their new album, From the Sandcastle, was released Sept. 20 and the guys couldn’t have been more excited about it.
Next up we spoke to the guys from The Kingston Springs, also of Nashville. In what turned out to be less of an interview and more of a chat with new friends, it was revealed that, though these guys were young and exuberant, naïveté was not a factor; these guys clearly came across like they fit along side bands such as Fleet Foxes and Arcade Fire. Discussing the events of the weekend with them, throughout, proved that being fans doesn’t mean you can’t be peers. Their current EP, The Vacation Time EP, (check out “Lato and Juti”) is available on iTunes as they record their album, due out in early 2012.
As Young the Giant played on the nearby Google+ stage, we got another great surprise in the form of rapper WAX. Tim and Steve quickly became fans while chatting him up for what seemed like an hour, and coerced him into a freestyle accompanied by Tim’s less-than-stellar beat-boxing. WAX talked about his love of performing, the journeys that it’s recently taken him on with his manager Brian Washington, and his mixtape, Scrublife, which is filled with tongue-twisting rhymes, radio-ready hooks, wit and a few surprises.
The rest of the night consisted of Fitz and the Tantrums, TV on the Radio and the incomparable Stevie Wonder. (Stevie won in a Facebook poll I offered up shortly before the set, narrowly edging out My Morning Jacket.)
Photo by Matt Ellis
Photo by Jack Edinger
