Holy Shit! What else can be said about the SXSW Music Festival in Austin TX?  WOW!! The Mental Records team has just dragged its collective ass back into the office today and is attempting to recover from 7 days of high spirits and hellaciously great music. There were several major highlights of the week - ahhh hell, now that I really think about it about half a dozen things that stick out from the fog of my memory. But the main one being the G.G. ELVIS showcase at the RED 7 club, once again leaving all that witnessed the unforgettable show somewhere between mortified (What did he do with that drumstick?!?!) and completely blown away by the sheer intensity, leaving its unwary audience, undoubtedly,  fans for life. G.G Elvis took the stage in the final slot of the evening, sometime after 1 am, and blew the proverbial doors off the place. And Austin will never be the same.

After the show the cadre of new die hard fans lined up in droves to get their hands on the limited pre-release copies of the controversial “Back From the Dead” CD/DVD combo disc that are currently available exclusively at their live shows only. 

The previous night the Mental crew took in 2 shows that were nothing short of mind blowing. First was the reemergence of the legendary “MEATMEN”, yep that's right the fucking MEATMEN, featuring the illimitable musical madman TESCO V. The band played all their good ol’ classics including “Tooling For Anus”, “Meatmen Stomp”, “One Down, Three To Go” and more. Later that night we stumbled our way over to the Viper Room @ The Orchid to see Helmet…. We don’t much remember what happened after that except our clothes smelled really funny the next morning. Hmmmm....

By day, once we dragged our asses out of bed,  we sat in on several panels that were amazingly insightful and left us with the unmistakable understanding that no one actually knows what the hell the current state of affairs with the Music Industry really is. Things are really transitioning quickly right now, but what we did come away with is that Mental Records has an amazing roster of music and that there are plenty of fans out there who are ready and willing to listen to our music.  Whether by download or the good ol’ fashion purchase of a CD. The panels were highlighted by presenter and legendary drummer Martin Atkins (PIL, NIN, Pigface, Killing Joke) and author of the book “Tour Smart” . This guy is just amazing and incredibly refreshing as well. if you want to get great common sense insight into the music industry, follow this guy’s lead and give his book a read.

So,i f you want to attend an extraordinary music industry event we highly recommend going to SXSW yourself. It’s a journey you won’t soon forget....even though we can’t quite remember what happened over a particular 12 hour period or so.