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The Skull and Weedeater Among Acts That Played Tone Deaf Touring’s Showcase At SXSW.

A little bit of rain didn’t stop SXSW attendees from once again packing the Dirty Dog Bar down on Sixth Street this Friday. While the Metal Sucks showcase was heavy on tech death bands, the Tone Deaf Touring showcase included down tempo acts The Skull and Weedeater. Before those acts took the stage, though, progressive instrumentalists Stinking Lizaveta opened the show. The Philadelphia, Ohio based band has fifteen years of touring American and European audiences. This longevity showed in the trio’s tightness. Their female drummer played hard sticking tightly to the bassist who played an upright bass. The guitarist adeptly traversed his fret board. They received a good response from the small crowd.

The Skull consists of two ex-members of doom legends Trouble. The band takes its name from Trouble’s second album title. In addition to playing songs from last year’s debut “For Those Which Are Asleep” the five-piece played two Trouble songs. Those songs, “At The End of My Daze” and “Psychotic Reaction” were both taken from the 1990 self-titled album. The band opened with diabolic string bends that brought in “Trapped Inside My Mind,” the first track from The Skull’s debut. While many doom metal vocalists follow Ozzy, Eric Wagner’s voice was more in line with Robert Plant. The two guitarists produced massive riffs and created trippy grooves via pedal work. Wagner sat on the side during the last bit of the last song “Psychotic Creation.”

Last year Lazer/Wulf held the distinction for being the band that played when Lady Gaga entered the venue, which was something I missed. Lazer/Wulf’s progressive style and lack of (mostly) vocals makes them a band I probably won’t listen to outside of the venue, but it was fun watching live, especially their drummer. Their drummer played hard and kept the beat on the upswing.

Playing after the down-tempo and mid-paced trappings of The Skull, Lazer/Wulf changed the tempo, which served Melbourne, Australia’s King Parrot just fine. The band was the fastest, most aggressive act of the night. Vocalist Youngy knew how to get the crowd involved in the mosh pit including throwing water at onlookers such as me, calling people out and putting his self into the pit. The band played a furious set of grinding tracks taken from their “Bite Your Head Off” full-length, which was represented in their banner and songs from their upcoming Housecore Records debut “Dead Set.”

Every year a surprise celebrity makes his or her way into a show. Miley Cyrus was one of those celebrities this year, but that wasn’t this show. Our celebrity was not as well known in the pop community but still a celebrity, Bushwick Bill of The Geto Boys. He free styled Geto Boys raps while Weedeater played its first song in such a random fashion. I wondered if Bill was outstaying his welcome on stage, but then he relinquished the mic to Dixie Dave Collins. Collins’ bass and Dave Shepherd’s guitars blared. Shepherd played out of a tall, beat up pink-colored stack, which produced ear-bleeing distortion. Drummer Travis Owen was entertaining. He looked like he was falling out off of his stool when he kicked the cymbal on his left. Weedeater’s volume was undeniable, one of the loudest acts heard all week!