SXSW Sneak Peek: Choo Choo

Choo Choo, from Bern, Switzerland, will be heading down to SXSW not only for their first officially showcase but also for their first live gigs in the United States. I met this band through their twitter and they were one of the bands I selected to watch from the massive list of SXSW showcased bands.

Lead singer and guitarist, Dan Choo took some time to answer some quick questions I emailed him.

Since this is your first year to attend SXSW, what are your thoughts and expectations of the week?

Dan: Never been to SXSW until now, but read and heard so many good things about it either in blogs and magazines or from befriended bands and people in the music Industry. We are expecting a crazy week full of music, fun and making friends. We will play many daytime parties and are generally trying to get the most out of this week.

With the large number of applicants that apply to play for the festival, what do you think made your band stand out above the rest to be selected?

Dan: There is simply no other band around playing STEAM POWERED GARAGE POP! We have our own Genre and I'm sure SXSW cannot miss out this one.

What preparation have you taken for the upcoming showcase? New songs? New merchandise?

Dan: Nothing special, really, since we released our debut album in Switzerland, we’ve constantly been playing live. We will just rock out as we always do. Of course we’re going to play new songs too, but we do that at every show. A big challenge will be to cut our set down to 30 minutes only, as this is the length of sets at most parties. But I like the idea of playing only 30 short sweet minutes. You need to reduce to the essential. That's what we try with every song.

Choo Choo will be playing a lot of shows during the festival so if you miss an opportunity to catch them live, it will be your fault:
03/17/2009 Red Scoot Inn 11 p.m.
03/18/2009 Trailer Space Records 3:00 p.m.
03/19/2009 BD Riley's 9 p.m. (Official Showcase)
03/19/2009 Space12 3:00 p.m.
03/20/2009 Breakaway Records 2:30 p.m.
03/20/2009 Flipnotics @ Barton Springs 12:00 a.m.
03/21/2009 Rockin' Tomato 2:00 p.m.
03/21/2009 College Houses Cooperatives 10:00 p.m.

YouTube video of “A Little Wiser Now”. Scroll after the video to download a free mp3 from the band!



Download: Choo Choo “A Little Wiser Now” (just click the link to box.net website)

Website: http://www.choochootheband.com
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/choochootheband

Stay tuned during the week of SXSW where I will actually meet the musicians in person and do a more in-depth interview of the band.