Mastodon Announce SXSW Performance

Metal has been on the decline at SXSW in recent years, and this year’s showing is shaping up to be equally so-so: there’s the MetalSucks annual “South by South Death” showcase featuring the whole Darkest Hour tour (Tombs, Rivers of Nihil, etc), the Metal Injection showcase featuring Carpenter Brut and GosT, and several others that’ve been chronicled well by No Control Radio. It’s a decent enough list but far from the glut of metal shows we had every year from approximately 2010 through 2014.

But today we got word of another metal band heading down to Austin next week, and it’s a big one: the mighty Mastodon! The Atlanta foursome will be appearing at the Empire on E. 7th St just off Red River as part of the “Mazda Studios” series between March 13 and 17. The exact date of their performance hasn’t been announced yet, but an invite that went out today listed their name alongside Beach Slang, Sleigh Bells and a shitload on non-metal acts I haven’t heard of as appearing at the venue over that five-day stretch. To be clear, no other bands even approaching metal are listed… but that isn’t especially odd, seeing as Mastodon are one of those bands that sometimes appeal to normies.

If Mastodon are heading down for the Mazda Studios show, there’s a good chance they’ll be making the most of their trip by scheduling other gigs, too, either officially SXSW-sanctioned gigs or non-official parties. We shall see.

More info and RSVP here.