SXSW Preview: CJLO's going live from the fest!

What a weird time to be going to the United States and SXSW. At time of writing, there’s a new tariff on Canadian imports, 51st state stuff is still coming up, and it is not looking good for the North American economy. Things have gotten so wild that the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) pulled out of the festival back in February. Still, we here at CJLO are sticking with it and sending a team down. 

We’ve got a pretty neat plan this time around. We’re planning to do a live broadcast from our hotel at 1 pm EST on March 12th, 13th, and 14th. There, you can catch the CJLO team going over absolutely everything we saw at the festival, and what music and shows you should be on the lookout for in 2025. We are also planning to do tons of interviews with bands, take photos, make some videos, and basically do everything possible to bring you along on our weird journey to Texas.

From me, you can expect to hear a fair bit about the Canadian bands headed down to South By. Despite the fact CIMA isn’t going, I’ve been joking that it will be hard to not see only Canadian bands while I’m down there. I interviewed Toronto-based noise rockers Gloin last week (link to full interview) and we talked about how much they love playing live, so I’m very excited to see what they’ve cooked up. It should be a good preview of their new album dropping on March 28th and their Montreal show on April 26th. I also chatted with Alix Fernz (link to full interview) and Karsyn from Truck Violence (link to full interview) who will both be headed to the fest. They’re both planning to drop new albums later in the year and I’m looking forward to seeing how new music has changed two of Montreal’s most electrifying live performances. 

There’s too many good Canadian artists to count honestly. Annie-Claude Deschênes will be there and her 2024 album LES MANIÈRES DE TABLE was one of my favourites of last year. Lo-fi, bedroom rockers knitting are also making the trip too. They just dropped a new single and you can check out their interview with our head music director Aviva here (link to full interview).

All that being said, I do have plans to see artists that don’t often have Montreal shows. My week’s going to be a shoegaze and post-punk marathon with plans to see Blood Club, UNIVERSITY, Shallowater, Her New Knife, Wynona Bleach, Exotic Fruitica, MELLT, Taxidermists, MX LONELY, Paris death Hilton, PAL, Nara’s Room, and shower curtain.

Along the way I want to look at some of the more experimental and weird acts coming to South By. Milkweed has got this weird fusion of folk with electroacoustic production which will be interesting live. Japan’s SAI is heavily influenced by Riot Grrrl, hardcore punk, and emo, and brings that into the hip-hop genre. Ireland-based M(h)aol’s post-punk feminist edge jumps out at the listener and I’ve heard it’s even more incredible live. 

That’s just the plan though. Things famously end up happening spontaneously at SXSW and there’s a bunch of bands that play either before we get there or after we leave who I’d love to see live. But, no matter what I do end up seeing, you can trust that you’ll hear all about it on CJLO! So, catch the live streams from the festival on the 12th, 13th, and 14th at 1 pm EST, follow us on Instagram @cjlomtl, and keep coming back here to cjlo.com for more!

Cam McIntyre is CJLO’s program director. He is also the host of Shaking the Habitual, on air Tuesdays at 1 pm.