SXSWORLD

Here We Have Idaho: Best of Boise's Homegrown Bands at SXSW by Jason Cohen W known musical regions of the country (and the rest of the world) has always been a big part of SXSW. Th e Boise showcase features some of the city's better known bands, including artists who have already been touring and recording for some time. In addition to Built to Spill and Finn Riggins, there is rising indie star (and Pitchfork favorite) Youth Lagoon, as well as Le Fleur, Hillfolk Noir and the Brett Netson Band (a relatively new outfi t from the Built to Spill guitarist and former leader of seminal local '80s band, Caustic Resin). And there's plenty more where that came from."Th ere's a lot of bands here in Boise," says Martsch. "It was kind of hard to narrow it down to only six." "I remember being on tour and someone asked us, 'Dude, what's it like coming from a musically devoid state?,' '' says Gilbert. "We just kind of laughed and said, 'Well, there's lots of music. Th ere's hardly any music industry.' " Th anks to the globe-shrinking eff ect of the Internet, that is starting to change. No longer do Boise bands (or artists, or software engineers) have to leave home for Seattle or some other city if they want to do their thing. "I did it," says Martsch, whose fi rst well-known band, Treepeople, was part of Seattle's pre-grunge scene. "But more and more I think everyone feels you can do whatever you need to do wherever you are. "It's been really cool to see more and more kids be like, 'yeah, why would I move to Portland?' Th ere's so much going on here. You can pursue your art and music, and we have a really clean river and mountains." And once people have made that choice to stay, they are trying their hands at independent promotion, booking or running a label like Barn Owl, the cooperative eff ort that Hillfolk Noir records for. Last year Boise also got KRBX, its fi rst free-form community radio station since 1985 (when Boise State's station went to NPR programming), where Martsch, Hetson and Gilbert all do shows. "We were hanging out with friends in bands from Ireland," singer/keyboardist Eric Gilbert remembers. "And I thought, 'Th ere are all these (foreign) country showcases. Why not Idaho?' " Since Gilbert also books a lot of shows (and tours) himself, he took matters into his own hands, teaming up with Doug Martsch of Built to Spill to assemble SXSW 2012's Idaho showcase. Th e show will off er a snapshot of a place that has always had the music, but not the ability for people to discover it. Playing outside of the west and northwest regions can be fi nancially prohibitive for locals, while bigger touring bands en route to Salt Lake from Seattle will either just drive through, or end up playing on a Monday night, leading to poor attendance which deters them from wanting to return. "It's a scene that's been overlooked for a long time because we're small, and we're Idaho," says Gilbert. Of course, providing that kind of exposure to other lesser- hen the Boise-based band Finn Riggins played SXSW in 2010, it was the only band from Idaho with an offi cial showcase. 44 SXSW ORLD / FEBRUAR Y 2012 Built to Spill Finn Riggins Youth Lagoon Francisco, and moving back from Portland, because it's cheaper to live here." He knows the benefi t of this fi rsthand as someone who is in a band that has toured as many as 200 days a year, books tours and shows, works a part-time job and has now started the SXSW-like multi-day, multi-venue Tree Fort Music Festival. Th is late March event is designed in part to give bands making their way back to the northwest from Austin a paying gig on the way home (and is a benefi t for KRBX). Of Montreal, Blitzen Trapper and Typhoon are among the headliners, along with Built to Spill. Martsch, of course, has long been the national face of Boise's music scene, and probably the local face as well. "He's taken us on tour a few times, and he goes to a lot of local shows when he's at home," says Gilbert, who still remembers the fi rst time Martsch came to a Finn Riggins show and even bought some merch. "He's just a kind soul and he has genuine interest in supporting local music." Now that mantle of national notoriety is falling to Trevor Powers of On top of that, says Gilbert, "People are moving back from San Youth Lagoon, who has to miss the Tree Fort Festival to continue with his fi rst big national tour. Instead, he played the tour's local kick-off show in January. "He's been really cool at acknowledging that he's coming from a scene," says Gilbert. "He seems to be handling (Youth Lagoon's) success well, and his graciousness is genuine. At the very least, we defi nitely breed them really nice here in Idaho." ■ Find out more details about the Idaho Showcase and other SXSW Music events at sxsw.com/music. BOBBY MCHUGH COURTESY OF ARTIST KELLY BROICH

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