Rock the South
March 17th, 2002
Publication: Oakland Press

By GARY GRAFF AUSTIN, Texas - "We came a long way for this one night," Vinnie Dombroski of Detroit country-rockers the Orbitsuns told the crowd before him at the District Bar & Grill last Wednesday night. "We want to feel at home." And Detroit didn't take long to make Austin its home during the 16th annual South By Southwest music festival and conference, which wraps up today. The second Detroit Future Platinum showcase, which took place on the fete's opening night, put four bands from the metro area on stage at the District and served notice that Detroit was unquestionably in the house for the entire five-day run of the influential gathering. And they weren't alone, as the festival's lineup was brimming with other Detroit acts including Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise, Chrome Flies, Easy Action, Outrageous Cherry, the Von Vondies and the Waxwings. "We're lucky," said Dana Forrester of Ferndale's Heckler Entertainment publicity and management company, which co-produced Detroit Future Platinum - featuring the Howling Diablos, the Brothers Groove, Life of Crime and Robb Roy in addition to the Orbitsuns - with partner Erica Koltonow's Royal Oak-based Aural Pleasure Records and Management. The two women, who staged the first Detroit Future Platinum showcase at last year's SXSW, pitched the package to conference officials in September and received approval in January. "The White Stripes-Kid Rock-Eminem thing has helped us sell the importance of having the Detroit sound at South By Southwest," Forrester said. "You don't see a showcase called Dallas Future Platinum or anything like that, do you?" And with the above artists keeping Detroit high on the international music radar, industry folk were anxious to check out anything branded with the city's name. Lisa Vinciquerra, a senior program coordinator at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, was in the District's back room talking to Koltonow, Forrester and the musicians about staging an April 20 Detroit night at the music shrine. Meanwhile, David Boxenbaum of New York's Octone Records, was among the talent scouts drifting in and out of the showcase to check out the acts. “I take very seriously any band coming out of Detroit these days," he said. "There are just a lot of cool bands in Detroit, and cool bands begat more cool bands. I think people perceive Detroit as being hip-hop and R&B, but there are a lot of good rock bands there now, too." Detroit Future Platinum showed that Detroit's musical depth goes beyond those genres as well. While Robb Roy waved the banner for well-crafted rock, both the Orbitsuns - led by Sponge singer Dombroski - and Life of Crime offered energetic, country-oriented music. The Diablos delivered a punchy set of their distinctive rock-funk-blues melange, while the Brothers Groove played a blistering funk-jazz fusion. "I like not having one sound," Boxenbaum noted. "Bands shouldn't sound like each other just because they come from the same scene." That wasn't news to Outrageous Cherry leader Matt Smith, who turned up at Detroit Future Platinum to support his homeboys. “I felt I was going to hear something good," he said, "or I wouldn't have come to see bands I could see in Detroit." SXSW provided another highlight for the Brothers Groove's burgeoning career when Blues Traveler frontman John Popper joined the quartet onstage for a lengthy rendition of Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised." Clued to the band by his keyboardist, Ben Wilson, a Detroit native, Popper brought his case of harmonicas and genuinely enjoyed his jam with the group. "What do you think about this band?" he shouted to the crowd after finishing his performance. "These guys ... rock!" The visit was a highlight for the band. “It was like a dream kind of thing, very surreal," a grinning Brothers Groove frontman Chris Codish said after the set. "Having him sit in was an amazing coup." As he spoke, Koltonow, whose horoscope predicted a "cosmic oomph" on March 13, rolled back into the bar after thanking Popper for his generosity. “Now I have to go change, 'cause I peed in my pants!" she exclaimed in excitement. Codish noted that the whole SXSW experience went well for his band, starting with their departure from Detroit Metro Airport on Tuesday, when two teenage girls asked for their autographs - though they initially mistook the Brothers Groove for the rock band Weezer. During the flight to Austin, they befriended a stewardess who made sure the group had extra drinks. “Everything's going so well," Codish said. "It's weird, like we're on top of a wave or something. Everything worked." The trip to SXSW for the Howling Diablos was a bit more dramatic. As the group boarded its flight on Wednesday morning, frontman Martin "Tino" Gross was stopped for a random body check. “It was the boots," Gross said, pointing to his steel-tipped footwear. "I guess they made me look like an enemy of the people." Problem was, while Gross was being checked the rest of the passengers were boarded and the door to the aircraft was shut. “I'm going, 'That's my plane right here,' and they're going, 'Sorry. Too bad,' " Gross recalled. Gross used his cell phone to call drummer Jerome Day, who'd inadvertently left his mobile phone power on. The other Diablos heard it ringing from Day's carry-on bag in the overhead compartment and saxophonist Johnny Evans went to the pilot to plead Gross's case. “(The pilot) was a former musician," Evans said "He called the gate and told them, 'I'll take responsibility for this. We've got to get this guy on the plane.' So they opened the door again and Tino got on. “What a beautiful way to start the day, though; there's this whole plane loaded with musicians - us, the Orbitsuns - and I'm negotiating with the pilot." While the ultimate goals of SXSW - label deals, distribution, increased profile - may not have been achieved overnight by any of the Detroit bands in Austin, the Future Platinum event did achieve Forrester's desire to "bring the fabulous Detroit sound to the world and to the music industry. I'm proud." But some were just tired. As the evening wound to a close, Howling Diablos guitarist Jeff Grand could be found sleeping upright against the District's jukebox, enjoying some rest after an arduous but successful trip.