Austin Report: Migas + FingaarBangaar

One of the perks of visiting Austin was meeting my friend Jason and his family. Jason used to play in a band called Starfish for whom I booked a European tour in the late 90s. As soon as I knew I was going to visit Austin Jason invited me to the gig of one of his current bands, Migas, who apparently only play once a year. What a great coincidence!


The attendance at the gig wasn't great. There were too many shows on that night. The Meatmen were playing next door, which was fun because both gigs were outdoors and when one band would finish a song, you could always here the other one in the background.


Migas basically play metal influenced rock and use The Fucking Champs as a reference. I was strongly reminded of Helmet and my infatuation with their album Betty. Quite obviously, all three guys in Migas play well technically and the energy was there, too. For me, the whole metal feel was also enhanced by a girl in leggings dancing very sexy in front of the stage, waving her long locks around. Ow baby!


The last act of the evening was a band called FingaarBangaar who are greatly influenced by Indian music. If you can, I recommend that you check them out by all means. I was highly impressed by this group of people and their large range of instruments with which they played psychedelic, slightly ambient yet very rhythmic sounds. 


The small crowd loved it and danced under the open sky. Outside the fence people passed and watched. I wanted stay the night but had to catch my plane in the morning. I hope they make it to Berlin some day so I can watch them again and for longer.