March 1987 saw the first edition of SXSW take place in Austin, Texas. As it has expanded so has the unofficial side of the festival. Home to the University of Texas, Austin has a year round thriving live music scene across all genres and so it was perhaps inevitable that the city would take the opportunity to provide an unaffiliated platform for artists to perform. This has grown over the years alongside the official festival.
Lazarus Brewery is one such venue, the much beloved home of Music for Listeners Day Parties during SXSW. Michael Thomas started Music For Listeners radio show in August 1999 after eight years of regular and fill-in work at the radio station KRTU 91.7 FM based in San Antonio, Texas. Being a fan of John Peel‘s radio show since the early 90s, it was always a goal of Michael’s to have a show where he could break format barriers and play whatever sounded good. From Brian Eno to Beethoven to the Buena Vista Social Club, and perhaps some Britpop, you’ll never know what your ears will hear.
When Michael joined KRTU in 1991, the station had the format of classical and jazz, but in order to best serve a missing radio format in San Antonio it was decided in the summer 1999 to change the format of KRTU to jazz during the day and college free form overnight. Music For Listeners started during this transition, and it became the first show of its kind on KRTU.
In 2004, after several stints as a co-host, Orlando Torres joined Music For Listeners as a permanent and welcome co-pilot. Orlando and Michael met in the early 90s while Orlando was producing a public access music video show entitled Indievision. Orlando’s original vision for his programme was to spotlight a different band each week through interviews and complete collections of video work. Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Lush, The Verve, James, Frank Black, The Breeders, The Wedding Present and many others made appearances on the show. Orlando also has the distinction of playing Radiohead‘s video for ‘Creep’ before anyone in America, just a week after it premiered in the UK and months before it would be shown on MTV. Now with Orlando as a permanent co-host, Music For Listeners has essentially become a radio version of that video programme.
Credit: Julia Mason
During a break in their duties as hosts during a Music for Listeners Day Party at Lazarus Brewery, I spoke briefly to both Orlando and Michael, beginning by asking them about the quality of the bands they have performing.
I cannot believe the bands that you have on here at Lazarus Bewery during SXSW. How on earth do you manage to book the bands?
It takes a lot of planning. I compare it to Willy Wonka. Each of our slots is like a golden ticket. Everybody wants one but we only give out 30 a year so you have to be very selective on who gets them. We are very selective and we’re very careful on who we book. We’re big fans of John Peel, of course, the great radio DJ legend. He always had all kinds of different genres on, different kinds of bands, so we kind of do the same thing. We like everybody to be different. Not everybody to be the same. We’d like you to come to a show and we want you to see not just one kind of music, but all kinds of music. That’s what it’s all about, and what SXSW should be all about.
And has it changed over the years? When did you start doing the Music for Listeners shows?
Mike’s been doing his radio show for 25 years now. But we’ve been booking shows here (in Austin during SXSW) for 14 or 15 years. We’ve been to two other venues and we’ve been here at Lazarus now for five years.
Is this a bigger venue than what you had previously?
Absolutely.
At the beginning, was it difficult to bring the bands because you wouldn’t have had the reputation?
It wasn’t really. The first year we had Mumford and Sons. The second year we had Bombay Bicycle Club, Django Django so we built a reputation as time has gone on. We’re like a main player now which is great. With the crowd too, we have regulars now, from all over the world. We’ve had people since 2009 come and visit us every year because they just know.
Lazarus Brewery is such a great venue. From somebody coming from overseas, to come here and to have this beautiful setting. There is the brewery but also the courtyard next door with the stage. Looking forward, is it all rosy for Music for Listeners here?
Hopefully, because we don’t make money, we’re just a radio show. We’re not really a profit organisation. And of course our radio station is a non-profit as well. They lend us equipment but they don’t take any money because they’re non-profit. We’ve been doing a fundraiser the last couple of years and that’s been helping to pay for our hotels. We used to drive back and forth from San Antonio every day. That’s two hours every day there and back.
It all seems to work so smoothly here, with the loading in and out and the quick turnaround between sets.
I’ve made some improvements. But that first year we had a $50 pa, barely any monitor systems, we had a case of Lone Star beer for all our bands for one week. That was it. So we’ve definitely grown and it’s gotten better and better as we’ve gone on.
Do you think bands when they come to SXSW look to play unofficial shows too? I don’t think people quite understand that there is this enormous official side if they haven’t been here before.
Yes, absolutely. I’ve actually dubbed it the Rock n’ Roll Olympics! I mean, it’s basically an endurance test. We’ve seen bands come in here and play maybe 20 gigs in a week. And that’s nuts, to do that is a lot. Being an unofficial organisation we’re not really in that, but I was still up until 2am this morning rearranging for today, and we worked it all out and its going ok.
The work that you’re putting in to make this happen is extraordinary. Even keeping the social media up to date during the week is a job in itself.
I (Michael) do a lot on the production side and he (Orlando) does a lot of the social media stuff. We’re a good team in that way. He does a lot of bookings and I get a lot of the equipment. We make sure the bands know what to expect when they come here. We send them really good information in advance.
Credit: Julia Mason
On the day I attended this year Dublin band SPRINTS made a last minute appearance at Lazarus Brewery. The Irish bands had collectively pulled out of the official showcases due to a number of controversial sponsors of SXSW but SPRINTS wanted to honour the support shown to them by Orlando and Michael when they last performed at SXSW in 2022. Lazarus Brewery had never seen anything like it. Fizzing anticipation and a crowd who pushed further to the front the closer it got to showtime. Karla Chubb leans into the crowd and what a response. Their debut album Letter to Self was released in January of this year, and there were fans in Austin who wanted to grab the opportunity to see the band. They did not disappoint.
Orlando and Michael state that John Peel is the reason why they do the radio show and the Day Parties at Lazarus Brewery. A very special place in Austin during SXSW run by true music lovers. I for one will be back at Lazarus Brewery in 2025.
For more information on Music for Listeners please check out their website.
For more information on Lazarus Brewery during SXSW please check out their facebook.
