Sky Saxon Tribute Show [Show Review]

Shapes Have Fangs

Just two days before his unexpected passing in 2009, Sky Saxon performed a heartfelt show at Antone’s, backed by Shapes Have Fangs. From the front row, there seemed to be no portents that might have suggested this would be the final performance by the renowned founder of The Seeds. On Saturday night, the second anniversary of the garage-psych pioneer’s death, his final collaborators curated a tribute show at Red 7 that featured a few bands from Austin’s burgeoning garage rock and psych music scene.

Psych-folk rockers Favored Demise kicked things off, followed by The Midwives. It’s nice to see more local bands starting to apply uncommon instrumentations to unusual genre hybrids. The Midwives, whose performance included a cover of The Seeds’ first single, “I Can’t Seem to Make You Mine,” integrated violin and cello into their unique garage doo-wop sound. The Zoltars were up next, playing straight forward garage pop.

With the distinction of being Sky Saxon’s last band, Shapes Have Fangs fittingly covered a number of songs from his days with The Seeds, highlighting his most well-known hit, “Pushin’ Too Hard.” They also performed some of their original material including songs from their recent release, Dinner in the Dark. On this night, their sound was more garage than psych, as they relied on small guitar amps and an abundance of reverb. They barreled through their set with abandon, delivering a more stripped-down and intimate performance than local stalwarts might have expected.

According to the folks at Austin Psych Fest, proceeds from the show will go towards funding a final resting place for Sky’s ashes. A Sky Saxon tribute album project is currently in the works, which lists commitments from a diverse group of artists, including Iggy Pop, Hawkwind, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Jad Fair, and Mudhoney.

Shapes Have Fangs: [Official]
The Zoltars: [Myspace]
The Midwives: [Myspace]
Favored Demise: [Reverbnation]