F1: USGP to blow the roof off with 32 bands

Ed Sheeran is a singer/songwriter who began playing guitar at a young age and soon after started writing his own songs. When he was just a teenager, he moved to London to pursue his music, and his outpouring of creativity added up to several early EPs and hundreds of live shows. Drawing attention for his online performances, Sheeran hit No. 1 on the iTunes chart before he ever signed with a record label. Since signing with Atlantic, Sheeran has sold millions of records and won Grammys for hits like “Thinking Out Loud” and “Shape of You,” as well as his 2018 album, ÷.

Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist Mike Dirnt. For much of the band’s career, they have been a trio with drummer Tré Cool, who replaced John Kiffmeyer in 1990 prior to the recording of the band’s second studio album, Kerplunk (1991). Green Day has sold more than 85 million records worldwide. The group has won five Grammy Awards: Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot, Record of the Year for “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, Best Rock Album for the second time for 21st Century Breakdown and Best Musical Show Album for American Idiot: The Original Broadway Cast Recording.

Formed in New York City, Interpol are Paul Banks (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Daniel Kessler (lead guitar), and Sam Fogarino (drums).  Released in July, the band’s seventh studio album, The Other Side of Make-Believe, has garnered wide critical acclaim. Associated Press called it, “A melancholy masterpiece of jangling guitar and layers that reveal themselves with every listen.”  “[Make-Believe]  may be Interpol’s most accomplished record since their early run of classics,” wrote The Ringer. The band has been on the road throughout 2022, including a sold-out performance at Mexico City’s Palacio de los Deportes and a coast-to-coast US co-headline tour with label-mates, Spoon. In August, Interpol’s era-defining debut album, Turn On The Bright Lights (2002), celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most dominant basketball players in NBA history and is now also one of the greatest entertainers on earth. At 7’1″ and 325 pounds, Shaq’s larger-than-life personality and powerful athleticism have resulted in worldwide admiration and one of the most passionate fan bases in sports and entertainment. The Hall of Famer first discovered electronic dance music after crashing the festival TomorrowWorld in 2014, a milestone event that changed his life forever after being exposed to DJ’s such as Steve Aoki and Skrillex.

Silver Fox plays modern music in a jazz style. Imagine Oscar Peterson playing Rihanna or Sinatra singing Radiohead. It is composed of Austin finest musicians: Keyboardist Nick Littterski, Bassist Michael Stephens, Drummer Masumi Jones, Vibraphonist Aaron Lack and guitarist/vocalist Dylan Goodhue.

For more than 10 years, Mayeux & Broussard has been a staple in Austin’s country music and roots rock scene. The band often describes their music in two words “Swampy-Tonk” – a unique blend of country, blues, and rock n roll. With Tate Mayeux and Brian Broussard at the helm, the Texas hill country meets the wetlands of the Gulf Coast.

An equal mix outlaw country, 90’s new traditional, and modern songwriting, native Austinite JD Clark’s music has a wide range of fans. A band that is loved by millennials to grandparents, his songwriting evokes a classic sound. Raised by musicians, JD’s style strays away from the watered down, pop-country that’s currently playing on the radio and is more reminiscent of country favorites from the 80’s and 90’s.

Mariachi Voz de Pasion MVP has been entertaining the Austin community for over 2 decades. The only mariachi group with each member born, and raised, in Austin! Though based in Austin, the group has played all over Texas and the U.S., performing with top artists like Ruben Ramos, Johnny Canales, and even the rapper YG. They are also the first mariachi in history to play at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville Tennessee.

There is no genre to dancing, only to its cause. In this instance, the cause is called Sweet Spirit. “When people dance, they are fulfilling a human desire where instinct and culture meet. Dance and music are built into the mechanics of being human. We are born instinctively with these impulses. To dance is to speak unspoken agreements,” says frontperson Sabrina Ellis. The six members of Sweet Spirit like pranks, glitter eyeshadow, and good stories.

On the new album A Beautiful Life, Heartless Bastards share a wide-eyed and radiant vision for harmonizing a broken world. The Ohio-bred and Texas-transplanted band’s first new music since 2015’s Restless Ones, A Beautiful Life affirms frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom as a songwriter with the power to profoundly influence our state of mind, often by alchemizing her idealism into viscerally potent rock-and-roll songs.

Named after the river where countless summer nights were spent skateboarding, learning guitar and jamming with childhood bands, San Gabriel features 3-time Austin Music Award recipient James Bookert (Whiskey Shivers/Wild Child) splitting duties as writer, singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist.

Faithful to their name, Austin-based five piece Sasha and the Valentines have written a record about love. On their debut LP, So You Think You Found Love? (out via Oof Records), the promising young band has written the soundtrack to your next romance, capable of giving you the curly-phone-cord, calling-your-crush-for-the-first-time kind of butterflies. It follows the release of their 2019 EP, Green, and October-released single “Tears for Mars”—a song that reflects on the parallels between a toxic relationship and that of ours with the Earth. So You Think You Found Love? is a record that is as spectacularly iridescent as an oil spill on asphalt, while being equally as grounded, real, and brutally of consequence. Teaming up with producer Erik Wofford, whose list of previous collaborators is akin to a rap-sheet of indie rock luminaries: My Morning Jacket, Explosions in the Sky, Bill Callahan, Molly Burch, The Octopus Project, and Grupo Fantasma—the latter of which garnered a Grammy win—the band leveled up into arrangements of romance and reverberated heartache previously unapproachable.

After years of picking for his supper as a sideman, Dean Parker is a guitar player ready to have the label ‘singer-songwriter’ slapped right at the beginning of his bio. Born and raised in North-East England, he’s been beneficially brainwashed by the likes of Jason Isbell and Jeff Buckley and hopes to bring some fresh happy sad to your Tuesday night jukebox.

There was a time when country music had less pop and a lot less sheen, reserved for honky tonks and dancehalls on the working-class side of town. In today’s crowded music landscape, it’s become harder and harder to find traditional country acts, but The Broken Spokes are as pure as the genre gets. Built on the gospel of fiddle and steel guitar, this honky tonk six piece makes the kind of country music that would make Johnny Cash and Hank Thompson proud.

Reyna Roberts is a force. The daughter of two Army combat engineers, the Alaska-born & Alabama-raised singer-songwriter has already made her mark in country music, drawing praise from Mickey Guyton, Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire and more. The 2022 Amazon Music Artist to Watch artist grew up listening to Christina Aguilera, Gretchen Wilson, Beyoncé, and The Chicks.

San Saba began as a straight garage-country group that could only come from Austin, Texas: equally comfortable playing the Continental Club and 30-something house parties with angular po-mo groups with Romulan haircuts. Singer John Saba and his Jesuit high school classmate, Chris Wellington, wedded the unshakable rhythm of Idahoans Tom Hudson and Tyler Mallory (Silver Scooter) and mutual friend Carlos Orozco.

The Contrabandits are Austin’s premiere roots reggae band from South Austin. Led by sweet grooves, piercing leads and conscious vocals, The Contrabandits are sure to bring the Irie vibe to your next event! Awarded the High Times Magazine “Doobie Award” for “Best New/Underground Band in 2011, The Contrabandits have been blessing stages across the US.

Cinco Doce is Austin’s premiere cumbia energy band that has continued to raise the bar with their music. Raised in South Austin, Cinco Doce’s Musicians have all shared their musical experiences to create the unique sound you hear today. Though their musical roots range from Conjunto to Urban R&B, Cinco Doce has been able to develop a unique twist to traditional cumbia that infuses their musical backgrounds and encourages everyone to pack the dance floor.

Gina Chavez is a Latin Grammy nominee, internationally acclaimed recording artist, songwriter, performer, producer and philanthropist. Born in Austin, she is a 13-time Austin Music Award winner, including 2019 Best Female Vocals, 2015 Austin Musician of the Year and seven-time winner for Best Latin. Her first all-Spanish language album, La Que Manda, was nominated for a 2020 Latin Grammy in Best Pop/Rock, making her the third Latina born in the continental U.S. to ever be nominated in history of the category.

United by a love for Latin music, and Mexican-American heritage, Son de Rey has embarked on a remarkable, musical journey, composing songs that reflect their personal hardships and emotions, blending traditional sounds from their Latin heritage, with mainstream American influences. Son de Rey is also known for the colorful Latin Legends tribute to Selena, Juan Gabriel, Celso Piña, and Grupo Mazz.

Der Klein Steins originating in 1989 specializes in playing music heard at Oktoberfests around the world. The band plays music from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia which includes Bavarian, Tyrolean, Oberkrainer, and Egerlander music. Through the years, the band has entertained polka and waltz lovers all-over South-Central Texas.

Super Creeps is Austin’s preeminent tribute to the music of David Bowie. The all-star lineup of some of Austin’s finest players delve deep into Bowie’s rich catalogue, while sharing a special affinity with his “Berlin Years” era of the late 70’s. No stranger to experimentation (as with Bowie) Super Creeps also collaborated with the Andrea Ariel Dance Company for The Bowie Project: A Rock and Roll Soundpainting, a live remix and deconstruction of the music of David Bowie.

KAVYA is a singer-songwriter, recording and performing artist from New Delhi, India who’s been performing since the age of 14. Her solo project is a celebration of raw emotion and her roots, where all songs have been developed from guitar parts and trusty voice-notes. In order to constantly evolve as an artist, in 2016 she started writing music using Abelton. Since then, she is on a relentless spree of releasing her own material, the most recent being her debut EP ‘Know Me Better’ that has more of a R&B, electronic and indie-pop feel.

After returning home from tour, Andrew experimented at writing lyrics. What started out as trepidation, grew into a reflective story of a man in love and the struggles of life’s growing pains. Inspired by Sam Cooke, through a compilation of strings, horns, and percussion, and ensemble of fifteen, Cashen captivates the listener on a magical journey of self-exploration.

Kathryn Legendre, a native Texan, has become a fixture of the Austin music scene, playing her own brand of original honky tonk. Her folks will tell you that she’s never been one to follow trends – that encompasses Legendre’s whole outlook on songwriting and, well, life. As a result, she’s built a catalog consisting of her 2013 debut album Old Soul, Summer 2014 single, “Have You Forgotten Me?,” and 2016 EP Don’t Give A Damn.

The story of Rosie Flores’s career is long and winding road that curves like a rollercoaster at a theme park. After years of honing her craft as a songwriter and guitarist, she ended up in Los Angeles playing the Palomino Club, winning every talent contest she could get her guitar licks on. Soon afterwards played the country bar scene in LA for a few years before taking a left turn into a Punk rockin’ female group called the Screamin’ Sirens.

The Deer have built a devoted audience for their uninhibited, cosmic indie folk the old-fashioned way: playing their hearts out, night after night. The band formed in the college town of San Marcos, Texas; half an hour south of Austin, where the members attended Texas State University and where singer/co-songwriter Grace Rowland lived on a farm.

Santiago Jimenez Jr. is a conjunto pioneer who has been nominated for three Grammy Awards and is a 2016 National Endowment of the Arts Medal recipient under former President Barack Obama.

Austin, TX based band Superfónicos is the musical meeting point between Colombia, Africa and the U.S. Their music pays homage to all three locales with a foundation in Cumbia, sprinkled with healthy doses of Afrobeat and marinated in old school funk. The eight piece act has received critical praise for their debut EP Suelta from Rolling Stone, NPR, Billboard, PRI The World, PopMatters, Afropop, and more.

Nelson Valente Aguilar, an Austinite by way of border town McAllen Texas, is chief songwriter for indie-cumbia-pop quartet Como Las Movies. He combines his pan-Latin and contemporary influences into a duality that NPR described as “…a colorful, cultural soundscape from a unique blend of instruments.” “¿YPQSP?”, the band’s 2019 7” vinyl release, takes a fresh look at cumbia rhythms that transcends the lexicon of typical Latin sounds punctuating their signature blend of pop with a mix of dreamy soundscapes to create a lane all its own.

Austin Polka Band is an ensemble of musical veterans who love playing, performing and doing our part to preserve and share polka and traditional German music here in Central Texas. We are a fun loving-group from all walks of life with most of us having 40+ years of music experience. We have been performing together since 2002, enjoy sharing good times and hoisting a stein with our audience. PROST!

ALL WEEKEND. Texas born and raised, DJ Chorizo Funk, is one of the premiere sound selectors in the lone star state. He’s a four-time Best of Austin winner, the 2022 winner for the Austin Chronicle’s readers’ poll for Best DJ, and the 2020 Austin Music Award winner for best DJ. Inspired by his deep passion for music and technical skill behind the turntables, Chorizo Funk guarantees a soulful experience for music lovers and dancers alike.