Selling songs for $100, and two mics in a quiet Theatre

In comes news from a couple of Athens-related bands as they make their way to SXSW next week in Austin.

First up is Camper Van Beethoven, one of my all time faves, which has come up with an inventive way to pay for its trip to the annual music festival. Stuck now without a label, David Lowery and the boys are selling fans the right to sponsor songs during their two sets for $100, with Santa Cruz Roller Derby Girl’s skating across the stage with the name of the sponsoring business on it.

On the band’s Web site, they write “As you may or may not know, performers at SXSW are not really compensated sufficiently to cover travel and lodging costs. For a band like CVB this didn’t really matter in the days when there were actually record labels and/or our friends didn’t mind us crashing on their couches (back when we had friends…) Also, we might even have been heading toward that neck of the woods to begin with… CVB doesn’t even have a record label so we need to raise money to play at SXSW this year.”

Maybe an optometrist will sponsor Eye of Fatima, or a bowling alley for, well that’s too easy. Anyway, Lowery will also play at SXSW with his other band, Cracker, for a couple of shows.

Meanwhile, Venice is Sinking is perched to release its third full-length album, Sand & Lines, while it heads to Texas to share some its new songs. The band recorded the 10-song album at the Georgia Theatre months before the beloved music house was torched in a fire. Using only two mics in the recording, Venice’s new album is said to be reminiscent of The Trinity Sessions by the Cowboy Junkies, a stunning album recorded with one mic in a church in the 1990s.

Venice is Sinking is one of the more dynamic bands in town, I will be quite interested to see what they made in the Theatre.