SXSW 2025: The Music Still Lives

March’s annual South by Southwest festival offered over a week of music, warm weather, film, comedy, warm weather, food trucks, street performers, warm weather . . . oh, and plenty of warm weather. (Well, except for a rather chilly Sunday.)

There were questions about the music festival’s future after 2026. According to the Austin American-Statesman, next year’s festival will be shorter; it’ll start on Thursday, March  12 and end on Wednesday, March 18. Nonetheless, music will still be part of festival programming.

In the meantime, there were artists and showcases galore, a baker’s dozen of which we spoke to below.

 

IMMERSION

Immersion is the collaboration of two post-punk heroes—Colin Newman (Wire) and Malka Spigel (Minimal Contact)—who have embraced electronic music and all its potential. The pair are husband and wife, and during an interview at Austin’s Driskill hotel, they finish each other’s sentences as true partners and collaborators do.

 

AUDIO: Rock & Roll Globe x Immersion

 

ANGELO MOORE

Angelo Moore is known and beloved as the frontman for the band Fishbone, but creatively, he’s a restless soul, with a new project called Angelo Moore and the Brand New Step. Moore and Brand New Step bandmate Kris Jensen talked about it, and Moore also answered questions about the new (and unfortunately timely) track from Fishbone: “Racist Piece of Shit.”

 

AUDIO: Rock & Roll Globe x Angelo Moore

 

POPMONTREAL

South by Southwest showcases are the highlights of the festival, as fans are introduced to new artists from around the world. PopMontreal’s Dan Seligman explained the logistics of a showcase, especially in light of this administration’s hostile stance toward Canada.

 

AUDIO: Rock & Roll Globe x Dan from PopMontreal

 

TAMI HART

Twenty years ago, Tami Hart’s album No Light in August made her an underground hero. While still a teenager, Hart found herself opening for Le Tigre and the Indigo Girls—something that this queer kid from South Carolina could’ve never envisioned. Tami talked about what brought her to that point and what she’s been up to since then (which is a lot!).

 

AUDIO: Rock & Roll Globe x Tami Hart 

 

CALL ME SPINSTER

Sisters Amelia Graber Jacobs, Rachel Graber Fortin, and Rosalie Graber are Call Me Spinster. Family is key factor in their music, from their grandfather (whose accordion led to them forming a group) to the ways they balance performing and parenthood. Today, they’re based in Chattanooga, Tennessee; they also talked about the music scene there.

 

AUDIO: Rock & Roll Globe x Call Me Spinster 

 

FIVE EIGHT

Formed in the early 1990s, Five Eight are the best type of cult heroes: musicians who continue to make music because they enjoy it, regardless of trends or business hassles. The Athens, Georgia quartet is even the subject of a new documentary, Weirdo.

 

AUDIO: Rock & Roll Globe x Five Eight

 

LAURA CHEADLE AND THE GIRLS

Like Tami Hart, Laura Cheadle and the Girls have emerged as LGBTQ standard-bearers. Already a prolific musician as a solo artist, Cheadle aims to inspire and uplift the LGBTQ community with her new project.

 

AUDIO: Rock & Roll Globe x Laura Cheadle and the Girls 

 

GEN AND THE DEGENERATES

Anti-Fun Propaganda is Gen and the Degenerates’ debut album. But these feisty British punks are all fun, and it makes their message all the more potent. In the lobby of the Austin Hilton, they explained all this and more.

 

AUDIO: Rock & Roll Globe x Gen and the Degenerates 

 

LAURA LEE AND THE JETTES

On Instagram, Laura Lee and the Jettes describe themselves as “Maternity Krautrock from Berlin.” The last time Lee played SXSW, she was heavily pregnant and laughed as the audience changed “Baby! Baby!” She returns to performing with new songs and new inspiration from 70s German experimental bands.

 

AUDIO: Rock & Roll Globe x Laura Lee and the Jettes 

 

CHIEF CLEOPATRA

Chief Cleopatra, aka Jalesa Jesse, hails from Corsicana, Texas, 50 miles from Dallas. She now calls Austin home, and the city has embraced her as its own; the city declared May 2 “Chief Cleopatra Day.” I caught up with her after her show at Cuatro Gato.

 

AUDIO: Rock & Roll Globe x Chief Cleopatra 

 

JENNIFER FOSTER

Jennifer Foster took the stage at Half Step’s Saturday show. Wielding her bass with confidence, she led her band, the Audacity, through a groove-heavy set. Following the show, she talked about her career and musical heroes.

 

AUDIO: Rock & Roll Globe x Jennifer Foster

 

RAMYA POTHURI

Ramya Pothuri’s winsome songs have echoes of pop, R&B, and folk. Her musical journey has taken her from St. Louis to Hyderabad to Mumbai to Los Angeles. She talked about the experience performing in two countries and surviving the LA fires.

 

AUDIO: Rock & Roll Globe x Ramya Pothuri 

 

GURRIERS

Last year, the Irish band Gurriers canceled their South by Southwest show because the festival was being sponsored by the U.S. Army. This year, SXSW was held sans military sponsorship, and the Gurriers treated the audience to a ferocious show. Singer Dan Hoff chatted afterward.

 

AUDIO: Rock & Roll Globe x Gurriers