Austere in Austin?
- A Danes´ take on Texas …
I have just arrived back in Copenhagen after a 12 day stay in the wonderful weirdness that is Austin, TX and the already legendary House of Songs.
Still reeling from jet lag and the entire experience, I am taking care to write this while it is still fresh in my memory. See, if I let it settle, I might just be able to convince myself that it was some strange hallucination brought on by a vitamin D overdose and too much Mexican food.
The THOS initiative, instigated by awesome artist and first class human being Troy Campbell in collaboration with DJBFA, began this fall and thus made me one of the first official visitors and guest artists of the house, in November 2009.
My name is Camilla Mills – Dane, singer, songwriter and author.
This is my story.
The story:
Before leaving home, I had no idea what I wanted, but knew that I needed to get out of dodge for a while. Inspiration was getting stale and nothing seemed to get my creative juices flowing. I needed … something.
So I sent in my application to DJBFA to co – write without having a clue as to what the hell that really meant. All I saw was a chance to get away from reality. And so I did … far, far away.
Now, I don’t know about you guys, but I already had some pretty strong preconceived notions of what Texas was going to be like. And said notions were all confirmed in Dallas where I had a few hours to kill before my connecting flight to Austin, when I saw a giant cowboy with a Stetson, a handlebar moustache and the words “POUL” stitched across his vest.
I remember thinking; “Oh yeah, here we go, sister!”
But little did I know that Dallas and Austin are two very, very different things.
So I arrived in Austin late one Sunday night and stood there blinking at a statue of some dude (that, come to think of it, might have been a woman) with my red suitcase in one hand and my laptop in the other.
I was tired and groggy and my artistic paranoia inconveniently began to rear its ugly little head.
“How could I ever have thought, that this would be a good idea?! Was I even in the right town? Did I remember my toothbrush or did I leave it burning on the stove?!”
But just as I began to truly despair, someone came towards me.
Nathan Felix – house manager extraordinaire.
(Side note)
For those of you who have not yet met a Nathan Felix allow me to elaborate:
He is perhaps the weirdest man I have ever encountered. But I have also learned that weird and strange is sorta like Austin and Dallas – two very, very different things. It´ s a thin line, but it´ s there.
The house:
From the airport, Nathan took me to The House of Songs.
I was pleased to find that THOS is an actual house and not an apartment part of a club or something, which I had feared a little bit. No indeed, it was nestled beautifully between trees and bushes in a lovely, peaceful neighbourhood, not too close and not too far from Austin’s very lively Congress Avenue. It was perfect.
In addition to a fantastic ambiance and every household appliance known to man, the house also holds a variety of instruments. And being a piano player, I was instantly taken with the black Baldwin sitting proudly in the living room.
But too tired to explore any further that first night, I dumped my stuff in the blue bedroom (the other one is green) and crawled into a bed, just slightly bigger than my apartment in Denmark. When I awoke around 5 AM the next morning, I was greeted by the sound of strange birds and the promise of new beginnings.
From then on and every day during my stay, Troy and Nathan took every care to make me feel welcome. That included a first day trip to Whole foods (which is an American temple of abundance), a tour around town, lunch at Curra´s and a trip to the mall.
The guys graciously let me have a couple of days to settle in, before throwing me headfirst into co-writing mania.
My initial talks with Troy targeted what I was searching for. This was definitely not a retreat for learning how to write songs, but a retreat for songwriters to find new ways of inspiration. And man, was I in need of that.
The town:
Because of scheduling, I was lucky enough to have the house to my self the first week. So I saddled my blue bike (courtesy of THOS) and rode around town trying to let everything sink in. Surprisingly, even in the fall, Austin is lush and green and not at all the dessert most Danes believe it to be. Even more surprisingly, there are a huge amount of hippies. Should anyone ever find themselves wondering where the flower power movement went, they might want to try looking up Austin.
Anyway, I only had 12 days, so I had to make them count.
This is a short rundown of the more exploratory part of my stay:
I went to Stacy’s pool (a word to the wise: don’t forget your bathing suit before coming) which is free and a short bike ride or walk from the house. When I got tired of that, I became more daring and went to the famed Barton Springs pool and jumped in. The pool is all natural spring water and is cold, even for a Viking. But it felt so good.
I had lunch at different restaurants almost every day, and on one occasion, Sunday tacos at Crazy Maria’s, complete with a kick ass gospel brunch band, and happy, dancing Texans everywhere.
It was weird and chaotic in the most positive sense of those two words and I felt right at home.
And every night and morning, I sat at the Baldwin and revelled in the fact that I could play as loudly as I wanted.
The creative energy of the house, was working its magic on me.
But then the honeymoon period came to a close …
The sessions:
My first co-writing session was with one of the artists from the list that I had gotten from Nathan before arriving. I was actually kind of nervous and worried that I might not be able to write with anyone.
See, I am really rather arrogant when it comes to what I do, and music has always been extremely personal to me, so I feared that egos as well as heads would be rolling. But the session proved not only fun but very productive.
Apparently there are many ways to co-write and of course the main ingredient of a fruitful collaboration is chemistry.
The first time I had brought an idea with me from Denmark for a song that kept eluding me, except for the chorus. So I presented this sketch (hesitatingly) to my American colleague, who then ran it through her machinery, and before I knew it, a new song-being emerged into existence.
And I couldn’t have been more delighted.
My next session was with an artist whose music was very different from mine. But I had told Nathan to go ahead and put him on my itinerary, because I thought it would be interesting to see if we might be able to come up with something.
And we did. In fact we immediately clicked on an idea he had, had while driving over to the house, and we wrote a song in something like 3 hours, which we then performed live at the THOS showcase the next day.
The Showcase:
Troy and the gang set up a THOS showcase at a place called Threadgill’s, where Janis Joplin originally started out. I arrived on the 1st and the showcase was on the 12th, but I never had time to fret about it. Austin didn’t really allow it.
Four days before the showcase, a Dane by the name of Rolf Heitmann, arrived at the house.
Slightly annoyed that I now had to wear pants during the day again, we both started practicing. We were headlining at Janis´ old hangout and a rather large poster of my menacing face was staring down at me from various places around Congress.
I had invited my new co-writing friends to come join me on stage and I felt excited. I had no idea what to expect so I tried not to expect anything. That was probably a good thing.
When we arrived at sound check, a few of the American artists also playing had already arrived. And man, I can tell you, these guys were amazing. I dare you to check out Lincoln Durham – he is just the nicest person I have ever met, with the meanest voice I have ever heard. Same goes for THOS ambassadors Nathan Felix and Devin Fry, by the way.
Troy started the show off with one of his fantastic songs and set the bar way too high for the rest of us, but we were there, playing and Chilin´ and eating (which is a prerequisite to Austin, I believe) and the atmosphere was truly amazing.
We had a grateful audience, excellent sound and I felt a bit like an alien, greeted by weird but very kind earthlings, inviting me to play more, stay longer and keep going.
When I got back to the house that evening, all I could do was sit on a chair and drink cranberry juice for an hour, before shuffling off to bed. Heavy.
Threadgill’s had been the highlight of my journey – and it did not disappoint.
The departure:
I had a little time in Austin after the show to do some serious sightseeing. I mean tourist style, man!
So I went on the duck boat adventure – a bus that takes you around town and then drives you into the lake where you get the skinny on the city´ s history and stuff like that. Very inspirational, but remember to make reservations before you head down there. They are very popular.
On the bus they give you a duck whistle and you get to quack at anyone who looks at you a second too long. It feels good to quack in a throng. You don’t stick out.
I imagine this is what computer camp is all about.
However, I would advise that you do not use the duck whistle to get your stewardess´ attention on the plane home. Apparently it is then neither funny nor polite and you do stick out quite a bit.
Reluctantly I have now left my new friends in Austin, and am sitting in Copenhagen wondering if I got everything down right – if my words are describing the vibe of a city, where you can wear whatever you like, do whatever you do, sing all damn day if you wish and quack without prejudice.
It has been a blast. It has been everything I never knew I always needed.
Only thing I have to do now is to get over the fact that I am not there anymore.
I truly wish that your experience of Austin will be as productive as mine. In 12 days I came home with 3 songs and a story line. So you are in good creative hands – the best, in fact.
