SXSW 2009 ARTIST ALERT: White Lies
London's White Lies are the first British band to chart a number one album in the U.K. in 2009, and rightfully so: It may only be March, but their moody debut, To Lose My Life, is already shaping up to be one of the top albums of the year.
Of course, in a vast country like America, debuting at number one is a much more difficult feat, particularly for a doomy British alternative act. But White Lies have definitely got the goods to pull it off, and they generated quite a buzz at South By Southwest on Saturday, when they played Stubb's on a must-not-miss bill alongside Razorlight and PJ Harvey & John Parish.
I was kind of hoping that they might also do some sort of live onstage mashup with surprise SXSW performer Kanye West (White Lies' recent cover of "Love Lockdown" is genius), but even though that didn't happen--despite my well-meaning suggestion in the interview below--White Lies nevertheless made a name for themselves in Austin this year. No lie.
Here's a clip of me chatting with the band outside Stubb's right before their big Saturday show, in which they discuss their plans to conquer America, eat BBQ, and one day meet Kanye, probably in that order:
