Near the start of Bash and Pop’s set as part of The Onion AV Club’s Manic Monday party at the Mohawk, Tommy Stinson mentioned how the band were starting off the first night of SXSW during the day and joked that by the last night they’d probably be playing at 4:00am to “that one guy. You know the guy.” And while Stinson might feel more comfortable playing at night (or at least remembering to bring sunglasses for the next day show), the band still put on a great show. Following a fairly meticulous (by SXSW standards) soundcheck, they showcased a few numbers off of their latest album Anything Could Happen, the band’s first release since their 1993 debut album Friday Night Is Killing Me.
While Stinson’s a veteran of SXSW, Muncie Girls, the band who preceded him on the smaller indoor stage at the Mohawk, were experiencing their first SXSW and seemed to be enjoying themselves so far, though Lande Hekt jokingly confessed that she felt a little worried about playing a show presented by the AV Club after reading the comments under a video of theirs that premiered on the site. As it turns out, she had nothing to worry about – the crowd was definitely on Muncie Girls’ side as the band plowed through a set of catchy as hell feminist punk anthems off their debut From Caplan to Belsize. And besides, I don’t think the commenters on the AV Club go out to shows anyways. Unless it’s a Dawes show …